Iran Human Rights Defenders Center: Raisi is among ‘serious human rights violators’ in 42 years of Islamic Republic
Following the inauguration ceremony of President Ibrahim Raisi in the open chamber of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Iran Human Rights Defenders Center issued a statement declaring that Ibrahim Raisi is “one of the serious human rights violators during the 42 years of Islamic Republic rule and involved in the ruthless massacre of 1988.”
On Saturday, August 7, the Iran Human Rights Defenders Center released a statement calling the elections that led to Ibrahim Raisi’s presidency “unhealthy, unfair, and engineered,” writing: “The rise of an individual whose record is full of anti-human rights conduct to the position of executive authority and guardian of the rights of the Iranian people is a human rights catastrophe that must be consciously, intelligently, and decisively opposed.”
The human rights organization also criticized the presence of the European Union’s Deputy Foreign Policy Chief at Ibrahim Raisi’s inauguration ceremony, stating in the statement: “The presence of the European official at this ceremony is in open contradiction with the human rights objectives of the European Union and is unacceptable to human rights defenders in Iran.”
Prior to this, Amnesty International, one day before Ibrahim Raisi’s inauguration ceremony, wrote that “crimes against humanity” have cast a shadow over this ceremony. The organization also called for “criminal investigations” due to Ibrahim Raisi’s role in “crimes against humanity” in connection with “the 1988 massacre.” Amnesty International has stated the number of those executed that year at approximately five thousand people and said in a 2018 report that “the actual figure could be higher.”
Source: Voice of America
