Ebrahim Raisi

Ayatollah Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi
President-elect of Iran
Assuming office 3 August 2021
Supreme Leader	Ali Khamenei
Vice President	TBA
Succeeding	Hassan Rouhani
Chief Justice of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 March 2019
Appointed by	Ali Khamenei
First Vice	Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
Preceded by	Sadeq Larijani
Prosecutor-General of Iran
In office 23 August 2014 – 1 April 2016
Appointed by	Sadeq Larijani
Preceded by	Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
Succeeded by	Mohammad Jafar Montazeri
Member of the Assembly of Experts
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 May 2016
Constituency	South Khorasan Province
Majority	325,139 (80.0%)
In office 20 February 2007 – 21 May 2016
Constituency	South Khorasan Province
Majority	200,906 (68.6%)
First Vice Chief Justice of Iran
In office 27 July 2004 – 23 August 2014
Chief Justice	Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Sadeq Larijani
Preceded by	Mohammad-Hadi Marvi
Succeeded by	Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
Chairman of General Inspection Office
In office 22 August 1994 – 9 August 2004
Appointed by	Mohammad Yazdi
Preceded by	Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad
Succeeded by	Mohammad Niazi
Personal details
Born	Seyyed Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati (1960-12-14) 14 December 1960 Mashhad, Imperial State of Iran
Political party	Combatant Clergy Association
Other political affiliations	Islamic Republican Party (until 1987)
Spouse	Jamileh Alamolhoda
Children	2
Relatives	Ahmad Alamolhoda (father-in-law)
Alma mater	Shahid Motahari University Qom Seminary
Signature	File:امضا سید ابراهیم رئیسی.jpg
Website	Official website

Sayyid Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati (Persian: سید ابراهیم رئیس‌الساداتی; born 14 December 1960), commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi (Persian: ابراهیم رئیسی, ), is an Iranian conservative and principlist politician, Muslim jurist, Chief Justice of Iran, and President-elect of Iran, having been elected in the 2021 Iranian presidential election. He has served in several positions in Iran's judicial system, such as Attorney General (2014–2016), and Deputy Chief Justice (2004–2014). He was also Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran in the 1980s and 1990s. He was Custodian and Chairman of Astan Quds Razavi, a bonyad, from 2016 until 2019. He is also a member of Assembly of Experts from South Khorasan Province, being elected for the first time in the 2006 election. He is the son-in-law of Mashhad Friday prayer leader and Grand Imam of Imam Reza shrine, Ahmad Alamolhoda.

Raisi ran for president in 2017 as the candidate of the conservative Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces, losing to moderate incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, 57% to 38.3%. He is running again for the presidency in 2021, and is projected to win. He was one of the four people in the prosecution committee, responsible for the execution of thousands of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 which is labeled Death committee by Islamic Republic of Iran's opposition groups and some western media. He is sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control in accordance with Executive Order 13876. He is accused of crimes against humanity by international human rights organizations and United Nations special rapporteurs.

Early life

Ebrahim Raisi in 1980

Ebrahim Raisi was born on 14 December 1960 to a Persian clerical family in the Noghan district of Mashhad. His father, Seyed Haji, died when he was 5.

Academic education

There is no credible source to have verified Raeisi's traditional schooling record. In his biography on his campaign website mentions only his primary schooling but it does not mention whether he finished high school. He has claimed to have received a doctorate degree in Private law from Motahari University, however, this has been disputed.

Clerical credentials

He began to study in Qom Seminary at the age of 15. Then he decided to educate in Navvab school for a short time. After that, he went to Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Mousavi Nezhad school and his studying was coincided with teaching to other students. In 1976, he went to Qom to continue his studying in Ayatollah Borujerdi school. He was the student of Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, Morteza Motahhari, Abolghasem Khazali, Hossein Noori Hamedani, Ali Meshkini and Morteza Pasandideh. According to Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute, Raisi's "exact religious qualification" is a "sore point". "For a while" prior to investigation by the Iranian media, he "referred to himself" as "Ayatollah" on his personal website. However, according to Vatanka, the media "publicized his lack of formal religious education" and credentials, after which Raisi ceased claiming to hold the aforementioned rank. He now "refers to himself as hojat-ol-eslam", a clerical position lower in status and privilege.

Judicial career

Early years

In 1981, he was appointed the prosecutor of Karaj. Later on, he was also appointed as Prosecutor of Hamadan and served both position together. He was simultaneously active in two cities more than 300 km away from each other. After four months, he was appointed as Prosecutor of Hamadan Province.

Tehran deputy prosecutor

He was appointed as Deputy prosecutor of Tehran in 1985 and moved to the capital. After three years and in early 1988, he was placed in the attention of Ruhollah Khomeini and received special provisions (independent from judiciary) from him to address legal issues in some provinces like Lorestan, Semnan and Kermanshah.

1988 executions

Main article: 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners

Hussein-Ali Montazeri named Raisi as one of the four persons involved in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners. Other persons were Morteza Eshraghi (Prosecutor of Tehran), Hossein-Ali Nayeri (Judge) and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (MOI representative in Evin). Names of first two persons are mentioned in Khomeini's order. Pourmohammadi has denied his role but Raisi has not commented publicly on the matter yet.

