Raisi, Ebrahim ,
1960- , Iranian cleric and political leader, b. Mashhad, as Ebrahim
Raisol-Sadati. Raisi’s educational history is unclear, with both his
legal and clerical training in dispute. He rose through the ranks of
Iran’s judiciary, serving as a prosecutor in the cities of Karaj and
Hamadan province (1981-84) and then deputy prosecutor in Tehran (1985-88).
He was one of four prosecutors overseeing the trial and eventual murder of
Iranian political prisoners, leading to his elevation to chief prosecutor in
Tehran (1989-94). He was appointed head of the government’s General
Inspection Office in 1994, serving for a decade, before rising in the ranks
from Deputy Chief Justice (2004-14), Attorney General (2014-16), to Chief
Justice (2019-21). He also served in Iran’s Fifth Assembly of Experts
(2016-2021). In 2017 he ran unsuccessfully for president before being
elected president of Iran in June 2021 as the Ayatollah Khamenei’s favored candidate.
Raisi is viewed as a hardline conservative who supports Iran’s
Islamic rule. Both the U.S. State Department and the European Union have
sanctioned him for alleged human rights abuses.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Iranian History: Biographies
