Portraits of 30,000 prisoners murdered by Iran's Ebrahim Raisi in 1988. The Mall, Washington DC, August 12
The current President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, was one of the four judges who ordered the execution of over 30,000 Iranian prisoners in 1988 and over 1500 more in 2019. Most of the people murdered were members of a minority Islamic religious sect persecuted by the Iranian regime, making the murders acts of genocide.
Raisi is due to attend and speak at the UN General Assembly in September 2022. To do so, Raisi must be granted a US visa.
A massive protest of those opposed to the genocidal Iranian regime occurred on the Mall in Washington DC and in other cities on August 12, 2022. The protesters demanded that the US deny a visa to Raisi.
On that same day, an Iranian agent attempted to assassinate Salman Rushdie at Chautauqua, NY. The assassin was carrying out a death sentence (fatwa) against Rushdie issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini, reaffirmed by the current Iranian Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei. Rushdie was severely wounded.
Also that day, a federal indictment and arrest warrant were issued for Iranian government officials who attempted to hire assassins to murder John Bolton, former US National Security Advisor.
These murders were all ordered by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The US has a treaty obligation to issue visas for meetings of the UN General Assembly. But the US has denied visas to several Iranian officials who were involved in the taking of American diplomatic hostages at the time of the Iranian revolution.
The US is under no legal obligation to issue a US visa to genocidists. In fact, it is legally prohibited from doing so.
The US should deny a visa to Ebrahim Raisi.
If Raisi is granted a visa, US Attorneys should prepare an indictment and arrest warrant for Raisi, and when he lands in the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation should immediately arrest him for genocide, a crime of universal jurisdiction under US law.
Genocide Watch Founding President Dr. Gregory H Stanton spoke at the demonstration on August 12.
To read Dr. Stanton's speech, "Taking Iran's Threat of Genocide Seriously," click on the PDF below:
To hear Dr. Stanton's speech, click on the image below:
Dr. Gregory Stanton speaks at the demonstration on the Mall in Washington, DC on August 12, 2022 protesting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's planned presence at the UN General Assembly in September.