The 77th United Nations General Assembly will convene on September 19, as the coronavirus pandemic has finally been contained in many countries around the world.
World leaders are expected to participate and address the UNGA. In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the session was held online for the first time in the history of the United Nations.
In 2021, world leaders were free to choose whether to participate directly in the summit or send a video message. Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian regime’s president decided to send a video message.
By sending a video message to the summit, Raisi and the regime showed that two significant factors had played a role in such a decision.
- The first factor was the progress and achievements of the Iranian Resistance in the case of Hamid Noury, who was convicted during that time in Sweden due to his involvement in the 1988 massacre. Raisi was one of the members of the so-called death commissions at the time, who were tasked with sending thousands of political prisoners to the gallows. In fear of judicial consequences because of his involvement, the regime decided not to send his president to the UN.
- The extensive activities of the supporters of the Iranian Resistance caused some US senators to ask US president Joe Biden not to grant a visa to Raisi. Using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse, Raisi did not travel to New York. He later participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan and coronavirus did not stop him there.
He is expected to travel to New York this year, even though he is sanctioned by the US and the EU because of his human rights violations. Since he took office, Raisi has not yet traveled to any Western countries, which is understandable given the fact that he is one of the main officials responsible for human rights violations, genocide, and crimes against humanity.
Once again, the Iranian Resistance has decided to take action to prevent his participation in the UNGA77. One of the most important actions is filing a complaint in the US Federal Court against Raisi by a group of political prisoners who witnessed the massacre of 1988, along with the families of the victims. This complaint was filed under the ATS (Alien Tort Statute) and TVPA (Torture Victim Protection Act).
To shed light on the complaints of political prisoners and the families of the massacre, a conference was held on August 25 by the US Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. At that conference, Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General said, “Raisi has not denied his participation [in the 1988 massacre] and in 2018 he was quoted as saying that the murders were committed at the direction of the Death Commissions were ‘one of the proud achievements of the system. Diplomatic immunity does not mean diplomatic impunity. Even diplomatic immunity has its limits.”
Professor Steven Schneebaum, a prominent American jurist and lawyer for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), also said, “It is beyond doubt that as a deputy state prosecutor for Tehran province, Ebrahim Raisi, was a member of that death commission. Raisi is not a diplomat… and is not eligible for the privileges extended under the Vienna Convention. Nor is he a head of state.”
Due to the regime’s constitution, the actual head of the Iranian regime is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The next action to prevent Raisi from entering US soil is the letter from 52 US House of Representatives members. A bipartisan group of House members, led by Rep. Young Kim of California, asked Biden not to grant an entry visa for Raisi and his delegation to attend the upcoming 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, because of their history of supporting terrorism and human rights violations.
The letter said, “We write to strongly urge you to deny entry visas to the United States for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly’s 77th session in New York this September. The United States cannot overlook Ebrahim Raisi’s direct involvement in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including the 1988 organized mass murder of thousands of political prisoners, among whom were women and children, by the Iranian regime.”
Further action includes a letter signed by over 500 Iranian-American Scientists, Academics, and Professionals calling on President Biden to prosecute Ebrahim Raisi and deny him an entry visa. They wrote, “We, the Iranian-American scientists, academics, and professionals, echo the cry of our families and our colleagues in Iran, to ask for your administration’s strong and immediate actions to reflect that Raisi does not represent the people of Iran and therefore must be denied an entry visa to the United States.”
