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".



South Korea Begins Lifting Jeju Air Wreckage

Teams salvage an engine of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft which crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport, in Muan on January 3, 2025. (Photo by YONHAP / AFP)
Teams salvage an engine of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft which crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport, in Muan on January 3, 2025. (Photo by YONHAP / AFP)
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South Korea Begins Lifting Jeju Air Wreckage

Teams salvage an engine of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft which crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport, in Muan on January 3, 2025. (Photo by YONHAP / AFP)
Teams salvage an engine of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft which crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport, in Muan on January 3, 2025. (Photo by YONHAP / AFP)

South Korean investigators said Friday they expected to find more human remains as they began lifting the wreckage of the Jeju Air jet that crashed on landing last weekend killing all but two of the 181 passengers and crew aboard.

Flight 2216 from Bangkok to Muan broke up in a fiery ball of flames after colliding with a concrete installation at the end of the runway following a mayday call and emergency belly-landing.

The exact cause of the Boeing 737-800 crash is still unknown, but investigators have pointed to a bird strike, faulty landing gear, and the barrier at the end of the runway as possible issues.

Using large yellow cranes, investigators began lifting sections of the plane's scorched fuselage Friday, including what appeared to be an engine and the tail section, AFP reported.

"Today, we will lift the tail section of the plane," said Na Won-ho, head of investigations for the South Jeolla provincial police.

"We expect there may be remains found in that section," he told a press conference at Muan International Airport, where the crash happened.

"For all that to be complete and to have the results, we must wait until tomorrow."

Because of the violent destruction of the aircraft, officials said some of the bodies suffered extreme damage, and it was taking investigators time to piece them together while also preserving crash site evidence.

All 179 victims have been identified, however, and some bodies have been released to families for funerals to begin.

Police have vowed to quickly determine the cause and responsibility for the disaster, but the transport ministry said it could take six months to three years.