President Raisi's death met with muted mourning and furtive celebration

BARD AI · 2024-05-21T06:18:04+00:00

Iran declared five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday. However, the subdued atmosphere did not reflect the intense public grief that has been seen in the past for other senior figures in the country's 45-year history. While government loyalists gathered in mosques and public squares to pray for Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who were both killed in a helicopter crash, most shops remained open and the authorities made little effort to disrupt everyday life. A year after Raisi's hardline government violently suppressed the largest anti-establishment protests since the 1979 revolution, opponents even shared secret videos online of people distributing sweets to celebrate his death. Laila, a 21-year-old student in Tehran, told Reuters over the phone that she was not saddened by Raisi's death because he had ordered a crackdown on women for not wearing hijabs. However, she did express sadness because she believed that the regime would not change even with Raisi's death. Human rights groups report that hundreds of Iranians died in demonstrations that took place from 2022 to 2023, which were triggered by the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested by morality police for violating the country's strict dress code. The authorities' handling of various political, social, and economic crises has widened the gap between the clerical rulers and society. Supporters of the clerical establishment spoke highly of Raisi, a 63-year-old former hardline jurist who was elected in a tightly controlled vote in 2021. Mohammad Hossein Zarrabi, 28, a member of the volunteer Basij militia in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom, described Raisi as a hardworking president and believes that his legacy will endure. However, there was not the same level of emotional rhetoric that was seen during the deaths of other revered figures, such as Qasem Soleimani, a senior commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards who was killed by a US missile in 2020 in Iraq. Soleimani's funeral drew massive crowds of mourners who were visibly grieving and filled with anger. For opponents of Iran's clerical rulers, both at home and in exile, Raisi has been a despised figure since the 1980s when he was implicated in the execution of dissidents as a jurist. Iran has never officially acknowledged the occurrence of mass executions, but Amnesty International estimates that 5,000 Iranians, possibly more, were executed in the first decade after the revolution. In online forums discussing Raisi's death, internet user Soran Mansournia posted, "I congratulate the families of the victims of the executions." However, another user named Narges mourned Raisi as having died a martyr's death. Many Iranians believe that Raisi's death will have little impact on the country's governance, as it is expected that another hardline figure will replace him. "We're too preoccupied with economic and social issues to be concerned about such news," said Reza, a 47-year-old shopkeeper in the central desert city of Yazd, who did not provide his full name out of fear of reprisals. MONITOR

Thread starter BARD AI
Start date May 21, 2024
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President Raisi's death met with muted mourning and furtive celebration

BARD AI

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