{"id":21003,"date":"2016-09-01T05:54:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T04:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/issues\/human-rights\/21003-iran-justice-minister-confirms-his-role-in-mass-execution-of-political-prisoners"},"modified":"2023-01-16T15:31:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T14:31:35","slug":"iran-justice-minister-confirms-his-role-in-mass-execution-of-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/iran-justice-minister-confirms-his-role-in-mass-execution-of-political-prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Justice Minister confirms his role in Mass Execution of political prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FOFI-EU\"<\/p>\n

Press release- Brussels- Friends of a Free Iran in European Parliament – 1 September 2016<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

EU and UN must call for an international tribunal to investigate<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shocking revelation of an audio file<\/a> of the late Ayatollah Montazeri, who was the designated successor of Khomeini,founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has continued to shake the Iranian establishment in the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

The audio file that was recorded<\/a> during the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988, disclosed the talks held\u00a0between Mr Montazeri and the members of the \u201cDeath Commission\u201d – a committee composed of four of the regime\u2019s\u00a0top officials at the time that was tasked with ordering the executions.<\/p>\n

An estimated 30.000 political prisoners, many of whom had finished their sentences, were secretly massacred in\u00a0summer of 1988 in Iran and buried in mass graves following the fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini.<\/p>\n

One of the members of the \u2018Death Commission\u2019 whose name and voice is clearly heard on the audio, is Mostafa PourMohammadi,\u00a0then representative of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and current Justice Minister in the\u00a0so called \u201cmoderate\u201d government of President Hassan Rouhani.<\/p>\n

On Sunday 28 August 2016, Pour-Mohammadi confirmed his role in the massacre: \u201cWe are proud we have implemented\u00a0God\u2019s order about the \u2018hypocrites\u2019 (PMOI or MEK). We have stood against the enemy of God and people and confronted\u00a0them with power.\u201d A day later he added<\/a>: \u201cI didn\u2019t even have one night of sleeplessness in all these years because I acted\u00a0according to the law and Islamic Sharia.\u201d<\/p>\n

These remarks leave no doubt that the current Iranian government of Hassan Rouhani is complicit in one of the worst\u00a0crimes against humanity in recent history which has not yet been brought to an international tribunal. Amnesty\u00a0International, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch as well as the Canadian\u00a0Parliament have all described the 1988 massacre in Iran as a \u2018crime against humanity\u2019. *<\/p>\n

We therefore call for Iran\u2019s 1988 massacre to be placed on the agenda of the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights\u00a0Council in Geneva in September 2016. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should issue a call for an\u00a0investigation in this regard.<\/p>\n

We also call on the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly in New York (September \u2013 December 2016) to issue a\u00a0resolution and call for an investigation into this massacre and refer its dossier to the Security Council. The UN Security\u00a0Council should form an international tribunal to examine this case and prosecute its masterminds.<\/p>\n

Before entering into any kind of so called \u2018human rights dialogue\u2019 with this regime, the EU must insist on the dismissing\u00a0of Pour-Mohammadi from the government and to send all those involved in the 1988 massacre in Iran to international\u00a0tribunals for crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

G\u00e9rard Deprez, MEP<\/strong><\/p>\n

President of Friends of a Free Iran in European Parliament (FOFI)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) is an informal group in the European Parliament which was formed in 2003 and enjoys the active support of many MEPs from various political groups<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*In elaborating on some of the details of the massacre, many human rights organizations have already described the 1988 Massacre of Political prisoners in Iran as a crime against humanity:<\/p>\n