In objection to the poor living condition in prison, two political prisoners, Mehdi Farahi Shandiz and Mohammad Riazat, went on a hunger strike.

The Campaign in Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners reported that due to the lack of facilities and warm water in the central prison of Karaj the two political prisoners went on a hunger strike since October 17, 2019; they were relocated to solitary confinement a day later.

Following the widespread protests in last August in Iran, Mohammad Riazat was arrested and then temporarily released on bail. Mehdi Zeinali, the criminal revolutionary court’s judge, sentenced Mrs. Riazat to three years in jail on charges of “insulting the Founder and Supreme Leader” and “propaganda against the regime” Mrs. Riazat was transferred to Karaj’s Central Penitentiary on December 10, 2019.

Mehdi Farahi Shandiz was charged by criminal Judge Moqisi, on “insulting the Leader” and “disturbing public order” and was sentenced to three years behind bars. This political prisoner, in two other separate cases, in 2011 and 2014, had been sentenced to nine years in prison on the same charges.

Prior to this, in an open letter on July 15, 2019, due to unacceptable prison conditions and misconducted behavior of prison officials, six other political prisoners had gone on a hunger strike.

The heroic resistance of the Mujahedin-e Khalq’s (PMOI/MEK) political prisoners has always been inspiring for the opposition movements of Iran particularly the youths, the teachers, and the workers.

I reiterate the need for the formation of an international delegation to visit and inspect Iranian prisons and conditions of political prisoners in #Iran.https://t.co/wYM9zxg4eo pic.twitter.com/UX1vpZIqvh

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 14, 2019

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the MEK sources, during the period of June 22 to July 22, 2019, there had been 24 hunger strikes by political prisoners in Iran.

The designation of Ebrahim Raisi, the key figure in the1988 massacre in which 30,000 political prisoners, mainly the MEK members and supporters, were slaughtered in just a few months, as Chief Justice, and that of three top terrorists from the IRGC, Salami, Fadavi, and Hanqdi, by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran, clearly shows that there is no mercy in this barbarian regime. These designations indicate also the high capacity of the Iranian society for revolt, samples of which can be seen in the streets, factories, schools, prisons and… The MEK resistance units are mobilizing these unrests throughout the country on a daily basis.

The brave uprisings in Iran are inspired by the historical MEK resistance against two dictatorial regimes, those of the Shah and the mullahs, and have always been supported by the MEK.

Torching the regime’s symbols and posters of the regime’s Supreme Leader, by the MEK resistance units across the country urges the youth and the women to stand up against the regime.

Mullahs in #Iran hopelessly try to prevent a popular uprising and thwart the expansion of resistance units by using internal suppression and external sponsorship of #terrorism https://t.co/sHwxd0FbHk#MEK @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/nHTsy5xLNu

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) October 17, 2019

The resistance of political prisoners, particularly MEK supporters as well as other sectors of the Iranian society clearly indicates the embers beneath the ashes in the tumultuous Iranian society. They want regime change and establishing democracy and freedom by the true and reliable alternative, the NCRI and its elected President, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.

Staff Writer.

 

 

The Iranian Opposition (The National Council of Resistance of Iran- NCRI) has called on the UN Secretary-General, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and related UN rapporteurs, Amnesty International and all other human rights organizations to take efforts to ensure that all political prisoners in Iran are freed.

It especially wants action taken so that two political prisoners currently on hunger strike can be released.

The two political prisoners in question are Ibrahim Khalil Sedighi Hamedani and his son Salar. They are currently on a hunger strike since Wednesday 25th September after being sentenced to 19 years imprisonment each.

The plight of political prisoners continues in #Iran's dungeons.#HumanRightshttps://t.co/4ctCoSdqPQ

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 18, 2019

The two men are in Urmia Central Prison in the north-western part of the country.

The health of the two men is of major concern. After twenty days on hunger strike, their blood pressure has dropped to a worrying level and they are exhausted. The father and son have written to the clinic to inform staff that they would no longer be accepting blood pressure tests to be carried out on them.

