Iran will (also) remember Ebrahim Raisi for 1988 mass executions & crackdown on Hijab protests

Condolences are pouring in after the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash in a remote and fog-shrouded western mountain region on Sunday, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

However, not everyone in Iran is mourning for the hardline cleric-turned-president, who was accused of several crimes against humanity.

Early life

Raisi studied theology and Islamic jurisprudence under the now Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was part of protests against the US-backed monarchy, that was eventually toppled by the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Aged just 20, he started his judicial career in the the newly formed Islamic Republic.

Mass executions

As the deputy prosecutor of Tehran in 1988, he was part of a tribunal that presided over secret re-trials of thousands of political prisoners. Most of them were part of opposition leftist groups like the People's Mujahedin Organisation of Iran, and were sentenced to death. According to human rights groups, about 5,000 men and women were executed and buried in unmarked mass graves.

Raisi repeatedly denied his role in what has come to be known as the "Death Committee". But, for Iran's exiled opposition, his name is a reminder of the mass executions.

Human rights violations

As the deputy chief of the Judicial Authority, he was involved in the violent crackdown on the "Green Movement" against the disputed presidential election in 2009. Raisi was uncompromising in confronting protesters rallying against populist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term.

He was put on Washington's sanctions blacklist for complicity in "serious human rights violations" -- charges rejected as null and void by the authorities in Tehran.

Presidential bid

After an unsuccessful attempt in 2017, Raisi defeated moderate predecessor Hassan Rouhani in the 2021 presidential election. But, more than half the electorate boycotted the polls after prominent moderate and reformist candidates were barred from contesting.

What followed were turbulent years of protests and tensions.

Hijab protests

In September 2022, Iran was on the boil, following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. She was detained by Tehran's morality police for wearing her hijab "improperly," and according to a UN fact-finding mission, subjected to "physical violence that led to her death."

The death of the young woman sparked the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement demanding the end of clerical rule.

Raisi suppressed the movement with force, killing over 550 protesters, and detaining 20,000 others. According to the UN, nine young male protesters were executed based on confessions made under torture.

Despite stricter hijab laws and repeated crackdowns, discontent against the clerical establishment is widespread. A large part of the resentment was directed at Raisi.

Always dressed in a black turban and religious robe, Raisi was known to be pious. Like other ultraconservatives, he harshly criticised United States' unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear pact in 2018 and the punishing sanctions that followed. The late President was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, and backed tit-for-tat escalations that led to Tehran's direct attack on Israel last month.

But for many in Iran, and those exiled, Raisi represented mass executions and a brutal crackdown on dissent.