People chant slogans and hold pre-revolutionary Iranian flags in Paris, on August 17, 2013, as they take part in a rally marking the 25th anniversary of the 1988 massacre of Iranian political prisoners. (AFP)
By F. Mahmoudi: Special to Al Arabiya EnglishThursday, 27 July 2017
In Iran, 1980s is known as a bloody decade as thousands of political opponents were executed in brutal mass murder.
In the summer of 1988, a massive slaughter took place in Iran’s prisons. Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the successor of Khomeini, was dismissed as a result of his objection to this massacre.
In September 2016, an audio tape from a meeting of the late Ayatollah Montazeri with members of the committee of executioners (commonly known by Iranians as death committee) was published by his son, which led to his arrest and prosecution.
In the audio tape, Ayatollah Montazeri described this massacre as the worst crime in the history of the Islamic Republic, and named Ibrahim Raisi, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, Hossein Ali Nayeri and other coordinators as criminals.