See how AJC is main the Jewish group’s diplomatic efforts
AJC CEO Ted Deutch responded to Raisi’s feedback, calling on authorities leaders to “converse out forcefully towards the Iranian regime’s ongoing abuses, which replicate an entire disregard for human rights.” ” he referred to as out. He recalled: “The large protests that started within the wake of Mahsa Amini’s dying a yr in the past and the brutal crackdown that adopted proceed a protracted historical past of violent crackdowns concentrating on dissidents, ladies’s rights activists and journalists. At the identical time, it has escalated the persecution of non secular minorities akin to Baha’is. “The renewed detentions and harassment of activists and family of victims of the repression within the weeks main as much as the anniversary of Mr. Amini’s dying exhibit the federal government’s dedication to proceed repression and silence. Opponents.”
President Raisi additionally used his tackle to the United Nations General Assembly to warn overseas governments and the UN Security Council of Iran and Iranian officers, together with Raisi himself, at a time when the United Nations is imposing main sanctions on Iran. He denounced the sanctions imposed on many. The administration’s ballistic missile program will expire. Governments which have supported the imposition of human rights and arms sanctions towards Iran have accomplished so with the purpose of curbing the regime’s longstanding help for actors concerned in terrorism and human rights abuses within the area and past, together with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Ta. And it threatens the lives of civilians in Russia—and in Ukraine, Israel, and past. Calling on governments to take concrete motion on the United Nations to forestall additional growth of Iran’s ballistic missile program and stop Iran from growing nuclear weapons capabilities, Mr. Deutsch mentioned: “Iran seeks to impose a reign of terror past its borders. The world can not permit that to occur. The time to behave is now.”
Here are 5 issues to learn about President Ebrahim Raisi and the influence the insurance policies he has overseen have had on human rights in Iran and overseas.
Raisi was a central determine in Iran’s notorious 1988 “dying committees.”
Born in 1960, Raisi grew up in a clerical household in Mashhad, dwelling to Iran’s holiest Shiite shrine. As a teen, he participated within the 1979 Islamic Revolution and attended seminary in Qom, Iran’s holiest metropolis and heart of Shiite studying. He then attended Shahid Motahari University in Tehran and earned a doctorate in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law.
Raisi grew to become a prosecutor within the early Nineteen Eighties and was appointed Tehran’s deputy prosecutor basic in 1985. It was there, in the summertime of 1988, that he performed a central position within the execution of 1000’s of Iranian political prisoners.
As detailed in a 2010 investigative report performed by eminent barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC, on the finish of the Iran-Iraq War, Khomeini issued a secret fatwa and gave political recommendation to prisoners of warfare throughout the nation. established a fee to interrogate political views and determine dissident supporters. The extremist revolutionary motion Mojahideen-e-Khalq (People’s Mujahideen), with Iraqi help, was making an attempt to overthrow the regime and sentence it to dying. In reality, the committee additionally declared many different opponents of the regime, together with leftists, as Mohlaeb, enemies of God, and ordered their killing.
Robertson’s analysis revealed that Tehran’s so-called “dying committee” was comprised of non secular judges, representatives of the Ministry of Information, and Tehran’s prosecutors. He particularly famous that as Tehran’s deputy prosecutor basic, Raisi had many occasions changed his boss on the dying fee. Robertson’s report concluded that roughly 5,000 prisoners have been secretly executed on the fee’s orders inside weeks of the July 1988 fatwa difficulty.
“The helpless prisoners have been paraded earlier than the dying penalty fee and requested a sequence of questions that examined their loyalty to the state. Thousands have been then blindfolded and led to the gallows,” Robertson mentioned. is writing. “They have been hung in teams of 4 or six at a time from a crane on a rope suspended from a stage within the jail meeting corridor. Their our bodies have been smeared with disinfectant and eliminated at night time. Robertson’s findings are supported by a 2011 report by the Iranian Center for Human Rights Documentation and stories by different human rights organizations.
In a 2021 interview, Special Rapporteur Rehman informed reporters: “I believe it is time to open an investigation into what occurred in 1988 and the position of people — and Mr. Raisi because the president (president-elect).” That’s essential proper now…” Otherwise, we’d have very critical issues about this president and his historic and reported position in these executions. ” States convening within the United Nations General Assembly this fall ought to heed the decision of the Special Rapporteur and take this long-overdue step.
Impunity, arbitrary killings, and state-sanctioned violence have worsened below President Raisi.
Much focus has been positioned on Mr. Raisi’s position in executions within the late Nineteen Eighties, however since then he has been significantly vocal in regards to the arbitrary detention of all Iranians in response to nationwide protests in 2019. , continues to preside over insurance policies that threaten torture and even the dying penalty. In response to the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests that started final yr after the dying of Zina Martha Amini.
