UN urged to open query into Iran's 1988 killings and Raisi role

FILE PHOTO: Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi stands before a meeting with Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Tehran, Iran, December 6, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

GENEVA (Reuters) - Prominent former U.N. judges and investigators have called on U.N. human rights boss Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 "massacre" of political prisoners in Iran, including the alleged role of its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, at that time.

The open letter released on Thursday, seen by Reuters, was signed by some 460 people, including a former president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Sang-Hyun Song, and Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador for global criminal justice.