Iran helicopter crash: Who was Ebrahim Raisi? Protégé of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei
Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials, were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash on Monday, following an hours-long search through a foggy, mountainous area in the northwest of the country, state media reported. Newswire AP reported that Raisi has long been regarded as a protégé of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a potential successor within the country's Shiite theocracy. The news of the helicopter crash, which Iran's state media referred to as a “hard landing" on Sunday, has drawn renewed attention to Raisi, who was under sanctions from the US and other countries for his alleged role in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.
Born in Mashhad on December 14, 1960, Raisi hails from a family with lineage tracing back to Islam's Prophet Muhammad, symbolized by the black turban he would eventually wear. His father passed away when he was just 5 years old. He pursued education at a seminary in the Shiite holy city of Qom and later identified himself as an Ayatollah, signifying a high-ranking Shiite cleric.
Following the Islamic revolution, he pursued a legal career as a prosecutor and moved to Tehran in the 1980s. During this period, amidst the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, Raisi served on a four-member committee that sentenced thousands of political prisoners, perceived as anti-national and supporters of Saddam Hussein, to death. Raisi held positions such as deputy chief of the judiciary (2004-2014) and prosecutor-general.
In 2017, he emerged as the runner-up in the presidential election, which saw Hassan Rouhani securing his second term. Later, Raisi was appointed as the judiciary chief. Also Read: ‘India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow,’ PM
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