1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners

Government-led mass execution of political prisoners in Iran June 2021 1988 execution of political prisoners in Iran the Iran–Iraq War Ebrahim Raisi and Mostafa Pourmohammadi.jpg Ebrahim Raisi (right) and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (left), two members of "Judges of Death" committee, in 2013 Iran Hossein-Ali Nayyeri (who was then a judge), Morteza Eshraqi (then Tehran Prosecutor), Ebrahim Raisi (then deputy prosecutor general) and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (then the representative of the Intelligence Ministry in Evin Prison), Hamid Nouri fa حمید نوری (then the assistant to the deputy prosecutor)https://news.sky.com/story/iranian-war-criminal-freed-by-sweden-in-prisoner-swap-deal-13153763 Iranian war criminal freed by Sweden in prisoner swap deal 16 June 2024 Iranian left-wing political opposition groups, most notably the MEK, OIPFM and the Tudeh Party of Iran, atheists, non-Shia Muslims July–December 1988 (some sources say July–September)https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/08/iran-1988-mass-executions-evident-crimes-against-humanity Iran: 1988 Mass Executions Evident Crimes Against Humanity 8 June 2022 Mass execution, summary execution, genocide Hamid Nouri 2,800 to 5,000, according to international human rights organizations and other experts;Abrahamian Ervand Ervand Abrahamian Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran 1999 University of California Press Berkeley http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3s2005jq;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print 4 March 2016 live https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043644/http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3s2005jq;chunk.id=0;doc.view=printNima Parvaresh, "An Unequal Battle: A Report of Seven Years in Prison, 1982-1989", 62 (2007). A portion of this article has been translated into English, under the title What Happened to Us in 1988, and is available at http://iranrights.org/english/document-238.php up to 30,000, according to the People's Mujahedin of IranSmith Dan The State of the Middle East, Revised and Updated: An Atlas of Conflict and Resolution 2014 University of California Press 9781134039227 https://books.google.com/books?id=MehRAwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA82 82 One estimate of the death toll by an Ayatollah who opposed the executions is 30,000.Smith Dan The State of the Middle East, Revised and Updated: An Atlas of Conflict and Resolution 1999 University of California Press 9781134039227 https://books.google.com/books?id=MehRAwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA82https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/07/13/iran-war-crimes-verdict-looms-as-opposition-seeks-justice-for-1988-killings/ Iran war crimes verdict looms as opposition seeks justice for 1988 killings The National News 13 July 2022Ehteshami Anoushiravan Iran: Stuck in Transition (The Contemporary Middle East) 2017 Routledge 9781351985451 108 https://books.google.com/books?id=tzUlDwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA108 It is estimated that as many as 30,000 individuals may have been executed at that time, in response to a religious edict issued by Ayatollah Khomeini that there was no room for apostates in his Islamic republic. Ayatollah Montazeri also alluded to this tragedy in his memoirs (published in 2001) and the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center's detailed report on the executions notes that estimates of those killed range from 1,000 to 30,000. See IHRDC, Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre (New Haven, CT: IHRDC, 2009). The insider's account is provided by Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khatirat-i Ayatollah Montazeri, Majmu'iyyih Payvastha va Dastnivisha [Memoir of Ayatollah Montazeri, the Collection of Appendices and Handwritten Notes] (2001).2019-03-07 Iran cleric linked to 1988 mass executions to lead judiciary https://apnews.com/article/ee0e777abf19424281c363ef1978ac7f 2024-05-22 AP News enN. Mohajer, 'The Mass Killings in Iran' Aresh 57 (August 1996): 7 In July 1988, the supreme leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, ordered the execution of thousands of political prisoners. These executions took place in at least 32 cities across Iran and lasted about five months.https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/08/irans-1988-mass-executions Iran’s 1988 Mass Executions Evidence & Legal Analysis of “Crimes Against Humanity”: Evidence & Legal Analysis of “Crimes Against Humanity” 2022-06-08 Human Rights Watch en4 December 2018 Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1988 Prison Massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1394212018ENGLISH.PDF https://web.archive.org/web/20181215065955/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1394212018ENGLISH.PDF 15 December 2018 14 December 2018 Amnesty International8; 13 Trials were not concerned with establishing guilt or innocence, and the executions were carried out without any legal authority.https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/08/irans-1988-mass-executions Iran's 1988 Mass Executions Human Rights Watch 8 June 2022 Many prisoners were also tortured.345 October 2020 Families Of Prisoners Killed In 1988 Mass Executions Demand Answers https://en.radiofarda.com/a/families-of-prisoners-killed-in-1988-mass-executions-demand-answers/30876566.html Radio Farda Great care was taken to conceal the executions.19 August 2016 احمد خاتمی: امام خمینی با اعدام‌های ۶۷ خدمت بزرگی به ملت کرد https://www.dw.com/fa-ir/%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DB%B6%DB%B7-%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%B2%D8%B1%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%84%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF/a-19487720 live https://web.archive.org/web/20160820115337/http://www.dw.com/fa-ir/%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AE%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DB%B6%DB%B7-%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%B2%D8%B1%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%84%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF/a-19487720 20 August 2016 10 June 2021 Deutsche Welle Persian Estimates, including those found in reports by human rights organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, indicate that between 2,800 and 5,000 men, women and children were killed.Shahrooz, K. 2007 With revolutionary rage and rancor: a preliminary report on the 1988 massacre of Iran's political prisoners. Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 20 227 The facts outlined in Part I indicate that the 1988 executions were both "widespread" and "systematic.[…] credible estimates range from 2800 to 5000 executions.https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2013/08/iran-still-seeks-erase-prison-massacre-memories-years/ Iran still seeks to erase the ‘1988 prison massacre' from memories, 25 years on 29 August 2013 Other sources, including the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MeK), whose members and supporters featured prominently in the killings, says that 30,000 political prisoners were massacred.Iran cleric linked to 1988 mass executions to lead judiciary https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/36/NGO/42 United Nations General Assembly enSmith Dan The State of the Middle East, Revised and Updated: An Atlas of Conflict and Resolution 1999 University of California Press 9781134039227 https://books.google.com/books?id=MehRAwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA82https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran' The Telegraph 4 February 2001 2009 Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre https://iranhrdc.org/wp-content/uploads/reports_en/Deadly_Fatwa___Iran_s_1988_Prison_Massacre_868709741.pdf Iran Human Rights Documentation Center The exact number of prisoners executed is not known. In February 1989, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then-President