Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi is ready to sit on the President seat of Iran as he sweeps of the majority of votes, leaving others behind. After securing 62% of the Iranian votes, he is ready to take his oath as President.
Ebrahim Raisi is a person who has extremely conservative views and is the top Judge of Iran. Under the United States sanctions, Raisi has associated himself with several political prisoners’ execution. Just behind the Supreme leader, Hardliner Raisi holds the second position of the highest-ranking official of Iran.
President Raisi is due to take his seat during the first week of August. It is needless to say that his position and power will significantly impact foreign affairs and many domestic policies.
But the Iranian political system depends solely on the top-most religious cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s decision. The person who holds this position is said to have the final verdict about any decision taken regarding state affairs.
Since the Islamic Revolution took place in 1979, Iran has been running on the Shia Islamic ideologies. And this has led to the suppression of several political freedoms. Several Iranian citizens have seen this as a manipulation to help Hardliner Raisi win the presidential election. Subsequently, these Iranians have rejected the polls.
The official numbers revealed that the voter turnout appeared to be the lowest for a presidential election, which was 48.8% this year. But the elections in 2017 had a voter turnout of around 70%.
About Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi
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Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi is 60 years of age and has been a prosecutor almost all his life. At the age of 20, he was a chief prosecutor of Karaj, Alborz province, Iran. For the past 40 years, he has been influential and has held high-ranking positions.
Raisi has also fought the presidential election that took place in 2017 again Hassan Rouhani, where he lost badly. Later in 2019, Mr. Raisi took the position of judiciary head.
However, Raisi did not leave hope and still fought the elections this year and won by a majority. When he was present at Tehran to cast his vote, he remarked that the shortcomings and grievances of Iran’s people are real. And Mr. Raisi considers himself to be the best person to fight against the inequality and corruption taking place in Iran.
Hardliner Raisi is a person who considers himself as a true descendant of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. He strictly follows the Shia tradition and wears a black turban following the custom. Raisi’s rigid ideologies make him a prominent inheritor to the top-most religious cleric – Ayatollah Khamenei.
Several groups and plenty of Iranian citizens have expressed their views that Raisi played a major role at the age of 27 in the political prisoners’ mass executions in 1988.
In accordance with Amnesty International, Raisi was a part of the ‘death committee’’. The 2021 Iran president was among the four judges panel who were the ones that ignored 5000 prisoners’ secret death sentences that happened in the jails situated near Tehran.
Amnesty International says that Tehran is a place where both genders were buried in graves. And the entire procedure was done systematically by the officials of Iran.
Iran
Agnes Callamard’s reaction on Ebrahim Raisi being President
Agnes Callamard is the chief of Amnesty International currently. She shares her views about the presidentship of Hardliner Raisi.
Callamard remarks that in place of rigorous investigation against the person playing an integral part in several crimes is about to take the seat of the President. Further, she says Raisi has been supportive and a part of enforced torture, disappearance, and murder.
However, Raisi has refused to be a part of the death sentence. But current Iranian President also says that those death sentences were justified. It is because of religious ruling or fatwa the deaths were considered fair as per Ayatollah Khomeini.
Amnesty International also adds that when Mr. Raisi was the head of the judiciary in 2019, he overlooked the mass killing of protesters by security forces and officials.
Presidential impact on Iran and worldwide
According to the words of the current President Raisi, he says that he will work to eradicate US sanctions and abolish unemployment. These US sanctions have imposed an economic threat that the common Iranian citizens are facing. Subsequently, everything leading to the dissatisfaction of the Iranians, says Mr. Raisi.
To this, Kasra Naji, a BBC correspondent from Persia, says that Raisi’s presidentship implies that there will be a strait-laced Islamic government rule. All of which may mean lesser job opportunities and freedom for women, control over the press, social media, and social activities.
Supreme religious cleric Ayatollah Khamenei and President Raisi support the coming back of Iran’s international nuclear activity deal.
In 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed by Iran and many other countries. According to the JCPA, Iran would limit their nuclear activities in exchange for relief sanctions from the United States.
But in 2018, President Trump withdrew himself from this. However, current President Joe Biden says he is keen on reviving the JCPA deal. However, each of them is waiting for the other to take the first step.
Kasra Naji’s Analysis on Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi’s Presidentship
The results of the election have clearly declared Mr. Raisi’s win to acquire the President seat of Iran. However, several Iranians have not taken this win on the right note. Many of the Iranian people haven’t been happy with their conditions of living in a crippled economy. They show their discontent over mismanagement of the authorities and also the US sanctions.
The election result in no way will relieve their concerns. Moreover, these Iranians fear that their existence might become more unstable. Last few years, Iran has been a witness to several thousand murders and has seen uncertainty upfront.
Ebrahim Raisi’s presidentship will leave a massive impact on the executive, judiciary, and legislative branches. ‘Iran will be a more closed society, says Kasra Naji, Persian BBC correspondent. She further adds that the freedom will be snatched away from the residents all the more after Raisi’s presidentship.
Also, she says that the regime might take economic help from China to come off their crisis. Further, she warns that with the West, there might be an increase in tension. Also, she adds that the reviving of the JCPA between the United States and Iran might be uncertain.
Current reports say that the talk between the two parties is already about to take a break for several weeks. This gap implies both sides get time to accept and adjust themselves to Iran’s new reality.
Was the Iranian Presidential election free from manipulation?
There were more than 600 candidates, which included 40 women who had signed up for the presidential elections. However, by the end, the panel approved seven male candidates only. This was decided by 12 theologians and jurists panel present in the Guardian Council.
This is an unelected panel that takes the last decision regarding who is the perfect candidate to fight the elections. However, among the seven male candidates, the unelected body asked three of them to pull themselves off just before the voting day.
Mohsen Mehralizadeh, a reformer candidate, remarked that the heavens, moon, and sun are assignees of the ruling clerics to make one person the President. The candidate said this in a TV debate before he withdrew himself.
In the meantime, ex-President Ahmadinejad declared in a video that he would not cast his vote. He also said by casting his voting rights in the election; he would be a part of a ‘sin.’
