I am Majed Karim. As a student, I used to live in the beautiful city of Karaj. After the 1979 revolution and the fall of the Shah, everywhere in our city, you’d see the name of Masoud Rajavi and Mohammad Hanifnejad on the walls. You’d find sympathizers of the Mojahedin Organization, MEK, and freedom-loving people everywhere.
Therefore Khomeini sent Raisi to Karaj from the very beginning to suppress and execute the MEK. I dare to say that more than 90 percent of those I knew, who were followers of the MEK and who stood for the liberation of Iran, were executed between 1981 and 1988, and there is almost no one left.
In 1980, when I first heard of Ebrahim Raisi, the executioner, I was at school. When one of our teachers was charged with being a supporter of the MEK., I heard Raisi’s infamous name several times during the 1980s when teachers like Maryam Taghavi, Mina Tool Rousta, and Vahid Rostampour were executed. Also, our math teacher, who was later executed in 1988, Abdolnasser Amjady was among them.
My own encounters with the executioner, Raisi, were in May 1981, when my sister, Matin Karim, was arrested. I went to the Karaj Prosecutor’s Office with several family members. Since they said that someone named ‘Raisi’ had ordered these arrests, I was told to go there and look for my relatives and family members.
When we entered the prosecutor’s office, a young thug, who was 18-19 at the time, and his appearance revealed very much about him came forward. He answered us in his thuggish, aggressive style and of course with lots of insults. He used words I had never heard before. I didn’t understand what those words meant, but most of it was bad and wrong. Addressing the families, he continued to say evil things.
He said: “We have arrested your daughters, and they are all young girls. They all deserve to be executed because they are all MEK.” Our families, including myself, thought he was a revolutionary guard. We said that we had come to see the prosecutor, Mr. Raisi. Again, with his thuggish laugh, he told me if I would continue to speak like that, he would execute me as well. He said: “All of your family members are sentenced to death, and we have taken your daughters and sisters to Shah’s old stables.” Then he closed the door with a bang and left.
They took the names of all the people that went to that office. There were relatives of the prisoners, and some were youths like myself. I realized that all those people were persecuted and arrested in the following years, and most of them were executed. Of course, I wasn’t there myself at the time, otherwise, I would have been arrested.
A large number of my friends, like Abdolhamid Jahangiri, and Dr. Safar Baba Moradi, who was Abdolhamid’s uncle, were executed in the 1980s. Abdolreza Rostami was executed in 1982. Many friends and classmates of mine were killed in the 1988 massacre. Such as Hassan Ghahremani, Ali Osat Osati, Amir Mehran Bigham, Mohsen Abdolhosseini Roozbahani, and many of who I do not remember the name. All were executed in the 1988 massacre. One of my best friends, who was also from a poor family, was Reza Mangoli. He was arrested in 1981 per Raisi’s orders. He was tortured for forty subsequent days. People in our city told that Raisi, the executioner himself, was involved in his torture and that he was killed under torture after 40 days.
In 1981, one night, the Revolutionary Guards came to my house, and when my mother went to open the door, they showed a warrant that was signed by Ebrahim Raisi. They had come to arrest my sister, Matin Karim, who was a MEK member, but they did not find her. Therefore, they violently threatened that they would take my father, Iraj Karim, to ask a few questions. However, after his detention, my father was held in prison for more than three years and he was put under a lot of pressure. Although, he’s not here to tell he has told us many times what they did to him upon Ebrahim Raisi’s orders. And they constantly pressured him that he was a MEK member and that his daughter was a MEK member, and that he had to bring her in.
At the same time, my mother went to the Karaj Prosecutor’s Office because they had told her she needs to answer a few questions. When she encountered Raisi again, the executioner had told her in the same thuggish conduct that “both your daughter and your family should be executed” and that “you should be torn to pieces because you are the MEK”. They told her that they’d do the same to her husband.
“You don’t need to know where he is,” they said. “You have two days, and if you bring your daughter and hand her over to us for execution, then it’s fine. Otherwise, we will arrest you and execute you.”
Of course, my mother was later arrested in Tehran and suffered a lot under torture. Because of these pressures, she passed away after a few years when she was finally released. Later on, my sister, Matin Karim, was arrested in Tehran. But Raisi had given out her name and sought to get her back to Karaj prison so that he could torture and harass her himself.
Most of the people I knew and those who were sympathizers of the MEK, none of them are alive today. Based on Raisi’s orders, they all were executed between 1981 and 1988.
I call on all the people of the world, all those who seek freedom, and those who might hear my voice. Ebrahim Raisi does not represent our people. He is the executioner and murderer of our people. He started forty years ago and just wants to continue his approach throughout Iran. With all I know about him, he may say nice words and deceive, but his goal is to suffocate any cry for freedom and justice from our oppressed people. I am sure that with your help, Raisi will fail. We will take back Iran and we’ll turn it into the most beautiful country on earth.