Ebrahim Raisi’s Track Record
Today, we’re diving into the alarming rise in executions in Iran over the past month. In a surprising twist, this issue has been overshadowed by the death of Ebrahim Raisi, the second-highest official responsible for these executions.
You’ve probably heard the news about Raisi, the Iranian regime’s president, dying in a helicopter crash. This news has brought immense joy and relief to the people of Iran, as one of the key figures behind the executions since 1979 is no longer.
However, the suffering of the Iranian people won’t truly end until they, along with the Iranian Resistance, manage to overthrow the entire regime—a process that’s already underway.
In today’s episode, we’ll also take a closer look at Raisi’s brutal record of executing and suppressing Iranian women and girls.
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So, let’s start with an overview of the current rate of executions in Iran. What’s been happening over the past month?
Sadly, over the past month since April 20, at least 126 prisoners have been executed in Iran. Among them, shockingly, were six women.
Just last week, the NCRI Women’s Committee issued a statement condemning the execution of three women within three days. One of these women was Parvin Moussavi, a 53-year-old mother of two who was battling cancer. She was accused of trafficking drugs, but she didn’t even know what she was carrying. She had been duped into thinking it was for medicinal purposes and transported it for just nine dollars.
This is the harsh reality in Iran, where people lose their lives under a merciless judiciary and government.
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How many women are executed in Iran? Can you give us a background on that?
The Iranian regime holds the grim world record for executing women and tops the list for the highest per capita executions worldwide.
Before Raisi became the regime’s president, the average number of women executed each year was 15. But after Raisi took office, this average jumped to 21, with 26 women executed in 2023 alone.
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Who are the women executed by the clerical regime in Iran?
Most of the women sentenced to death for murder or drug trafficking in Iran are actually victims themselves. They’ve often suffered from domestic violence or been forced into early marriages, which are all too common under the mullahs’ rule. Many of these women have killed their husbands in self-defense.
Recently, with poverty reaching extreme levels in Iran, some of these women have committed crimes out of sheer desperation. One of the women executed was just 33 years old. Eight years ago, she tragically killed her own children because she couldn’t afford to feed them. She even tried to take her own life but was saved by her sister, only to spend eight years in jail before being executed by the regime.
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So, what’s Raisi’s track record when it comes to women?
Raisi has a notorious track record when it comes to women. Alongside a high rate of executions, he’s been infamous for violently cracking down on women who don’t observe the mandatory veil. Right after taking office in August 2021, he set up two garrisons to train civilian patrols to monitor and impose more restrictions on women at work and in public.
The extra-violent arrests of women and girls in the streets are a direct result of Ebrahim Raisi’s policies and advice, something that continues to this day. During his tenure, he introduced measures like recruiting business owners, employers, and managers, and threatening to shut down businesses or fire employees if women didn’t follow the dress code. He also banned women who don’t observe the compulsory veil from entering metro stations, banks, and other public services.
Under Raisi, we saw, for the first time, a woman forced to make false confessions on TV for not wearing the compulsory veil. And, of course, there were the murders of defiant women, starting with Zhina Mahsa Amini, who died in custody due to violent treatment by the morality police, and last year, Armita Geravand, who was killed at a metro station by hijab patrols.
