Israel urged world powers not to resume nuclear pact with Iran: “Ebrahim Raisi is the most extremist president elected since 1979”

The election of ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi in Iran is a “signal” for “foreign” powers “to wake up” before a new deal on Iran’s nuclear program, new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday.

Israeli diplomacy on Saturday called Raisi “the most extreme president” elected in Iran since the 1979 revolution and said his victory “should be a source of serious concern” around the world.

Bennett, who succeeded Benjamin Netanyahu as head of the Israeli government last week, told a cabinet meeting that Raisi, the winner of the Iranian presidential elections on Saturday, “was not chosen by the Iranian people but by [el ayatolá] Khamenei”.

“Raisi’s election is a signal for the powers to wake up, a last minute signal perhaps before they give up on the nuclear deal, for them to understand who they are dealing with and what kind of regime they will choose to strengthen “, He said.

Negotiations are underway to try to save the nuclear deal with Iran signed in Vienna in 2015 and which attempt to bring the United States back to this pact from which it withdrew in 2018, by reimposing sanctions on Tehran. Israel had hailed the US campaign of “maximum pressure” but now fears that new President Joe Biden will return to a deal with Iran.

Yesterday, the chairman of the defense and foreign affairs committee of the Israeli parliament, Ram ben barak, also noted the choice of the ultra-conservative clergyman as a clue to the “Radicalization” in the Islamic Republic. “The election of Raisi as Iran’s next president is conclusive proof of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s decision to radicalize Iran’s conduct in foreign, nuclear and terrorist policies.the former head of the Israeli Foreign Intelligence Service (Mossad) said on his Twitter account.

Raisi, who is on the blacklist of Iranian officials sanctioned by Washington for “complicity in serious human rights violations”, was one of the big favorites of this election due to the lack of real competition after the disqualification of his main opponents.

The ultra-conservative won the Iranian presidential election with 62.2% of the vote, results which would make him the successor of Hasan Rohani without needing a second round, as accepted by his own rivals. The turnout did not reach 50%, one of the lowest in its history, and many voters chose to sit on the sidelines after the list of around 600 candidates, including 40 women, fell. reduced to seven candidates, all men, excluding a former President and former Speaker of Parliament. Three of the shortlisted candidates dropped out two days before Friday’s vote.

Following the elections, the humanitarian NGO Amnesty International called for an investigation for crimes against humanity against the elected president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, accused of participating in the murder, enforced disappearance and torture of political dissidents during his role in the so-called “death commission” during the late 1980s.

Specifically, Amnesty denounces that Raisi participated in a program of extrajudicial executions against thousands of political opponents in Evin and Gohardasht prisons, near Tehran, in 1988, when the future Iranian president and chief justice served as prosecutor deputy in the Iranian capital.

As head of Iranian justice, Raisi has chaired, according to Amnesty, “a growing crackdown on human rights that has led to the arbitrary detention of hundreds of dissidents peacemakers, human rights defenders and members of persecuted minority groups ”.

Likewise, and under its control, the judiciary He also granted “general impunity” to those responsible for the execution of hundreds of men, women and children and subjected thousands of demonstrators to mass arrests and at least hundreds to enforced disappearances, torture. and other ailments during and after protests at the national level. 2019, accuses the organization.

“The fact that Ebrahim Raisi came to the presidency instead of being investigated for crimes against humanity such as murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran, “the organization said in a statement.

The Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, lamented in this regard that “the fact that Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture is a sad reminder that impunity reigns. in Iran “.

In addition, Callamard regrets that Raisi’s arrival for the presidency took place after “an electoral process developed in a very repressive environment and prohibits women, members of religious minorities and candidates with opposing views from running for office. public “.

This London-based human rights organization has ensured that Raisi has commanded “a spiral of human rights repression” as head of the Iranian judiciary for the past two years. According to Amnesty, this has led to the arrest of “hundreds of peaceful dissidents, human rights defenders and members of persecuted minorities”.

“As part of its mandate, the judiciary has also guaranteed impunity to senior government officials and security forces responsible for the deaths of hundreds of men, women and children,” he said. .

She also accuses him of “mass arrests of thousands of demonstrators and the enforced disappearance of hundreds, in addition to torture and ill-treatment” during and after the wave of protests in November 2019.

Raisi’s figure represents Iran’s return to the hard line after eight years of moderate Hasan Rohaní’s government, in which the 2015 nuclear deal was signed.

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