Butcher of Tehran': Who was Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi?
Joshua Askew, May 20, 2025.
Iran's president has died following a helicopter crash on Sunday, but who was he, and how did he come to lead the Islamic Republic?
...The hardliner was there during many major domestic and international events shaping Iran's recent history.
He helped oversee the mass execution of thousands in the 1980s and later presided over a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests at home.
Abroad, the cleric-turned-politician struck a tough stance in nuclear talks with the West and launched an unprecedented assault on Israel..
Dissent at home.
Mass protests swept Iran in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly not covering her hair properly — as mandated by Iranian law.
Amini's family, activists and observers claimed police severely beat her, though the government claimed she had a heart attack.
The following months of nationwide unrest were one of the gravest challenges to Iran's rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
With Raisi ..., Iranian authorities fiercely cracked down on the demonstrations, killing more than 500 people and detaining some 22,000 others.
Since then, the regime has launched a new crackdown on women's dress codes, which human rights group Amnesty International has described as a "war on women"...
Iran's president has died following a helicopter crash on Sunday, but who was he, and how did he come to lead the Islamic Republic?
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