President Ebrahim Raisi of the Iranian regime blamed his predecessor Hassan Rouhani’s government for the country’s high inflation and economic crises during his inauguration ceremony in August 2021. In his first speech as president, Raisi, while blaming Rouhani, resorted to his tried-and-true tactics of making hollow promises of “major developments” and “changing the status quo.

 

Former political prisoner Akbar Samadi was detained by Iranian security forces in 1981, when he was 15 years old, for aiding the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), and condemned to ten years in prison. During his stay in prison, he witnessed one of Iran’s most heinous crimes against humanity in the last four decades.

 

Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/ MEK Iran) reports from Iran indicate that two prisoners in Adilabad Prison in Shiraz were hanged on Wednesday 12^th February. They have been named as Sadeq Akbarpour and Hadi Mahi and were arrested in 2016 on charges of rape and murder.

On Monday the US Treasury imposed sanctions, on the Iranian regime’s Armed Forces General Staff and nine individuals, including Ebrahim Raissi, a key figure in the Death Commission responsible for the execution of 30,000 MEK members in 1988. As the US Treasury statement says, these individuals “are appointees of, or have acted for or on behalf of, Ali Khamenei, the Iranian regime’s unelected Supreme Leader whose office is responsible for advancing Iran’s radical agenda.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury took the action to “block funds from flowing to a shadow network of Ali Khamenei’s military and foreign affairs advisors who have for decades oppressed the Iranian people, exported terrorism, and advanced destabilizing policies around the world.”

Meet the hostage-takers who now run #Iran's government

Read more: #NCRI Special Report – US Embassy Hostage Takers Now Hold Top Positions in Iran's Regime: https://t.co/Ew3ZI9GzFj#NoImpunity4Mullahs pic.twitter.com/4xRSB4jzWb

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) November 4, 2019

“Specifically, the action targets Ali Khamenei’s appointees in the Office of the Supreme Leader, the Expediency Council, the Armed Forces General Staff, and the Judiciary,” according to the statement released by the OFAC.

This sanction coincides with the 40^th anniversary of the seizing by Iranian thugs of the US embassy in Tehran, taking more than fifty Americans hostage for 444 days.

Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, said:

“These individuals are linked to a wide range of malign behaviors by the regime, including bombings of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in 1994, as well as torture, extrajudicial killings, and repression of civilians. This action further constricts the Supreme Leader’s ability to execute his agenda of terror and oppression,”

The individuals who have been sanctioned include: Ebrahim Raisi, the head of Iran’s Judiciary and a key member of the Death Commission in 1988 sending 30,000 MEK members and supporters to gallows, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei, the regime’s Supreme Leader,; Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the Supreme Leader’s Chief of Staff; Vahid Haghanian, an executive deputy for Ali Khamanei; Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Supreme Leader; Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel, a member of the Expediency Council and also an advisor to Ali Khamenei; Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS); IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, military aide to the Supreme Leader for the Defense Industries and Armed Forces Logistics; and Gholam Ali Rashid, an IRGC commander, who was appointed by the Supreme Leader as the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, the most important military headquarters in Iran.

Sanctions on #Iran's Regime Are Effective, “We Will Enforce Them” Everywhere: Pompeo https://t.co/Zr59STAMKp

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) August 2, 2019

The Treasury statement reads:

“Today, OFAC designated Ebrahim Raisi, the head of Iran’s Judiciary, who was appointed by the Supreme Leader in March 2019. OFAC designated the former head of Iran’s Judiciary Sadegh Amoli Larijani Larijani in January 2018 pursuant to E.O. 13553 for his administrative oversight over the executions of individuals who were juveniles at the time of their crime and the torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran, including “According to a United Nations report, Iran’s Judiciary sanctioned the execution of seven child offenders last year, and two so far in 2019, despite human rights law prohibitions against the death penalty for anyone under age 18. There are at least 90 child offenders currently on death row in Iran.” amputations.”

Former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi has written an op-ed urging the European Union to hold Iranian regime officials accountable for the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, mainly Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members, and supporters, in Iran because no one has been brought to justice in the past 30 years.

Terzi wrote that this impunity is the result of Western governments’ silence over the crimes of the regime and appeasement of the mullahs.

At a conference in July 2018, Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said that the international community was made aware of the massacre almost as soon as it began, but Western governments refused to say anything to stop or expose the crime against humanity.

Terzi wrote:

“The world should have grown more and more receptive to that message as it witnessed the public conduct of the Iranian regime. But somehow, that conduct has never overcome the Western world’s misguided optimism about the potential for political reform within the Islamic Republic. That optimism was perhaps never on clearer display than following the election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2013, which paved the way for the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action two years later.”

