Sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi divides society. Five days of national mourning have been officially declared, but many Iranians do not mourn Raisi.
Mourning ceremonies began yesterday in Iran for the victims of the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian over the weekend. Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning. Khamenei also led today's mourning procession in the capital Tehran.
"He was not my president"
"I would gladly get in the car with my friends and go to the Caspian Sea," a young woman from Tehran told DV. She will definitely not join the funeral procession, although according to information from "France Press" townspeople have received text messages inviting them to join her. The day has been declared a national holiday. "He was not my president, I did not vote for him. I haven't voted in a long time because I don't believe that my vote matters and changes anything.
Ebrahim Raisi was elected president of Iran in 2021. However, the elections he won saw the lowest voter turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic - 48%. Raisi took 62 percent of the vote, gaining the support of mostly conservative circles in society. After his death, Iranians are divided.
On Tuesday, state media released photos of the mourning ceremony in the city of Tabriz, showing thousands of mourners. Tabriz is the capital of East Azerbaijan province, where the helicopter crashed. Footage from Iranian news agencies showed crowds of people under cloudy skies and an open truck decorated with flowers and carrying several coffins moving slowly through the streets. People try to touch it.
Photos and videos of Iranians celebrating on social media
In social networks, however, the mood is different. Especially in Platform X, many Iranians are celebrating the president's death. Photos and videos of people dancing and rejoicing over Raisi's death have circulated, including two young women who were shot by security forces with metal and rubber bullets during the mass "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. . Saeed Afkari, brother of the Iranian fighter Navid Afkari, who was executed in September 2020, wrote: "In so many years I have not seen my mother so happy.
Before becoming Iran's president, Raisi was a member of the "death commission" responsible for numerous executions, and then president of the country's Supreme Court. He also played a key role in the brutal suppression of protests in Iran, most recently after the death of Gina Mahsa Amini in September 2022.
Raisi was never brought before an international court
"It would have been fair for Raisi to be brought before an international court for his crimes in a fair trial. But that would not be possible in the near future. That's why many Iranians are happy that he died this way," said sociologist Mehrdad Darvishpour, who is a professor at Mällardalen University in Sweden. "His death, in which after hours of unsuccessful attempts to find the missing president, the authorities turned to America, Europe and Turkey for help and finally, thanks to a Turkish reconnaissance drone, the bodies were found, explains the gloating of many Iranians. Especially since Raisi was not only one of the most criminal figures of this regime, but also one of the most important potential candidates to inherit power after the death of Khamenei. His death caused great joy among many.
Raisi will be buried on Thursday in the Shiite center of his hometown of Mashhad, at the historic shrine of Imam Reza.