'People are in no mood to mourn': mixed reactions in Tehran after death of President Ebrahim Raisi

Source: The Guardian

‘People are in no mood to mourn’: mixed reactions in Tehran after death of President Ebrahim Raisi

Iran’s supreme leader has announced a five-day mourning period, but there have been fireworks and cheering in the country since the death was confirmed

Deepa Parent
Mon 20 May 2024 13.31 BST
Last modified on Mon 20 May 2024 14.25 BST

Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, announced a five-day public mourning period after the deaths of Raisi, the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other passengers on the helicopter. However, Iranians who spoke to the Guardian have refused to lament the death of a man who they say was responsible for hundreds of deaths in his four-decade political career.

It was during Raisi’s tenure that protests swept the country after the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested by police under Iran’s harsh hijab laws. More than 19,000 protesters were jailed, and at least 500 were killed – including 60 children – during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The police continue to violently arrest women for refusing hijab rules.

Hours before Raisi’s death was confirmed by state media, videos circulated on Telegram showing celebratory fireworks, ...

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/may/20/people-are-in-no-mood-to-mourn-mixed-reactions-in-tehran-after-death-of-president-ebrahim-raisi