 

EU Conference on 1988 #MEK Massacre and New #Iran Policy
https://t.co/QcryEmxPN1#FreeIran @USAdarFarsi

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) October 25, 2019

He highlights that this is something that “seriously undercuts” Europe’s commitment to human rights, especially when the Regime is covering up more evidence of the massacre with each passing year and conducting more crimes like it. Survivors and relatives of its victims are demanding accountability, justice, and closure, which means that the world should listen.

Terzi said:

 “Both Khamenei and Rouhani are committed to upholding the legacy of the 1988 massacre, which primarily targeted the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK) and sought to stamp out any serious challenge to a dictatorial system that was then still struggling to secure its hold on power. In March of this year, Khamenei appointed one of the leading perpetrators of the massacre, Ebrahim Raisi, as the new head of the judiciary. And Rouhani has twice appointed members of the 1988 ‘death commissions’ to the position of Justice Minister.”

This means European leaders should use international pressure to bring those who took part in the massacre of the MEK members and supporters to justice or they will only further “embolden the regime’s domestic terrorism” and therefore cannot claim a commitment to human rights.

Now is the time for the EU to speak out and address the regime’s terrorism and cyber-attacks in #Europe.
Former Italian FM @GiulioTerzi: #Pompeo’s Brussels Visit Is Opportunity to Address #Iran Threat. #FreeIran #MEK #WeSupportMEK @USAdarFarsi https://t.co/WR3WOaCET0

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) September 4, 2019

Terzi said:

“It’s clear that their efforts will continue even if the only endpoint is the Iranian regime’s overthrow. But it would be a shameful start to relations with a new, democratic Iran if none of its prospective international had heeded the call for justice for all those who died at the hands of a system that denied democracy to the Iranian people for so long.”

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

On Tuesday, notorious Death Committee member Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as the Deputy Chief of the Assembly of Experts. Raisi was elected to the position by the mullahs’ Assembly of Experts a week after being appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the head of the regime’s judiciary.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Raisi vowed to crack down on political dissent.

“We deem security as the most important issue in the country,” he said in remarks broadcast by the Tasnim News Agency.

“We will not tolerate any kind of disturbance in the security of the country and will not concede,” he added.

Crackdown on Dissent

Raisi’s comments point to a disturbing increase in the regime’s suppression of dissent among its people in the wake of the nationwide anti-government protests that began in late 2017. More than 7,000 people were arrested in January 2018 for their participation in the widespread uprisings in Iran, and a number of people died after being tortured while in custody.

Since then, anti-regime protests and strikes have continued in cities across the country on a daily basis, with demonstrators calling for the overthrow of the theocratic regime. The MEK and its Resistance Units have organized and led the growing Iranian Resistance Movement in its fight for a free and democratic Iran.

Raisi was a member of Khomeini’s ‘Death Committee’ in #Iran, that sent tens of thousands of #politicalprisoners to the gallows for refusing to denounce their political affiliation.@zeyneprkaratas @AmyEAdams77 @FatjonaMejdini#IranRegimeChange #HumanRightshttps://t.co/E9qd9eEGP5

— Iran Freedom-En (@4freedominiran2) March 7, 2019

The regime, unable to suppress the protesters, who chant, “Death to Khamenei!” and “Death to Rouhani!” in the streets, have cracked down on all forms of dissent. Last year, the regime’s judiciary threatened striking truck drivers with execution. Security forces conducted a series of midnight raids on the homes of striking factory workers, forcing many terrified workers to sleep on the streets to avoid being beaten and arrested. Several protesters were shot in the street during protests last summer in Kazerun. Numerous activists have been imprisoned for speaking out against the regime.

The Iranian regime has expended a great deal of time and resources attempting to eliminate its primary opposition, the MEK, through terrorist activities and demonization campaigns. Last year, the regime hatched terrorist plots against the MEK in Albania, The Netherlands, France, and the United States. One of the regime’s diplomats is currently standing trial in Belgium for a foiled terrorist attack on the annual Free Iran gathering outside of Paris. Several regime diplomats and Ministry of Intelligence agents have been expelled from European countries for participating in terrorist plots against the MEK in 2018.

And yet still the protests continue. The cries for freedom have not ceased.

Now the Iranian regime has placed Ebrahim Raisi, a man who sentenced thousands of political prisoners to death in a single summer, at the head of the judiciary. The mullahs have further given Raisi, who is closely linked to the Revolutionary Guards, a role in choosing the regime’s next Supreme Leader.

1988 Massacre

In the summer of 1988, during the final days of the Iran-Iraq War, Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against the MEK and its members. He decreed that “as the treacherous Monafeqin [MEK] do not believe in Islam and what they say is out of deception and hypocrisy… it is decreed that those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin [MEK], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.”

Ebrahim Raisi was a Prosecutor in Tehran in 1988 and was appointed to a Death Committee by Khomeini. He was tasked with conducting trials in a kangaroo court. MEK members were brought in and asked if they renounced their allegiance to the MEK. If they said no, Raisi sentenced them to death and they were marched to the gallows and hanged in groups. Trials lasted less than three minutes.

