Dozens of Iranian human rights activists, together with legal professionals, docs, journalists, lecturers and Nobel Peace Prize winners, have signed an open letter calling on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to cancel this week’s memorial service for Iran’s former president Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2024.
The activists’ letter highlighted Raisi’s gross human rights violations, together with the extrajudicial executions of hundreds of political prisoners within the Nineteen Eighties and the tough crackdown on political dissent throughout his presidency. They referred to as on the UN General Assembly to “rethink plans to commemorate Mr. Raisi.”
The attraction follows related calls by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, the latter of whom stays imprisoned in Iran for her peaceable protection of human rights.
The full letter, together with the preliminary checklist of signatories dated May 28, 2024, is reproduced beneath.
His Excellency Denis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly,
We within the Iranian human rights group, together with former political prisoners, members of the family and mates of victims who witnessed or documented atrocities dedicated by Ibrahim Raisi or below his command, are deeply involved and outraged by the proposed memorial.
As you understand, Ibrahim Raisi performed a central position within the execution of hundreds of political prisoners over a number of a long time, in addition to the brutal repression of protests, the ladies’s motion, freedom defenders and minorities in Iran.
His tenure was marked by egregious human rights violations, together with:
1. He was a key member of the “Death Committees” that signed and ordered the mass execution of over 4,500 political prisoners in lower than two months in 1988. (https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/200000/mde130211990en.pdf) Amnesty Report
(Minister of Murder: Iran’s New Security Cabinet (November 2005) Human Rights Watch report
2. Involved within the downing of Flight PS752 as a member of the Iranian National Security Council in 2020
3. During his tenure as Attorney General, there was an unprecedented enhance in arrests and imprisonment of political and social activists.
4. Mass persecution of Baha’is in Iran.
5. Executions have elevated throughout his presidency, with over 800 executions carried out in 2023 alone.
6. The crackdown on peaceable protesters through the Women, Life and Freedom Movement.
Raisi has not denied his actions. “If the judges and prosecutors saved the folks protected, they need to be counseled,” he advised reporters at his first press convention as president-elect on June 21, 2021, concerning the bloodbath. The United Nations referred to as for an investigation into Raisi’s position shortly after his election. “Now that Raisi is president-elect, it’s time and crucial to start out an investigation into what occurred in 1988 and the position that people performed,” Javaid Rehman, the UN investigator on human rights in Iran, mentioned on June 29. In March 2019, the United States condemned Raisi’s appointment as legal professional common and highlighted his position within the Tehran demise committee. The U.S. Treasury Department additionally cited Raisi’s involvement within the demise committee and the crackdown on protesters after the disputed 2009 presidential election.
Furthermore, the UN Fact-Finding Commission categorized the Iranian Islamic regime’s actions through the Women, Life and Freedom Movement as “crimes towards humanity.” These acts mirror his historical past of utmost violence and repression and shouldn’t be commemorated.
Raisi’s rise to energy is extensively believed to be the results of rigged elections designed to make sure loyalty to the Supreme Leader. It needs to be famous that Raisi didn’t maintain the best political place in Iran’s Islamic regime; that place belongs to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, additional elevating questions concerning the significance of commemorating Raisi.
Commemorating such a person goes towards the very rules of justice and human rights that the United Nations upholds. Celebrating his achievements could be a disservice to the numerous victims of his regime and an insult to the liberty fighters and households of these victims who search justice in Iran and all over the world.
We urge all UN Member States to learn the report of the Special Rapporteur on the state of affairs of human rights within the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is accessible on the following hyperlink:
Letter from the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances to the Government of Iran (September 2020)
We urge the United Nations to rethink its plans to commemorate Ibrahim Raisi and never ignore the findings of revered human rights organizations and the UN Fact-Finding Commission. Doing so would give undeserved legitimacy to his actions and undermine the wrestle of those that suffered below his oppressive rule.
“The United Nations, because the guardian of worldwide human rights, mustn’t help or glorify figures like Ibrahim Raisi, whose legacy is rooted in brutality and injustice. We urge you to face in solidarity with Raisi’s victims and uphold the rules of justice and human dignity by refraining from honoring him. Your determination on this matter can have severe implications for the credibility of the UN’s dedication to human rights.”
