jimnyc
06-19-2021, 02:42 PM
Nothing like electing someone who's nickname is 'The Butcher'.
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Hard-line judiciary head wins Iran presidency as turnout low
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief won a landslide victory Saturday in the country’s presidential election, a vote that both propelled the supreme leader’s protege into Tehran’s highest civilian position and saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
The election of Ebrahim Raisi, already sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, became more of a coronation after his strongest competition found themselves disqualified from running.
That sparked calls for a boycott and many apparently did stay home — out of over 59 million eligible voters, only 28.9 million voted. Of those voting, some 3.7 million people either accidentally or intentionally voided their ballots, far beyond the amount seen in previous elections and suggesting some wanted none of the four candidates.
Iranian state television immediately blamed challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and U.S. sanctions for the low participation. But the low turnout and voided ballots suggested a wider unhappiness with the tightly controlled election, as activists criticized Raisi’s ascension.
“That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said.
Rest - https://apnews.com/article/iran-election-ebrahim-raisi-judiciary-turnout-middle-east-4d60554fd608a5dea2c76a303ec352d8
Iran Poised To Elect Mass Murderer
Iran’s presidential frontrunner personally approved the secret mass murder of hundreds of regime critics in 1988—and can be heard defending and laughing about the gruesome massacre in a decades-old audio recording translated by the Washington Free Beacon.
Ebrahim Raisi, a cleric who serves as chief justice of Iran, is reported to be Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s favored candidate to win Friday’s presidential election, which most international observers see as a sham given the regime’s decision to disqualify any candidate viewed as a moderate. Raisi, who served as deputy prosecutor of Tehran in 1988, sat on a four-man panel that oversaw the killings of nearly 1,000 political prisoners. In an August 1988 audio recording, members of the commission can be heard defending the executions, arguing in support of killing 200 additional prisoners, and even laughing about their efforts to expedite the murders.
The recording indicates the Iranian regime is poised to empower one of the most hardline presidents in decades—a setback for the Biden administration which seeks closer relations between the United States and Iran. While Raisi's overseeing of torture is well–documented, the audio independently translated by the Free Beacon sheds new light on Raisi’s principal role in authorizing the killings.
Raisi's likely election comes as the Biden administration seeks to reenter the 2015 nuclear accord, which would pave the way for Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief. A radical new president could complicate the negotiations, as Iran signals that it wants more than was promised under the Obama administration’s original agreement. Outgoing president Hassan Rouhani, who was widely praised by the American media as a moderate, has backed his government’s demand for across-the-board sanctions relief, including on the country’s contested nuclear and missile programs.
In 1988, then-supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa that established "death commissions" in Iranian provinces, in order to execute nonviolent political dissidents who were already serving out prison sentences but had refused to renounce their political or religious affiliations and swear allegiance to the Islamic Republic.
The family of the late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who objected to the killings and was the heir apparent to the supreme leader at the time, published a recording of a 1988 panel meeting online in 2016. Montazeri had requested a meeting with the Tehran panel in 1988 to voice his strong opposition to the executions—a stance that later cost Montazeri his place in the line of succession and his clerical title.
Rest - https://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-poised-to-elect-mass-murderer/
From Wiki:
1988 executions
Main article: 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners
Hussein-Ali Montazeri named Raisi as one of the four persons involved in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.[27] Other persons were Morteza Eshraghi (Prosecutor of Tehran), Hossein-Ali Nayeri (Judge) and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (MOI representative in Evin). Names of first two persons are mentioned in Khomeini's order. Pourmohammadi has denied his role but Raisi has not commented publicly on the matter yet.[28][29]
The 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners was a series of state-sponsored execution of political prisoners across Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and lasting for approximately five months.[30][31][32][33][34][35] The majority of those killed were supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, although supporters of other leftist factions, including the Fedaian and the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were executed as well.[36][37] According to Amnesty International, "thousands of political dissidents were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Iranian detention facilities across the country and extrajudicially executed pursuant to an order issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran and implemented across prisons in the country. Many of those killed during this time were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the process."[38]
The killings have been described as a political purge without precedent in modern Iranian history, both in terms of scope and coverup.[39] However, the exact number of prisoners executed remains a point of contention. Amnesty International, after interviewing dozens of relatives, puts the number in thousands;[40] and then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini's deputy, Hussein-Ali Montazeri put the number between 2,800 and 3,800 in his memoirs,[41] but an alternative estimation suggests that the number exceeded 30,000.[42] Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.[43]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebrahim_Raisi#1988_executions
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Hard-line judiciary head wins Iran presidency as turnout low
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief won a landslide victory Saturday in the country’s presidential election, a vote that both propelled the supreme leader’s protege into Tehran’s highest civilian position and saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
The election of Ebrahim Raisi, already sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, became more of a coronation after his strongest competition found themselves disqualified from running.
