Iran Human Rights Organization: Raisi's Death Does Not Close His 'Crimes' Case

The Iran Human Rights Organization stated in a statement following the death of Ebrahim Raisi, the President and former head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, that his death "does not mean the closure of the case of his crimes." The organization, while "commemorating the memory of thousands of men and women who have been victims of the crimes of Ebrahim Raisi and the Islamic Republic over the past four decades," expressed hope that a "competent" court would address Raisi's record, the officials of the Islamic Republic, and the "perpetrators of crimes against humanity." Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, the director of the Iran Human Rights Organization, referred to Ebrahim Raisi as a "symbol of judicial immunity for criminals and the institutionalized lack of accountability in the Islamic Republic" and stated that he was responsible not only for the direct execution of thousands of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 but also for "crimes whose dimensions are still not clear to everyone." The statement from the Iran Human Rights Organization claims that the deceased President of the Islamic Republic played a direct role in the suppression of the protests of 2009 and in the "execution of opponents thereafter and hundreds of other executions." According to this organization, Raisi was responsible for the execution of "more than 400 people" during his two-year presidency of the judiciary, including the execution of political opponents and protesters such as Navid Afkari, Mostafa Salehi, Rouhollah Zam, and Hedayat Abdollahpour, as well as the execution of at least seven child offenders and 25 women, and the execution of a man for consuming alcohol. The helicopter carrying Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, crashed on Sunday in East Azerbaijan province, and the news of the death of all its occupants was reported on Tuesday, which coincides with the anniversary of the birth of the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims in Iran. Many officials canceled activities in commemoration of Ebrahim Raisi's death. A blog post from the UN fact-finding committee stated that Raisi's death should not lead to forgetting human rights violations in Iran. An Israeli official stated that Israel was not involved in the crash of Raisi's helicopter; Lieberman remarked, "We do not shed tears." Global reactions to the news of Ebrahim Raisi's death and that of his companions continue. Ali Khamenei appointed "Mokhber" as the interim head of government and declared five days of "public mourning."