of Iran, is reported to have claimed that "in the past few months," fewer than 1,000 political prisoners were executed. In 1990, Amnesty International acknowledged that it did not know the full extent of the executions but estimated that 2,000 prisoners had been killed. Ayatollah Montazeri, in his memoirs, estimated that 2,800 or 3,800 supporters of Mojahedin-e Khalq (Mojahedin) were executed. He also reported that there were about 500 nonreligious political prisoners. The Mojahedin has used the figure 30,000, and has published the names of 3,208 Mojahedin supporters who were executed that summer. In 1989, it reported to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances that 1,300 prisoners were executed in August 1988. Nima Parvaresh, a leftist and survivor, estimates that 4,500 to 5,000 prisoners were executed that summer.Ehteshami Anoushiravan Anoushiravan Ehteshami https://books.google.com/books?id=tzUlDwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA108 Iran: Stuck in Transition (The Contemporary Middle East) Routledge 2017 9781351985451 108 It is estimated that as many as 30,000 individuals may have been executed at that time, in response to a religious edict issued by Ayatollah Khomeini that there was no room for apostates in his Islamic republic. Ayatollah Montazeri also alluded to this tragedy in his memoirs (published in 2001) and the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center's detailed report on the executions notes that estimates of those killed range from 1,000 to 30,000. See IHRDC, Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre (New Haven, CT: IHRDC, 2009). The insider's account is provided by Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khatirat-i Ayatollah Montazeri, Majmu'iyyih Payvastha va Dastnivisha [Memoir of Ayatollah Montazeri, the Collection of Appendices and Handwritten Notes] (2001). Reportedly, most of those killed were supporters of the MeK. Members of other leftist factions, such as the Fedaian and the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were also killed.Iranian party demands end to repression http://www.pww.org/article/view/5754/1/231/ dead https://web.archive.org/web/20050924060950/http://www.pww.org/article/view/5754/1/231/ 24 September 2005Abrahamian Ervand Ervand Abrahamian Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran 1999 University of California Press Berkeley http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3s2005jq;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print 4 March 2016 live https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043644/http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3s2005jq;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print209–228 Various motives have been offered for the executions. One possible motive was that the killings were revenge for the MeK's Operation Forough Javidan, which took place in 1988 on Iran's western borders. However, people from other leftist groups, who had nothing to do with the MeK's attack, were also killed.218 According to Iran's then-Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Montazeri, officials had been planning the executions for years, using the MeK operation as an excuse to carry them out.81–83 Survivors of the executions have repeatedly called for the killers to face prosecution.More Than 100 Prominent Iranians Ask UN to Declare 1988 Massacre 'Crime Against Humanity' https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/09/1988-mass-executions-100-iranians-letter/ Center for Human Rights in Iran 7 September 2016 23 May 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170526111920/https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/09/1988-mass-executions-100-iranians-letter/ 26 May 2017 live Some have described them as "Iran's greatest crime against humanity".Trend in Prosecution of Human Rights Abusers Should Extend to Iran's President https://intpolicydigest.org/trend-in-prosecution-of-human-rights-abusers-should-extend-to-iran-s-president/ IntPolicyDigest They were condemned by Montazeri,Kaveh Basmenji https://books.google.com/books?id=f0chBQAAQBAJ&q=iran+1988+prison+executions+women+children&pg=PT105 Tehran Blues: Youth Culture in Iran Saqui Books 2005 978-0863565823 the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council,United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and NGOs condemned human rights violations in Iran http://iranprobe.com/crime-against-humanity/2117.html dead https://web.archive.org/web/20180128025639/http://iranprobe.com/crime-against-humanity/2117.html 28 January 2018 16 September 2017 and several countries.Akhlaghi Reza Canada Recognizes Iran's 1988 Massacre as Crime against Humanity https://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2013/06/14/canada-recognizes-irans-1988-massacre-as-crime-against-humanity/ Foreign Policy Blog 14 June 2013 23 May 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170518151029/https://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2013/06/14/canada-recognizes-irans-1988-massacre-as-crime-against-humanity/ 18 May 2017 live In November 2021, an Early Day Motion in the UK House of Commons, signed by 47 MPs, stated that the 1988 killings of Iranian political prisoners amounted to ongoing crimes against humanity and genocide, and called on the UK Government to seek a UN Commission of Inquiry.Recognising the 1988 massacre in Iran https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/59101/recognising-the-1988-massacre-in-iran UK Parliament Early Day Motions 3 November 2021 21 May 2026 Further, in 2024, Javaid Rehman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran (2018–2024), arrived at the preliminary conclusion that the 1988 and 1981 killings were carried out with the genocidal intent of exterminating political opponents and religious minorities.Nasiri Shahin Clerical Sovereignty and its Absolute Others: Religious Genocide in Iran Journal of Genocide Research 25 September 2025 28 1–25 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2025.2566533#abstract 24 October 2025 Routledge 1462-3528 Background The Islamic modernist People's Mujahedin of Iran (MeK) had a complicated relationship with Ruhollah Khomeini's government. Their guerilla forces, along with members of the Marxist Fedeyeen, played a key role in overthrowing the monarchy.Ruthven, Malise Islam in the World https://archive.org/details/islaminworld0000ruth registration Oxford University Press 2000 978-0-19-513841-2 348–9 However, they disagreed with Khomeini's vision about the form the Islamic political system should take. While Khomeini supported a system of rule by Islamic clerics, the MeK supported democracy, women's rights, and a classless society.Sepehr Zabih The Non-Communist Left in Iran: The Case of the Mujahidin Ideology and Power in the Middle East Peter J. Chelkowski Robert J. Pranger 1988 Duke University Press 978-0-8223-8150-1 252–254 After the revolution, as Khomeini's government began suppressing former allies—including liberals, leftists and moderates—the MeK became the regime's most powerful enemy and its primary target. In 1980, Khomeini started criticizing the MeK, calling them elteqati (eclectic), monafeqin (hypocrites), and kafer (unbelievers). He also accused them of being contaminated with gharbzadegi ("the Western plague").Moin Baqer Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah Macmillan New York 2000 0-312-26490-9234; 239 Beginning in February 1980, Hezbollah supporters attacked meeting spots, bookstores, and newsstands owned by the MeK and other leftists.Bakhash Shaul The Reign Of Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution Basic Books New York 1986-03-25 0-465-06887-1123 Simultaneously, the government purged members of the opposition—including 20,000 teachers and nearly 8,000 military officers—for being too "Westernized".Arjomand Said Amir The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran Studies in Middle Eastern Hist New York 1988 978-0-19-504258-0 144 They also closed MeK offices, banned their newspapers, ordered their leaders' arrests, and prohibited demonstrations.Ervand Abrahamian Ervand