Jun 19, 2021 - World

Amnesty: Iran's Raisi should be investigated for alleged crimes against humanity

Oriana González

Picture of Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi — Ebrahim Raisi. Photo: Meghdad Madadi ATPImages/Getty Images

Amnesty International on Saturday called for Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi to be investigated for crimes against humanity for his alleged role in what the group contends was the extrajudicial executions of imprisoned political dissidents in 1988.

The big picture: Raisi was declared the winner of Iran's presidential elections on Saturday. Amnesty International has previously called on the United Nations to start an investigation into the executions.

Flashback: Toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, the Iranian government executed thousands of prisoners. Raisi was a member of a commission in charge of the executions.

What they're saying: "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," said Amnesty's Agnès Callamard.

Callamard said neither the Iranian government or Raisi has publicly acknowledged the executions: "The circumstances surrounding the fate of the victims and the whereabouts of their bodies are, to this day, systematically concealed by the Iranian authorities, amounting to ongoing crimes against humanity."

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Amnesty: Iran's Raisi should be investigated for alleged crimes against humanity

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