Most of the world will not mourn the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash near Varzaqan in Iran, this week. Dubbed the ‘Butcher of Tehran’, Raisi was responsible for the deaths of thousands in a purge of political dissent in the 1980s. Since becoming president he has overseen the brutal crackdown on Iranians protesting against the regime’s punitive morality police. And he has led a country which is a key supplier of drones and weapons to Vladimir Putin, causing countless civilian deaths.
Why was it obvious to democratic countries that commemorating Raisi would be morally contemptuous, but not to the bureaucrats in Brussels?
Accordingly, most world leaders did not offer condolences for Raisi’s death, with President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Meloni and other leaders of the democratic world choosing not to comment.
In the institutions of the European Union, however, senior figures immediately sent their commiserations. Charles Michel, President of the European Council rushed into action, expressing his ‘sincere condolences’ on behalf of the European Union. High Representative Josep Borrell also offered his condolences, again as a representative of the EU.
Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, went a step further, saying he would make available the EU’s Copernicus satellite system to help Iranian rescuers seeking to find Raisi and save his life, in the name of ‘EU Solidarity’.
Why was it obvious to the United States, Great Britain, and almost all democratic countries, that commemorating Raisi would be morally contemptuous, but not to the bureaucrats in Brussels?
It is worth stressing the kind of man Raisi was. No one quite knows how many lives the Butcher took in the 1988 purge of political prisoners. While some estimates stop at ‘only’ a few thousand, others reach as high as 30,000. We do know that, by the end, there were so many victims that the bodies had to be loaded onto forklifts and hung from cranes. The Butcher would maintain, until the end of his life, that his role in these executions of political prisoners was a source of great pride for him, for which he should be esteemed and respected.
Most popular
Gareth Roberts
The sad truth about ‘saint’ Nicola Sturgeon
As president he was a fanatical supporter of sex segregation, with his rule marked by extreme policies such as the amputation of hands, open hatred of gay people, and the imposition of even stricter restrictions on what women can wear.
In late 2022, a young woman called Mahsa Amini was set upon by the Iranian morality police for violating these restrictions. Beaten savagely for wearing her hijab incorrectly, her subsequent death triggered huge protests against Raisi’s government.
It is no surprise then that Raisi’s death has triggered jubilant street celebrations in the Iranian diaspora, while videos from inside Iran show people baking celebratory sweets and giving them to strangers.
The people of Iran know exactly what kind of man Raisi was. It’s a shame that European Union officials are so clueless by comparison. Already the EU’s tone deaf response has led to widespread criticism from those who believe European institutions no longer speak for them.
‘Not in my name!’ responded Geert Wilders, of the Dutch Party for Freedom, to Charles Michel. Theo Francken, a Belgian MP of the conservative New Flemish Alliance, echoed his criticism of him.
On the other side of the political divide, Guy Verhofstadt, a long-time European liberal, responded by simply highlighting Raisi’s credentials as a mass murderer. Whereas Hannah Neumann, a German Green MEP, criticized Michel’s message and claimed that it was only made in a private capacity.
Remarkably, two of the European Union’s most senior foreign political figures have managed to unite the entire political spectrum in anger.
Make no mistake: this is a crisis for the EU. Whether through incompetence, misjudgement, or miscalculation, EU officials failed to understand that actively supporting efforts to rescue the Butcher and mourning his loss would be received with anger in Europe.
The EU institutions have been getting it wrong a lot, recently. The malaise runs deep. From migration to climate, they are increasingly out of touch with what European citizens think. In the recent Dutch elections, far-right leader Geert Wilders smashed former Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans, and looks set to repeat this feat in the European elections. All across the continent, from France to Finland, populist parties are emerging, driven by the same poor judgment that drove President Michel to mourn the Butcher.
The EU has once again slipped into a crisis of its own making. Its latest blunder is exactly why figures such as Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen are now speaking for European citizens, and EU institutions increasingly are not.
