Protest against European envoy at the inauguration of a criminal

Dear Mr. Josep Borrell

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU,

We, as representatives of the “Global Campaign for Defense of Prisoners of
Conscience in Iran”, are deeply concerned that you have asked your chief of staff
Mr. Enrique Mora Benaventa to participate in the inauguration of Iran’s presidentelect
Ebrahim Raisi. First and foremost, we wish to inform you that Mr. Raisi is
not elected by Iranian people. He is chosen by Iran’s absolute dictator, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, who claims to be the viceroy of God on earth.

What motivates us to appeal to you to reconsider your decision is the abominable
record of this man as a judge. At the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, there was a
mass execution of over 4000 political prisoners in Iran. These victims were
spending their prison terms when Ayatollah Khomeini, angered for being
compelled to accept the U. N. Security Council ceasefire resolution, ordered the
execution of nearly all political prisoners. Ebrahim Raisi was chosen as one of the
executioners. His involvement in the crime earned him U. S. sanctions for human
rights violations. Moreover, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have
characterized the massacre as crime against humanity and demanded that Mr. Raisi
and others involved in the crime be tried in the International Criminal Court. The
following books document the central role of Raisi in the massacre:

Nasser Mohajer, Voices of a Massacre: Untold Stories of Life and Death in Iran,
1988. Oneworld Publications, 2020.

Iraj Mesdaghi, Living In The Death Corridor. Translated And Edited By Sepehr
Manuchehri, PezhvakeIran Publishing, 2020.

Raisi does not deny his role in the massacre. He believes the executions were
necessary for purification of the Islamic Republic, a claim that resembles the way
Nazis justified the holocaust in the name of racial purity. We urge you to cancel
the planned participation of Mr. Benaventa in the inauguration of a man who is
accused of committing crimes against humanity by international human rights
organizations and despised by the vast majority of Iranian people.

Global Campaign for Defense of Prisoners of Conscience in Iran