Iran (MNN) — You may have seen videos this week featuring public displays of mourning at President Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral. But not everyone in Iran mourns the passing of Raisi, also known as “The Butcher of Tehran.”

A 2016 photo of Ebrahim Raisi when he ran as a candidate for the 2017 Iranian presidential election.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Raisi rose to the presidency after record-low voter turnout, and had a hand in the deaths of thousands of political prisoners.

Iran is silencing expressions of celebration following Raisi’s death. Iran-based lawyers report people are being ordered by Iranian security agencies to remove celebratory posts online.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA (VOM) says he saw one video post on X of an Iranian man handing out sweets in a park.

Nettleton says of the video, “It was a celebratory thing: ‘Hey, here’s some sweets to celebrate.’ The person who received the sweet said, ‘What are you celebrating?’ and the answer was, ‘You know what we’re celebrating.’ So they didn’t come out and say [it was] because the president has died, we’re celebrating. But that was the clear implication.”

Nettleton says, “I think there are a significant number of people in Iran that are not happy with the current system. They are not happy with the current government.”

In Iran, anger with the government system also often means questioning the very religion it’s based on.

Believers in Iran. (Photo courtesy of VOM)

“The government are the mullahs. They are the Islamic leaders, and they say, ‘We are doing everything according to Islamic principles. We are running our country exactly how the Quran tells us to run a country.’”

There is hope for Iranians seeking spiritual answers. VOM says there are Iranian Christians who look for opportunities to have faith conversations and plant Gospel seeds.

Pray for their wisdom and boldness as there may be more Iranians looking for truth at this time.

Nettleton says, “Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit prepares the ground and prepares the hearts of people to hear that Good News.”

Header photo courtesy of Pixabay.