Good riddance, Raisi: Iranians living in the West celebrate ‘butcher of Tehran’s’ helicopter crash death including daughters of woman who was assassinated by 167 bullets

Iranians living in the West dance in the streets and post photos of celebrations following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

Raisi, 63, was killed after a helicopter carrying him and other officials crashed in Iran’s mountainous northwest on Sunday.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has declared that the country will observe five days of mourning in honor of Raisi. However, Iranians around the world have taken to social media with the hashtag ‘Happy Helicopter Day’ to share their celebration of this death.

The daughters of Minoo Majidi – a 62-year-old Iranian woman who was shot 167 times by security forces during the nationwide fallout following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the ‘morality police’ in September 2022 – shared a video on social media, smashing the glass levy on the death of the president.

Mahsa Piraeri said: “Today our sadness turned into happiness, although it is not enough, it is a good start.”

Majidi’s last words to her family before she died were: “If I don’t protest, who will,” reported BBC.

Her daughter Roya Piraei went viral on Instagram because she took a photo next to her mother’s grave, with her head shaved and holding her own hair as a sign of mourning and defiance.

‘I knew I couldn’t speak out. This is all I could do to show how cruel this system is,” Roya told BBC 100 Women.

Two more Iranian women, Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, posted a video of themselves dancing and smiling in response to the news that Raisi’s helicopter had crashed into the mountainside.

Shahinkar was blinded by the brutality of security forces during the 2022 protests, while Moradbeigi lost the use of one of her arms after an armed guard shot her elbow apart at close range.

A video posted to TikTok outside the Iranian embassy in Copenhagen shows crowds dancing and waving Iran’s historic flag, with a golden lion in the center.

‘Iranians in Copenhagen, Denmark, celebrate the death of Ebrahim Raisi outside the regime’s embassy. Helicopter Day becomes Helicopter Week,” the caption read.

Iranian lawyer Shayan

The crowd cheered, played music and danced in the streets while waving the historic flag of Iran, Union Jacks and Israeli flags.

Activist Hamrah United posted a video of people partying in Germany to commemorate Raisi’s death.

Rapper Shaheen Samadi posted a photo with Iranian-American rapper Weapon X as he toasted Raisi’s death.

“From your Persian rapper from the friendly neighborhood and your Persian rapper from the not so friendly neighborhood, happy helicopter day,” Samadi said.

“Let’s hope Khamenei is next.”

Iranian-American chef Ariana Bundy posted an Instagram story with just the word “Karma.”

Iranian-Canadian actress Shiva Negar said on

‘Farewell to the butcher of Tehran. You won’t be missed!’

The Iranian Diaspora Collective shared a video of people cheering and blasting music in a car in honor of Raisi’s death.

‘Raisi is dead. “He will never be held accountable in a court of law for four decades of gross human rights abuses, including the executions of THOUSANDS of political prisoners in the 1980s, who were buried in unmarked mass graves,” the group said.

‘There will not be a moment of silence for Raisi today. People around the world and in the Middle East are shouting with joy.”

Iranian-American psychotherapist Azadeh Afsahi said: “Today I celebrate with all the survivors of this brutal regime, especially all the mothers who have lost their children. This is a small step towards healing.”

“I am so proud of you for fighting despite the pain and suffering caused by this regime.”

Raisi, who became president of Iran in 2021, was widely seen as a vassal of the regime and a yes-man against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

He stormed to the presidency after the 2021 elections with a large majority – but less than half of the Iranian electorate turned out to vote after many more moderate candidates were barred from running.

As a young student at a religious seminary in the holy city of Qom, Raisi took part in protests against the Western-backed Shah during the 1979 revolution.

His contacts with religious leaders in Qom made him a trusted figure in the judiciary, and at just 25 he became Iran’s deputy prosecutor.

Raisi quickly worked his way to the top – earning the nickname ‘the Butcher of Tehran’.

As deputy prosecutor and then chief prosecutor, Raisi was part of the so-called “death commission” – a group of four judges who in 1988 presided over tribunals set up to “re-try” the regime’s political prisoners.

Thousands of these prisoners were ruthlessly executed and dumped in unmarked graves. The exact number of deaths is not known, but rights groups estimate that around 5,000 people died after Raisi’s brutal judgment.

Raisi was not only loyal to the Republic and its Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, but had also built a close relationship with Iran’s then President Ali Khamenei during the 1980s.

Khamenei became Iran’s supreme leader after Khomeini’s death in 1989 and is undoubtedly responsible for charting Raisi’s path to the presidency in 2021.

After Raisi’s election, his hardline stance became even clearer.

In 2022, he ordered stricter enforcement of Iran’s “hijab and chastity law,” which restricts women’s clothing and behavior.

Under this order, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iran’s “morality police” in September 2022 for wearing an “inappropriate” hijab and died in hospital three days later, sparking mass unrest.

The resulting months of nationwide protests posed one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Hundreds of people were killed, including dozens of security personnel who were part of the fierce crackdown on demonstrators, rights groups said.