The official in charge of the jail and the prison warden met with Ibrahim Khalil and his son. They made a number of promises to the men, with the aim of getting them to end their hunger strike, but they failed to follow up and ultimately ignored their concerns.

They have said that they will continue their hunger strike for as long as their demands are not met.

Ibrahim Khalil and his son were accused of being affiliated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) The ruling against them is ludicrous and the main opposition to the Iranian regime has raised its concern.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in a statement, said: “Messrs Ebrahim Sadeqi Hamedani, 60 years old, and his 22-year-old son, Salar Sadeqi Hamedani, went on hunger strike in protest to inhuman treatment and medieval sentences of the mullahs’ regime against them since September 25, 2019”. The NCRI urges the relevant authorities and organizations to urgently establish a fact-finding mission to see how political prisoners in Iran are treated.

The organization emphasizes that the mission must include participation on an international level and political prisoners must be interviewed.

Political prisoners in Iran have been horribly treated for many decades. Dissidents and political opponents are still being arrested, tortured and thrown in jail, simply because they do not agree with the despotic rule of the mullahs.

One of the most violent and shocking events in recent decades is the 1988 massacre in which the country’s Supreme Leader issued a fatwa calling for the execution of political prisoners across the country. It was a truly tragic crime against humanity in which more than 30,000 political prisoners lost their lives, most of whom, were members and sympathizers of the people’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK).

During the course of summer 1988, the #Iranian regime executed more than 30,000 political prisoners – most of whom were supporters or members of the People’s #Mojahedin Organization of #Iran (#PMOI / #MEK)https://t.co/oTOZAZvVTr pic.twitter.com/k4b8QXfgi4

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) October 15, 2019

There are renewed calls for justice for the victims of this massacre because the regime is still basking in impunity all these decades later. And worse, some of the officials involved in the 1988 massacre of the MEK members, are now occupying high-level government positions.

 

Supporters of the main opposition to the Iranian regime gathered in several countries to commemorate the victims of the 1899 massacre of political prisoners, mainly Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters, in Iran. The gatherings coincided with World Day Against the Death Penalty and there were ceremonies held in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom.

During the course of summer 1988, the Iranian regime executed more than 30,000 political prisoners – most of whom were supporters or members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK).

More than three decades later, the Iranian regime has still not been held accountable. Some of those involved in carrying out this terrible crime against humanity has even risen through the regime’s ranks, now occupying high-level and senior positions. The country’s justice minister Alireza Avaei and the head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi are two such individuals.

Supporters of the Iranian Resistance and the PMOI / MEK in the Netherlands held a ceremony in front of the Dutch parliament in The Hague. They put up an exhibition showing just a few of the regime’s horrific crimes against the people, especially political prisoners, highlighting that the death penalty is used as a way to suppress the people.

The supporters of the Resistance paid tribute to those that died in 1988 and called for justice for these victims.

#Netherlands: #MEK supporters condemn #DeathPenalty in #Iran
Report by https://t.co/dhiNJSFUBX
PMOI supporters held a demonstration in front of 🇳🇱Parliament to commemorate victims of #1988Massacre
They held banners which read “#FreeIran”and"#NoToExecution"https://t.co/DkYX8Bj6bU

— Iran Freedom-En (@4freedominiran2) October 11, 2019

Hadi Mozafari who was involved in the organization of the ceremony spoke to the crowds, emphasizing that the policies of appeasement towards this so-called moderate government in Iran must stop. He highlighted that during Rouhani’s time in office, there have been more than 3,800 executions. He and the participants called on the international community to ensure that the regime officials involved in the 1988 massacre are tried in international courts for their crimes.

There was also an exhibition set up in the United Kingdom where supporters of the Resistance gathered in front of parliament. The exhibition included pictures of some of the people that died during the 1988 massacre and it remained in place for 4 days.

Human rights activists, legal experts, and witnesses to the Iranian regime’s crimes and brutality spoke at the event, with the main consensus being that the regime must be held accountable for all of its crimes, especially the 1988 massacre that should not go unpunished for another year.

Tahar Boumedra, a board member of the Justice for Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) group and a legal expert, said that the crime the Iranian regime committed 31 years ago is an “atrocious” crime against humanity and the regime’s impunity must end.

