Maryam Rajavi’s statement on Montazeri’s tape recording about Iran’s 1988 massacre

Maryam Rajavi; Mr. Montazeri’s Tape a Testament to Mojahedin’s steadfastness and to Regime Leaders’ Responsibility for Crimes Against Humanity

Maryam Rajavi : Tape recording of Mr. Montazeri’s Meeting with Those Responsible for Mass Executions of Political Prisoners is a Testament to Mojahedin’s Refusal to Surrender and to Regime Leaders’ Responsibility for Crimes Against Humanity
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described the audio recording of a meeting between Mr. Montazeri, then successor to Khomeini, and those responsible for the mass executions of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 as a historical document.
She said the recording attested in the strongest possible manner both to the Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK) political prisoners’ rejection of surrender and to their admirable allegiance to, and perseverance in, their commitment to the Iranian people. The recording is also irrefutable evidence that leaders of the mullahs’ regime are responsible for crimes against humanity and the unprecedented genocide, Mrs. Rajavi said.
Khamenei, whose name is mentioned in the remarks made by the members of the “death commission” in this very meeting, openly declared his support for the mass executions that same year, and in the 28 years since has maintained close ties with the murderous officials who carried them out. He is a mastermind of these atrocities, and must be made to answer to the Iranian people and put on trial, she said.
She said: Mr. Montazeri, himself a founder and ideologue of the principle of velayat-e-faqih (absolute rule of the clergy), emphasizes in the recording, “The Iranian people are repulsed by the velayat-e-faqih” and “later will say that Agha (referring to Khomeini) was bloodthirsty and brutal figure.” His statements attest to the illegitimacy of the ruling regime from the 1980s, to the people’s repugnance towards the velayat-e-faqih, and to the righteousness of the resistance to overthrow that regime.
Mrs. Rajavi said: Montazeri’s remarks addressed to the four members of the ‘death commission’ that this massacre was “the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic,” and the four officials’ acknowledgement that they were in the process of massacring the Mojahedin political prisoners and planning how to continue this atrocity, leave no room for doubt that the actions of these four men and many other leaders of the regime involved in these atrocities are, by any measure or definition, a crime against humanity.
She added: The international community, therefore, is obligated to bring them to justice. In particular because these four individuals and the others who carried out the massacre of political prisoners referred to in this meeting have, from the beginning of this regime to the present day, held posts at the highest levels of the judicial, political and intelligence apparatuses. At present, Mostafa Pourmohammadi is Hassan Rouhani ’s Minister of Justice. Hossein-Ali Nayyeri is the current head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges. And Ebrahim Raeesi is among the regime’s most senior clerics and the head of the Astan Qods-e Razavi foundation (a multi-billion dollar religious, political and economic conglomerate and one of the most important political and economic powerhouses in the clerical regime).
Mrs. Rajavi said: Montazeri’s affirmation that the Intelligence Ministry had for some time been investing in the mass executions and that Ahmad Khomeini (Khomeini’s son) had “been saying for three or four years, ‘The Mojahedin, even the ones who read their newspaper, to the ones who read their magazine, to the ones who read their statements – all of them must be executed’” are further evidence of the reality that the mass executions of 1988 were a premeditated crime against humanity. This rules out absurd assertions by the ruling regime and its toadies, who have tried to relate the executions to the Mojahedin’s Eternal Light military operation and thus blame the organization for this odious crime, she stressed.
The discussion with the members of the death commission took place on August 15, 1988, less than three weeks after the executions had begun. It reaffirms the horrifically high number of execution victims and refutes all of the regime’s deceptive ploys to downplay the extent of this crime. Montazeri in one instance says, “In the (cities’) prisons, they have done everything imaginable… and in Ahwaz it was really horrendous.”
Mrs. Rajavi emphasized: Montazeri’s statements, such as his description of the execution of a 15-year-old girl and of a pregnant woman in Isfahan, as well as the statements by the executioners in the meeting reveal the extent of the ruling regime’s ruthlessness and vengeance against the Mojahedin women and their glorious resistance. Addressing these murderers, Montazeri says, “I reminded Khomeini that according to the decrees of most religious scholars, a woman, even if she is a mohareb (enemy of God) must not be executed. But he did not agree, and said that women, too, must be executed.”
In the audio recording, one of the members of the death commission reveals: “As for the girls, God is my witness as far as we could, we tried to bargain with them. I have very strong nerves, but day before yesterday when I saw only one of them ……. I was really devastated. I started pleading with her to just write a couple of lines and we would send her back to the prison.”
Mrs. Rajavi saluted all the victims of the 1988 massacre, particularly the women and girls who frustrated the regime with their heroic resistance. She said: They paid the price of standing loyal to the cause of freedom and equality. And there is no doubt that tomorrow's free Iran will indeed blossom from their glorious sacrifice. This is a future which will be unquestionably realized.
She also hailed members and supporters of the Iranian Resistance and all freedom-loving Iranians who have participated for several weeks in worldwide campaigns to honor the 28th anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in Iran and to spread the message of those gallant freedom fighters both in Iran and abroad.
Mrs. Rajavi called on all Iranians, especially Iranian youths, to demand justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre. This, she said, is a nationalist and patriotic duty and part of the Iranian people's struggle for regime change in Iran and to restore the Iranian people's right to political determination, a right that the clerical regime attempted to fiercely destroy with the 1988 massacre.
She added: Khamenei and his regime have concealed all the information and details of this crime. They must be compelled to publicly announce the complete list of names of those massacred and the locations of their graves and mass graves, one by one.
Mrs. Rajavi emphasized: As far as the Iranian people are concerned, they will never give up on their demand for the prosecution of each and every one of the regime's leaders involved in this massacre, no matter how many years it takes. The United Nations and the UN Security Council must make the necessary political and legal arrangements for the international prosecution of the regime's leaders for this crime against humanity.

