Abbas Maroofi: They Want to Distort My Narrative Against Ebrahim Raisi

Last week, as Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, was preparing to assume the position of head of the judiciary, a narrative from a member of the Iranian Writers' Association was suddenly published in reformist and principlist publications about him. The story began when the newspaper 'Shargh' in Tehran republished a memory from Abbas Maroofi, the renowned author of 'Symphony of the Dead' and editor of the suspended monthly 'Gardon,' regarding his meeting with Ebrahim Raisi, portraying him as a positive, moderate, accepting, balanced, book-loving, and attractive figure. This image starkly contrasts with the published documents surrounding him, which indicate Raisi's role in the massacre of prisoners during the summer of 1988. Mr. Raisi became known as the 'Death Prosecutor' due to his membership in a four-person committee that changed the sentences of several thousand young prisoners who had been sentenced and were even on the verge of release to execution during that horrific summer. These details are sufficient to invite this writer, who has been living in Germany for years and is not allowed to return to his homeland without consequences, to the program 'Near and Distant View' for a more detailed discussion of Abbas Maroofi's narrative about the head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic.