Iranian activists have called for the arrest of Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian regime’s president, since before he took office in August. In the summer of 1988, over 30,000 political prisoners were executed over the course of about three months, with nearly 90% of the victims being members or supporters of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), the country’s major pro-democracy opposition party.

Conferences and rallies By NCRI

In recent months, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has held a series of conferences and rallies to draw attention to the 1988 massacre, Raisi’s criminal record, and its anticipated impact on his administration’s future behavior. Raisi was one of the major perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, which became known as the “death commission,” as one of four members of a panel. In recent years, he has remained one of its most ardent advocates, even describing the underlying fatwa from then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini as an indisputable manifestation of God’s will.

European legal scholars claimed at one of the recent conferences that the fatwa’s language communicates the regime’s purpose to wipe out entire communities of moderate Muslims whose ideology threatened the mullahs’. This would appear to establish the 1988 massacre as a case of genocide, with Raisi as a major perpetrator.

 

 

The precise allegation of genocide

However, the precise allegation of genocide is not required for universal jurisdiction to apply. This is evidenced by the fact that one of the massacre’s perpetrators has already been apprehended outside of his native country, despite the fact that his case does not reference genocide. Instead, Hamid Noury is charged with war crimes and mass murder in a Swedish court for activities he did as a jail officer in 1988.

Those calls grew louder in recent days as it was revealed that the Iranian regime’s president would likely visit Scotland in early November for the COP26 climate change summit. Local authorities will have a perfect opportunity to carry out an arrest warrant as a result of the occurrence. Raisi’s attendance at the occasion, however, would give him undue international credibility in the absence of such an arrest.

Unfortunately, Western nations have already given that message on at least two occasions;

 

 

EU sent a delegation to Raisi’s inauguration

Once, when the European Union sent a delegation to Raisi’s inauguration in August. Again, when the United Nations General Assembly allowed Raisi to deliver pre-recorded statements to the world gathering.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, spoke during a worldwide virtual summit hosted by the NCRI in July. “As far as the international community is concerned,” she said of Raisi’s election to the presidency, “this is the litmus test of whether it will engage and deal with this genocidal regime or stand with the Iranian people.”

 

 

Iran’s activist community will almost certainly be catastrophic

At the same event, Mrs. Rajavi projected that the struggle between Iranian authorities and civil society will worsen in the following months. If that forecast proves to be correct, but Raisi’s authority continues unquestioned worldwide, the consequences for Iran’s activist community will almost certainly be catastrophic.

Following the outbreak of a countrywide anti-government movement in November 2019, about 1,500 peaceful protestors were killed in a matter of days. Raisi was the head of the judiciary at the time and thus had a crucial part in the crackdown. If he is not held accountable for the brutal repression that marked his legacy but went unpunished for more than three decades, his repressive role will only grow now that he has control of the executive branch.

 

 

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