Abrahamian Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin 1989 I.B. Tauris 978-1-85043-077-3 206 The crisis reached a critical turning point when Khomeini attacked President Abolhassan Banisadr, an Islamic modernist, former supporter of Khomeini, and ally of the MeK.238153 Banisadr was then impeached by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, causing him to flee the country and call for a "resistance to dictatorship".Kepel Gilles Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam Harvard University Press Cambridge, Mass 2002 0-674-01090-6 115 During the conflict that followed, an "unprecedented reign of terror" was unleashed upon the MeK and similar groups. According to historian Stephanie Cronin, within six months, "2,665 persons, 90 per cent of whom were MeK members, were executed".Cronin Stephanie 2013 Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies Series 978-1-134-32890-1 Routledge 48 The MeK retaliated with their own attacks, killing numerous leaders of the Khomeinist Islamic Republic Party.241–242 A few months later, they also killed the party's new leader, Mohammad Javad Bahonar.Iran https://web.archive.org/web/20081019120102/http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/2.htm 2008-10-19 Backgrounder, HRW .30 Remnants of the MeK fled the country in fear of further retaliation from Iranian authorities.Farrokh Kaveh Iran at War: 1500–1988 Osprey Publishing Oxford, England 978-1-78096-221-4 20 December 2011Why specifically did they flee the country? Based on the context given, it seems like they were operating at parity with the Khomeinists. December 2024 In July 1988, 7,000 militants from the National Liberation Army (NLA), the military wing of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK),https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG871.pdf The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum Goulka Jeremiah Hansell Lydia Wilke Elizabeth Larson Judith 2009 RAND Corporation 3 https://web.archive.org/web/20160222043501/http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG871.pdf 22 February 2016 live launched a major military offensive with the goal of capturing key cities such as Kermanshah, with the ultimate objective of toppling the Iranian government.Farrokh Kaveh Iran at War: 1500–1988 20 December 2011 Osprey Publishing Oxford 978-1-78096-221-4 413–414 The Iraqi military armed and trained the NLA fighters and provided them with air support. Led by Lieutenant-General Ali Sayad Shirazi, Operation Mersad began on 26 July 1988 and lasted only a few days, whereby the Iranian Armed Forces defeated MeK forces. Sussan Siavoshi https://books.google.com/books?id=3tUoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 Montazeri: The Life and Thought of Iran's Revolutionary Ayatollah Cambridge University Press 2017 978-1316509463 131Hiro Dilip http://archive.org/details/longestwariranir0000hiro The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq military conflict 1991 New York : Routledge Internet Archive 978-0-415-90406-3 246Farrokh Kaveh https://kurdarshiv01.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/iran-at-war-1500-1988.pdf Iran at War: 1500-1988 Osprey Publishing 2011 413 Iranian leaders have since attempted to shift attention away from the executions by highlighting the MeK's attack, claiming their response was justified against the attackers.81–83 However, in 2016, an audio recording posted online purported to reveal a 1988 meeting between then-Deputy-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Montazeri and officials responsible for the mass executions in Tehran.New audio file sheds light on 1980s executions in Iran Arash Karami 10 August 2016 Al-Monitor https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2016/08/montazeri-executions-1988-iran-mek-khomeini.html live July 2, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210702003843/https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2016/08/montazeri-executions-1988-iran-mek-khomeini.html In the recording, Montazeri is heard saying that the Ministry of Intelligence used the MeK's attack as a pretext to carry out the mass killings, which "had been under consideration for several years". Executions December 2024 Khomeini's order thumb|Khomeini's order letter Shortly before the executions began, Khomeini issued "a secret but extraordinary order—some suspect a formal fatwa". The order led to the creation of "special commissions" that were tasked with executing MeK members, who were labeled moharebs (those who war against Allah). Leftists in general were also targeted, and were labeled mortads (apostates from Islam).210 In part, the letter reads:Upholding the truth (Pasdasht e Haghighat) (رضایی و سلیمی نمین، پاسداشت حقیقت) by Mohsen Rezaee and Abbas Salimi-Namin. Page 147. 2002Ayatollah Khomeini's Decree Ordering the Execution of Prisoners 1988 http://www.iranrights.org/library/document/106 Human Rights & Democracy for Iran Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation 13 August 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160821054143/http://www.iranrights.org/library/document/106 21 August 2016 live [In the Name of God, The Compassionate, the Merciful,] As the treacherous Monafeqin [Hypocrites] do not believe in Islam and what they say is out of deception and hypocrisy, and As their leaders have confessed that they have become renegades, and As they are waging war on God, and As they are engaging in classical warfare in the western, the northern and the southern fronts, and As they are collaborating with the Ba'ath Party of Iraq and spying for Saddam against our Muslim nation, and As they are tied to the World Arrogance, and in light of their cowardly blows to the Islamic Republic since its inception, It is decreed that those who are in prison throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin [Hypocrites] are waging war on God and are condemned to execution. Lockdown According to a report by Kaveh Sharooz, in late 1987 and early 1988, prison officials started "re-questioning" prisoners and grouping them based on political affiliation and sentence length.Kaveh Sharooz 2007 With revolutionary rage and rancor: a preliminary report on the 1988 massacre of Iran's political prisoners https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/hhrj20&div=17&id=&page= Harv. Hum. RTS 20 260–261 233December 2024 It's unclear what the relevance of this paragraph is to the section it's in. On 19 July 1988, Iranian authorities closed several major prisons, preventing all visits and phone calls and refusing to accept letters, care packages, or medicine from families. Courts went on an unscheduled holiday to prevent them from finding out what happened to their imprisoned relatives. Relatives of prisoners were also forbidden from congregating outside the prison gates.209 Inside the prisons, cell blocks were isolated from each other and cleared of radios and televisions. All shared spaces—including classrooms, work areas, and medical rooms—were closed. Inmates were confined to their cells. Prison employees were forbidden from speaking to inmates. One prisoner made his own radio to hear news from outside, but found nothing about the lockdown was being reported.209–10 Administration The executions began that month, in July 1988.8 They were carried out by Iranian officials who later held high-ranking positions in the government.