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IRAN: Relatives of victims of 1988 massacre of political prisoner prevented from paying homage to loved ones

khavaran-file-photo

NCRI – Members of families and relatives of the victims of 1988 massacre of political prisoners and those killed by the Iranian regime in the 1980s were banned from paying homage to their loved ones at their burial site outside Tehran.

The state security forces and agents of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security prevented the families from holding a gathering that traditionally is held on the last Friday of the ending Iranian year at the burial site in Khavaran cemetery.

The forces closed off roads leading to the cemetery and harassed those intending to attend the gathering.

In the summer of 1988, the Iranian regime summarily and extrajudicially executed tens of thousands of political prisoners held in jails across Iran.

The Iranian regime has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were killed.

The majority of those executed were either serving prison sentences for their political activities or had already finished their sentences but were still kept in prison.

Some of them had previously been imprisoned and released, but were again arrested and executed during the massacre.

The wave of massacre of political prisoners began in late July 1988 and continued unabated for a few months.

By the time it stopped in fall, thousands of political prisoners, overwhelming majority of them activists of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) were slaughtered.

A former cultural advisor to the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who turned against him following the suppression of 2009 anti-regime protests said last April that more than 33,000 people were executed during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.

Mohammad Nourizad is closest man from the regime’s inner circles that is testifying to the dimensions of this atrocity.

In a statement issued on November 2, 2007, concerning the arrest of several families of the victims of the 1988 massacre, Amnesty International wrote, “The executions were authorized at the highest level of the Iranian leadership… Amnesty International believes these executions amount to a crime against humanity. Under international law, valid in 1988, crimes against humanity consist of widespread or systematic attacks against civilians on discriminatory, including political, grounds. Amnesty International believes that there should be no impunity for human rights violations, no matter where or when they took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to an independent impartial investigation, and all those responsible should be brought to justice, and receive appropriate penalties.”