Sughra* was among many who stayed up all night for the news to break the death of the Iranian President, that night she felt all her prayers since the death of her son around two years ago were being accepted.

Preferring to use a pseudonym in fear for her safety, Sughra is the mother of one of the youth that were killed in the 2022 protests in the city of Divandareh by direct fire from security forces.

Upon hearing that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had died in a helicopter crash, she celebrated by distributing sweets and dancing.

That night felt long for her, but the news of Raisi’s death was worth the wait for her. She immediately changed the black clothing that she had worn since her son’s death, and applied henna on her white hair.

Iranians across the country and the globe celebrated the news of Raisi’s helicopter crash, which took his life and those of his companions including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

Those celebrating were mainly families of people killed in protests, protestors that had suffered in Iranian prisons, and families of people executed in the country’s prisons.

The celebration went viral on social media, to a point where Iran’s Social Media monitoring chief Vahid Majid warned people of posting celebratory posts on social media, announcing they had arrested 35 people and put 80 social media accounts on their wanted list.

One of the videos that went viral was the dancing of Afsaneh Yousifi, mother of Pazhman Fatehi, who was executed with three other members of a Kurdish opposition group in January.

In a research published in April, Amnesty International said that 853 executions were recorded in 2023 under Raisi’s rule.

Speaking to The New Region, Sughra’s daughter said that following the death of her son, their mother had made grief a main part of her day, wearing black all the time and visiting the graveyard twice a day.

“At night, she would not sleep, she would pray until late that God would avenge my brother,” she said.

But Raisi’s helicopter crash changed the mood in their house, it was as though divine justice had finally prevailed.

“She distributed sweets until the evening and went to the graveyard with other mothers with flowers, celebrating,” her daughter said.

In the city of Karaj, the 27-year-old Neda* celebrated all night by drinking and partying with her friends.

“Since Raisi came to power, he continued to kill academics and intellectuals, he was also the deputy prosecutor and part of the Death Committee in 1988, who executed thousands,” Neda said.

“That is why any freedom loving human is glad to hear about his death,” she added.

Some would call Raisi’s death an easy way out, claiming that he should have been held accountable for the crimes on his record.

In a tweet on Monday, spokesperson to The Association of Victims' Families of Flight PS752 Hamed Esmaeilion said that Raisi “and other criminals of the Islamic regime deserve to face justice before the courts and be held accountable for their heinous crimes against humanity.”

“His victims have been robbed of the opportunity to bring this criminal to justice, but his name shall be etched in history in the dark shroud of criminality,” he added.

In the Kurdish city of Mehabad, the 30-year-old Hemn* is among many that were arrested in the 2022 protests. Hemn stayed in prison for six months.

“No one is ever happy for the death of a normal person, but for tyrants like him, who took part in the killing of thousands of innocent people, it needs celebration,” he said.

“I do not know how to express my joy, our city is all celebrating, some families have even made sacrifices,” he added.

*Names have been changed to protect their identity