Ebrahim Raisi Fast Facts

CNN Editorial Research

Here’s a look at the life of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi.

Personal

Birth date: December 14, 1960

Birth place: Mashhad, Iran

Full name: Sayyid Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati

Father: Seyyed Haji, a cleric

Mother: Sayyedeh Esmat Khodadad Husseini

Marriage: Jamileh Alamolhoda (1983-present)

Children: Two daughters

Education: Attended seminary in Qom; Shahid Motahari University, Ph.D in law

Religion: Islamic, Shiite Muslim

Other Facts

His father passed away when Raisi was 5 years old.

Wears a black turban, signifying that he is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Has long opposed engagement with the West and is a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

Raisi is the first elected Iranian leader who is under US sanctions.

Timeline

Early 1980s – Prosecutor for the cities of Karaj and Hamadan.

1985-1988 – Deputy prosecutor of Tehran, Iran.

1988 – According to different rights groups, Raisi is part of a four-person “death panel” which allegedly oversees the mass execution of up to 5,000 political prisoners. To date, Raisi has never publicly commented on these allegations, but it’s believed that he rarely leaves Iran for fear of retribution or international justice over the executions.

1989-1994 – Prosecutor general of Tehran.

1994-2004 – Head of the General Inspection Organization, tasked with investigating misconduct and corruption.

2004-2014 – First deputy chief justice.

2006 – Raisi is elected to the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that appoints the supreme leader.

2012 – Becomes prosecutor general of the Special Court for the Clergy.

2014-2016 – Prosecutor general of Iran.

2016-2019 – Custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, a foundation reportedly worth billions, and responsible for managing the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad.

May 19, 2017 – Loses in the presidential election to Hassan Rouhani, claiming 38.5% of the vote to Rouhani’s 57%.

March 7, 2019 – Ayatollah Khamenei appoints Raisi as chief justice.

March 12, 2019 – Elected deputy chief of the Assembly of Experts.

November 4, 2019 – The US Department of the Treasury sanctions Raisi, citing his participation in the 1988 “death commission” and also a United Nations report indicating that Iran’s judiciary approved the execution of at least nine children between 2018 and 2019.

June 19, 2021 – Is declared the winner of a historically uncompetitive presidential election in Iran. Raisi wins almost 18 million of the nearly 29 million ballots cast, according to Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli. Many reform-minded Iranians had refused to take part in an election widely seen as a foregone conclusion. Overall voter turnout was only 48.8% — the lowest since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

June 21, 2021 – In his first international news conference since being elected president, Raisi says he would not meet with US President Joe Biden, even if both sides agreed on terms to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran had pledged to stop uranium enrichment in return for the lifting of crippling US sanctions. Responding to a question from CNN, the president-elect accuses the United States and the European Union of violating the deal and calls on Biden to lift all sanctions, before adding that Iran’s ballistic missile program is “not up for negotiation.”

August 5, 2021 – Is officially sworn in as president.

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