Iranian Exiles Protest, Demand Raisi’s Prosecution

Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran June 21, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran June 21, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iranian Exiles Protest, Demand Raisi’s Prosecution

Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran June 21, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran June 21, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Supporters of Iran's exiled opposition rallied in Berlin and elsewhere on Saturday to demand the prosecution of newly elected president Ebrahim Raisi whom they accuse of crimes against humanity.

Flag-waving demonstrators rallied at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and other locations as part of a Free Iran World Summit that featured speeches by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Reuters reported.

In a keynote address, Maryam Rajavi, president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, accused Raisi of being the "henchman" responsible for the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said Raisi's election was a blow for human rights and called for him to be investigated over his role in what they and Washington have called the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners.

In an online address, Pompeo described the Iranian presidential election as "in fact, a boycott and the regime knows it". "This is a show laid bare for the entire world to see," Pompeo said.

Pompeo denounced Raisi as a leader who had been hand-picked by Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei to "inflict pain, frighten, continue to loot, and to plunder".



Bombing Iran Will Not Pave the Way for Peace, Says Russia 

A woman walks past a mural depicting an Iranian official in civilian clothing sitting across the table from an American official wearing military fatigues painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in Tehran, colloquially-referred to as the "Spy Den," on April 8, 2025. (AFP)
A woman walks past a mural depicting an Iranian official in civilian clothing sitting across the table from an American official wearing military fatigues painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in Tehran, colloquially-referred to as the "Spy Den," on April 8, 2025. (AFP)
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Bombing Iran Will Not Pave the Way for Peace, Says Russia 

A woman walks past a mural depicting an Iranian official in civilian clothing sitting across the table from an American official wearing military fatigues painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in Tehran, colloquially-referred to as the "Spy Den," on April 8, 2025. (AFP)
A woman walks past a mural depicting an Iranian official in civilian clothing sitting across the table from an American official wearing military fatigues painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in Tehran, colloquially-referred to as the "Spy Den," on April 8, 2025. (AFP)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that bombing Iran would not pave the way to peace with, and that Moscow hoped that talks between the US and Iran may help to avoid a crisis.

Answering a question from Reuters, Zakharova said that the world is growing tired of "endless" threats against Iran, and that Russia advocated a reasonable approach to the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

Russian Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu held a call with the head of Oman's Palace Office, Sultan bin Mohammed al-Nu'amani, during which they discussed the Middle East, state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday.

Iran and the US are set to hold talks in Oman this week, with tensions around Tehran's nuclear ambitions high. Russia has in recent years deepened ties with Iran.