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/02/04/wiran04.xml https://web.archive.org/web/20060210125211/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F02%2F04%2Fwiran04.xml dead 10 February 2006 Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran' The Telegraph 2 February 2001 12 September 2021 According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, in his book Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran, a 16-member commission oversaw the executions in Tehran. The commission included various authorities from key parts of the Islamic government: Khomeini, the president, the chief prosecutor, the Revolutionary Tribunals, the Justice and Intelligence ministries, and officials from Evin and Gohardasht prisons, where the executions took place. The chair of the commission was Ayatollah Morteza Eshraqi, who was assisted by Hojatt al-Islam, Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, and Ali Mobasheri. The commission traveled by helicopter between Evin and Gohardasht prisons. Similar commissions were set up outside of Tehran, but less is known about them.210 Another account of how the executions were carried out, given by Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and supported by Abrahamian in a 2017 interview, says they were administered by a "four-man commission", known as the "death committee".Nasrin Sotoudeh: Investigate Iranian Presidential Hopeful Ebrahim Raisi for 1988 Mass Executions https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/04/nasrin-sotoudeh-investigate-iranian-presidential-hopeful-ebrahim-raisi-for-1988-mass-executions/ Center for Human Rights in Iran 18 May 2017 17 April 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170613174447/https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/04/nasrin-sotoudeh-investigate-iranian-presidential-hopeful-ebrahim-raisi-for-1988-mass-executions/ 13 June 2017 live The committee included judge Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, Tehran Prosecutor Eshraqi, deputy prosecutor general Ebrahim Raisi, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who represented the Intelligence Ministry at Evin Prison.An Interview with Scholar and Historian Ervand Abrahamian on the Islamic Republic's "Greatest Crime" Abrahamian Ervand 4 May 2017 Center for Human Rights in Iran https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/05/an-interview-with-scholar-and-historian-ervand-abrahamian-on-the-islamic-republics-greatest-crime/ 5 May 2017 live https://web.archive.org/web/20170505122525/https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/05/an-interview-with-scholar-and-historian-ervand-abrahamian-on-the-islamic-republics-greatest-crime/ Raisi later campaigned for president of Iran in 2017 as a hard-line conservative. He faced criticism over his part in executions but later won the presidency on his second attempt in 2021. His role earned him a reputation as a "hanging judge",Bronte Trinidad Deiros 2024-05-20 Ebrahim Raisi, from 'hanging judge' to guardian of the principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-05-20/ebrahim-raisi-from-hanging-judge-to-guardian-of-the-principals-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran.html 2024-06-12 EL PAÍS English en-usIranian President Raisi: The Hanging Judge https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/iranian-president-raisi-hanging-judge 2024-06-12 The Washington Institute en like Sadegh Khalkhali before him. It also earned him his nickname: 'Butcher of Tehran'.2024-05-20 Ebrahim Raisi, 'the Butcher of Tehran', hardline prosecutor who became Iran's president – obituary https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/05/20/ebrahim-raisi-iran-president-helicopter-butcher-tehran/ 2024-06-12 The Telegraph en-GB 0307-12352024-05-20 'Butcher of Tehran': Who was Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi? https://www.euronews.com/2024/05/20/butcher-of-tehran-who-was-iranian-president-ebrahim-raisi 2024-06-12 euronews en2024-05-20 Grief, but also relief for some, after Iran President Raisi dies in helicopter crash https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/death-iran-president-raisi-prompts-grief-relief-celebration-rcna153003 2024-06-12 NBC News en Amnesty International presented evidence that linked several Iranian officials to participation in the massacre. Among them were Alireza Avayi, who allegedly served on the panel in Dezful, Raisi, who allegedly served on the panel in Tehran, Pourmohammadi, and others.15 Most of the prisoners executed were there for nonviolent activities like distributing newspapers and leaflets, joining protests, or raising money for the opposition. Some were imprisoned for holding outlawed political views.11 Others were executed because of their religious views—either because they were atheists or for following different forms of Islam.Abrahamian Ervand Ervand Abrahamian Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran 1999 University of California Press Berkeley http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3s2005jq;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print 4 March 2016 live https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043644/http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3s2005jq;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print209–228 They were tried before they were executed, but these trials were unrelated to the crimes they were imprisoned for.117 Due to the high number of prisoners facing execution, they were placed onto forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes every 30 minutes.https://journals.law.harvard.edu/hrj/wp-content/uploads/sites/83/2020/06/20HHRJ227-Shahrooz.pdf With Revolutionary Rage and Rancor: A Preliminary Report on the 1988 Massacre of Iran's Political Prisoners Iran 2018 The World's Most Notorious Dictators Athlon Classics 80 B07D52QTF2https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran' The Daily Telegraph 4 February 2001 The executions were not sanctioned by Iranian law, violated international law, and are now considered a crime against humanity.10 MeK executions People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran The Tehran commission began by questioning MeK members and penitents, asking if they would denounce the MeK on camera, help the government hunt down MeK members, name secret sympathizers, identify false penitents, or walk through enemy minefields. According to Abrahamian, the questions were designed to "tax to the utmost the victim's sense of decency, honour, and self-respect". Prisoners who gave wrong answers were moved to a "special room" to be executed. Alleged MeK affiliates, including children as young as 13, were hanged from cranes following Khomeini's orders. Prisoners were told that this interrogation process was not a trial, but rather a "process for initiating a general amnesty and [to separate] Muslims from non-Muslims". Many prisoners believed that they would be imminently set free. One who survived thought he was being interviewed for release during upcoming peace celebrations.209–214 Executions of leftists After 27 August, the commission turned its attention to leftist prisoners, including members of the Tudeh Party of Iran, Majority and Minority Fedayi, other Fedayi factions, Kumaleh, Rah-e Kargar, and Peykar. Like the MeK affiliates, they were told that they were not in danger and were questioned about their religious beliefs and practices. Prisoners were told that officials were asking these questions to separate practicing Muslims from non-practicing ones. However, the true purpose was to identify possible apostates, who would then be hanged alongside other condemned moharebs.December 2024 Some prisoners, who were saved from execution by answering the questions "properly", shared information with other inmates about what they were asked. One leftist prisoner, who had once attended seminary, understood the religious meaning behind the questions and warned others by knocking messages on the prison walls in morse code. The officials asked if the prisoners' fathers prayed, fasted, and read the Quran. If they had not been raised in traditional Muslim homes and "exposed to true Islam", they could not be labeled apostates. However, the sons of devout men could be. Refusing to answer the questions because of privacy concerns was also often seen as proof of apostasy.212 This shocked the prisoners. One commented: "In previous years, they wanted us to confess to spying. In 1988, they wanted us to convert to Islam".CONFESSIONS https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/289/confessions 2026-01-21 Abdorrahman Boroumand Center en212–13Editorial, 'The Islamic Law of Repentance,' Aksariyat 18 May 1989December 2024 There was no correlation between the length of a prisoner's sentence and the likelihood that they would be executed. The first leftists to appear