Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, known as ’The Butcher,’ dies in helicopter crash

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been found dead at the site of a horror helicopter crash.

The brutish president, 63, was among several discovered on Monday following a gruelling overnight search in blizzard conditions.

The crash site of the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi is seen in East Azerbaijan provinceCredit: SNN

Footage from Akinci Unmanned Aerial Vehicle shows a heat source thought to be the wreckage of the president’s helicopterCredit: Getty

 

 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is seen on board a helicopter before the crashCredit: AFP

Tyrannical Raisi, dubbed "The Butcher", was yesterday travelling in a convoy of three helicopters in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province when his own suffered a "hard landing".

Eerie footage showed Raisi sitting in a helicopter and staring out a window moments before the crash.

The president’s body was located after an hourslong search through the fog in the mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media and officials reported on Monday.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also found dead in the charred wreckage of the helicopter, said by state news agency IRNA to have been a US-made Bell 212 helicopter.

No immediate cause for the crash was provided by officials, but state TV reported the helicopter had slammed into a mountain peak.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters: "President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter were killed in the crash."

Vice President Mohsen Mansouri confirmed the president’s death on social media.

Turkish authorities this morning released "drone footage" showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness, which they suspected to be wreckage of Raisi’s helicopter.

The coordinates listed in the footage indicated the fire was some 12 miles south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border, on the side of a steep green mountain.

Footage released by the IRNA also showed what the agency described as the crash site.

Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: "There it is, we found it."

Shortly after, state TV in an on-screen scrolling text said: "There is no sign of life from people on board."

The crashed copter was said to have last been heard from in Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan - 375 miles northwest of Iranian capital Tehran.

Raisi was elected president in 2021 amid controversy, with almost all of his potential opponents banned from running under Iran’s shame vetting system.

The brute received 62 per cent of votes as the country’s only viable candidate - although only 28.9 million votes were cast, which was the lowest turnout by percentage in the history of the state.

Since taking office, Raisi has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a crackdown on anti-government protests, and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.

Butcher by name, butcher by nature

Activists opposed Raisi’s rule, citing concerns over the tyrant’s bloody history steeped in murder and executions.

The president has been accused of ordering the torture of pregnant women and of having prisoners thrown off cliffs.

He is also said to have headed up a "Death Commission" which ordered thousands to be killed in the massacre of 1988.

Some 30,000 men, women and children held in jails across Iran were lined up against a wall and brutally gunned down on Raisi’s orders, according to his rivals.

His regime also enjoyed the stonings and beheadings he ordered.

Iran has never acknowledged the mass executions and Raisi never addressed the allegations about his role in them.

There are still a high number of executions carried out in Iran every year, and Amnesty International has said Raisi should face an investigation for "crimes against humanity".

Amnesty chief Agnès Callamard said previously: "That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran."

 

Rescuers participate in what the Iranian Red Crescent Society says is a search and rescue operation following the helicopter crashCredit: Reuters

People had been protesting against Raisi for some time over his terrifying reigmeCredit: Alamy

James Smith