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Commentary
by U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran
Ayatollahs and the 1988 Iran Massacre
Nearly two decades
ago this summer, Iran’s fundamentalist regime
was in the midst of mass killing of political
prisoners. In what is now known as “The 1988
Iran massacre,” thousands of prisoners were
summarily executed in a span of three to six
months, beginning in mid-summer 1988. Many
international law experts believe that this
heinous atrocity qualifies the current Iranian
leadership as a perpetrator of crimes against
humanity.
In 1981, the regime of ayatollahs embarked on
systematic persecution of political dissidents.
Tens of thousands of Iranian men and women were
imprisoned or executed; members and sympathizers
of the People’s Mujahedeen (MEK) comprised the
vast majority. Still , the number of political
prisoners was growing rapidly; daily executions
and torture dungeons had failed to break the
spirit of resistance inside and outside prisons.
In the mid-1980s, the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights was pressing Iran to open its
prisons to international scrutiny. The mullahs
had a major problem on their hand: the prisons
were filled with tens of thousands of political
prisoners whom the regime had no intention of
releasing. They were the living testament to the
clerics’ barbarism. The murderous patriarch
Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious decree in
summer of 1988 which ordered:
"Those who are in prisons throughout the
country and remain committed to their support
for the [Mujahedeen], are waging war on God and
are condemned to execution.AAAA Destroy the
enemies of Islam immediately. As regards the
cases, use whichever criterion that speeds up
the implementation of the [execution] verdict."
A special body, dubbed by the prisoners as the
“Death Commission” carried out the fatwa. During
kangaroo hearings, prisoners were asked about
their ideological and political allegiances. If
there were even a slight hint of sympathy with
the opposition, especially toward the
Mujahedeen, the prisoner would be sentenced to
death.
The state-run daily Iran News, referring to the
massacre, wrote on April 9, 2000, "Officials
were astonished to see that these prisoners were
still insisting on fighting the state and
supporting the Mujahedeen."
According to testimony of Kamal Afkhami Ardekani,
a former senior prison official in the notorious
Evin prison, for most of July and August 1988,
prisoners, including juveniles, were loaded on
three forklift trucks, lifted to six cranes and
hanged in groups of five or six at a time in
half-hour intervals from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm
every day. Within a few months, tens of
thousands of political prisoners were executed.
The scale of massacre was so horrifying that
Khomeini’s then designated successor, Grand
Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, complained to
his mentor in a July 1988 letter:
"As you presumably will insist on your
decree, at least order that women not be
executed, especially pregnant women. Ultimately,
the execution of several thousand people in
several days will not have positive
repercussions and is not without mistakes."
By any measure, the massacre of 1988 constitutes
a crime against humanity. The current leadership
of the clerical regime, including Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former president Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President Mohammad
Khatami, current Minister of Interior Hojjatol-Islam
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, and many others were
actively involved in this hideous crime.
Today, like 1988, the mullahs seek to extinguish
the flames of Iranians’ resistance against their
theocracy. The gallows and public execution are
now a daily spectacle in Iran. This week alone,
another nine Iranians were executed; seven in
public. Although the ayatollahs recognize no
boundary in savagery and terror, they have not
succeeded in silencing Iranians seeking
democratic change.
This, however, does not mean the world should
stand idly by and refuse to give a helping hand.
It is imperative that Iranian democrats are
recognized, assisted and empowered.
Never before in
the history of US-Iran relations, have democracy
in Iran and the security interests of the United
States been so intertwined. Both can be achieved
when Iranian people succeed in replacing the
tyranny in Iran with a democratic, secular
state.
The outside world can help. We must lift all
diplomatic, political, and financial
restrictions placed on anti-fundamentalist
Iranian opposition groups, such as the Iranian
Mujahedeen. That would be a meaningful and
effective first step. It would also be in the
recognition of the very spirit of resistance for
which tens of thousands of Iranians gave their
lives in the summer of 1988.
(USADI)
USADI
Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance
for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events
which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward
Iran |