In the gathering, traditionally held on the last Friday of the Iranian year, the families laid wreath to the unmarked graves of these martyrs.
In the summer of 1988, the Iranian regime summarily and extrajudicially executed tens of thousands of political prisoners held in jails across Iran.
The Iranian regime has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were killed.
The majority of those executed were either serving prison sentences for their political activities or had already finished their sentences but were still kept in prison.
Some of them had previously been imprisoned and released, but were again arrested and executed during the massacre.
The wave of massacre of political prisoners began in late July and continued unabated for a few months.
By the time it stopped in Fall, some 30,000 political prisoners, overwhelming majority of them activists of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) were slaughtered.
In a statement issued on November 2, 2007, concerning the arrest of several families of the victims of the 1988 massacre, Amnesty International wrote, “The executions were authorized at the highest level of the Iranian leadership… Amnesty International believes these executions amount to a crime against humanity. Under international law, valid in 1988, crimes against humanity consist of widespread or systematic attacks against civilians on discriminatory, including political, grounds. Amnesty International believes that there should be no impunity for human rights violations, no matter where or when they took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to an independent impartial investigation, and all those responsible should be brought to justice, and receive appropriate penalties