A representative of the Iranian communities in London and former political prisoner Reza Fallah said that time has not healed the wounds that that “we will neither forget nor forgive”.

The Iranian regime tried to get rid of the opposition back in 1988, but it has done nothing but make the opposition stronger and more determined to see the regime fall.

Staff Writer

 

 

 

 

October 10 is World Day against the Death Penalty, so around that time, it’s important to think about the thousands of death row prisoners in Iran. Iran is the world record holder in executions per capita, the highest executioner of juveniles, and a major executioner of political prisoners.

Iran’s use of capital punishment is a regular source of international outrage, attracting the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and Amnesty International as well as many others. It is not just the mullahs’ refusal to ban the death penalty or the sheer number of executions, but also the fact that the regime uses execution uses as a tool to suppress the Iranian people.

The regime also refuses to categorize murders according to a degree, which means that anyone committing murder is sentenced to death, regardless of motive. This means that many victims of domestic abuse and those who kill another in self-defense are executed as if they acted in cold blood.

Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) reported that between October 2018 and October 2019, there were at least 273 executions in Iran, including:

• 13 women, including Leila Zarafshan, Maliheh Salehian,  Zahra Safari Moghadam, Arasteh Ranjbar, and Nazdar Vatankhah

• 10 juvenile offenders, including Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat

• 10 political prisoners, including Seyyed Jamal Haji Zavvareh, Maliheh Salehian, Abdullah Qasempour, Abdullah Karmollah Chab, Ghassem Abdullah, Hamid Derakhshandeh, Behrouz Abdipour, Hossein Roshan and Mohsen Kounani.

• 17 public executions

In March, supreme leader Ali Khamenei appointed Ebrahim Raisi, a notorious former judge, as head of the judiciary, likely because of his role in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.

On the 30th anniversary of this unforgettable epic, let us rise and honor the memory of the 30,000 red roses of the Iranian Resistance massacred in 1988 by a minute-long applaud.#1988Massacre #Iran pic.twitter.com/coQraoCJaT

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 25, 2018

US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino called Raisi’s appointment a “disgrace” and a “mockery of [the] legal process”.

He tweeted:

“Ebrahim Raeesi (Raisi), involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!”

Iran HRM wrote:

“[We urge] all international human rights organizations, especially the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, journalists and the media, to condemn horrendous executions in Iran and take immediate action to stop these medieval crimes being carried out in the twenty-first century. We want an Iran, free of any executions.”

Staff Writer

October 10 was World Day against the Death Penalty and this makes it the perfect time to reflect on the death penalty in Iran, for which Iran Human Rights Monitor’s (HRM) annual report has just been released.

There are hundreds of people in Iran that are sentenced to death every year, with thousands lingering on death row in Iranian jails, but the Iranian officials have never heeded the world’s calls to ban the death penalty.

Several independent international bodies, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and Amnesty International, have said that Iran is the top executioner per capita, the second biggest executioner in terms of numbers, and the world leader in the executions of children and juvenile offenders.

Iran Human Rights Monitor notes that in 2019 alone, at least 200 individuals have been executed, including eight juvenile offenders, 10 women, and six political prisoners. At least 12 executions were carried out in public. More worrying still, this appears to be escalating, with at least nine women executed in just eight months, compared with an average of 6 to 10 per year from 2016 to 2018.

The Regime uses execution as a tool to suppress the Iranian people, most of whom live under the poverty line, are unemployed, and deprived of freedom of expression. They hardly make a secret of it. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei appointed notorious former judge Ebrahim Raisi, who was partly responsible for the massacre of 30,000 people in 1988, mostly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK), as judiciary chief back in March to keep a lid on social unrest.

The US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino denounced Raisi’s appointment as a “disgrace” and a “mockery of legal process”.

He tweeted: “Ebrahim Raisi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!”

While 160 countries have abolished the death penalty, Iran continues to execute people contrary to the standards required under international law and executes juvenile offenders, those with mental disabilities, and those who have not committed serious crimes (i.e. drug users, political activists). They also refuse to categorize murders according to their degrees, meaning that there is no leniency for manslaughter, self-defense, or domestic abuse victims.

