Death of Iranian President Poses Risk of Worsening Crackdown as Government Moves to Maintain Control

Under Ebrahim Raisi, Human Rights Crisis in Iran Greatly Worsened

May 20, 2024 – The death of President Ebrahim Raisi should not be exploited by the government to further crack down on civil society amid what has become an increasingly broad, unlawful, and violent suppression of peaceful dissent, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“As the state scrambles to maintain its grip on power, the international community must remain vigilant and responsive to any potential escalation in the crackdown on civil society in Iran,” said CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.

“Raisi was a pillar of a system that jails, tortures, and kills people for daring to criticize state policies,” said Ghaemi. “His death has enabled him to escape being held accountable for his many crimes and the state’s atrocities committed under his rule.”

Raisi, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian were killed on May 19, 2024, in a helicopter crash near the city of Jolfa in West Azerbaijan province, Iranian state news media reported.

Under Raisi’s Rule, Crimes Against Humanity Committed Says UN

Raisi presided over a stunning escalation of state repression and violence against peaceful dissent in Iran, with the state committing mass atrocities against the civilian population. This included surging executions after sham trials and the increasing use of the death penalty against protesters and activists, the use of lethal state force against peaceful protesters that left hundreds dead in 2022 and tens of thousands arbitrarily arrested, and the intensified and violent repression of women.

In response to the Iranian government’s massive violence against unarmed protesters during the “Women, Life, Freedom” demonstrations that swept across Iran in 2022, the UN’s independent Fact-Finding Mission, established to investigate the state’s crimes in the context of those protests, asserted that the state’s atrocities had risen to the level of crimes against humanity.

Appointed as judiciary chief by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in March 2019 and then elected president in 2021 after all credible challengers were disqualified, Raisi played a key role in the politically motivated executions and unjust imprisonments of countless Iranians over the last three decades.

In 1988, he was appointed to a four-man “death commission” by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, which led to the execution of at least 5,000 prisoners based on the committee’s assessment of their “loyalty” to the newly established Islamic Republic. These prisoners had already been tried and were serving their issued prison sentences.

No one in Iran has ever been held accountable for these killings. Instead, state agents have harassed and threatened victims’ relatives for pursuing investigations and trying to locate their loved ones’ remains, while the death committee members, including Raisi, enjoyed promotions to high-level government positions in the ensuing years.

For the past three years, under Raisi and Khamenei’s rule, Iran has seen unprecedented levels of state violence and persecution of peaceful activists, especially following the outbreak of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which erupted across the country after the killing in state custody of Mahsa Jina Amini, 22, following her arrest for an alleged inappropriate hijab.

It was Raisi himself who just a few months prior to Amini’s killing had ordered stricter enforcement of the state’s compulsory hijab policy nationwide, and who has since cheered a pending bill in Parliament that would legalize increased punishment of women for refusing to wear a hijab in public, as well as businessowners and employers who do not join the state in punishing the women.

Raisi’s presidency has been marked by numerous human rights atrocities, including:

• Surging executions after sham trials, and increasing use of the death penalty against peaceful protesters and activists
• Lethal state violence and mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators and activists
• Torture and abuse of political prisoners, including women and children
• Increased persecution of religious and ethnic minorities
• Severe persecution of independent defense lawyers
• Ongoing arbitrary arrests of dual and foreign nationals

“Raisi presided over a country suffocated by a regime that fears its own people,” said Ghaemi. “He was merely one boot on the necks of the Iranian people; others can easily take his place.”

“What is crucial now is that the international community must not allow the Islamic Republic to exploit this moment to further repress and brutalize the Iranian people,” Ghaemi stressed.