Ebrahim Raisi

Ebrahim Raisolsadati, or just Ebrahim Raisi is the 8th and current president of Iran since 2021. He is a sayyid, a descendant of Muhammad, (hence why he wears a black turban) and he is an Islamic jurist. Despite presenting himself as a moderate and an anti-corruption leader, he is responsible for grave human rights abuses and has overseen political repressions through his tenure as president and as a politician.

Rise to power
Raisi was born to a clerical family in Mashhad, and was educated in Islamic studies under Ruhollah Khomeini himself. He became the Prosecutor of Karaj and Hamadan in 1981, only to be appointed as Prosecutor of Hamadan Province after four months.

After Raisi was elected, the inauguration was so messy and was so bizarre that even Ahmadinejad called out the election.

Becoming president
Raisi was elected president during the 2021 election in Iran, beating Mohsen Rezaee and Abdonnaser Hemmati. From there, he continued to paint himself as an anti-corruption politician, and dealt poorly the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

Antisemitism and Holocaust denial
Raisi has made several statements denying the Holocaust. In an interview with the United States television show 60 Minutes, he downplayed the Holocaust and claimed that "there are some signs that it happened but it should be investigated further". Because of his antisemitic statements, he has received praise from white nationalists and neo-Nazis (despite being an actual aryan country).

In 2022, during protests by young Iranians against the tyranny of the Islamic regime, Raisi blamed the protests on America and the zionist regime attempting to undermine Iran.

Anti-Christian bigotry
Despite Raisi seemingly being friendly to Christian leaders in western countries (such as wishing them happy New Year's), his regime has been as bigoted against Christians as it has against Jews. Christians and other religious minorities are some of the first religious minority groups to feel the oppressive thumb of the Iranian government.

Several human rights organizations have found reports of Raisi's administration imprisoning religious minorities such as Bahai's, Christians, and Jews among other groups on the basis of their religious identity. UN experts have stated that disturbing cases of religious persecution have rose in recent years since Raisi took office.

Homophobia
Raisi has referred to the LGBT community as "savagery", and has advocating for allowing the death penalty on gay citizens. The Iranian government has been leading harassment campaigns against its gay and trans citizens and falsely charging them simply for being themselves.

Despite this, Iran’s LGBTQ+ has been going strong against government crackdowns, especially since the protests against the death of Mahsa Amini.

Misogyny
Raisi has a terrible record when it comes to women. He and his administration are responsible for the rise of violent attacks against women and girls, especially after the anti-hijab protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police.

Politicide
Raisi has called for politicides of his opponents, suppressing dissent from those he sees as not aligned with the regime. An example of this is the 1988 executions, when Raisi carried out a mass murder of political opponents under the order of Ruhollah Khomeini.

Raisi has also ordered on heavy internet crackdown and has most of the internet blocked within the country (so no access to sites like facebook, twitter, youtube, etc).

Friendliness with fellow authoritarians
Raisi has been friendly with fellow fascists such as Bashar al-Assad, another Islamist dictator, and Modi, an islamophobe and the leader of another actual Aryan country.

Raisi has also called for establishing relations with Saudi Arabia and their leaders, during times of lessening tensions between the two countries as a result of the foreign policy incompetence of the United States.

General human rights violations
Raisi is responsible for a number of human rights violations and has been called to be tried in international court by Amnesty International. His invitation to the US and his subsequent speech at the United Nations General Assembly was heavily criticized by human rights groups, and by people on the left and the right.

Despite Raisi ranting about human rights in a speech he made at the UN headquarters (with some legitimate criticisms), his own forces have been suppressing dissent and human rights in Iran. Because of Raisi's extremism, many observers of the events worldwide worry about the possible events that could unfold as Iran's access to nuclear armament could easily set off a war in the region.