Iran HRM wrote:  “[We urge] all international human rights organizations, especially the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, journalists and the media, to condemn horrendous executions in Iran and take immediate action to stop these medieval crimes being carried out in the twenty-first century. We want an Iran, free of any executions.”

In 1988, Khomeini, the founder of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship, penned the fatwa ordering the massacre of political prisoners. #1988Massacre #NoImpunity4Mullahs #InternationalDayoftheDisappeared #Iran pic.twitter.com/UiYKl4PmGP

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 30, 2019

Staff Writer

Iran has the most number of executions per capita in the world, as well as being the world’s top executioner of juveniles, having executed at least 3,800 people since supposed moderate Hassan Rouhani became president in 2013.

This should come as no surprise because all the way back in 1980, when he was a lawmaker, Rouhani called for the Regime’s political opponents to be hanged in public at Friday prayers to serve as an example to others.

These executions have continued in Iran throughout 2019, with at least 199 people executed so far this year, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran-HRM). This is despite the fact that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, condemned Iran’s execution rate in 2018, specifically the executions of at least six juvenile offenders.

Under the Regime’s so-called Citizens Rights Charter, Iranians don’t have a right to life and the age at which the death sentence can be handed down is nine for girls and 15 for boys.

The most common victims of this heinous crime are activists of the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), with some 120,000 of them executed by the Regime since 1981.

Some 30,000 of these were executed under a fatwa by Regime Founder Ruhollah Khomeini in 1988 after hastily set up Death Commissions held kangaroo trials and ordered the execution of anyone who refused to renounce the MEK. The victims were buried in mass graves, their deaths covered up, and those responsible given cushy positions in the Regime, like current Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi and current Justice Minister Alireza Avaei.

Amnesty International, the late UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Asma Jahangir, and Iran HRM all called for an independent investigation into the massacre, but so far it has not materialized.

The time has come for the international community to end three decades of impunity for the clerical regime leaders in #Iran and to hold them accountable for their crimes. #1988Massacre https://t.co/QgnvFDu12F pic.twitter.com/n4L9WFqWlF

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 24, 2019

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi wants to ensure that the death penalty is banned in Iran, alongside torture and all other human rights abuses; something they’ve advocated many times over the past four decades.

Rajavi said:

“Our plan for the future is to put an end to the mullahs’ religious decrees. We reject the inhuman penal code and other abusive laws of this regime. We believe Retribution is an inhuman law. Our plan is to institute an independent, dynamic and free judiciary. Our plan is to defend democratic values, freedom, equality, and sanctity of every citizen’s private life…. Our plan is for all citizens to enjoy genuine security and equal rights before the law. We are seeking a new order based on freedom, democracy, and equality.”

Staff Writer

Confronting the unrest in Iran, Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of religious fascism finds no solution but accelerating internal suppression and external terrorism. Adopting Ebrahim Raissi, the key figure in the 1988 prison massacre, in which 30,000 Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters were executed in just a few months, as the head of the Judiciary shows he has no other option to control the explosive situation in Iran but appointing henchmen as high-ranking officials.

However, the growing protests during recent months in Iran led by the MEK indicate repression does not work for mullahs as it did before. The protests in Iran prove that the rulers cannot dictate their demands and people do not accept this miserable situation any longer. Expanding the popular movements and protests, and also the growing war between different factions inside the regime, both reflect the reality of Iranian society.

This leads the society to stand up and protest against poverty and repression. Recent uprising of people in the Southwest city of Lordegan is just an example.

Saturday, October 5, 2019, thousands of residents in Lordegan demonstrated against the mullahs’ regime in support of the residents of Chenar Mahmoudi village in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province. Angry youths set ablaze the office of the representative of the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Lordegan Governor’s Office as well as several other regime’s centers.

The demonstration began outside the Governor’s Office and spread to the Health Department’s local office. The security forces attacked the protesters at both locations. The protesters defended themselves by throwing rocks. The suppressive forces fired live rounds and tear gas into the crowd to disperse them, wounding a number of demonstrators.