before the commission had shorter sentences, with no warning of what would happen to them.December 2024 Treatment of women Female MeK members faced the same harsh treatment as their male counterparts, with most being hanged as "armed enemies of Allah". However, for apostasy, women received lighter punishments than men. This was because, according to the commission's interpretation of Islamic law, women were not fully responsible for their actions and "could be given discretionary punishments to mend their ways and obey male superiors".December 2024 Leftist women, including those raised as practicing Muslims, were given another "opportunity" to recant their "apostasy". Many were given five lashes daily: one for each missed prayer. This was half the punishment men received. While many women eventually agreed to pray, some went on hunger strike, in some cases refusing both food and water. One woman died after 22 days and 550 lashes. Officials certified her death as a suicide, because it was "she who had made the decision not to pray".215Mahbaz E. 1996 The Islamic Republic of Iran – The Hell for Women: Seven Years in PrisonDecember 2024 Treatment of victims' families According to Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, Iranian officials forbade families of executed prisoners from holding funerals or publicly mourning for a year. After a year, if their conduct was deemed acceptable, they would be told where their relatives were buried. Officials justified the executions to the victims' families by claiming that victims' names were found on notes pinned to dead MeK members during Operation Mersad. Ebadi pointed out that this explanation was unlikely and questioned why the prisoners were not given trials for supporting the enemy.Ebadi Shirin Moaveni Azadeh Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope Random House New York 2006 1-4000-6470-887–88 In 2009, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center commissioned Geoffrey Robertson QC to review evidence and witness statements that they had collected regarding the executions. Robertson's report found that the Iranian government was still refusing to tell victims' families where their relatives were buried.http://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/files/Iran%20Massacre%20Report.pdf The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20100705022536/http://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/files/Iran%20Massacre%20Report.pdf 5 July 2010 23 April 2013 Attempts at concealment December 2024 The Iranian government accused investigators looking into the executions of "disclosing state secrets" and threatening national security". According to Amnesty International, there has also been "the ongoing official campaign to repress the commemorative efforts of survivors, families and human rights defenders, demonize the victims and distort the facts about the extrajudicial execution of political dissidents in the 1980s".5 The executed were interred in mass graves at Khavaran cemetery, where multiple bodies were buried together. The Iranian government subsequently sought to obscure these burials by converting the cemetery grounds into a public park.Sahimi Muhammad The Bloody Red Summer of 1988 Frontline Tehran Bureau PBS 25 August 2009 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/08/the-bloody-red-summer-of-1988.html 4 December 2025 Death toll estimates The exact number executed is unknown. According to a 1990 investigation by Amnesty International, which included interviews with prisoners' relatives, "most of the executions were of political prisoners" in "the biggest wave of political executions [in Iran] since the early 1980s". Between January 1987 and June 1990, Amnesty International collected the names of at least 2,100 prisoners whose executions were announced in Iranian press.1 December 1990 Iran: Violations of human rights 1987–1990 https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/021/1990/en/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124547/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/021/1990/en/ 9 December 2018 Amnesty International "In 1989 Amnesty International recorded over 1,500 executions announced for criminal offences, more than 1,000 of them for drug-trafficking offences." 1987: 158; 1988: 142; 1989: 1500; 1990 January–June: 300 Per People's Mojahedin: Since June 1981 – 1989, some 90,000 Iranian citizens killed and another 150,000 jailed or tortured by the ayatollah. Joe Spear, Khomeini, the lunatic. Ludington Daily News, Mar 17, 1989In Iran, The Terror And Torture Go On. The Washington Post. July 21, 1990. 90,000 Iranian citizens killed and another 150,000 jailed or tortured by the ayatollah. A 1996 study by N. Mohajer, which used scattered information from outside Tehran, placed the death toll at 12,000.212N. Mohajer, 'The Mass Killings in Iran' Aresh 57 (August 1996): 7December 2024 In 1999, Abrahamian gathered testimonies from eyewitnesses and former prisoners. One anonymous former prisoner put the death toll in the "thousands". Another eyewitness estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 people were killed—1,000 of them leftists and the rest MeK members.212Anonymous, 'I Was Witness to the Slaughter of Political Prisoners in Gohar Dasht,' Cheshmandaz, n.14 (Winter 1995): 68December 2024 Still another placed it in the 'thousands', with as many as 1,500 killed at Gohardasht prison alone.212K. Homayun, 'The Slaughter at Gohar Dasht', Kar 62, (April 1992)December 2024 In February 2001, The Daily Telegraph reported on statistics and methods of the executions described by Hussein-Ali Montazeri, one of the key leaders of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and former Deputy Supreme Leader of Iran during Khomeini's tenure, in his memoirs, "The Memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri". Montazeri stated that 3,800 political prisoners were executed during the first fortnight. The book describes Khomeini's fatwa ordering the executions, the committees deciding on executions, and physical methods of carrying out rapid executions on a massive scale. In the context of discussing Montazeri's memoirs, The Daily Telegraph states that "more than 30,000 political prisoners were executed in the 1988 massacre".Q137916115 live In 2008, Amnesty International reported between 4,500 and 5,000 deaths, including women.19 August 2008 Iran: The 20th anniversary of 1988 "prison massacre" https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/118/2008/en/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20150704055527/http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE13/118/2008/en/ 4 July 2015 Amnesty International Ten years later, in 2018, they confirmed about 5,000 deaths. Human Rights Watch (HRW) puts the death toll between 2,800 and 5,000 people.Da Silva Chantal 2024-05-20 Grief, but also relief for some, after Iran President Raisi dies in helicopter crash https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/death-iran-president-raisi-prompts-grief-relief-celebration-rcna153003 2024-05-22 NBC News en According to Montazeri's autobiography, between 2,800 and 3,800 prisoners were killed, while the MeK claims a much higher number of 30,000 deaths.Smith Dan The State of the Middle East, Revised and Updated: An Atlas of Conflict and Resolution 1999 University of California Press 9781134039227 https://books.google.com/books?id=MehRAwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA82https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/07/13/iran-war-crimes-verdict-looms-as-opposition-seeks-justice-for-1988-killings/ Iran war crimes verdict looms as opposition seeks justice for 1988 killings The National News 13 July 2022Ehteshami Anoushiravan Iran: Stuck in Transition (The Contemporary Middle East) 2017 Routledge 9781351985451 108 https://books.google.com/books?id=tzUlDwAAQBAJ&dq=iran+1988+executions+%2230%2C000%22&pg=PA108 It is estimated that as many as 30,000 individuals may have been executed at that time, in response to a religious edict issued by Ayatollah Khomeini that there was no room for apostates in his Islamic republic. Ayatollah