CAN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AUDITE CRIMINALS IN IRAN?
By Mahdavi Nasim
The United Nations released the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran on September 2, 2017, along with the 29th anniversary of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. In this document, which has submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations,
for the first time in several articles, the issue of the massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 was dealt And emphasized the execution of thousands of prisoners, women and men and adolescents who have been massacred by Khomeini's fatwas and buried in mass and buried undeclared graves, And called for independent and effective investigations into this crime and the disclosure of facts.
It is worth mentioning the massacre of political prisoners by the Iranian regime, which took place in the summer of 1988 by Tehran still remains one of the darkest stains in recent history.
The executions began in late July and continued for several months. 30,000 political prisoners the mostly members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) were massacred.
The majority of those executed were either serving prison terms for their political activities or had already finished their terms but were still kept in prison.
Some of them had previously been imprisoned and released, but were again arrested and executed during the massacre
Khomeini, Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader issued a decree in July 1988 declaring: “Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the PMOI must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately!” He went on to add: “… Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for PMOI are waging war on God and are condemned to execution…It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God.”
When the massacre of prisoners began all their communications were cut off from the outside world.
Subsequently, political prisoners were hanged or shot in groups, generally buried in mass and anonymous grave. For past 23 years the burial sites have remained unknown for the families.
During the last year, a Number of Iranian regime officials have confessed about the massacre. The confessions are clear evidence of the crime committed by this regime.
It is now the time for the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran to recognize the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 as crimes against humanity and to conduct an investigation into this massacre, so that the perpetrators of the crime will be prosecuted in the international tribunal.
The families of the victims call for an international fact finding committee to independently investigate this crime and bring the perpetrators to the international tribunals.
Parts of the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran are as follows:
In Article 73 of the UN official report, the massacre of 1988, after 29 years, has been documented and recorded
Death Committee:
- Between July and August 1988, thousands of political prisoners, men, women and teen-agers, were reportedly executed pursuant to a fatwa issued by the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. A three -man commission was reportedly created with a view to determining who should be executed. The bodies of the victims were reportedly buried in unmarked graves and their families never informed of their whereabouts. These events, known as the 1988 massacres, have never been officially acknowledged. In January 1989, the Special Representative of the Commission on Hman Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, expressed concern over the “global denial” of the executions and called on Iranian authorities to conduct an investigation. Such an investigation has yet to be undertaken.44
Article 74 of the report states
Historical Revelation:
- In August 2016, an audio recording of a meeting held in 1988 between high - level State officials and clerics was published. The recording revealed the names of the officials who had carried out and defended the executions, including t he current Minister of Justice, a current high court judge, and the head of one of the largest religious foundations in the country and candidate in the May presidential elections. Following the publication of the audio recording, some clerical authorities and the chief of the judiciary admitted that the executions had taken place and, in some instances, defended them.
About the candidate of Mullah Ibrahim Raisi by the institutions under the command of Khamenei in the election of the regime in Article 11 of this document states:
Perpetrator:
- During the period of candidate registration, a total of 1,636 individuals, including 137 women, submitted their names as candidates for president. However, in April, the Guardian Co uncil, a body of six clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader that oversees the electoral process and vets the candidates, announced that the candidatures of only six men (0.37 per cent of the applicants) had been approved. Among them was Ebrahim Raisi, who reportedly had served on a committee that had ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.
About the discovery of the mass graves of the martyrs of massacres 1988 in different parts of the country in article 71 of the report reads:
- In March, families who visited a mass grave located in the city of Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, where up to 170 political prisoners are believed t o be buried, reportedly discovered that the previously flat area had been covered with soil to create a raised mound over the grave. In mid -May, bulldozers were reportedly seen working on a construction project directly alongside the mass grave site at Ahvaz, located on a barren piece of land 3 km east of Behesht Abad Cemetery, where the remains of at least 44 people killed during the summer of 1988 are believed to be located. The plan is reportedly to ultimately raze the concrete block marking the grave si te and build a “green space” or commercial development over the site.
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