{"id":252709,"date":"2022-01-03T12:38:06","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T17:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=252709"},"modified":"2023-02-01T04:34:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T03:34:02","slug":"i-was-a-witness-to-crimes-against-humanity-committed-by-irans-current-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/blog\/i-was-a-witness-to-crimes-against-humanity-committed-by-irans-current-president\/","title":{"rendered":"I Was a Witness to Crimes Against Humanity Committed by Iran\u2019s Current President"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Akbar-Samadi\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-252712\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Akbar-Samadi.jpg\" alt=\"Akbar-Samadi\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Akbar-Samadi.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Akbar-Samadi-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Akbar-Samadi-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Akbar-Samadi-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Akbar-Samadi-696x464.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">I was 15 years old in 1981 when I was arrested by Iranian security forces. After it became clear that I was a supporter of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK), I was subjected to sham legal proceedings that resulted in me being sentenced to 10 years in prison. I was about seven years into that sentence when the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued his fatwa declaring all MEK supporters to be enemies of God and calling for them to be executed without mercy or hesitation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">After the Tehran \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners\/iran-1988-massacre-death-commissions\/\">Death Commissions<\/a>\u201d was convened to implement that fatwa in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners-in-iran\/\">summer of 1988<\/a>, I was taken to Gohardasht Prison\u2019s \u201cDeath Corridor\u201d on six separate occasions. Thus, I had more extensive dealings than most of my fellow detainees with the man who would go on, in 2021, to become president of Iran\u2019s clerical regime. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/who-is-ebrahim-raisi-ncr-iran\/\">Ebrahim Raisi<\/a> was one of four members of the death committee, and my experience with him upheld what many other survivors of the 1988 massacre have said over the years: that he was both uniquely enthusiastic and uniquely mechanical in the performance of his appointed task.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Who is Ebrahim Raisi, a candidate in Iran presidential election and an executioner in 1988 massacre\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_xD6hbo76b7s\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FxD6hbo76b7s%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xD6hbo76b7s\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M20S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2021-05-17T20:42:28Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_xD6hbo76b7s\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FxD6hbo76b7s%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Who is Ebrahim Raisi, a candidate in Iran presidential election and an executioner in 1988 massacre<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xD6hbo76b7s\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FxD6hbo76b7s%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Who is Ebrahim Raisi, a candidate in Iran presidential election and an executioner in 1988 massacre\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"May 17, 2021\u2014Raisi was born in Mashhad, northeast Iran, back in 1960. He went to school for six years then entered the Mashhad Religious School. At the age of 15, he went to Qom, continuing his studies in the Haghani School alongside other known regime criminals such as Ali Fallahian, Ruhollah Hosseinian, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, and Hossein Ali Nayeri. He was 18 during the 1979 revolution and had no political experience. At the age of 19, he was officially selected to supervise the interrogation and torture of prisoners in Karaj, west of Tehran. He was appointed as public prosecutor of Karaj and Hamedan at the age of 20. He went on to become the deputy public prosecutor in Tehran, and in 1988 he was an active member of the \u201cDeaths Commission,\u201d overseeing the massacre of political prisoners in Evin and Gohardasht prisons. And this is Ebrahim Raisi\u2019s reward: a poorly educated mullah who reached the realms of power by massacring political prisoners. Public prosecutor of Tehran for five years. Head of the country\u2019s Inspections Office for ten years. General Prosecutor for two years. Deputy judiciary chief for ten years. Head of the Astan Quds Razavi foundation, meaning Iran\u2019s largest economic entity. And finally, head of the regime\u2019s judiciary. This ruthless criminal was Khamenei\u2019s candidate in the 2017 presidential election. However, he lost due to the revelations made by the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran. This criminal mullah has entered the 2021 presidential election to relieve Khamenei of the many crises engulfing his regime. However, this time around he will once again be condemned by the people and his victims\u2019 families. Read More: https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IranNCR\/ https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy Subscribe to NCRI weekly newsletter t.ly\/MybJ\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">From what I personally witnessed and heard second-hand, there were several occasions on which Raisi\u2019s colleagues on the Death Commissions questioned the appropriateness of the death penalty for certain accused supporters of the MEK and other dissident groups, only for their judgment to be overridden by Raisi. The young clerical judge was serving as Tehran\u2019s deputy public prosecutor prior to the time of the fatwa, and he soon took on a more active role in the ensuing massacre than even his immediate superior.