Despite the unprecedented suppression, the angry workers in two industrial facilities, Hepco and Arak Azarab, are still continuing their protests against the regime.

Hail to the brave workers of Azarab, Arak, who did not succumb to the clerical regime’s threats &intimidations, continuing their protest today. The regime again responded by tear gas, arrests, &beatings. Such oppression will be foiled by the courageous workers’ will power. #Iran pic.twitter.com/yzKXAy9TP0

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 7, 2019

Everything indicates circumstances are changing in Iran with freedom and prosperity on the horizon.

Pointing to the protests of people in Lordegan, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said:

“With their chants of death to the dictator and attacking the office of the representative of the Iranian Regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, they targeted the clerical establishment as the main cause of all the atrocities perpetrated against the Iranian people,”

On the current situation she emphasized:

“This corrupt and criminal regime has squandered Iran’s national wealth by pursuing nuclear and missile projects and engaging in foreign warmongering, which has destroyed all aspects of life for the people of Iran, including health and well-being.”

After four decades of suppression, the MEK resistance units are active more than ever, pushing the mullahs towards a deadly cliff. Victory is within reach. It is time for the international community to recognize the Iranian Resistance, the NCRI and the MEK.

Staff Writer

On October 10, which was the World Day against the Death Penalty, Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian opposition, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), gave a speech about execution in Iran, which has stolen the lives of 120,000, Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters.

Rajavi said the sacrifice of the martyrs not only exposed the bloody nature of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship but also helped raise support for banning the death penalty in Iran; something that she is sure will happen as soon as the mullahs are overthrown.

Rajavi said: “Over the past 40 years, the cycle of executions of youths in Iran actually perpetuated the rule of the mullahs’ religious tyranny. Such bloody insanity has created an atmosphere of suppression and terror crucial to preserving the mullahs’ decadent regime, on the one hand. And on the other, it provided a mechanism for training ruthless mercenaries to take on the rule. Their fieldwork included interrogation and torture of victims, laying the hanging noose around their necks or giving them the coup de grace. Having passed this course, Ebrahim Raisi, an executioner involved in the 1988 massacre, has now become the head of the Judiciary.”

Rajavi noted that there were 253 executions in Iran in 2018 alone, according to international bodies, but that this was only a small number because many executions are carried out secretly. She also highlighted that at least four of these executions were carried out on juvenile offenders, while the number of executions of political prisoners has increased dramatically over that period.

She then mentioned the murder of a political prisoner that was planned by prison authorities in Greater Tehran Prison in June and the execution of three political prisoners in Dezful and Kazerun in July and August, before citing the secret executions of 22 Arab compatriots in November 2018, as reported by Amnesty International.

Rajavi said that these executions, combined with the Regime’s brutal suppression of the Iranian people, makes it all the more urgent for the United Nations and international human rights bodies to investigate how political prisoners are being treated in Iran. She warned against allowing the regime to threaten the lives of political prisoners in a desperate effort to counter the protest movement, pointing out that appeasement has only led to more executions.

Rajavi said:  “Appeasement is what the clerical regime relies upon to export their terrorism by taking advantage of their diplomatic facilities on European soil and through warmongering in the region… To stand up to a regime which is the main threat to global peace and security, all governments need to make their ties and commerce with the clerical regime contingent on end to executions and torture in Iran.”

She advised that the dossier on human rights abuses in Iran must be referred to the UN Security Council and the International Tribunal, that the UN should pressure the regime to admit their fact-finding delegation to prisons where political prisoners are held, and that the international community should recognize the Iranian people’s right to a “sovereign republic”.

Staff Writer

Tenth of October, is the international day against the Death penalty; however, in Iran under the current despotic regime of mullahs, gallows are everywhere to take the lives of citizens every day. According to the annual report of Amnesty International Iran is still the number one state in execution per-capita as well as in torture and lack of legal procedures.

The Iranian regime is widely using the death penalty to terrorize and intimidate society. In many occasions, it uses this apparatus to target political and conscience opponents, and also ethnic and religious minorities in a discriminative manner.