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As Iran’s lawyer basic, Raisi led a crackdown on human rights throughout nationwide protests in November 2019. Mr. Raisi’s judiciary granted impunity to officers and safety forces answerable for killing lots of of males, ladies, and youngsters and executing 1000’s below his watch. Mass arrests, secret detention, even torture. As Special Rapporteur Rehman famous in a 2021 report detailing the allegations, “impunity and lack of accountability for these acts is widespread.” In his newest report, Lehmann renewed his name for the worldwide group to carry accountable officers answerable for crimes towards demonstrators in 2019.
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As the regime begins its crackdown, the AJC helps the United Nations Human Rights Council’s condemnation of the regime’s actions in November 2022 and the institution of a brand new Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to research violations dedicated because the starting of the protests. He supported and welcomed its institution. In December 2022, in an unprecedented step, the AJC supported and welcomed the suspension of Iran’s membership within the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The AJC continues to name on governments to help impartial human rights monitoring of human rights violations in Iran, together with by the Special Rapporteur on Iran, and to induce governments to handle the people and entities answerable for ongoing human rights abuses. , requires the introduction of focused Magnitsky-style sanctions.
Pod People: Butchers in Tehran.Big controversy over the West Bank Religious minorities, together with Baha’is, face growing persecution below Raisi’s regime His Iran’s ties to terrorist organizations and rogue states deepen
Under President Raisi, Iran continues to interact in malicious acts that threaten the human rights of different international locations’ peoples, together with exporting arms abroad and terrorism.
Mr. Raisi takes workplace with numerous hardliners, together with officers with shut ties to acts of terrorism such because the Argentine Mutual Israel Association (AMIA) bombing, the worst anti-Semitic assault exterior Israel because the Holocaust in 1994. The president’s cupboard, which accounts for
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian is finest identified for his shut ties to the Quds Force, the abroad operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist group. Amirabdollahian additionally spoke about his shut relationship with Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. The overseas minister described Israel as a “most cancers” and a “false regime” and made varied references to a “remaining resolution” to the Israeli difficulty.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi grew to become the primary commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force in 1988. In this position, he helped set up and perform quite a few overseas terrorist operations, most famously the 1994 AMIA bombing that killed 85 folks and injured greater than 200. Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who investigated the AMIA bombing and was later assassinated in his dwelling, named Vahidi in recognition of his position in finishing up the operation. Mr Vahidi is one in every of 5 folks wished by Interpol for his or her alleged involvement within the terrorist assault.
Similarly, Mohsen Rezai, Iran’s vp for financial affairs, is a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and is needed by Interpol for his position within the AMIA bombing.
In a brief time frame, Mr. Raisi’s hardline authorities elevated Iran’s malign geopolitical actions, together with help for rogue states and terrorist teams. Under the Raisi administration, Iran has strengthened ties with Russia, together with an settlement to promote superior drones to Russia to be used within the warfare towards Ukraine, and the U.S. authorities has taken motion towards Iranian firms and people concerned. sanctions have been imposed.
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Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, despite the fact that the Iranian-backed terrorist group primarily based in Syria carries out assaults towards US forces and Israel in Iraq and provides the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah. The president and Iranian leaders vowed to strengthen bilateral relations.
The Iranian authorities maintains a proxy military made up of greater than a dozen paramilitary and terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East with outposts world wide, together with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which have carried out quite a few terrorist operations concentrating on Israelis. , used to incite instability and help in finishing up assaults. , increasing the scope of the Islamic revolution. Israeli officers have blamed Iran and its terrorist community for continued terrorist assaults in Israel and the West Bank, and not too long ago introduced that Israel has dedicated greater than 20 Iranian assaults towards Jews and Israelis world wide prior to now yr. introduced that that they had thwarted the assault.
Continuing threats to destroy Israel
Raisi has publicly threatened to destroy Israel. Raisi final yr threatened to destroy Israel if the Jewish state launched a army assault towards its nuclear program. Similarly, in April, when Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, Mr. Raisi threatened to destroy Israeli cities.
In an alarming report in September, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported that Iran was increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium to close weapons grade. Additionally, simply days earlier than the United Nations General Assembly convened, the IAEA strongly condemned Iran’s “unprecedented” choice to ban a few third of the Agency’s most skilled inspectors from monitoring its nuclear amenities. . These developments, together with Raisi’s threatening statements, point out that Iran continues to pursue the event of nuclear weapons to intimidate and use towards Israel.
To this finish, the AJC calls on Member States of the United Nations Security Council to increase the missile-related restrictions imposed on Iran in Annex B of Resolution 2231 past the October 18, 2023 deadline. There is. If this isn’t accomplished, the AJC is asking member states to take action. The worldwide group will take collective and particular person measures to adjust to the sanctions set out in Annex B.