President Ebrahim Raisi’s mixed legacy in Iran

More than 5,000 political prisoners were executed. Their families never found out how, when, or where they were buried.

Relatives of those executed after the “death committee” trials have expressed frustration and sadness at Raisi’s sudden death. They long held onto hope that he would one day face justice in an international court for crimes against humanity.

Now this will never be possible.

His supporters would point to Iranian state media’s depiction of Raisi as the president of the unprivileged and poor.

When he first became president in 2021, Raisi travelled to many parts of Iran, promising to build millions of affordable houses, reduce inflation and fight corruption.

Under his leadership, there was some reform in processing a backlog of court cases, and relatives of some officials were arrested for corruption and bribery.

Despite this, the economic situation in Iran worsened and hardliners imposed harsher restrictions on freedom of speech, as well as a stricter dress code on women.