Ebrahim Raisi: Every part we learn about Iranian president killed in helicopter crash

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, 63, died alongside Iran’s international minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior native officers on board the helicopter on 19 Could.

Raisi was confirmed useless after hours of frantic looking via a foggy mountainous area.

Iran’s inside minister Ahmed Vahidi confirmed earlier to state TV that one of many helicopters in a convoy carrying President Raisi, 63, suffered a “arduous touchdown” – including that rescue groups struggled to succeed in the location as a result of ongoing tough climate circumstances.

The affirmation of Mr Raisi’s demise got here via state TV and a government-run information company early on Monday morning. On Sunday night time, Iranians had been urged to collectively pray for his or her president, whereas state TV aired prayers for his security in addition to displaying worshipers praying for his well being within the holy metropolis of Mashhad.

An occasion happening to mark the demise of Raisi in London on Friday resulted in a conflict between pro-Iran supporters and anti-Iranian authorities protesters

With tributes and reactions pouring in from different nations world wide, right here’s what we learn about Mr Raisi and his time in workplace.

Rise to energy

Born to a conservative household in japanese Iran, Raisi studied theology on the seminaries in Qom.

He was a teen when the nation’s common revolution established Iran as a theocracy, however he shortly turned an enthusiastic participant in implementing the imaginative and prescient of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic.

At 21 years previous, Raisi started serving as a prosecutor, pursuing politically charged instances within the cities of Karaj and Hamadan. He gained a fame as one of many regime’s most extreme figures – a younger, brash ideologue, prepared to get his arms soiled.

Inside just a few years, Raisi was appointed as a decide, a speedy rise that was beautiful to Iranians and led to years of questions on his skilled credentials.

Raisi additionally faces sanctions from the US and different nations over his involvement within the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.

Raisi was defiant when requested at a information convention after his election in regards to the 1988 executions, which noticed sham retrials of political prisoners, militants and others that might turn out to be often known as “demise commissions” on the finish of the bloody Iran-Iraq warfare.

Raisi served on the commissions the place worldwide rights teams estimate that as many as 5,000 individuals have been executed.

He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2017 in opposition to Hassan Rouhani, the comparatively average cleric who as president reached Tehran’s 2015 nuclear cope with world powers.

In 2021, Raisi ran once more in an election that noticed all of his probably outstanding opponents barred from working beneath Iran’s vetting system. He swept practically 62 per cent of the 28.9 million votes, the bottom turnout by share within the Islamic Republic’s historical past. Thousands and thousands stayed dwelling and others voided ballots.

Time in workplace

Since taking workplace 2021, Raisi has ordered a tightening of morality legal guidelines, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed arduous in nuclear talks with world powers.

He has supported the nation’s safety providers as they cracked down on all dissent, together with within the aftermath of the 2022 demise of Mahsa Amini and the nationwide protests that adopted.

Mahsa Amini was an Iranian girl who was arrested in Tehran for opposing obligatory hijab guidelines. The 22-year-old later died in police custody in 2022.

In March, a United Nations investigative panel discovered that Iran was accountable for the “bodily violence” that led to Amini’s demise.

Her demise sparked mass prorests and a monthslong safety crackdown killed greater than 500 individuals and noticed over 22,000 detained.

In Iran’s twin political system, cut up between the clerical institution and the federal government, it’s the supreme chief somewhat than the president who has the ultimate say on all main insurance policies.

However many see Raisi as a powerful contender to succeed his 85-year-old mentor, Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has strongly endorsed Raisi’s principal insurance policies.

What’s subsequent for Iran?

Below Iranian legal guidelines, if a serving president dies, the primary vp takes workplace, with the affirmation of the supreme chief, who has the ultimate say in all issues of state in Iran. The present vp Mohammad Mokhber is anticipated to be promoted because the interim president of Iran.

It is going to be adopted by an election for a brand new president inside a most interval of fifty days. The elections will now happen a yr previous to once they have been scheduled in 2025 when Raisi’s time period would have ended.

Who’s the brand new interim president?

Mr Mokhber, 69, is seen as an in depth aide to the supreme chief and have become vp in 2021 when Raisi was elected as president.

He was a part of a crew of Iranian officers delegation who visited Moscow in October and agreed to provide surface-to-surface missiles and extra drones to russia’s navy, sources advised Reuters on the time.

The crew additionally included two senior officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme Nationwide Safety Council.

In 2010, he was among the many people and entities who have been sanctioned by the European Union for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile actions”. Two years later their names have been faraway from the listing.