Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and women's rights activist, has slammed the UN for holding a memorial service for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at its headquarters in New York later this week.
Alinejad, known for her vocal opposition to the Iranian government, addressed an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressing her strong disapproval of the event. "Honoring a leader implicated in severe human rights violations sends a deeply troubling message to the victims of his regime’s brutality," Alinejad wrote on X.
The activist who has been subject to multiple assassination attempts from Iran-backed agents for her bold dissent, highlighted the late president's policies of violence and suppression.
"Raisi's tenure is marked by the violent suppression of women and peaceful protesters,” she said, over 500 protesters killed in the wake of the 2022 uprising. “His directive to crack down on women defying the mandatory hijab law has led to widespread violence and deaths, including the tragic case of Mahsa Amini," Alinejad stated.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, currently detained in Evin Prison, labeled the memorial "a celebration of the gallows," referencing a record year of executions in Iran.
Shirin Ebadi, another Iranian Nobel laureate, joined the chorus of voices asking the UN to cancel the even, calling it a mockery of the UN's foundational principles.
The United Nations has already observed a minute of silence for Raisi and flew its flag at half-mast last Monday.
However, the UN struggles to deal with the regime. While the UN has claimed 834 people were executed in Iran in 2023 alone, in November, Iran was invited to chair a UN human rights forum while the UN’s own investigation was looking into the country’s gross human rights violations.