Montazeri also alluded to this tragedy in his memoirs (published in 2001) and the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center's detailed report on the executions notes that estimates of those killed range from 1,000 to 30,000. See IHRDC, Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre (New Haven, CT: IHRDC, 2009). The insider's account is provided by Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khatirat-i Ayatollah Montazeri, Majmu'iyyih Payvastha va Dastnivisha [Memoir of Ayatollah Montazeri, the Collection of Appendices and Handwritten Notes] (2001).2019-03-07 Iran cleric linked to 1988 mass executions to lead judiciary https://apnews.com/article/ee0e777abf19424281c363ef1978ac7f 2024-05-22 AP News en Ebadi notes that most victims were young students or recent graduates, with women making up more than 10% of those killed.90–91 In 2019, Iranian politician and MeK leader Maryam Rajavi released the book Crime Against Humanity, which is about the 1988 executions. It shows where 36 mass graves are located in Iran and says that about 30,000 prisoners were killed, most of them MeK members.https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/23/new-book-details-atrocities-iranian-regime-1980s/ New book details atrocities by Iranian regime in the 1980s The Washington Times Eric J. Lyman 23 October 2019 12 December 2021December 2024 In September 2017, a joint statement by three French non-governmental organizations (NGOs)Fondation Danielle-Mitterrand - France Libertés fr, Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples, and Women's Human Rights International Association (WHRIA). to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) reported death count estimates of above 32,000 from three different sources. Mohammad Maleki, former president of the University of Tehran and Iranian dissident, stated in a 14 August 2016 television interview with Dorr TV that a total of 32,400–33,400 executions, including 30,400 PMOI/MEK members and 2000–3000 "leftists". Mohammad Nourizad, an Iranian intellectual who was "a close associate" of Khamenei prior to the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, stated in writing a total count of 33,000, according to the NGOs' UNHRC statement. The third source in the NGOs' statement was that former intelligence officer Reza Malek stated a total execution count of 33,700 based on "documents [that] he had personally seen".Q137916101 live Response International reaction and criticism In 2008, human rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz expressed surprise that major groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had never fully investigated the executions.Twenty Years of Silence: The 1988 Massacre and the Quest for Accountability May 2025 medicmedic, Gozaar Amnesty International's 1990 report Iran: Violations of Human Rights 1987-1990 does briefly mentioned the executions in a few pages, stating: The political executions took place in many prisons in all parts of Iran, often far from where the armed incursion took place. Most of the executions were of political prisoners, including an unknown number of prisoners of conscience, who had already served a number of years in prison. They could have played no part in the armed incursion, and they were in no position to take part in spying or terrorist activities. Many of the dead had been tried and sentenced to prison terms during the early 1980s, many for non-violent offences such as distributing newspapers and leaflets, taking part in demonstrations or collecting funds for prisoners' families. Many of the dead had been students in their teens or early twenties at the time of their arrest. The majority of those killed were supporters of the PMOI, but hundreds of members and supporters of other political groups, including various factions of the PFOI, the Tudeh Party, the KDPI, Rah-e Kargar and others, were also among the execution victims. Similarly, HRW briefly discusses the executions in a report about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chosen cabinet members. They called them "deliberate and systematic... extrajudicial killings", condemned them as crimes against humanity, and accused Pourmohammadi, who led Iran's Interior Ministry from 2005 to 2008, of direct involvement in the killings.http://hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran1205/2.htm HRW – Pour-Mohammadi and the 1988 Prison Massacres 10 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070316072748/http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran1205/2.htm 16 March 2007 live The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) brought attention to the executions on 30 August 2017, sharing a statement from three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) calling for truth, justice, and steps to prevent similar events. The UNHRC also received a joint statement from five UN-affiliated NGOs in February 2018. The statement asked the UN to "launch [a] fact-finding mission to investigate Iran's 1988 massacre in order to end impunity and prevent the same fate for detained protesters today".https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/042/97/PDF/G1804297.pdf?OpenElement Written statement by NGOs on Iran, during Human Rights Council 2018-03-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20180317102722/https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/042/97/PDF/G1804297.pdf?OpenElement 2018-03-17 live On 4 December 2018, Amnesty International called on the government of Iran to reveal the fate of its political prisoners. They also urged the UN to create a team to investigate human rights crimes in Iran.https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/12/iran-committing-crimes-against-humanity-by-concealing-fate-of-thousands-of-slaughtered-political-dissidents/ Iran committing crimes against humanity by concealing fate of thousands of slaughtered political dissidents 4 December 2018 15 December 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181210063241/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/12/iran-committing-crimes-against-humanity-by-concealing-fate-of-thousands-of-slaughtered-political-dissidents/ 10 December 2018 live In their report Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity, they claim that: Thousands of political dissidents were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Iranian detention facilities across the country and extrajudicially executed pursuant to an order issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran and implemented across prisons in the country. Many of those killed during this time were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in the process. Swedish authorities arrested Hamid Nouri, who was accused of helping carry out the executions as an assistant prosecutor, in November 2019. In an article for Radio Free Europe, UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard is quoted as saying that this was the "first time that someone [was] charged in relation to the events that took place in 1988 in Iran".Sweden Jails Iranian Prosecutor Implicated In Mass Execution In Prisons https://en.radiofarda.com/a/sweden-jails-iranian-prosecutor-implicated-in-mass-execution-in-prisons/30269784.html 18 July 2020 RFE/RL 13 November 2019 en His trial began in August 2021, two months later than planned.Suspect in Iran 1988 mass executions to be tried in Sweden in June https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/03/26/Suspect-in-Iran-1988-mass-executions-to-be-tried-in-Sweden-in-June- 28 April 2021 Al Arabiya English 26 March 2021 enSweden tries Hamid Nouri over 1988 Iran prison massacre https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58165166 11 August 2021 BBC News 8 August 2021 en He was charged with "torturing prisoners and subjecting them to inhumane conditions".First-ever prosecution in 1988 Iran massacre puts spotlight on regime https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/02/07/sweden-iran-trial-1988-massacre-hamid-noury-MEK/4511638287097/ 8 March 2022 UPI en The court gave him a life sentence in July 2022.19 December 2023 En Suède, la