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Raisi\u2019s willingness to kill with impunity has continually paid off for him throughout his career. His initial performance at Evin and Gohardasht Prisons apparently caught the attention of the supreme leader while the massacre was still ramping up, and Raisi\u2019s jurisdiction was soon expanded, as Khomeini ordered him to correct the \u201cweakness of the judiciary\u201d in several other cities by implementing what they called \u201cGod\u2019s command.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">That language goes to show that the god of the mullahs has always been a bloodthirsty god \u2013 one that not only permitted but commanded the systematic murder of thousands, all for the purpose of safeguarding authoritarian power. It was clear from the content of Khomeini\u2019s fatwa and from the experience of those being held in political wards at the time that the regime\u2019s intention with the 1988 massacre was to wholly annihilate the PMOI, as well as any other serious threat to the theocratic dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stats.sender.net\/forms\/dGYVLa\/view\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-246866 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png\" alt=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" width=\"250\" height=\"83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png 250w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1-150x50.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">In the years following the massacre, the MEK\u2019s intelligence network has revealed the locations of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners\/iran-1988-executions-mass-graves-in-36-cities\/\">mass graves<\/a> from the time and has arrived at an estimate of about 30,000 for the overall death toll that was racked up over about three months in 1988. For those who were present in any of the regime\u2019s detention facilities and managed to survive that era, this estimate is very easy to accept. Out of hundreds of fellow PMOI supporters whom I knew were detained in Gohardasht with me that year, I was one of only a small handful to make it out alive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">As far as I have ever been able to tell, I owe my life to a clerical error. After one of my encounters with Raisi\u2019s Death Commission, the written judgment was apparently left behind when I was ushered out of the room. I remained in death\u2019s antechamber until late in the evening while a prison official read out names, and then not knowing what else to do with me, he returned me to my cell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The person who would have otherwise sent me to the gallows was known to me as Hamid Abbasi, but he also goes by the name Hamid Noury. It is under that name that he is currently being tried in Sweden on charges of war crimes and mass murder, stemming from his participation in the 1988 massacre. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20211110-iranian-ex-official-s-trial-resumes-in-albania\">Noury<\/a> is the very first Iranian official to face any accountability for the mass executions, and his role in it appears minor compared to some of those, like Raisi, who has repeatedly been rewarded.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"&ldquo;You should have been executed&rdquo;&mdash;Political prisoner recounts massacre in Iran&rsquo;s prisons\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_qb5p8k3rV90\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2Fqb5p8k3rV90%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qb5p8k3rV90\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT53S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2021-11-15T17:08:12Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_qb5p8k3rV90\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2Fqb5p8k3rV90%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">\u201cYou should have been executed\u201d\u2014Political prisoner recounts massacre in Iran\u2019s prisons<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/qb5p8k3rV90\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2Fqb5p8k3rV90%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"&ldquo;You should have been executed&rdquo;&mdash;Political prisoner recounts massacre in Iran&rsquo;s prisons\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/tell-the-others-that-they-are-executing-everyone-political-prisoner-recounts-mass-executions-in-irans-prisons\/ On Monday, the District Court of Durres, Albania, convened for the thirty-eight session of the trial of Hamid Noury, an Iranian prison official charged with torturing inmates in the Gohardasht prison (Karaj) and taking part in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners. Noury was apprehended by Swedish authorities during a trip to the country in 2019. He is now standing trial in a court where many of his victims are giving harrowing testimonies of how he and other regime officials brutally tortured and executed prisoners. During Monday\u2019s session, Akbar Samadi, a former political, testified on the atrocities that took place in Iran\u2019s brutal prisons. Samadi was arrested in 1981, while he was only 14 years old, and spent 10 years in prison for supporting the MEK. In April 1986, he was transferred to Gohardasht prison. *** Content on the PMOI\/MEK&#039;s official YouTube channel is not subject to copyright if the source is mentioned ***\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">In 2019, Raisi assumed control over Iran\u2019s judiciary, upon the order of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The position gave him an opportunity to oversee key aspects of the regime\u2019s crackdown on dissent, which had been escalating ever since Iranian activists staged a nationwide uprising, led by PMOI \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/iranian-resistance-units\/\">Resistance Units<\/a>\u201d at the start of 2018. When the anti-government slogans associated with that uprising emerged on an even larger scale in November 2019, the regime responded with some of the most brutal repression since the time of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiynNi339P0AhVQh_0HHUyGA1EQFnoECAIQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncr-iran.org%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fhuman-rights%2Fa-political-analysis-of-irans-1988-massacre%2F&amp;usg=AOvVaw2oiCQtJf6NI8mv8HbFeJjK\">1988 massacre<\/a>, killing 1,500 people in a matter of only days, then torturing countless others for months afterward.