As official mourning for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was declared by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, other Iranians at home and abroad celebrated his death.
Early Monday, rescue teams found the charred wreckage of the helicopter that went down Sunday carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew, according to Reuters.
All aboard the chopper were killed when it went down in a remote region while returning from neighboring Azerbaijan.
The 63-year-old Raisi had been president since 2021 and clamped down fiercely against dissent and protests in 2022.
As NBC News noted, he acquired the nickname “Butcher of Tehran” after the execution of several thousand political prisoners following the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.
That and other repressive actions led to multiple people in Iran and elsewhere posting videos to social media to celebrate Raisi’s death.
Saqqez – Using fireworks, people express their joy and happiness over crashing the helicopter of Islamic Republic President Ebrahim Raisi and his possible death. pic.twitter.com/PBCKKwbCek
— Soran Khateri (@sorankhateri) May 19, 2024
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 the President of… pic.twitter.com/y2PR1XkGGx— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) May 20, 2024
– Have some cookies
-The occasion?
-Well, we both know the occasion.
Laughter.
This video I received from inside Iran speaks volumes about how oppressed people celebrate the death of their oppressors like Ebrahim Raisi. #IranIsHappy
pic.twitter.com/YcmADvamiS— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) May 20, 2024
Very happy Iranians in London following the confirmed death of Iranian President Raisi.
Refreshing to not see terrorist sympathisers for a change in London. pic.twitter.com/A31nWEyNkJ
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) May 20, 2024
Among those celebrating were Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, who showed themselves dancing and smiling.
Shahinkar was blinded during the 2022 protests; Moradbeigi lost the use of one arm after a guard shot her.
Two Iranian women who have faced the brutality of the Islamic regime celebrate the news that President Raisi’s helicopter crashed.
Mersedeh Shahinkar was blinded in one eye while protesting against the Islamic Republic in the aftermath of the 2022 murder of Jina Mahsa Amini.… pic.twitter.com/9dWqbhvsaO
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 20, 2024
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said Raisi’s death represented a “monumental strategic blow to the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the entire regime,” voicing the hope that it could lead to a rebellion, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
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“The curse of mothers and those seeking justice for the executed, along with the damnation of the Iranian people and history, mark the legacy of Ebrahim Raisi, the notorious perpetrator of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners,” she said.
Although Raisi is gone, the regime that installed him as president remains, Sima Shine, a former senior official in the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, told The New York Times.
“From Israel’s point of view, I don’t see any achievement in his being replaced by some other radical conservative Iranian,” Shine said. “The president is not the most important person in Iran.”
