Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash this weekend and on Monday NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah wrote: “Our condolences to the people of #Iran for the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and others who perished in the helicopter crash.”
Raisi was nicknamed the ‘Butcher of Iran’ for his alleged role in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.
As a former @NATO Assistant Secretary General, I am flabbergasted by this tweet.
This is completely inapproriate on so many levels. https://t.co/dZiuH977UR
— Marshall S. Billingslea (@M_S_Billingslea) May 20, 2024
Marshall Billingslea, former presidential envoy for arms control at the US Department of State, and former Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment at NATO, responded to Dakhlallah: “As a former NATO Assistant Secretary General, I am flabbergasted by this tweet. This is completely inappropriate on so many levels.”
Dakhlallah became NATO’s first female spokesperson of Arab descent — she is originally from Lebanon and holds British citizenship — when she joined the organization in March. Dakhlallah studied at Saint Joseph University of Beirut before attending the London School of Economics and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Might want to delete your post mourning the death of a butcher who sentenced 5000+ Iranian political prisoners to death in 1988, @CharlesMichel.
I suspect you are going to face a massive backlash from the EU citizens whom you purport to represent… https://t.co/m6Deo3zYT1 pic.twitter.com/jA3VIfvtPS
— Marshall S. Billingslea (@M_S_Billingslea) May 20, 2024
Billingslea, who is currently a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Hudson Institute, where he focuses on illicit finance and arms control, also chided the President of the European Council, Charles Michel (the former Prime Minister of Belgium), for sending condolences on Raisi’s death.
Michel wrote: “The EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident. Our thoughts go to the families.”
Billingslea responded to Michel: “Might want to delete your post mourning the death of a butcher who sentenced 5000+ Iranian political prisoners to death in 1988.”
Note: Theo Francken — who was State Secretary for Asylum and Migration in Charles Michel’s first cabinet in 2014, sides with Billingslea. Francken wrote: “NATO condolences for the death of a butcher and cruel mass murderer? This is a true enemy of the West and our Alliance. You don’t speak in my name.”
High-ranking Americans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also joined the outrage, saying: “I suspect a great many Iranians would rather Western admirers stop lionizing a man known as the ‘Butcher of Tehran.’”