![\"Conference-on-Irans-1988-Massacre-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Conference-on-Irans-1988-Massacre-2.jpg\" "\\"Conference-on-Irans-1988-Massacre-2\\"")
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On Friday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran hosted a virtual conference<\/a> as part of its ongoing \u201cCall-for-Justice<\/a>\u201d movement regarding the 1988 massacre<\/a> of political prisoners. Though always an urgent priority for the pro-democracy coalition, the massacre assumed newfound significance in June when it was confirmed that Ebrahim Raisi<\/a> would be the new president of Iran. More than 1,000 former political prisoners took part in Friday\u2019s conference, and many of them delivered remarks recalling their interactions with Raisi around the time of the massacre. Many of the individuals who went before the death commission simply refused to distance themselves from the MEK. In a speech<\/a> on Friday, NCRI<\/a> President Maryam Rajavi<\/a> described this resilience in the face of repression as a continuous source of inspiration for activists both inside Iran and throughout the Iranian diaspora. \u201cFor us, the Call-for-Justice movement is synonymous with perseverance, steadfastness, and resistance to overthrow this regime and establish freedom with all our strength,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mrs. Rajavi then added that it was most likely the desire to diminish this source of inspiration that led regime authorities to variously deny the reality of the massacre, downplay its scale, and obscure the identities of its victims, more than 90 percent of whom were members of the MEK. But detailed investigations by activists, including members of the MEK itself, have yielded the conclusion that at least 30,000 political prisoners were executed over the course of about three months in 1988. Meanwhile, the possibility remains that a more thorough and resource-intensive investigation by the United Nations or another international body would reveal an even higher death toll, as well as exposing additional details about the regime\u2019s approach to the killings.<\/p>\n \n The gathering of 1,000 PMOI\/MEK prisoners is a unique capital for the Call-for-Justice movement and the Resistance that seeks to overthrow the regime. Over the past 33 years, they have contributed to the Call-for-Justice Movement with their effective participation. #1988Massacre<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/8aqnFVSDWN<\/a><\/p>\n — Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nAt the outset of 1988, Raisi was deputy public prosecutor for the capital city of Tehran, and in the summer of that year, he willfully became one of four officials to serve on the Tehran \u201cdeath commission<\/a>\u201d that was tasked with overseeing the implementation of a fatwa<\/a> by the regime\u2019s founder and first supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. The religious edict declared that all persons affiliated with the leading opposition group, the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran<\/a> (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>), were inherently guilty of \u201cenmity against God\u201d and should be executed if they stood loyal to the MEK and its ideals.<\/p>\n\n