Death of Raisi met with mourning & celebration among Iranians

Iran has proclaimed five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi, though a muted atmosphere revealed little of the spectacular public grief that accompanied the deaths of other senior figures in the Islamic Republic's 45-year history.

While government loyalists packed into mosques and squares to pray for Mr Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, both killed in a helicopter crash, most shops remained open and the authorities made little effort to interrupt ordinary life.

A year after Raisi's violent hardline cracked to end the biggest anti-establishment demos since the 1979 revolution, opponents posted furtive videos of people passing out sweets to celebrate his death.

Laila, a 21-year-old student in Tehran, told Reuters by phone that she was not saddened by Raisi's death, "because he ordered the crackdown on women for hijab".

"But I am sad because even with Raisi's death this regime will not change," she said.

Rights groups say hundreds of Iranians died in 2022-23 demonstrations triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman arrested by morality police for violating the country's strict dress codes.

The authorities' handling of an array of political, social and economic crises has deepened the gap between the clerical rulers and society.

Supporters of the clerical establishment spoke admiringly of Mr Raisi, a 63-year-old former hardline jurist elected in a tightly controlled vote in 2021.

"He was a hard-working president. His legacy will endure as long as we are alive," said Mohammad Hossein Zarrabi, 28, a member of the volunteer Basij militia in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom.

Raisi inspired hate for decades:

But there was little of the emotional rhetoric that accompanied the deaths of publicly revered figures, like Qasem Soleimani, a senior commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards killed by a US missile in 2020 in Iraq, whose funeral drew huge crowds of mourners, weeping with sorrow and rage.

For opponents of Iran's clerical rulers at home and in exile, Raisi has been a hate figure since the 1980s when he was blamed for playing a leading role as a jurist in the execution of dissidents.

Iran has never acknowledged that mass executions took place.

Amnesty International says 5,000 Iranians, possibly more, were executed in the first decade after the revolution.

Masih Alinejad:

"I am so happy to see smiles on your faces. This is how the daughters of Minoo Majidi, who was killed by the Iranian regime during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, reacted to the news of Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash."

"I congratulate the families of the victims of the executions," internet user Soran Mansournia posted in an online forum debating the legacy of Mr Raisi's death.

However, Narges, another user, lamented Raisi as having died "a martyr's death".

Many Iranians said they expected Raisi's death would have little impact on how the country would be ruled, with the establishment likely to replace him with another figure with similarly hardline views.

Just a few months ago, Ebrahim Raisi executed her son, Now, she’s dancing over his death in a helicopter crash.

I told you Iranian women are wounded, but unbowed to their oppressors.

My social media is flooded with videos of the family members of those killed by him."

"Who cares. One hardliner dies, another takes over and our misery continues," said Reza, 47, a shopkeeper in the central desert city of Yazd who did not give his full name fearing reprisals.

"We're too busy with economic and social issues to worry about such news.

Source | Reuters