On the Eve of New York Trip; Opponents’ Protests and Complaints from Former Political Prisoners Against Raisi
On the eve of Ibrahim Raisi’s official trip to New York, a number of opponents and former “hostages” of the Islamic Republic announced their intention to file a complaint against him in a court in New York City.
Iran’s president is scheduled to travel to New York next week to deliver a speech at the seventy-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly in the United States.
As the “National Union for Democracy in Iran” (NUFDI) announced on its Twitter account, the complaint is set to be submitted to the federal court in New York this week.
The content of the complaint filed by these individuals against Ibrahim Raisi includes “torture, intentional psychological pressure, assault, and detention based on false charges.”
The plaintiffs in this case include Mehdi Hajeti, former member of Shiraz City Council, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian researcher and former prisoner in Iran, and Hamid Babaei, a former prisoner currently residing in Belgium.
Shahin Milani, a human rights lawyer, is representing the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs and their lawyer are scheduled to hold a press conference on September 20, Tuesday of next week, at 9 a.m. local time, regarding this matter.
Shahin Milani, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Ahmad Batebi, and Navid Mohammadi will be speakers at this press conference.
On Thursday, September 15, a number of opponents of the Islamic Republic gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York.
They called for the trial of Ibrahim Raisi, the president, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, over the massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s, the November 2019 protests, and the execution of “600 people” during Raisi’s presidency.
In recent days, dozens of Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. Congress also sent a letter to Joe Biden demanding that a visa not be issued to Raisi.
Previously, a number of Republican senators had made a similar request to Biden.
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also stated that if Ibrahim Raisi can travel to New York, it is as if the United Nations has provided him with a major platform.
According to her, the possible presence of Ibrahim Raisi at the United Nations shows how “corrupt and fragile” this institution is.
Source: Radio Farda
