The 10^th of October was the 16^th World Day Against the Death Penalty. To mark the occasion, Friends of a Free Iran issued a press statement expressing their concern over the current use of capital punishment in Iran.

10th October #European & #WorldDayAgainstTheDeathPenalty #Iran holds highest number in global executions
Statement by Friends of a Free Iran in the European Parliament#HumanRights #DeathPenalty @Europarl_EN @FedericaMog @davidmcallister @EP_President @Maryam_Rajavi @eu_eeas pic.twitter.com/wcOLJS7QFo

— Firouz Mahvi (@FirouzMahvi) October 10, 2018

A Violent and Barbaric Regime

The clerical regime carries out more executions per capita than any other regime or government on earth. The mullahs’ regime accounted for more than half of all the executions in the world in 2017.

In 2018 so far, the regime has executed more than 230 Iranian citizens, among them, were political prisoners, women, and juvenile offenders.

In just a month of September alone, Friends of a Free Iran report, 33 Iranians were hanged, including nine political prisoners, whose only crime was disagreeing with the hard-line, dogmatic ideology of the clerical regime.

Remembering 1988 Massacre of MEK Activists

2018’s World Day Against the Death Penalty holds a special significance. It marks the 30^th anniversary of one of the darkest chapters of Iran’s history.

In the summer of 1988, the regime rounded up more than 30,000 members of the Iranian opposition, the majority of which came from the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK). The men and women were detained, then executed on the orders of the regime’s leadership.

The most difficult part for the families of the victims, as well as MEK members today, is that those responsible for the crimes have escaped punishment. Many hold senior positions in Rouhani’s cabinet today.

The Friends of a Free Iran press release mentions Rouhani’s Justice Minister, Alireza Avaei. Avaei played a central role in the 1988 massacre. He was a member of the “death squad” that ordered and carried out many of the arrests and executions that summer.

State-Sponsored Terrorism

Friends of a Free Iran also took the opportunity to denounce the Iranian regime’s engagement in state-sponsored terrorism. 2018 has seen the clerical regime plot two plots on European soil against the MEK, both of which were foiled in the late stages.

In June, an Iranian diplomat working at the Iranian embassy in Vienna provided a Belgian-Iranian couple with explosive material. The pair were going to attack the MEK’s Grand Gathering event in Paris with an explosive-laden vehicle.

The terrorist plots, according to Friends of a Free Iran, represent the violent nature of the clerical regime. Its statement condemned the regime for “attacking its own people inside Iran and… planning terrorism on the [sic] European soil”.

Friends of a Free Iran lamented the silence from the European community. It urged the European heads of state to take a harder approach towards Iran.

The statement read, “we must tell Iran that any acts of terror in Europe is absolutely unacceptable and will have serious consequences”, adding, “we are disappointed that our European governments and the EU [are] still trying to be nice with this brutal regime”.

Finally, the statement implored the international community to “be on the side of the people of Iran and not with the mullahs”. Only then can Iran make progress on human rights.

Staff Writer

On Saturday, August 25th, the Iranian communities gathered for an interactive conference to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the mass execution of political prisoners, most of whom were MEK activists, in the summer of 1988 in Iran. Participants in 20 cities across Europe and North America gathered in simultaneous events, linked via Internet, in a unified call for justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre and support for the legacy of the Iranian Resistance.

 

The conference opened with a speech by Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), who honored the victims of the 1988 Massacre and spoke of the legacy of the martyrs of the mass executions. “They sacrificed their lives but spread the seeds of uprising and revolt,” Mrs. Rajavi said.

For 3 decades, the int’l com.has been silent over the #1988massacre. The mullahs have continued with impunity to violate human rights in Iran, launch terrorist operations, and wage wars in the Middle East and other countries. Now, the time has come to end this silence. pic.twitter.com/NIDTA1EN6S

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 25, 2018

Rajavi went on to say, “The resistance units in Iran follow the footsteps of those men and women who said no to the regime and were massacred in 1988. The clerical regime is beleaguered by the eight-month-long uprisings, by the growing role of the PMOI and resistance units in organizing and leading the revolts, and by the consequences of a plummeting and drowning economy.”

The nationwide uprising persisting today is the continuation of their blood-drenched perseverance. The resistance units and pioneers of the Call-for-Justice movement continue the path of those heroes.#IranRegimeChange #FreeIran2018#1988Massacre #Iran pic.twitter.com/8A1RH8rb8p

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 17, 2018

The conference featured speeches by survivors of the massacre and family members of the victims of the massacre. Speakers told stories of family members who had already completed their sentences when they were executed. Some spoke of family members who were arrested or even executed as teenagers.

Now, those fameless towns have turned into hubs of uprisings, and those subdued cities have turned into hotbeds of revolt.#1988Massacre #Iran pic.twitter.com/75IINQSVAd

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 25, 2018

Survivors of the mass executions told of being blindfolded and hearing political prisoners around them but being unable to see them. They spoke of fear and long sentences.

 

While the executions were going on, political prisoners were asked if they were MEK members and if they would renounce the organization. 30,000 people said no to their interrogators and were executed over the course of a single summer. One speaker said that many of those executed said in their last moments, “Give my regards to Massoud and Maryam.”