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Insofar as he oversaw that torture, Raisi proved during the crackdown that his commitment to political violence was still as ruthless and unthinking as it had been when he served on the Death Commission. I would expect nothing else of the man whom I witnessed issuing death sentences in 1988 as casually as another person might flip through the pages of a magazine. It was clear that in his view, as in the view of the supreme leader, any sign of continued support for the MEK or its democratic values was sufficient justification for execution.<\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"The 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran: Eyewitness Accounts, Akbar Samadi\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_JVr_NKerLsc\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FJVr_NKerLsc%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JVr_NKerLsc\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT17M54S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2021-08-22T20:34:12Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_JVr_NKerLsc\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FJVr_NKerLsc%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">The 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran: Eyewitness Accounts, Akbar Samadi<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/JVr_NKerLsc\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FJVr_NKerLsc%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"The 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran: Eyewitness Accounts, Akbar Samadi\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"Read More: My name is Akbar Samadi, and I was born in 1966. I was arrested at Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran in August 1981 when the regime&#039;s security forces brought in their forces extensively to surround the area. After a few months, my identity was exposed by defectors at Evin, and I was subjected to interrogation. In the end, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I spent this time in Ghezelhesar, Evin, and Gohardasht prisons. Of course, I was not the only person who was arrested when they were under 18 years of age. There were a large number of people who were arrested at around the same age, and some of them were even executed at that young age. See the full text at &quot;Eyewitness Accounts.&quot; https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners-in-iran\/ https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IranNCR\/ https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy Subscribe to NCRI weekly newsletter t.ly\/MybJ\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The prospect of collateral damage was no impediment to the implementation of that sentence. While one clerical error happened to save me, I know for a fact that others were doomed by the same phenomenon. In at least one instance, Nouri misread a name from his list of execution orders, leading to the recipient of a lesser sentence being put to death. In due time, the man whose place he took on the gallows was sent there as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Over the years, as I have spoken alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners\/iran-1988-executions-mass-graves-in-36-cities\/\">fellow survivors<\/a> and other persons directly impacted by the 1988 massacre, I have encountered various other stories like this, as well as stories of prisoners\u2019 loved ones being so wracked by anxiety and grief that they fell ill and died in the immediate massacre\u2019s immediate aftermath, thereby raising its de facto death toll well beyond the 30,000 mark.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">There is no doubt in my mind that Raisi bears primary responsibility for all of this, although that responsibility is ultimately shared in some measure by all those who held high-level government offices or worked for the judiciary during the massacre. For these reasons, I eagerly welcome Sweden\u2019s prosecution of Hamid Noury and I anticipate him receiving the harshest sentence possible, but I also hope that the true legacy of his case will be as a model for the application of \u201cuniversal jurisdiction\u201d to all known perpetrators of the 1988 massacre.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">It was on the basis of that principle that Noury was arrested in Sweden in 2019, for crimes committed in Iran. It is on the basis of that principle that Raisi could be arrested upon his arrival in any state that values universal human rights principles. Legal scholars have advocated for this course of action in recent conferences on the topic of Raisi\u2019s human rights record and his appointment as president, and some have even gone so far as to say that he could be prosecuted for genocide.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">When I think back upon the rows and rows of empty cells that were left after Raisi\u2019s Death Commission finished its work, I cannot help but think that no other charge could adequately describe the enormity of his crime.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stats.sender.net\/forms\/dGYVLa\/view\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-246866 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png\" alt=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" width=\"250\" height=\"83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png 250w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1-150x50.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was 15 years old in 1981 when I was arrested by Iranian security forces. After it became clear that I was a supporter of the People&rsquo;s Mojahedin Organization of [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":252712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,188],"tags":[276,797,798],"class_list":["post-252709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-blog","category-op-ed","tag-iran-human-rights","tag-iran-1988-massacre","tag-1988-masscare"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Was a Witness to Crimes Against Humanity Committed by Iran\u2019s Current President - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was 15 years old in 1981 when I was arrested by Iranian security forces. 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