justice confirme la condamnation à perpétuité de l'ex-procureur iranien Hamid Nouri https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2023/12/19/en-suede-la-justice-confirme-la-condamnation-a-perpetuite-de-l-ex-procureur-iranien-hamid-nouri_6206695_3210.html 20 December 2023 Le Monde fr-FRRühle Alex 19 December 2023 Iran und Schweden: Hamid Noury wegen Verbrechen gegen Menschlichkeit verurteilt https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/iran-schweden-hamid-noury-gohardasht-1.6321936 20 December 2023 Süddeutsche Zeitung de-DENoury Riccardo 19 December 2023 La svolta della Svezia, che condanna l'iraniano Hamid Nouri per esecuzioni di massa https://www.editorialedomani.it/politica/mondo/la-svolta-della-svezia-che-condanna-liraniano-hamid-nouri-per-esecuzioni-di-massa-klwcp0q6 20 December 2023 Domani it-IT In July 2024, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran published a report in which it categorised the executions as a genocide of Iranian political and religious minorities. Rapporteur Javaid Rehman determined that the executions, as well as the 1981–1982 massacres, had been carried out with the genocidal intent of removing the Islamic Republic's perceived enemies. Rehman called for Iranian officials to be held accountable for crimes against humanity. The Iranian government condemned the report as "false news" concocted by its adversaries to smear its reputation.Iran Condemns UN Expert Report On 1980s 'Atrocity Crimes' https://www.barrons.com/news/iran-condemns-un-expert-report-on-1980s-atrocity-crimes-d67ff6ab 24 October 2025 Barron's Agence France-Presse 24 July 2024 Montazeri thumb|left|Deputy Supreme Leader Hussein Ali-Montazeri condemned the executions. He was dismissed by Khomeini and later placed under house arrest. Sussan Siavoshi https://books.google.com/books?id=3tUoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 Montazeri: The Life and Thought of Iran's Revolutionary Ayatollah Cambridge University Press 2017 978-1316509463 131 Because of the executions, Montazeri resigned from his position as next-in-line to replace Khomeini as Iran's Supreme Leader. Prior to the executions, Montazeri had clashed with Khomeini on several matters, including the trial of Mehdi Hashemi and the campaign against "hoarding". When Montazeri learned about the executions, he quickly sent three letters—two to Khomeini and one to the Special Commission—denouncing the executions "in no uncertain terms". Montazeri also wrote to Khomeini asking him to "at least order to spare women who have children" and warning that "the execution of several thousand prisoners in a few days will not reflect positively and will not be mistake-free".Lamb Christina 4 February 2001 Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20170701102148/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html 1 July 2017 23 June 2017 The Daily Telegraph Montazeri reported serious prisoner abuse, claiming that "a large number of prisoners have been killed under torture by interrogators" and that "in some prisons of the Islamic Republic young girls [were] being killed". He also claimed that "as a result of unruly torture, many prisoners [became] deaf or paralyzed or afflicted with chronic diseases". He criticized the Special Commission for "violating Islam by executing repenters and minor offenders who in a proper court of law would have received a mere reprimand". Khomeini asked Montazeri to resign, saying that he had always doubted Montazeri's competence and that he "expressed reservations when the Assembly of Experts first appointed [him]", but that the Assembly had pushed for Montazeri to be the next Supreme Leader anyway. The government released letters between the two leaders, but "the selection dealt only with the Hashemi affair and scrupulously avoided the mass executions—thus observing the official line that these executions never took place".220December 2024 In August 2016, supporters of Montazeri posted an audio recording online from a meeting held on 15 August 1988. The recording showed Montazeri meeting with four members of the special judicial tribunal: Eshraqi, Raisi, Pourmohammadi, and judge Hossein-Ali Nayeri.https://rfe-audio.rferl.org/FRD/2016/08/09/f2720a29-b951-4fc6-855a-c18cd25baef0.mp3 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 12 August 2016 audio.rferl.org/FRD/2016/08/09/f2720a29-b951-4fc6-855a-c18cd25baef0.mp3 https://web.archive.org/web/20160812005847/http://audio.rferl.org/FRD/2016/08/09/f2720a29-b951-4fc6-855a-c18cd25baef0.mp3 12 August 2016 liveIran's Intelligence Ministry Tries to Hide Evidence of Massacre of Thousands of Political Prisoners in 1988 https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/08/ahmad-montazeri/ International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran 12 August 2016 N/A 13 August 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160814151302/https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/08/ahmad-montazeri/ 14 August 2016 live In it, he called the tribunal members "judges of death", warning that that would be "remembered among the criminals of history" and condemning the mass executions, calling them "the biggest crime committed in the Islamic Republic since the beginning of the revolution" .Vahidmanesh Parvaneh 10 August 2016 احمد منتظری: فایل صوتی، سند مخالفت آیت الله منتظری با اعدام های ۶۷ است https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2-ahmad-montazeri-mass-execution/27911459.html 2024-06-26 رادیو فردا The Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) had the recording taken down the day after its release.Iran News Round Up – August 10, 2016 http://www.criticalthreats.org/iran-news-round-august-10-2016 criticalthreats.org 12 August 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160811130357/http://www.criticalthreats.org/iran-news-round-august-10-2016 11 August 2016 deadAudio file revives calls for inquiry into massacre of Iran political prisoners https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/aug/11/hossein-ali-montazeri-audio-file-calls-for-inquiry-1988-massacre-iran-political-prisoners The Guardian 11 August 2016 12 August 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160811205108/https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/aug/11/hossein-ali-montazeri-audio-file-calls-for-inquiry-1988-massacre-iran-political-prisoners 11 August 2016 live According to HRW, Montazeri's son Ahmed released the tape. As a result, he was charged with "spreading propaganda against the system" and "revealing plans, secrets or decisions regarding the state's domestic or foreign policies... in a manner amounting to espionage". He was later sentenced to 21 years in prison, but the sentence was ultimately suspended.Iran: 1988 Mass Executions Evident Crimes Against Humanity 8 June 2022 https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/08/iran-1988-mass-executions-evident-crimes-against-humanity live https://web.archive.org/web/20221004101907if_/https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/08/iran-1988-mass-executions-evident-crimes-against-humanity 4 October 2022 Victims' families December 2024 Despite attempts by Iranian authorities to conceal the killings, families of those killed—and other political activists—informed the national community. Iran Tribunal In 2012, the victims' families and survivors created the Iran Tribunal to investigate the executions. The Tribunal aims to hold the Iranian government accountable for human rights violations.http://www.irantribunal.com/Eng/EnHome.html – "May this Tribunal prevent the crime of silence"...? 7 November 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121104235006/http://www.irantribunal.com/Eng/EnHome.html 4 November 2012 dead Court hearings were held first in London and then at The Hague Peace Palace.http://persiandutch.com/2012/10/27/photo-gallery-court-hearing-in-the-hague-for-1980s-massacre-in-persia/ - "Court Hearing in The Hague for 1980s Massacre in Persia"...? 