Who is Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s hardline president who went ‘missing’ after helicopter crash?

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Sunday (May 19) went missing after he experienced a ‘hard landing’ in the East Azerbaijan province of the Shi’ite nation. The helicopter was ferrying the president, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian as well as two senior East Azerbaijan leaders when it crashed into the hilly terrain, Iranian authorities confirmed. It was not immediately clear what happened to the chopper. Rescuers were struggling to reach the crash site as bad weather, heavy rains and fog hampered their efforts.

Raisi, who became Iran’s president in 2021, is one of the most controversial figures in the country. The helicopter incident has again moved the spotlight onto Raisi, who faces sanctions from the US over his role in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988 after the Iran-Iraq war.

Meanwhile, the European Union said it has activated its rapid response mapping service, known as Copernicus, to help with the search for the crashed helicopter.

The Copernicus system provides mapping products based on satellite imagery.

The 63-year-old leader previously oversaw Iran’s judiciary. He first ran for the Iranian presidential elections in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani but was unsuccessful. He came back in the 2021 elections that saw most of his rivals being blocked out under the vetting system. A hardliner, he was a contender to be Iran’s next supreme leader with a clampdown on morality questions and a bloody crackdown on the nationwide protests it triggered.

Watch: Raisi’s convoy helicopter accident: Iran’s Interior Minister confirms incident

The voter turnout remained extremely low in those elections, with just 28.9 million voters exercising their rights. Raisi received 62 per cent of the total votes polled.

Raisi’s victory in 2021 came after heavyweight conservative and moderate rivals were disqualified by an oversight body, and brought all branches of power under the control of hardliners loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Raisi’s 85-year-old mentor, who has the final say on all major policies.

His hardline stance has been evident clearly as a year after his election, the cleric ordered that authorities tighten enforcement of Iran’s “hijab and chastity law” restricting women’s dress and behavior.

Raisi rose through the ranks of clergy and was appointed as judiciary chief by Khamenei in 2019. Shortly afterwards, he was also elected deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member clerical body responsible for electing the next Supreme Leader.

Raisi was first sanctioned by the US in 2019 for what he said was “his administrative oversight over the executions of individuals who were juveniles at the time of their crime and the torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran , including amputations.”

The infamous execution of 1988 saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants and others that would become known as “death commissions” at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.

The trials began when Iran threatened a surprise attack by members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, heavily armed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Those who were captured were later asked to identify themselves. Those who said they were “Mujahedeen” were given death sentences immediately. Others were entrusted with the task of “clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic,” according to a 1990 Amnesty International report.

Most recently, Raisi is understood to have overseen Iran’s massive aerial assault on Israel in April. He also backed the country’s brutal crackdown on protests that erupted after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.

Previously, he also supported the country’s enrichment of uranium up to near-weapons-grade levels.

(With inputs from agencies)