Thank you on your consideration to this pressing difficulty.
Sincerely,
First signature:
Afary, Janet, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
Afary, Mona, Psychologist, Oakland, California
Afshari, Ali; Political Activist, United States
Afshari, Reza, Professor Emeritus of History, Pace University, New York.
Ahli, Mariam, MD, Human Rights/Women’s Rights Activist.
Alamdali, Kazem, Retired Professor of Sociology, California State University, Northridge.
Alijani, Reza, French political activist.
Amani, Elahe, Human Rights/Women’s Rights Activist, United States
Amini, Mehdi; human and civil rights activist.
Ardalan, Parvin; feminist activist and author.
Asrani, Mehdi, author and former political prisoner of the Nineteen Eighties.
Atabaqui, Turai, Research Professor of Social History, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Azizi, Alireza, human rights activist, California, USA.
Baloch, Fariba; Human rights/girls’s rights activist.
Banuazizi, Ali, Research Professor, Boston University, USA.
Bazrpour, Farzaneh; Journalist, United States
Darvishpour, Mehrdad, Associate Professor of Sociology, Malardalens University, Sweden.
DEHGAN, Saeed, Human Rights Lawyer and Director of Parsi Law Consultancy, Canada
Ebadi, Shirin, Attorney-at-Law, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Farah, Soraya, Vice President, SFV Chapter, United Nations Association of America.
Farhan, Mansoor, Professor Emeritus, Bennington College, USA.
Farmand, Hamed; human rights/kids’s rights researcher and activist.
Gharaman, Sagi; poet and consultant of the Iranian Queer Organization.
Gohari Lackner, Jarrett, MD, human rights/girls’s rights activist, Austria.
Hariri Mehrdad, Director, Canadian Science Policy Centre
Heliski, Ali, Canadian human rights lawyer.
Hoodfar, Houma, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Concordia University, Montreal.
Joudaki, Arash; Researcher, Doctor of Philosophy.
Kalantari, Hassan, civil rights activist, California, USA.
Kanemipour, Arsalan, Professor and Chair, Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Mississauga.
Carl Melangiz, lawyer, creator and human rights activist.
Khatam, Azam; Lecturer at York University, Toronto.
Khosrokavar, Farhad, retired professor on the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris.
Kian Azadeh, Professor on the University of Paris VII, France.
Marek, Parvin; human rights/girls’s rights activist.
Meymandi Nejad, Sharmin, Founder of the Students Association for the Eradication of Poverty;
Moader, Mansour, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland, USA.
Moghadam, Rezvan, member of the plaintiff’s household within the 1988 mass executions.
Moghissi, Heide, York University, Canada.
Mojab, Shahzad, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Toronto, Canada.
Moridi, Reza, PhD, former Member of Parliament, former Minister, Senior Research Fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto, Canada.
Nayeb-Hashemi, Hassan, MD, Human Rights Activist, Austria.
Noriara Partow, poet and creator, California, USA
Nooriala, Esmail, spokesman for the Iranian Secular Democratic Movement
Parsa, Koroush, Ph.D., Managing Director, Parsa Wireless Communication, LLC, USA.
Rahimi Zahra, Director of the Anti-Poverty Association;
Rahmani, Taghi, political activist, Paris
Ranema, Saeed, York University, Canada.
Roosta, Tarane; Human Rights/Women’s Rights Activist
Sarshar, Homa, Journalist and Human Rights Activist, United States.
Shams, Fatemeh, Associate Professor of Persian Literature, University of Pennsylvania.
Sirinsokhan, Mariam, Women’s Rights Activist, WLF Munich Board of Directors
Shojaee, Mansoure; girls’s rights researcher, author and activist
Tohidi, Nayele, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Northridge (USA)
Zamini, Cholet, Canadian girls’s rights advocate.
Zandian, Mandana; Author, Poet, Physician, California, USA
group:
International Secular Democratic Organization (ISDO)
Stop “Honor” Killings Campaign: Stop Honor Killings (stophonorkillings.org)
Munich Association for Women’s*Freedom of Life