Beth: On the eve of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 76), more than 400 prominent Iranian-Americans are writing a letter to President Biden, urging him to condemn Ebrahim Raisi for his involvement in crimes against humanity.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy from Iranian professionals sent an open letter to President Joe Biden, calling on the US administration to take strong and immediate action that reflects the fact that Raisi does not represent the Iranian people.

In this letter, more than 400 Iranian-American scientists, professors, doctors, CEOs and professionals urged the president to highlight, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly, the views expressed by a major bipartisan voice in the US Congress.

UN experts and Amnesty International said Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the Iranian regime, should be tried before international courts for crimes against humanity, for his key role as a member of the 'Death Commission' in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners, most of them members of the opposition movement. The main Iranian, the People's Mojahedin Organization, is in Iran.

The signatories to this letter asked President Biden to emphasize that the Iranian people's rejection of the regime was evident through the unprecedented boycott of the Iranian sham elections, and the uprisings of the people who seek a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Republic of Iran.

Iranian scholars asked: “We expect your administration to take the lead in the United Nations for an international investigation to hold a major accountable for crimes against humanity.

This is an important step for the United States to make human rights and democracy a central component of its Iran policy.”

Professor Kazem Kazronian, one of the organizers of the thesis, said:

“Iranian-American scholars and professionals are deeply disturbed that Ebrahim Raisi, who is responsible for the torture and execution of up to 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 and several thousand since then, is addressing the United Nations General Assembly while the Iranian people have already expressed their total disapproval of him.”

“We hope that President Biden and the US administration will recognize the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and pursue policies that stand by the Iranian people and their legitimate desire for a free, secular, and democratic republic that can coexist peacefully with other countries in the region,” said Gila Andalib, Executive Director of Information Technology.

Professor Ali Parsa, Professor of History at California State University-Fullerton, added: “Hamid Nouri, the deputy prosecutor at Gohardasht Prison, and a follower of the death commissions for which Raisi was responsible, is currently on trial in Sweden for crimes against humanity. Allowing my president to speak before the UN General Assembly would be an affront to humanity, especially to the families of the victims of the 1988 massacre.”