Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric, has been elected unopposed as the President of Iran. There were no serious contenders as they were banned by the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council is an unelected body that answers to the supreme leader only. He won by over 18 million votes or 61.95 percent. Voter turnout was a dismal 48.8 percent.

Who is Ebrahim Raisi?

Ebrahim Raisi was born in 1960 to a religious family hailing from the north-eastern city of Mashhad. At the age of 20, he became the Prosecutor General of Karaj in 1980, moved up to become the Prosecutor of Tehran and the First Deputy to the Head of Judiciary from 2004 to 2014. In 2014, he held the position of Prosecutor General of Iran till 2016. In 2019, he was appointed the head of Iran’s judiciary.

The Hardliner

Ebrahim Raisi is associated with the paramilitary group Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was a member of the ‘death commission,’ a group of Iranian judiciary and intelligence officials tasked by the then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to oversee the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. The murders took place after the Iran-Iraq war in the Evin and Gohardasht prisons near Tehran.

Estimated at over 5,000 executions, the victims were leftist activists and members of the dissident group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The bodies were buried in unmarked mass graves, claimed Amnesty International.

Till date, he has not publicly addressed the allegations against him.

In 2019, the US sanctioned Raisi for human rights abuses, including the 1980s executions.

Political Clout

A new player in the political arena, he gained acceptance after he was carefully portrayed as a humble, no-nonsense and incorruptible figure in a campaign which started six years back.

In 2016, he gained popularity when Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Raisi as the custodian of Astan-e Qods-e Razavi. This multi-billion dollar religious conglomerate oversees the holy Shia shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad. Mashhad is the hometown of both Khamenei and Raisa.

In 2017, he lost to Hassan Rouhani in the elections. In 2019, he was appointed head of Iran’s judiciary. He was accused of granting blanket impunity to government officials and security forces that killed hundreds of men, women, and children.

There was condemnation from international quarters when wrestler Navid Afkari and journalist Ruhollah Zam were executed under his watch.

Nuclear Deal

The supreme leader runs the country and not the president, so no changes are to be expected after Raisi becomes the president, especially when it comes to the nuclear deal and foreign policy.

The 2015 nuclear deal that came unhinged due to Donald Trump’s walkout in 2018, has once again been revived. Raisi has gone on record saying he is unopposed to the deal. According to an Al Arabiya report, analysts say the benefits of lifting sanctions could be diminished as Raisi is known for his crimes against humanity.

The Chosen One

Analysts say he could be the chosen one after Khamenei, and winning the elections single-handedly could herald this, Al Arabiya reported. If by any chance, the supreme leader passes away with Raisi as the president, he would play a critical role and could even be a part of the interim leadership council.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Jun 22, 2021 9:25 PM IST