Empty Seats at the UN Memorial for Ebrahim Raisi; Naib-Hashem: Raisi was Accused of 'Crimes Against Humanity'

A memorial ceremony for Ebrahim Raisi was held at the United Nations, but many representatives from countries around the world did not attend. Out of 193 member countries, only representatives from 90 countries were present at the busiest time of the event. During the ceremony on Thursday, June 1, at the UN headquarters in New York, more than half of the seats in the General Assembly hall were empty. The UN General Assembly witnessed the memorial for Ebrahim Raisi, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran who was killed in a helicopter crash, while countries such as the United States, Australia, and France had previously announced a 'boycott' of the event. Additionally, representatives from 100 other countries left the hall during the ceremony. Concurrently, three protest groups gathered around the UN headquarters in New York against the memorial for Raisi. According to a Voice of America reporter, the National Council of Resistance linked to the People's Mojahedin Organization, the Coalition Against a Nuclear Iran, and the group Solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement protested in the streets surrounding the UN headquarters. Meanwhile, in Vienna, a group of human rights activists gathered in front of the UN building to protest the ceremony. The UN stated that this ceremony is traditionally held to pay respect to presidents who were in office at the time of their death. However, Hassan Naib-Hashem, a human rights activist present at the protest in Vienna, pointed out that a memorial was not held for Muammar Gaddafi, the former president of Libya, and told Voice of America that Ebrahim Raisi 'was not a conventional head of government' and 'was accused of crimes against humanity,' thus the UN could have refrained from holding this ceremony. The memorial for Ebrahim Raisi at the UN faced widespread protests from civil and human rights activists as well as families seeking justice for victims of human rights violations by the Islamic Republic. The Iran Human Rights Organization called the ceremony 'shameful' and emphasized that 'Ebrahim Raisi should have been tried in a competent court for crimes against humanity.' Furthermore, hundreds of women's rights and human rights activists, families seeking justice, and several civil organizations wrote a letter to the President of the UN General Assembly, stating that honoring someone accused of crimes against humanity constitutes a 'violation of human rights.' Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, described the memorial for Ebrahim Raisi at the UN as 'celebrating executions and mass killings against the people of Iran.' In another reaction, Saeed Dehghan, a human rights lawyer, described the upcoming ceremony at the UN as 'rubbing salt in the wounds of Iranians' and deemed it 'an insult to the position of the UN.' This lawyer emphasized in a post on social media that this action 'is not defensible based on UN protocols,' as 'no such ceremony was held for Gaddafi and Saddam.' Sara Hossein, the head of the UN's independent fact-finding committee on the Islamic Republic, also stated that Ebrahim Raisi's death should not overshadow human rights violations in Iran.