That sparked calls for a boycott and many apparently did stay home — out of over 59 million eligible voters, only 28.9 million voted. Of those voting, some 3.7 million people either accidentally or intentionally voided their ballots, far beyond the amount seen in previous elections and suggesting some wanted none of the four candidates.
Iranian state television immediately blamed challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and U.S. sanctions for the low participation. But the low turnout and voided ballots suggested a wider unhappiness with the tightly controlled election, as activists criticized Raisi’s ascension.
“That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said.
Rest - https://apnews.com/article/iran-election-ebrahim-raisi-judiciary-turnout-middle-east-4d60554fd608a5dea2c76a303ec352d8
Iran Poised To Elect Mass Murderer
Iran’s presidential frontrunner personally approved the secret mass murder of hundreds of regime critics in 1988—and can be heard defending and laughing about the gruesome massacre in a decades-old audio recording translated by the Washington Free Beacon.
Ebrahim Raisi, a cleric who serves as chief justice of Iran, is reported to be Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s favored candidate to win Friday’s presidential election, which most international observers see as a sham given the regime’s decision to disqualify any candidate viewed as a moderate. Raisi, who served as deputy prosecutor of Tehran in 1988, sat on a four-man panel that oversaw the killings of nearly 1,000 political prisoners. In an August 1988 audio recording, members of the commission can be heard defending the executions, arguing in support of killing 200 additional prisoners, and even laughing about their efforts to expedite the murders.
The recording indicates the Iranian regime is poised to empower one of the most hardline presidents in decades—a setback for the Biden administration which seeks closer relations between the United States and Iran. While Raisi's overseeing of torture is well–documented, the audio independently translated by the Free Beacon sheds new light on Raisi’s principal role in authorizing the killings.
Raisi's likely election comes as the Biden administration seeks to reenter the 2015 nuclear accord, which would pave the way for Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief. A radical new president could complicate the negotiations, as Iran signals that it wants more than was promised under the Obama administration’s original agreement. Outgoing president Hassan Rouhani, who was widely praised by the American media as a moderate, has backed his government’s demand for across-the-board sanctions relief, including on the country’s contested nuclear and missile programs.
In 1988, then-supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa that established "death commissions" in Iranian provinces, in order to execute nonviolent political dissidents who were already serving out prison sentences but had refused to renounce their political or religious affiliations and swear allegiance to the Islamic Republic.
The family of the late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who objected to the killings and was the heir apparent to the supreme leader at the time, published a recording of a 1988 panel meeting online in 2016. Montazeri had requested a meeting with the Tehran panel in 1988 to voice his strong opposition to the executions—a stance that later cost Montazeri his place in the line of succession and his clerical title.
Rest - https://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-poised-to-elect-mass-murderer/
From Wiki:
1988 executions
Main article: 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners
Hussein-Ali Montazeri named Raisi as one of the four persons involved in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.[27] Other persons were Morteza Eshraghi (Prosecutor of Tehran), Hossein-Ali Nayeri (Judge) and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (MOI representative in Evin). Names of first two persons are mentioned in Khomeini's order. Pourmohammadi has denied his role but Raisi has not commented publicly on the matter yet.[28][29]
The 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners was a series of state-sponsored execution of political prisoners across Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and lasting for approximately five months.[30][31][32][33][34][35] The majority of those killed were supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, although supporters of other leftist factions, including the Fedaian and the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were executed as well.[36][37] According to Amnesty International, "thousands of political dissidents were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Iranian detention facilities across the country and extrajudicially executed pursuant to an order issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran and implemented across prisons in the country. Many of those killed during this time were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the process."[38]
The killings have been described as a political purge without precedent in modern Iranian history, both in terms of scope and coverup.[39] However, the exact number of prisoners executed remains a point of contention. Amnesty International, after interviewing dozens of relatives, puts the number in thousands;[40] and then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini's deputy, Hussein-Ali Montazeri put the number between 2,800 and 3,800 in his memoirs,[41] but an alternative estimation suggests that the number exceeded 30,000.[42] Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.[43]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebrahim_Raisi#1988_executions