Amnesty Int’l Reacts As Iran’s Chief Justice Wins Presidential Election

The Chief Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, has emerged as the winner of the country’s presidential election.

Iran’s election commission chairman, Jamal Orf, announced that Raisi coasted to victory on Saturday after securing 17.8 million votes out of 28.6 million votes cast.

Iranians had trooped out to cast their ballot between Thursday and Friday, although election were said not to have been held in certain parts of the country.

Local media reports that “former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei received 3.3 million votes and former central bank chairman; centrist Abdolnasser Hemmati won 2.4 million while Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh around one million votes.”

Reacting to the development, the country’s supreme leader, Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, said that the poll results were proof that Iranians had faith in the country’s style of government.

“The winner of yesterday’s elections is the Iranian nation. They have again stood up to the propaganda of the enemy’s mercenary media and the urgings of the simple-minded and the ill-wishers. They have displayed their presence in the heart of the country’s political arena,” he stated in a press release.

Raisi had been serving in the country’s justice sector since 2004, holding offices such as the prosecutor general to vice chief justice and then, chief justice.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has said that the president-elect was foisted on the Iranian people.

On her part, Amnesty’s Secretary General, Agnes Callamard, said Raisi ought to be probed for alleged violation of human rights in the country.

“That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran,” she stated.