{"id":336220,"date":"2025-08-30T14:51:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T13:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=336220"},"modified":"2025-08-30T14:51:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T13:51:28","slug":"editorial-irans-reign-of-executions-erased-graves-and-a-regime-in-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/editorial\/editorial-irans-reign-of-executions-erased-graves-and-a-regime-in-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Iran\u2019s Reign of Executions, Erased Graves, and a Regime in Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Families
Families of victims of the 1980 massacres in Iran laid flowers at the graves of their loved ones in Khavaran Cemetery, a tradition observed on the last Thursday of the Persian calendar year- March 13, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In recent weeks, the clerical regime ruling Iran has once again revealed its true nature: a system that survives only through executions, repression, and the destruction of evidence of its own crimes. From the gallows of Ghezel Hesar prison to the bulldozers desecrating Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery<\/a>, the mullahs are engaged in a desperate campaign to silence the past and terrorize the present. But these very crimes expose the regime\u2019s deepest fear: the resilience of the Iranian people and their organized resistance.<\/p>\n

A Machinery of Death<\/h2>\n

The statistics are staggering. In July alone, at least 114 people were executed. During just the first year of Masoud Pezeshkian\u2019s presidency\u2014presented as a \u201cmoderate\u201d by the regime\u2014over 1,630 executions were carried out. Only weeks ago, two members of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK), Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani<\/a>, were executed. Fourteen other political prisoners face the same fate, condemned solely for their affiliation with the PMOI.<\/p>\n

This is not law; it is murder disguised as justice. It is also a continuation of the darkest chapters of the regime\u2019s history. In the 1980s, tens of thousands were executed. The 1988 massacre, in which Ruhollah Khomeini\u2019s fatwa, a religious decree by the regime\u2019s then-Supreme Leader, unleashed the slaughter of 30,000 political prisoners\u2014most of them PMOI members\u2014was recognized by UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman in 2024 as genocide<\/a> and a crime against humanity. Yet those who orchestrated it remain in power, emboldened by impunity.<\/p>\n

\n

11) Mass Graves in 36 Cities
From the beginning, Khomeini and his subordinates implemented a systematic plan to bury the bodies of the martyrs in secret mass graves. The long term goal was to so annihilate the #MEK<\/a> as to leave no sign of them whatsoeverhttps:\/\/t.co\/Rvo0FLW34K<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/JO2vCBxtLy<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n