27 October 2012 7 November 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121101023337/http://persiandutch.com/2012/10/27/photo-gallery-court-hearing-in-the-hague-for-1980s-massacre-in-persia/ 1 November 2012 live Iranian government's position In August 2016, Pourmohammadi spoke about the executions at a government meeting in Khorramabad, Lorestan province. He said that "We are proud we have implemented God's order about Mojahedin" (PMOI or MeK).http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2016/08/160828_l26_pormohammadi_iran_executions_67_mojahedin_mko پورمحمدی درباره اعدام‌های ۶۷: افتخار می‌کنیم حکم خدا را اجرا کردیم fa 67 executions: proud to have performed the commandment of God 28 August 2016 1 September 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160831184747/http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2016/08/160828_l26_pormohammadi_iran_executions_67_mojahedin_mko 31 August 2016 live The following year, in 2017, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also defended the executions, stating that those killed were "terrorists" and "hypocrites".Khamenei defends Iran's 1980s political executions that killed thousands https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2017/06/06/Khamenei-defends-1980s-executions-that-killed-thousands-of-politicians- 28 April 2021 Al Arabiya English 6 June 2017 en The Iranian government has accused people investigating the executions of "disclosing state secrets" and "threatening national security".December 2024 According to Amnesty International, the Iranian government has engaged in an ongoing campaign to demonize victims; distort facts; and silence survivors, family members of victims, and human rights defenders.8 Public knowledge about the executions and widespread condemnation have "compelled the Islamic Republic to engage in a damage-containment propaganda exercise". Officials involved in the killings were subsequently given promotions.254, 260Barlow Rebecca 2018 Human Rights and Agents of Change in Iran: Towards a Theory of Change (Studies in Iranian Politics) Palgrave Macmillan 100–101 978-0-19-533402-9 https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC&dq=iran+1988+massacre+%22perpetrators%22&pg=RA2-PA203 Other criticisms Abrahamian, in Tortured Confessions, criticized the executions by pointing out that most of the prisoners killed had only committed minor offenses, as those guilty of major crimes had already been put to death. He also compared the executions to the "disappearances" of prisoners in 20th-century Latin America.216–217 Robertson urged the UN Security Council to create a special court to judge those responsible, similar to courts set up for crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He also called the executions "one of the worst single human rights atrocities since the Second World War". Furthermore, according to human rights activist Manouchehr Ganji, the Islamic Revolutionary Courts were criticized by various human rights organizations for conducting "secret summary trials" that ignored basic human rights and proper legal procedures.Ganji Manouchehr 2003 Defying the Iranian Revolution: From a Minister to the Shah to a Leader of Resistance Praeger 81 9780275971878 https://books.google.com/books?id=NboVl-CeYs0C&q=1988&pg=PA104 Motivation thumb|Campaigners for justice for the executed, London, 2018 Scholars debate why the prisoners were executed. Sociologist Ali Akbar Mahdi believes that prison overcrowding, combined with Operation Mersad, "had much to do" with the killings.Tortured Confessions: Prison and Public Recantations in Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian, Review by Ali Akbar Mahdi Mahdi Ali Akbar International Journal of Middle East Studies 2000 32 417 10.1017/S0020743800002567 162676627 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231808237 1 February 2021 Abrahamian attributes the executions to the "regime's internal dynamics". In his view, the executions acted as "a glue" to hold "together his disparate followers" and as a way to "purge" moderates like Montazeri and prevent any future "détente with the West" from destroying his legacy.219 He also claims that they prevented any future cooperation between Khomeinist populists and leftist groups and that Khomeini was concerned that "some of his followers had toyed with the dangerous notion of working with the Tudeh Party to incorporate more radical clauses into the Labor Law as well as into the Land Reform Law".December 2024182 Notes See also Iran Politics Law Khavaran cemetery Mothers of Khavaran Freedom of speech in Iran History of the Islamic Republic of Iran Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Chain murders of Iran StopExecutionsinIran Trial of Hamid Nouri Iranian Green Movement 2009 Iranian presidential election protests 2017–2018 Iranian protests 2021–2022 Iranian protests Mahsa Amini protests Political repression in the Islamic Republic of Iran Politics of Iran References https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/12/iran-top-government-officials-distorted-the-truth-about-1988-prison-massacres/ Iran: Top government officials distorted the truth about 1988 prison massacres 12 December 2018 live https://web.archive.org/web/20181212191043/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/12/iran-top-government-officials-distorted-the-truth-about-1988-prison-massacres/ 12 December 2018 14 December 2018 Further reading Afshari Reza. Human Rights in Iran. The Abuse of Cultural Relativism. 2001. 0-8122-3605-X Shahrooz, Kaveh With Revolutionary Rage and Rancor: A Preliminary Report on the 1988 Massacre of Iran's Political Pr Human Rights Journal, Volume 20 Final Report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, pursuant to Commission resolution 1992/67 of 4 March 1992. Document number E/CN.4/1993/41 Cooper, Roger. Death Plus Ten Years (Paperback). Harpercollins; New Ed edition (May 1995) 0-00-638103-0 Rejali, Darius. Torture and Modernity: Self, society and state in modern Iran. Westview Press 1994. 0-691-11422-6 External links "With Revolutionary Rage and Rancor: A Preliminary Report on the 1988 Massacre of Iran's Political Prisoners". Harvard Human Rights Journal, Volume 20 The Secret Fatwa: The untold story of the 1988 massacre in Iran (documentary film) Marked for death Some of Assassinations 1979–96 Hossein Mokhtar's Testimony The 16th Anniversary of the Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran It must not happen again! https://web.archive.org/web/20070514002149/http://www.siahkal.com/statements/english-statements/1988%20Massacre.htm 14 May 2007 September 2003 Watching the watcher by Ramin Ahmadi https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202203/http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2002/January/Watch/index.html 3 March 2016 (Iranian.com) Admit it Association of Iranian Political Prisoners (in exile) has a home page in English, Swedish and Persian at کانون زندانیان سیاسی ایران - در تبعید . Under the title "Documents" there are many references to the 1988 massacre. Photo Gallery: Court Hearing in The Hague for 1980s Massacre in Persia (Persian Dutch Network, Oct. 2012) Ex-Khamenei advisor confirms 33,000 executed during 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, May 2014) پورمحمدی درباره اعدام‌های ۶۷: افتخار می‌کنیم حکم خدا را اجرا کردیم Category:Fatwas Category:Islamic courts and tribunals Category:History of the Islamic Republic of Iran Category:20th-century mass murders in Iran Category:Massacres in 1988 Executions Category:Massacres committed by Iran Category:Massacres in Iran Category:Political repression in Iran Category:People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran Category:War crimes in the Iran–Iraq War Category:Political imprisonment in Iran Category:Police brutality in Iran Category:Crime in Iran Category:Persecution of intellectuals Category:Extrajudicial killings in Iran Category:Anti-communism in Iran Category:Opposition to left-wing politics Category:Politicides Category:Far-right politics in Iran Category:Executed Iranian people by the Islamic Republic of Iran Category:Persecution of atheists Category:Sectarian violence Category:Genocides in Asia Category:Human rights abuses in Iran Category:Massacres of protesters in Asia Category:Crimes against humanity