Calls for Accountability in Wake of Iranian President Death

Following the helicopter crash that killed Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian groups have called for accountability for his crimes.

Hengaw Human Rights Organization, a Kurdish advocacy group, has urged other human rights organizations and civil society groups in Iran to persist in "registering and documenting the various aspects of the crimes of the Islamic Republic” including Raisi, dubbed The Butcher of Tehran.

In 1984, at the age of 25, Raisi became the deputy head of the Revolutionary Court. By 1988, serving as the deputy prosecutor of Tehran, he was a member of the "Death Committee," which was responsible for the mass execution of thousands of dissidents between August and September of that year.

Since the uprising of 2022, over 500 protesters were murdered under his watch and over 800 more executed last year alone in a record wave of killings.

Echoing Hengaw’s sentiments, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teacher Trade Associations also commented on Raisi's death, expressing hope that those responsible for child killings, particularly in Iran, would "face the consequences of their actions in a public and fair trial."

The council criticized Raisi's tenure as head of state, highlighting severe setbacks in the education sector and severe human rights abuses under his rule.