An Islamic center in Michigan held a memorial service Thursday for the Iranian leader known as the “Butcher of Tehran” who was killed in a helicopter crash last weekend, amid a memorial that sparked outrage given Iran’s ties to global terrorism.
The Islamic Wisdom House in Dearborn Heights posted a flyer on its Facebook page in solidarity with the Iranian people and supporters of “global peace and justice” in memory of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdullahian, Iranian Governor of East Azerbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Iranian jurist Ayatollah Mohammed Ali al-Hashem, and other deceased clerics who died Sunday.
Raisi, Amirabdullahian, Al-Hashem and Rahmati were killed when the helicopter they were riding in crashed in the Dizmar Forest in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province while returning to Tehran from the Iran-Azerbaijan border to attend a dam inauguration ceremony with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
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People hold up posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a memorial service for the president at Vali-e-Asr Square in central Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
“The global community is grappling with this tragedy, but it is unclear whether this was a tragic accidental crash or a deliberate act of terrorism,” the mosque’s flyer said.
Eight people, including three crew members, were killed in the accident.
Nicknamed the “Butcher of Tehran,” Raisi is best known for overseeing the mass executions of political prisoners in 1988 that forced Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to install a caretaker leader of Iran’s administrative institutions.
The Biden administration and the UN Security Council have been criticized for expressing condolences and observing a moment of silence for the victims of the crash, despite Iran’s documented human rights violations and support for global terrorism, particularly against Israel and the United States.
Mourners gather around a truck carrying the coffins of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage, who died in a helicopter crash, during a funeral in Tabriz, Iran, on May 21, 2024. (Ata Dadashi, Fars News Agency, via The Associated Press)
“It is clear that Ebrahim Raisi has been a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday. “He was involved in a number of horrific human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killings of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”
“Some of the worst human rights violations occurred during his presidency, particularly against Iranian women and girls.”
Rescue team members are in Iran searching for the remains of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. (Azin Haghighi, Moj News Agency via The Associated Press)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Islamic Center.
Thursday’s event also included a memorial for Ali al-Kourani, a senior Lebanese cleric who died in Iran on May 19. In a flyer, the Islamic center said it was honoring the memory of “the righteous souls of the martyrs of the Islamic Ummah,” meaning “the Islamic community.”