More than 30,000 people were executed during the summer of 1988, including pregnant women and teenagers. To this day, none of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.

Raisi’s appointment to the Ministry of Justice is an intolerable act, not only to the victims of the 1988 Massacre and their families but also to all of those in Iran who still hope to see justice and fairness in their government.

Many insiders have speculated that Raisi could be chosen as Khamenei’s successor for Supreme Leader. The Iranian Resistance fights every day to ensure that the regime will not last to see that day.

Staff Writer

Regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently appointed Ebrahim Raisi, a senior member of the “death committee” that sent thousands of political prisoners to their executions in the 1988 Massacre, as the new Judiciary Chief.

Indeed Raeesi, a member of the "death commission" set up by Ruholah Khomeini, issued death decrees resulting in the massacre of as many as 30,000 political prisoners in #1988massacre in Iran. more details in this report, "Iran: Where Mass Murderers Rule" https://t.co/fIRzPiNp4B

— Alireza Jafarzadeh (@A_Jafarzadeh) March 5, 2019

On Sunday Mohseni Ejei, a spokesperson for the regime’s judiciary confirmed Raisi’s appointment, and Yahya Kamalipour, a member of the Parliament’s judiciary committee said that Raisi would be officially introduced on Thursday, March 7th. Raisi will replace Sadeq Amoli Larijani as head of the judiciary. He will serve a five-year term, which may be renewed.

Raisi has received support from regime President Hassan Rouhani and his faction, which is unusual considering Rasi’s connections to Khamenei and his supporters. It is rare for the two groups to find common cause on any issue lately, but Mostafa Tajzadeh and Mahmoud Sadeghi both tweeted their support of the appointment. The same behavior was recently seen when Foreign Minister Javad Zarif resigned and then rescinded his resignation over a 24 hour period. He received support from Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Quds Force and member of a rival faction. The regime appears to have chosen to show an outward display of solidarity in the face of domestic and international crises.

Raisi’s Role in the 1988 Massacre

In the summer of 1988, Ebrahim Raisi sat on the Tehran Death Committee, along with former Minister of Justice Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi. The death committees were formed after then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the deaths of all MEK political prisoners. Raisi and the other members of the committee sentenced thousands of political prisoners, most of whom were members or supporters of the MEK, to death solely because of their political beliefs. Trials in the kangaroo court lasted only a few minutes, and anyone who refused to renounce their support for the MEK was sent to the gallows. People were hanged in groups in order to keep up with a large number of executions being carried out and then buried in mass graves. Teenagers and pregnant women were among those who were murdered by the regime.

 

More than 30,000 people were executed during a single summer in the 1988 Massacre. The perpetrators of this crime against humanity have never been brought to justice. A number of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have called for an independent investigation to be launched and for the perpetrators to be held accountable, but this has still not occurred, and many of the criminals responsible for the murder of 30,000 innocent people have held powerful positions within the regime. Ebrahim Raisi is the only the latest war criminal to take a position of authority within the regime.

Raisi was the Deputy Prosecutor in Tehran in 1988 and has been identified by name by a number of survivors of the massacre as one of the primary people responsible for ordering the executions of MEK members. Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini’s former deputy, wrote about Raisi in his memoir.

Montazeri was Khomeini’s intended successor, but he was recorded objecting to the massacre in 1988 while it was going on. In the audio recording, Montazeri can he heard saying that history would condemn the mullahs for these crimes. In 2016, the audio tape was leaked by his son, and Montazeri was removed from power and placed under house arrest, where he remained for the rest of his life

Two Death Committee Members Become Chiefs of Judiciary

Pour-Mohammadi, the other death committee member who went on to become Chief of the regime Judiciary, gave an interview after the release of the Montazeri tape. He bragged about being part of the death committee, saying that he was “proud to carry out God’s will” and never lost sleep over sending thousands of people to their deaths. He also said that Montazeri’s son Ahmad committed an “act of treason” by leaking the tape and that in doing so he betrayed Khomeini, his father, and the Islamic Revolution.

Unraveling Iranian Regime’s Deeds During 1988 Massacre of MEK Activists

In the televised interview, he also said, “Well, I defended [Khomeini’s] move. We had a mission in regards to the [MEK], back when I was the Revolutionary Court prosecutor. I issued many indictments against the [MEK] and sent it to the court. Many of them were condemned, many were executed and many other verdicts.”

 

Ebrahim Raisi is the latest war criminal to attain a high-ranking position within the regime, but he is not the first. He is not even the first perpetrator of the 1988 Massacre to become Chief of the Judiciary. The families of those killed in the summer of 1988 are still waiting for an investigation into their loved ones’ murders, while those who ordered their executions are named as arbiters of justice.

Staff Writer