Iran Dissidents File New Lawsuit against Raisi in US

In this file photo taken on July 19, 2022, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi takes part in a joint press conference with his Russian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on July 19, 2022, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi takes part in a joint press conference with his Russian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran. (AFP)
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Iran Dissidents File New Lawsuit against Raisi in US

In this file photo taken on July 19, 2022, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi takes part in a joint press conference with his Russian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on July 19, 2022, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi takes part in a joint press conference with his Russian and Turkish counterparts following their summit in Tehran. (AFP)

Iranian dissidents and ex-prisoners including a Western academic on Tuesday announced the filing of a civil suit in New York against Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as he attended the UN General Assembly.

The republic's hardline president is the target of the complaint for his role as a judge in the 1980s when thousands of people were sentenced to death in the country, according to the advocacy group National Union for Democracy in Iran.

The suit had yet to be made public Tuesday evening by a US federal court in Manhattan, said AFP.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British academic imprisoned in Iran from September 2018 to November 2020 for espionage, appeared by video at a New York press conference and painted a harrowing picture of her ordeal behind bars, including a year of solitary confinement.

"I was subjected to a range of different psychological and physical tortures and was routinely subjected to cruel and degrading and humiliating mistreatment," Moore-Gilbert said.
The litigation "is a step towards justice and an attempt to help victims regain their dignity," former prisoner Navid Mohebbi told reporters.

"I have seen the very worst of what this regime and Raisi have done to my compatriots," Mohebbi added.

The civil suit invokes US legislation protecting victims of torture.

NUFDI political director Cameron Khansarinia said "the plaintiffs in this case, Iranian dissidents, former Iranian hostages, former Western hostages, are coming together in an unprecedented fashion to take a step forward for justice."

He said that the dissidents and former prisoners were "echoing the cries we hear today on the streets of Iran," a reference to a deadly crackdown against protests that erupted after the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by morality police who enforce restrictions on women's dress.

The complaint is not the first against Raisi on American soil.

In August in New York a civil lawsuit filed by a separate exile group challenged US authorities to take action against Raisi ahead of his UN appearance.

According to that filing, Raisi in 1988 was a member of the so-called "death commission," four judges who directly ordered thousands of executions as well as torture of members of the armed opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, known as the MEK.

Raisi, elected in August 2021, is due to address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

Earlier Tuesday he met in New York with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said he discussed Tehran's nuclear program and "respect for women's rights" after the demonstrations in several Iranian cities.



US and Israel Condemnation of Sanctions on Ministers Is 'Predictable', Australia Says 

11 June 2025, Australia, Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses attendees during the official unveiling of the terminal building at Western Sydney International Airport in Sydney. (dpa)
11 June 2025, Australia, Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses attendees during the official unveiling of the terminal building at Western Sydney International Airport in Sydney. (dpa)
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US and Israel Condemnation of Sanctions on Ministers Is 'Predictable', Australia Says 

11 June 2025, Australia, Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses attendees during the official unveiling of the terminal building at Western Sydney International Airport in Sydney. (dpa)
11 June 2025, Australia, Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses attendees during the official unveiling of the terminal building at Western Sydney International Airport in Sydney. (dpa)

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said condemnation by the US and Israel of sanctions imposed on two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers was "predictable", and that the two men had impeded a two-state solution.

Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in a coordinated action imposed sanctions on Tuesday on cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that the US condemned the move, and Israel said the action by the five countries was "outrageous" and the Israeli government would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond.

Albanese said the responses from Israel and the US are "predictable".

"The Israeli Government does need to uphold its obligations under international law and some of the expansionist rhetoric that we've seen as well is clearly in contradiction of that from these hard-line right-wing members of the Netanyahu government," Albanese said on Wednesday in an interview with ABC Radio Sydney.

Comments by the two men "have aided what is a serious impediment to a two-state solution", he added.

The sanctions freeze the assets and impose travel bans on Israel's National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Smotrich, both West Bank settlers, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

"We, along with those other countries and the broader international community, believe we can only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security," she said in a television interview with Seven.

Israel's Ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, wrote on X on Wednesday that the sanctions are "deeply concerning and entirely unacceptable".