Five Days of 'Public Mourning' for Political Prisoners Following Raisi's Death; Attack on Prisoners in Karaj for Expressing Joy

Intelligence forces at the central prison in Karaj attacked political prisoners for expressing happiness over the death of Ebrahim Raisi and took them to an 'unknown location'; simultaneously, with the announcement of a five-day 'public mourning' by the Islamic Republic, a human rights source states that political prisoners in Iran have declared five days of 'public mourning'. The legal advisory group 'Dadban' reported on Tuesday, May 22, that intelligence officials attacked Block 15 of the prison on Monday, May 21, 'following the expression of joy by political and ideological prisoners' upon hearing the news of Ebrahim Raisi's death, and 'transferred several prisoners to an unknown location'. In another report, Reza Akavaniyan, a human rights activist, wrote on social media 'X' without naming a specific prison that political prisoners have declared five days of 'public mourning' for Raisi's death. According to Mr. Akavaniyan, some political prisoners, coinciding with the helicopter crash of Raisi, referred to as the 'Ayatollah of Massacre', ate 'Omelet of Crash' to commemorate the occasion and, upon hearing the news of his death, had 'Pasta of Ascent'. Additionally, 'a number of citizens' have informed Dadban, the human rights legal group, that 'after publishing their expressions of joy and happiness over Ebrahim Raisi's death, they were contacted by security and law enforcement agencies and asked to delete the relevant posts'. Following the continued reactions of joy from Iranians inside and outside the country to Ebrahim Raisi's death due to a helicopter crash, the officials of the Islamic Republic have resorted to threatening and detaining citizens in Iran. Previously, judicial and law enforcement officials of the Islamic Republic threatened citizens, stating that if they published what they termed 'provocative' content regarding Ebrahim Raisi's death on social media, they would face 'consequences'. According to reports from human rights sources on Tuesday, May 22, so far, Reza Babernaz, the brother of the protesting deceased Mahdi Babernaz, has been arrested, a case has been opened against Monijeh Moazzen, a journalist, and Shaghayegh Mohammadi, the wife of a football player from the Esteghlal team, has also been summoned and threatened by the Ministry of Intelligence.