Last year, Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Iranian regime, appointed Ebrahim Raeesi, the key figure in the Death Committee during the 1988 massacre in Iran, that sent 30000 MEK members and supporters to the gallows, as the head of Judiciary. Since Raissi took the office the number of executions has raised dramatically.

Robert Paladino, the US State Department speak person, in a Tweet in March 2019 wrote:

” Ebrahim Raeesi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead #Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!”

350 death sentences in three months

According to the State-run agency, IRNA, 18 June 2019, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’ i, first deputy of regime’s Judiciary, admitted that just during the first three months of this year, there had been 350 death sentences and 250 more are under consideration. During August, 40 death sentences have been issued in Iran. In a statement on 8 August 2019, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) stated that there have been 46 executions for five weeks, 39 just in July.

Rouhani’s record

Gross violation of human rights since Rouhani took office, clearly shows the dire situation in Iran. According to the human rights organizations, in the last five and half years, during Rouhani’s presidency, 400 people have been executed, 56 per month; with ninety-seven women executed in this period.

Political death sentences

Based on statistics released by Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK), 120,000 Iranians have been killed by the Iranian regime. MEK has published the names and particulars of 20,000 of MEK members and supporters in two books, “Crime against Humanity”, and in “Fallen for Freedom”.

In an unprecedented crime against humanity since world war two, 30,000 political prisoners, mainly MEK members and supporters were executed in cold blood in just a few months in 1988 on direct orders of Khomeini, the founder of the mullahs’ regime.

Executions of ethnic and religious minorities, such as Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis, Sunnis, and Baha’is have turned to a routine in Iran. 22 prisoners of conscience, Sunnis, were killed in a mass execution on 2 August 2016.

NO death penalty in a Free Iran

Our resistance movement seeks to establish a society devoid of torture or executions, a republic based on freedom, democracy and separation of religion &state which will cherish human rights and gender equality as its highest principles #Iran #NoDeathPenalty #NoImpunity4Mullahs pic.twitter.com/zd2yGds2PL

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 10, 2019

On 10 October 2015, in a speech delivered to a conference on the International Day against Death penalty Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI, said:

“Our plan for future is an Iran without the death penalty, obliterating the mullahs’ religious decrees and establishing an independent judiciary, defending democratic values, freedom, equality, and sanctity of every citizen’s private life; no one will be arrested arbitrarily and torture is banned.”

Staff Writer

In the summer of 1988, 30,000 political prisoners were summarily executed in Iran on the Fatwa of Regime Founder Ruhollah Khomeini for their support of the opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK). For over 30 years, the families of the victims have sought answers, but were routinely silenced by the Regime, even executed themselves on some occasions, and ignored by the world.

In 2016, a justice-seeking movement was established to end the mullahs’ impunity and prevent something like this from happening again. The movement is demanding the names of the victims, the locations of their graves, identification of perpetrators, and prosecution of those responsible for this crime against humanity.

Now, there has been some condemnation of the massacre by governing bodies, after survivors and witnesses testified and especially following the release of a 1988 audio file of then Khomeini’s heir Hossein Ali Montazeri criticizing the massacre as “the greatest crime committed in the Islamic Republic [for which] history will condemn us”. But still, the perpetrators remain free, with many still serving in the Regime, including head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi, minister of justice Alireza Avaei, head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges Hossein Ali Nayyeri,  and member of the Assembly of Experts Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi.

These officials have openly defended the massacre, with former justice minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi even claiming he was “proud” to carry out the massacre and would do so again. The Regime has also seen fit to destroy evidence, like mass graves, in order to evade international investigations, should one ever come to pass.

It is clear that there should be international action to hold the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre responsible and end their impunity for what human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC described as

“one of the biggest human carnages since World War II”.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote:

“In light of the new evidence and information surfaced since 2016 when the Call-for-Justice movement emerged, and the admissions made by the clerical regime’s officials defending the massacre, the time has come for the international community to break its 30-year silence and end three decades of impunity for the clerical regime leaders in Iran.”

They advised that it is time for the United Nations to launch an independent investigation into this crime against humanity and for the dossier of human rights violations in Iran, particularly the executions of the 1980s, to be referred to the UN Security Council.

Staff Writer