Amnesty International: Crimes Against Humanity Cast Shadow Over Raisi’s Inauguration Ceremony
Amnesty International expressed its protest against the presence of a European Union representative at the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi through a series of tweets.
The message stated: “Crimes against humanity have cast a grave shadow over the inauguration of Ibrahim Raisi as President of Iran. We continue to state that he should be subject to criminal investigation for his role in past and ongoing crimes against humanity related to the 1988 massacres.”
In 1988, Ibrahim Raisi served as a deputy prosecutor in Tehran and was one of four individuals who made decisions regarding the execution of political prisoners one by one. Opponents of the Islamic Republic refer to these four as the “death committee.” This committee would make decisions about executions or survival of prisoners after asking several questions about their political and religious beliefs.
Amnesty International added in its tweet: “The international community, including the European Union, which plans to send its representative Enrique Mora to the inauguration ceremony, should publicly demonstrate its commitment to fighting impunity in Iran for extrajudicial executions and other cases of murder, forced disappearances, and torture.”
The human rights organization called on world leaders to “ask the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative and accountability mechanism regarding Iran to prevent the cycle of bloodshed from repeating and to ensure justice and accountability for victims and survivors.”
The inauguration ceremony of President Ibrahim Raisi will be held on Thursday, August 5, 2021 in the hall of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran.
The Tehran governorate announced that on this day, all government offices, banks, and private companies are closed due to the inauguration ceremony.
The U.S. Department of Treasury placed Ibrahim Raisi on the sanctions list on November 4, 2019, along with eight other close associates of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, due to their role in “suppressions both inside and outside Iran” and human rights violations.
Source: DW
