While Iran's emergency services announced that they had recovered the bodies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi and the eight other passengers on board the helicopter that crashed the day before in the northwest of the country on Monday, May 20, international reaction was overwhelming.
Ultraconservative and authoritarian, Ebrahim Raïssi was controversial for his handling of the protest movement that rocked Iran in late 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by the morality police for not adhering to strict Islamic dress codes. Republic.
“Human rights violations”
Several hundred people were killed and thousands arrested during the protests. Iran's president then welcomed him“a new historic failure that befell Iran's enemies after the riots” in 2022.
Seven people, including two women, were also hanged this Saturday, May 18 in Iran, while the Islamic Republic featured prominently “Use of the death penalty for political purposes”according to the NGO IHR (Iranian Human Rights), based in Norway.
Although most of the political backlash came from Iran's supporters (Russia, India, China, etc.), some Iranians did not share their grief.
“On Iranian social networks, champagne and delicious parties celebrated the death of President Ebrahim Raïssi. Under his mandate, oppression increased, and he was one of the potential successors to the Supreme Leader.angered French TV journalist Stéphanie Perez in X.
On social networks, some internet users consider the death of Ebrahim Raïssi as a celebration and not as a tragedy. He is on the blacklist of Iranian officials sanctioned by the US “involvement in serious human rights violations”.
From “ friends ” from Russia
The European Union made minimum diplomatic efforts through the voice of European Council President Charles Michel who explained “sincere condolences” from the EU to Iran after the death of Ebrahim Raissi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and “other members of their delegation”.
“Ebrahim Raïssi first […] a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighborly relations between our countries”Russian President Vladimir Putin also expressed condolences in a telegram broadcast by the Kremlin.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, for his part, spoke about a “a huge loss for the Iranian people”, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared himself “deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic loss of people” from the Iranian president.
“Pakistan will observe a day of mourning and its flag will be flown at half-mast” in the “solidarity with Iran”wrote Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in X.
Türkiye “share the suffering of the Iranian people, friends and brothers”said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, following the announcement of the Iranian president's death. “Unfortunately, the news from Iran deeply saddens us”he added during a press conference.
“Support for Palestinian resistance”
The Palestinian Islamic Movement Hamas also conveyed this in its press release “condolences” to the Iranian people following the announcement of the death of President Ebrahim Raïssi, welcome “support for Palestinian resistance and continuous solidarity efforts” with Palestine since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza with Israel.
In a joint press conference with the Azerbaijani president on Sunday, hours before his helicopter crash, Ebrahim Raïssi once again gave his support to Hamas against Israel. “We believe that Palestine is the first issue of the Muslim world”he stated specifically.
Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on April 13, with 350 drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted with the help of the United States and several other allied countries.