 

A large number of those who spoke at the conference were young people, and these youths were overwhelmingly in support of the MEK and the Iranian Resistance. A recurring theme during the conference was that the Iranian regime’s current actions are very similar to the atrocities committed by the regime in 1988. The speakers drew parallels to the regime’s human rights violations and current record of executions to the massacre and spoke of the importance of the resistance movement and the need for regime change.

 

Survivors and families of victims said repeatedly that they would be willing to testify if an investigation were to take place. Mrs. Rajavi has called for an international investigation into the mass executions by the Iranian regime. The perpetrators of the crime against humanity have never faced justice and occupy high-ranking positions within the Iranian regime. Amnesty International and a number of other human rights organizations have also called for an investigation into the massacre.

Staff Writer

“They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”

Call to Action

The Iranian Resistance calls on the International community to:

• support the protests and goals of the Iranian people for regime change and the establishment of democracy;
• condemn the regime’s human rights violations and terrorist actions;
• prosecute the perpetrators of the 1988 Massacre; and
• adopt a firm policy toward the theocratic regime currently ruling Iran.

On August 25, 2018, the Iranian Resistance movement will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the mass execution of 30,000 political prisoners, most of them MEK members, by the Iranian regime in the summer of 1988. Iranian communities in more than twenty capitals and major cities across Europe and North America will meet together in a joint interactive conference to commemorate and seek justice for the victims of the 1988 Massacre.

The conference comes at a time of upheaval in Iran. The people of Iran are entering their ninth month of protests against the clerical regime. This continuous uprising is unprecedented in the history of the mullahs’ regime and has persisted in the face of brutal efforts by the regime to suppress it. Calls for freedom and regime change are echoing throughout Iran.

 

The current widespread uprisings are a continuation of the path to freedom in Iran that was laid by those who sacrificed their lives in 1988 by standing up to the regime and its henchmen. The Iran protests are deeply rooted in sacrifices such as these, and these roots have taken hold with a nationwide call for regime change. The origins of the Iran protests and prospects for the future of the uprising will be among the topics of the international conference.

 

The conference is part of an international campaign to seek justice for the victims of the 1988 Massacre, which was launched two years ago by Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The campaign demands an independent investigation by the United Nations into the massacre, which has been described human rights NGOs, experts, and defenders as one of the worst crimes against humanity since World War II. The perpetrators of this crime have never been brought to justice and are now among the highest-ranked officials in the Iranian regime. These criminals are directly involved in suppressing the ongoing uprising.

 

Conference Details

 

The conference will bring together thousands of Iranians in Europe and North America simultaneously and will include people from across the Iranian diaspora, representatives of Iranian Associations, as well as prominent international social and political personalities. Survivors of the massacre and relatives of victims will also share their experiences and observations with the participants.

 

Attendees will gather in Paris, London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rome, Oslo, Brussels, Bern, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Bucharest, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Aarhus, and Stuttgart. United States Congressman Patrick Kennedy and a number of European lawmakers will be among the participants at the Paris conference.

This international gathering of the Iranian community will begin at 5 PM CEST/11 AM EST and will be broadcast live in Persian, English, French, and Arabic on social media and the Internet. You can tune in live on the following networks:

On the 30th Anniversary of the Massacre of 30,000 Political Prisoners, #Iranian Communities call on international community:
End Impunity, Prosecute the perpetrators of the #1988Massacre@APA_ICE
August 25,2018 -1700 CESThttps://t.co/2uECjaevwk https://t.co/yQ3fBf66Zh pic.twitter.com/tf56MUyTrm

— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) August 22, 2018

Facebook: /4freedominIran

Twitter: @4freedominIran

www.iranfreedom.org

Please help us spread the word about this event!

What you can do:

• inform friends, family, and activists who are interested in human rights and Iran protests of the event;
• share the live broadcast on social media to help echo the call for justice and democracy in Iran;
• join the online social media campaign, using the hashtag #1988Massacre
• ask your local media and news outlets to cover the conference and report on the goals of the Iranian community.

 

Background information

In 1988, Khomeini issued a fatwa sentencing 30,000 political prisoners to execution. These prisoners were mostly MEK members. In order to expedite the executions, Khomeini set up three-member death committees throughout the country so that prisoners could be sentenced to death within a few minutes. The victims were buried in mass graves.

 

To date, no independent international investigation has been conducted into this massacre, and the perpetrators of this crime have never been brought to justice.

 

An audio tape was revealed in 2016 of a conversation that took place during the summer of 1988. In the tape, Hossein Ali Montazeri, Khomeini’s successor at the time, can be heard telling the Death Commission in Tehran that what is being carried out is the most heinous crime of the Islamic Republic in Iran’s history. Khomeini dismissed Montazeri in April of 1989 because of his opposition to the massacre, writing, “After me, you would give the country to the liberals and through them to the PMOI/MEK.” Khomeini died in June of that year, leaving Ali Khamenei to replace him as Iran’s Supreme Leader.

 

Over the past few months, a number of human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called for investigations on the 1988 Massacre and presented their own reports on the mass executions. The recent attention by human rights organizations has largely been due to large-scale efforts by the mullahs to destroy mass graves in an effort to conceal evidence of their crimes.

Staff Writer