The past of President Raisi: His "death commissions" executed over 5,000 people

President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, died as a result of a helicopter crash that took place in Eastern Azerbaijan Province. Raisi, known for his ultra-conservative approach, was considered a protégé of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a potential candidate to succeed him.

Raisi, who always wore a black turban and cloak, was an ayatollah, a Shiite scholar. On the Iranian political scene, he was known as an unwavering supporter of maintaining order.

Ebrahim Raisi was born in 1960 in the Shiite holy city of Mashhad. His professional career began at just 20, when after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he was appointed attorney general in Karaj, near Tehran. For the next 30 years, he climbed the career ladder, serving, among other positions, as the country's attorney general from 2004 to 2014. In 2019, he took over as head of Iran's judiciary.

In 2017, Raisi unsuccessfully ran for the presidency, losing to Hasan Rouhani, a moderate cleric who, as president, led to the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers.

In 2021, Raisi ran again in the presidential elections. As a result of these elections, all his major opponents were excluded from running under the Iranian verification system. Raisi, presenting himself as an advocate for the lower classes and a supporter of fighting corruption, secured almost 62 percent of the 28.9 million votes. This was the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history —many citizens chose to stay at home, and some cast invalid votes.

Parliamentary elections held in March and mid-May strengthened Raisi's position as new legislative bodies became largely controlled by government-supporting conservative and ultra-conservative camps.

These were the first nationwide elections since protests that shook Iran at the end of 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by the morality police for wearing her hijab (scarf) improperly.

Raisi supported the security forces that suppressed all dissent following Amini's death. During their actions, over 500 people were killed, and more than 22,000 were detained.

In recent months, Raisi has shown himself as a staunch opponent of Israel, providing support to Palestinian Hamas during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip since October. He also supported the unprecedented Iranian attack on the Jewish state on 13 April using 350 drones and missiles in response to an Israeli attack that killed Iranian generals at their country's embassy in Damascus, Syria.

Non-governmental organizations accuse Raisi of human rights violations in 1988 when he, as a prosecutor, sentenced political prisoners and militants to death. When the then-Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a UN-brokered ceasefire, members of the Iranian opposition group People's Mujahedin (militants) armed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein unexpectedly crossed the Iranian border but were stopped by Iranian forces.

According to a 1990 Amnesty International report, during the trials, accused militants were supposed to identify themselves, and those who said they were "mujahedin" were sentenced to death, while the rest were interrogated about their willingness to "clear minefields for the Islamic Republic's army." International human rights organizations estimate that so-called death commissions, in which Raisi worked, decided on the execution of about 5,000 people.

In 2019, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Raisi "for his administrative oversight over the execution of individuals who were minors at the time of their crime, as well as for torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran, including amputations." His involvement in the 1988 executions was also mentioned.