EXCLUSIVE: Iranian Dissidents Blast U.N. Welcome of ‘Butcher of Tehran’

The exiled People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) opposition group blasted the U.N.’s decision to welcome Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi — dubbed the “Butcher of Tehran” — to its General Assembly on Wednesday, noting Raisi’s bloody past as well as current protests against the Islamic regime by angry Iranians within the country.

In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, the group’s press spokesman Shahin Gobadi, who is based in Paris, called out the U.N. for the move, which he described as antithetical to its supposed values. 

“Welcoming Ebrahim Raisi, notoriously known as the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ and one of the main perpetrators of massacring 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in 1988 and a Holocaust denier, is an affront to the very values and principles upon which the United Nations is founded,” he said.

The MEK spokesperson claimed that the issue is even “more appalling” coming at a time “when anti-regime protests, with women at the forefront, have been erupting in scores of cities and towns across Iran for the past few days, with calls for the ouster of [Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and his regime,” with security forces having fired at protesters in at least one demonstration.

He also highlighted that “Resistance Units affiliated with the MEK have been playing a key role in leading the protests” and that “Iranians from all walks of life, outraged by ‘morality’ police killing a young Iranian girl — Mahsa Amini, are fearlessly chanting slogans such as ‘Death to Khamenei’ and ‘Down with the Dictator.’” 

Gobadi then referred to a recent civil lawsuit filed in federal court in New York by Iranian dissidents against Raisi for his role as a member of the infamous 1988 “death commission” that saw some 30,000 political prisoners tortured and hanged.

He also announced that “thousands of Iranians will stage a major rally in front of the United Nations as Raisi addresses the UNGA” on Wednesday.

Gobadi’s statement comes as massive protests continue to sweep Iran following the death of a 22-year-old woman while in the custody of the state’s notorious “morality police” for violating strict requirements for women to keep their heads covered in public.

In response, the acting U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif called for an impartial probe into her death.

Raisi, who once held a seat on the Central Committee of the nation’s “death commissions,” has an extensive record of ordering mass executions of opponents of the Islamic regime and is accused of involvement in a range of egregious human rights abuses, including the execution of thousands of political prisoners, including pregnant women and teenage girls.

Under Raisi’s watch, impunity was granted to security forces and government officials responsible for violent crackdowns on protests in 2019, when more than 1,000 protesters were killed. 

In addition, Raisi has appointed terrorists and anti-Western hardliners to top ministerial positions, including an interior minister wanted by Interpol for his role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, as well as a foreign minister with close links to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Last month, critics of Iran — the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide — called on the Biden administration to deny Raisi a visa, warning his attendance would “endanger national security,” serve to “appease terrorists,” and “reward the Iranian regime for its assassination and kidnapping attempts on Americans.”