Over the years, as the 1988 massacre began to claim the attention of the global conscience and calls for accountability started to rise within Iran, the clerical dictatorship found itself battling a growing tide of popular sentiment. Among the many narratives spun by its web of misinformation was the false notion that the victims—heroic political prisoners massacred in the summer of 1988—were unaware of the consequences of their responses to the Death Committees.
The regime apologists claim that over 30,000 political prisoners, 90% of whom were members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK), did not know that admitting their affiliation to the Death Committee would seal their fate. The regime apologists insist that, had they known, they would have repented and chosen life over death.
This narrative is a desperate attempt to deny the sheer bravery and self-sacrifice of tens of thousands of freedom-loving souls. By propagating such falsehoods, the regime apologists aim to undermine the heroic message these martyrs sent to society, hoping to demotivate a new generation from pursuing their dreams and resisting oppression. The regime is also terrified by the enduring legacy of a forbidden name— a name that more than 30,000 individuals from diverse walks of life stood for with their heads held high before the gallows. Their defiant stance continues to inspire men and women, young and old, with the conviction that life in democracy and freedom is too precious to forsake and that dying with honor is preferable to living on one’s knees, submitting to tyranny.
Contrary to the regime apologists’ claims, an official United Nations document tells a different story. After six years of meticulous investigation, the report filed by Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, unequivocally states that the clerical dictatorship targeted those who remained defiant and proudly defended their affiliation with the MEK. These individuals claimed the moral high ground, cementing a legacy for future generations to rise and continue the fight until the sun of equality, freedom, and democracy shines over Iran forever.
The untainted blood of those innocent souls massacred in 1988 resonates today in the ongoing uprisings of the Iranian people and continues to inspire and motivate rebellious youths across generations.#Iran#1988Massacre pic.twitter.com/b16E72f4jz
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 26, 2023
The following passages from the UN report stand as a testament to this truth and tell the story of 30,000 women and men, young and old, who remained steadfast:
Page 31:
“The Special Rapporteur has received submissions from families of those executed and testimonies from survivors that the decision to carry out the massacre of all steadfast prisoners had been made months earlier and specific measures were taken by the authorities to set the stage for the mass killings. These submissions point to a pattern of threats, interrogations, classification procedures, and prisoner transfers between various prisons, and suggest a premeditated plan leading up to the mass killings. The classification procedure in Evin prison is also reported to have taken the form of questions about “the Islamic Republic” and “Islam” during February 1988.”
Page 32:
“Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa stated that all those imprisoned opponents who ‘remain steadfast in their position of nefaq in prisons throughout the country are considered to be mohareb [waging war against God] and are condemned to execution.’ As noted previously, these imprisoned prisoners included those who had already been tried and were serving their prison terms. Reportedly, none were on death row. The text of the fatwa was later published in the memoirs of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who in 1988 was the Deputy Supreme Leader and Khomeini’s heir-apparent. While Khomeini’s fatwa called for the execution of all political prisoners affiliated to the PMOI, who remained steadfast in their beliefs, there have been reports that another decree was issued regarding the execution of members of leftist political groups, although no such decree has ever been published.”
Nefaq or Monafeq is Arabic for hypocrite or hypocrisy, a pejorative term the clerical regime has been using for more than four decades to defame the PMOI in Iran’s society.
Page 33:
“Further clarifications were sought from Khomeini about his fatwa: in his memoirs, Hossein Ali Montazeri published a copy of a letter written by Khomeini’s son, Ahmad Khomeini, to his father seeking clarification on behalf of the Head of Iran’s Supreme Court and a member of Iran’s Supreme Judicial Council, Abdulkarim Mousavi Ardebili. The questions raised were whether these execution orders only applied to prisoners who had been previously tried and sentenced to death but while on death row had not changed their positions, or whether the death sentence was to be applied to all those who had not yet been tried as well as those who had been sentenced to imprisonment, had served their sentence but still remained “steadfast” in their support for the PMOI. The questions also sought clarification as to whether provincial authorities could exercise their independent judgment or were required to refer cases of prisoners to the judicial organ in the capital of the province.
Khomeini’s unequivocal response to all of the above issues was as follows: In all the above cases, if anyone at any stage maintains his position on nefaq [a pejorative reference to the PMOI], the sentence is execution; annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately; regarding the [process] of dealing with cases, [adopt] whichever way that ensures the order is implemented more quickly.”
Crimes against humanity looms large over Ebrahim Raisi’s inauguration as President of Iran today. We continue to call for him to be criminally investigated for his role in past and ongoing crimes against humanity related to #1988Massacre.https://t.co/PrRbGhCanG
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) August 5, 2021
Page 34:
“In issuing his fatwa, Khomeini ordered the execution of all ‘steadfast’ Mojahedin prisoners in which he also decreed the formation of three-member commissions nationwide, each commission including a religious judge, prosecutor (or deputy prosecutor) and representative from the Ministry of Intelligence.
The procedures established by the ‘Death Commissions’ were arbitrary and crude. According to survivors, prison authorities summoned individual detainees one by one and posed a series of questions. For those who identified themselves as Mojahedin, the foremost of these questions was whether or not they were willing to denounce the PMOI. Those who affirmed their association with the Mojahedin and were not willing to denounce the PMOI were sentenced to death.”
Page 38:
“C. Mass murder through summary, arbitrary, and extrajudicial executions
Khomeini’s 1988 fatwa is manifestly clear that he intentionally and purposefully ordered the mass executions of all steadfast PMOI members, an ordinance that was also subsequently implemented against members of other groups. The wilful executioners implemented Khomeini’s fatwa in full knowledge that they were committing international crimes by systematically and deliberately murdering political prisoners all across the country in a coordinated manner. Although there is a lack of unanimity in the precise numbers of those executed, there is no doubt that at least several thousand persons were murdered all across Iranian prisons as part of a ‘widespread’ and ‘systematic attack’ directed at the prison population during the summer of 1988.
🚨Important and troubling report from @UN highlights the need for accountability in #Iran's #1988Massacre.
As professionals, it is our responsibility to advocate for human rights and demand accountability for these atrocities. https://t.co/NYQZeetVy4 pic.twitter.com/Xhe5wedLNY— APA-ice (@APA_ICE) June 21, 2024
Various sources have provided evidence of summary, arbitrary, and extra-judicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in pursuit of the fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The official governmental sources – substantiated by the Audio file of Hossein-Ali Montazeri – confirm that mass executions of political dissidents took place during 1988. These executions had no legal basis in law and therefore constituted summary, arbitrary, and extra-judicial executions. The executions of those perceived to be ‘steadfast’ in their beliefs were so tragically comprehensive and brutal that even those with physical disabilities were not spared. Thus, for example, prisoner Kaveh Nasseri, despite epilepsy and paralysis, was executed as was prisoner Nasser Mansouri whose spinal cord had been severed.”
Page 49:
“The specific requirements of the Genocide Convention and the challenges related to establishing genocide have already been considered. Khomeini’s fatwa, a key document of the 1988 massacre, lays bare the genocidal intent in physically destroying the PMOI, which was treated as a religious group by the perpetrators. The fatwa explicitly characterizes the PMOI’s alleged religious transgressions as ‘waging war against God’ that must be punished by execution. Khomeini decreed “Since the treacherous monafeqin [PMOI] do not believe in Islam and whatever they say stems from their deception and hypocrisy, and since, as per the admissions of their leaders, they have deserted Islam, and since they wage war against God . . . it follows that those who remain steadfast in their position of nefaq in prisons throughout the country are considered to be mohareb [waging war against God] and are condemned to execution.”