The 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners was a series of state-sponsored execution of political prisoners across Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and lasting for approximately five months. The majority of those killed were supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, although supporters of other leftist factions, including the Fedaian and the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were executed as well. According to Amnesty International, "thousands of political dissidents were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Iranian detention facilities across the country and extrajudicially executed pursuant to an order issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran and implemented across prisons in the country. Many of those killed during this time were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in the process."

The killings have been described as a political purge without precedent in modern Iranian history, both in terms of scope and coverup. However, the exact number of prisoners executed remains a point of contention. Amnesty International, after interviewing dozens of relatives, puts the number in thousands; and then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini's deputy, Hussein-Ali Montazeri put the number between 2,800 and 3,800 in his memoirs, but an alternative estimation suggests that the number exceeded 30,000. Because of the large number, prisoners were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals.

Senior positions

After Khomeini's death and election of Ali Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader, Raisi was appointed as Tehran prosecutor by newly appointed Chief-Justice Mohammad Yazdi. He held the office for five years from 1989 to 1994. In 1994, he was appointed as head of General Inspection Office.

From 2004 until 2014, Raisi served as First Deputy Chief Justice of Iran, being appointed by Chief Justice Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. He kept his position in Sadeq Larijani's first term as Chief Justice. He was later appointed as Attorney-General of Iran in 2014, a position that he held until 2016, when he resigned to become Chairman of Astan Quds Razavi. He has also served as Special Clerical Court prosecutor.

Astan Quds chairmanship

He became Chairman of Astan Quds Razavi on 7 March 2016 after the death of his predecessor Abbas Vaez-Tabasi. He is the second person to serve this office from 1979. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei enumerated serving the pilgrims of the holy shrine, especially poor people and also serve nearby, especially the poor and dispossessed as two important responsibilities of Raisi in his appointment order.

2017 presidential election

Main article: Ebrahim Raisi presidential campaign, 2017

Raisi speaking at a presidential campaign rally in Tehran's Shahid Shiroudi Stadium

Raisi was named as one of the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces (JAMNA)'s presidential candidates in February 2017. His candidacy was also supported by the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability. He officially announced his nomination in a statement published on 6 April, and called it his “religious and revolutionary responsibility to run”, citing the need for a “fundamental change in the executive management of the country” and a government that “fights poverty and corruption.” He registered on 14 April 2017 at Ministry of Interior with saying it's time to perform citizenship rights, not only writing act.

On 15 May 2017, conservative candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf withdrew his candidacy in favor of Raisi. It was speculated that Ghalibaf would be Raisi's first vice president if he was elected. They also joined in a campaign rally in Tehran with each other.

Raisi has been described as "a favorite and possible successor" to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by several sources, (at least before his electoral defeat).

After election results were announced, Raisi received 15,786,449 out of 42,382,390 (38.30% of the votes). He lost to Incumbent President Rouhani and ranked second. He did not congratulate Rouhani on his re-election as the president, and asked the Guardian Council to look into "violations of the law" before and during the elections, with 100 pages of attached documentation.

Possible successor as Supreme Leader

In 2019 Saeid Golkar of Al Jazeera called Raisi "the most likely successor of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei" as Supreme Leader of Iran. In 2020 Dexter Filkins described him as "frequently mentioned" as a successor to Khamenei.

Political views

Ebrahim Raisi is a supporter of sex segregation. He said in a 2014 interview about a planned segregation in Tehran Municipality that "I think this is a good move because the majority of women do a better job in a totally relaxed atmosphere and fit are required." He is also a supporter of Islamization of universities, revision of the Internet and censorship of Western culture. Raisi sees economic sanctions as an opportunity.

Economics

Raisi has said “I see the activation of a resistance economy as the only way to end poverty and deprivation in the country.” He supports development of the agricultural sector over commercial retail, which “will eventually benefit foreign brands.”

He has promised to triple the monthly state benefits, currently 450,000 rials per citizen, in order to tackle corruption and create six million jobs.

Foreign policy

Answering reporters about his foreign policy, he said it “would be to establish ties with every country except Israel.”

Electoral history

Year	Election	Votes	%	Rank	Notes
2006	Assembly of Experts	200,906	68.6%	1st	Won
2016	Assembly of Experts	325,139	80.0%	1st	Won
2017	President	15,835,794	38.28%	2nd	Lost
2021	President	TBD	TBD	1st	Won

Personal life

Raisi is married to Jamileh Alamolhoda, daughter of Mashhad Friday Prayers Imam, Ahmad Alamolhoda. She is an associate professor at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University and is also president of the university's Institute of Fundamental Studies of Science and Technology. The couple has two daughters.

Sanctions

Raisi is one of nine Iranian officials listed in November 2019 subjected to sanctions by the United States Department of State due to alleged human rights abuses. Similarly, Raisi is also sanctioned by the European Union.

External links

• Official website