Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protege of the country’s supreme leader, has died. He was 63.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi listens to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not in photo, during a joint news conference following their meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 24, 2024.
His election came at a time when relations between Tehran and Washington were particularly tense following U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw America from a nuclear deal aimed at limiting Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. Mass protests swept the country in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been detained over her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and more than 22,000 others were detained.
Born in Mashhad on Dec. 14, 1960, Raisi was born into a family that traces its lineage to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, as signaled by the black turban he would later wear. His father died when he was 5. He went on to the seminary in the Shiite holy city of Qom and later described himself as an ayatollah, a high-ranking Shiite cleric.
Some who appeared were asked to identify themselves. Those who responded “mujahedeen” were sent to their deaths.“I am proud of being a defender of human rights and of people’s security and comfort as a prosecutor wherever I was,” said Raisi, who also served as Iran’s attorney general for a time.
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