The BBC posted a live blog which described the death of Iran’s notorious former president – widely held responsible for the killing of thousands of political opponents – as "tragic".
Another BBC piece about the death of Ebrahim Raisi, headlined “Raisi’s mixed legacy in Iran”, was met with ridicule.
In the live blog, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, called the helicopter crash which killed Raisi last Sunday a “tragic accident”.
Although Doucet’s piece does mention reports of Iranians “setting off firecrackers and celebrating” at news of his death, it does not Raisi's involvement in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s and the violent suppression of anti-government protests.
His violent background got passing mentions elsewhere on the blog, which also featured at gushing tribute to Raisi from “Palestinian militant group” Hamas, which expressed its “shared feelings of sadness and pain”.
In an article looking at Raisi’s “mixed legacy”, BBC News correspondent, Jiyar Gol, described the former Iranian leader as a figure “loved by hardliners of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
The piece said “His supporters would point to Iranian state media's depiction of Raisi as the president of the unprivileged and poor.”
The government’s security minister Tom Tugendhat slammed the article as “absurd”, adding on X, “I will not mourn him”, while British-Palestinian activist John Aziz said Raisi’s legacy “was a mixture of bad things, very bad things, and terrible things.”
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An official BBC tweet sharing the article has received a community note clarifying "Ebrahim Raisi's nickname was the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ as a result of his mass murder and brutal torture of political dissidents. His victims, numbering in the thousands, included children.”
Raisi sat on the so-called “death committee” which ordered the execution of thousands of political opponents of the Islamic Republic's regime in the 1980s.
He was elected president in a 2021 vote that was considered rigged because moderates were allegedly barred from participating.
The BBC’s coverage of Raisi’s death also includes his role in enforcing Iran’s rules that force women to cover their hair, and the violent crackdown on protesters who demonstrated against the policy after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police.
Iranian activist and attorney, Elica Le Bon, also condemned the BBC’s reporting of Raisi’s funeral on Tuesday which was headlined “thousands at Iran president’s funeral procession”.
Le Bon wrote, “By the IRGC's own statistics, less than 10 per cent of the country support the regime, while the overwhelming majority strongly oppose it. This type of content misleads Western audiences into believing Iranians support the regime.”
She added that the BBC’s coverage was “a distorted narrative of state media propaganda” which left out "the 80 million voices of [Iran’s] silenced majority”.
Despite his notorious reputation, upon Raisi’s death the European Union expressed its condolences and the United Nations lowered its flag to half-mast as a sign of respect.
