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The death of Hossein-Ali Nayeri, officially announced on April 3, 2025, did not end the regime’s blood-soaked legacy of ideological genocide. Nayeri, a man whose name will forever be synonymous with brutality, escaped earthly justice but not the pages of history that will remember him as a chief architect of the 1988 prison massacre—an atrocity condemned by Amnesty International as a crime against humanity and by then-UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman, as an act that “could be investigated as genocide.”
Instead, his death has reignited the burning quest for justice and accountability that continues to torment the regime from within, serving only as a brutal reminder that the crimes he orchestrated remain unpunished and those who authored the regime’s blood-soaked legacy continue to walk free.
In a statement following his death, Amnesty International asserted: “Hossein-Ali Nayeri should have been subjected to criminal investigation in his lifetime for crimes against humanity. His death must not deprive victims and their families of the right to truth, justice, and accountability for all accomplices to these crimes.” This appeal reflected years of advocacy by human rights groups to hold Nayeri accountable for his role in systematic mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other atrocities committed in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War.
According to reports Hossein Ali Nayyeri is being treated at a hospital in Hanover. He is a member of the "Death Commission," so-called judges who sent thousands of Iranian political prisoners to the gallows in the summer of 1988. He must face justice for crimes against humanity. pic.twitter.com/lbzhNYCCNX
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) July 25, 2023
The Greedy Cleric’s Rise to Power
Hossein-Ali Nayeri was not a “religious judge” as the regime claimed. He was a brutal cleric who rose the ladder of power by demonstrating his willingness to carry out Khomeini’s ruthless orders without hesitation. Khomeini appointed Nayeri to oversee the mass execution of political prisoners, particularly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in the summer of 1988. His name appeared at the top of Khomeini’s decree that called for the eradication of all imprisoned dissidents who refused to recant their beliefs.
Khomeini’s directive declared: “Those who are steadfast in their enmity against Islam are at war with God and are condemned to death.” It was a directive laced with fanaticism and impunity. In his own words, Nayeri would later defend the genocide by describing the summer of 1988 as a time of national crisis, stating: “If it were not for the decisiveness of Imam [Khomeini], there would be no security. Perhaps the regime would not have survived. There were 50 to 60 bombings in Tehran and other cities daily.”
When asked years later about the killings, Nayeri showed no remorse. “In such a crisis, what should be done?” he retorted. “One must issue decisive orders. One cannot run a country with pleasantries.”
Hossein Ali Nayyeri should have been criminally investigated, including for crimes against humanity, while he was alive. His death must not rob his victims and their families of their right to truth and justice, and to see all others complicit in these crimes held to account. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/GjF9FEGFbU
— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) April 3, 2025
The 1988 Massacre
After Khomeini’s vow to continue the war until “Jerusalem is liberated through Karbala,” his regime was forced to accept the ceasefire with Iraq on July 20, 1988, under UN Security Council Resolution 598. The humiliating retreat from his publicly declared goal left Khomeini grappling with a crisis of legitimacy. To compensate, he turned his fury inward, targeting the regime’s primary domestic enemy: the PMOI.
Nayeri was appointed as the head of the so-called “Death Commission” in Tehran, alongside Tehran’s Prosecutor Morteza Eshraghi and a Ministry of Intelligence representative. The commission’s sole purpose was to determine the fate of political prisoners in hearings that rarely lasted more than a few minutes. Prisoners were questioned about their allegiance to the PMOI, their religious beliefs, and their political affiliations. Those who failed to renounce their beliefs were sent to the gallows. It is estimated that thousands were executed in a matter of weeks.
"#Nayyeri asked me if I knew what I was doing there.
I immediately asked, 'why did you execute my brother? He was serving a 10-year sentence and already spent 7 years.'
Nayyeri changed the subject and asked if I still believe in the MEK."#1988Massacre https://t.co/boOpJhSn0Y— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 26, 2023
A Brutal Legacy
The 1988 massacre was not Nayeri’s only contribution to Khomeini’s machinery of repression. He climbed the regime’s hierarchy quickly, serving as Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for over 20 years and eventually as President of the Disciplinary Court for Judges. In 2022, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the regime’s Chief Justice, appointed him as a Senior Adviser, an action widely condemned by human rights organizations.
Years after the massacre, the regime continued to praise Nayeri’s role in what it euphemistically referred to as “safeguarding the revolution.” When Ejei confirmed his death, he lauded Nayeri’s “years of service to the regime” and his role in “providing effective and influential services.”
The Missed Reckoning
Nayeri’s death has been clouded by conflicting reports. While the official line claims he died of illness, some sources allege he was assassinated, possibly in retaliation for his decades of atrocities. Notably, during the assassination of Razini and Moghiseh on January 18, 2025, some reports suggested a third individual was shot and injured. The regime was quick to deny that Nayeri was even present at the scene, insisting he was not in his office that day.
Mohaddessin:MohammadAli Nayyeri, Ali Mobasheri from #judiciary are directly responsible for the #1988massacre. #Iran pic.twitter.com/NHBalZjYPd
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 6, 2016
However, given the nationwide jubilation over the deaths of Razini and Moghiseh—two of the most notorious enforcers of the 1988 massacre—it is entirely plausible that Nayeri was indeed the third target, and the regime scrambled to cover up the truth.
The deaths of fellow 1988 Death Commission members such as Ebrahim Raisi and Moghiseh in recent years have left only a few remaining figures from one of the most horrific episodes in the regime’s bloodstained history. Yet, their demise has not brought closure. Instead, it has intensified the resolve of countless families whose loved ones perished in the summer of 1988.
The regime may have survived and thrived on ideological genocides, but it remains haunted by the tireless pursuit of justice from daughters, sons, parents, and loved ones who refuse to forget and forgive. Their voices echo through time, relentlessly confronting a dictatorship that fears the truth. In the end, it will be the unwavering determination of these survivors and their advocates that will dismantle the regime’s apparatus of terror and impunity.