Iranian Sunni cleric says executions may inflame regional tensions

Execution of Sunni prisoners in Iran

A leading Iranian Sunni Muslim said the execution of Sunni Islamists last week could inflame sectarian tensions in the Gulf region.
Iran executed more than 30 Sunni prisoners in groups and mass executions. There were no public trials and rights groups said the convictions may have been based on forced confessions.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said on Friday that 'overly broad and vague criminal charges' had led to 'a grave injustice'.
Molavi Abdolhamid, a leading Sunni cleric in Iran said the executions lacked 'forethought and tolerance' at a time when Iran and the whole region were suffering from extremism.
'Our main complaint is that the sensitive situation in our region has not been considered in these executions,' Abdolhamid, who is regarded as a spiritual leader for Iran's Sunni minority, said on his website.
Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world. Amnesty International says at least 977 people were put to death there in 2015, compared to 320 in Pakistan and at least 158 in Saudi Arabia.

Iran: Many families are tonight mourning the brutal and vicious mass execution of their loved ones

Following the mass execution of about two dozen Sunni prisoners in the notorious Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, by the anti-human mullahs' regime, families of these victims are mourning tonight.
The families were informed to go to the prison before 15.00 (local time) Tuesday to visit their loved ones for a last time.
One of the families who were on route to the prison to say farewell for the last time to their young son said they received a call from prison authorities in the middle of the road telling them to go and pick up the body of their loved one from the morgue victim instead of visiting their son.
Another report from the family of a victim said the families were told to visit their loved ones for a final time in the prison before 15.00. But when the family arrived at the prison, they were told to go instead to the coroner's office to collect the body of their loved one who had already been executed.
List of names of 28 Sunni prisoners who had been forcibly moved out of Hall 10 of Ward 4 in Gohardasht Prison on Monday afternoon, August 1, 2016 are as follows:
1. Kaveh Veysi
2. Taleb Molki
3. Behrouz Shah-Nazari
4. Barzan Nosratollah-Zadeh
5. Farzad Shah-Nazari
6. Varya Qaderi-Fard
7. Keyvan Momeni-Fard
8. Alam Bamashti
9. Seyyed Jamal Seyyed-Moussavi
10. Edris Ne'mati
11. Ahmad Nasiri
12. Mokhtar Rahimi
13. Yavar Rahimi
14. Pourya Mohammadi
15. Farzad Honarjou
16. Shahram Ahmadi
17. Farshid Nasseri
18. Amjad Salehi
19. Omid Peyvand
20. Arash Sharifi
21. Kaveh Sharifi
22. Shahu Ebrahimi
23. Abdollah Sharifi
24. Jamal Qaderi
25. Omid Mahmoudi
26. Mohammad Gharibi
27. Fouad Yousefi
28. Keyvan Karimi

Then NCRI had already called on International organizations to do their utmost to prevent this heinous mass executions. In a statement issued on August 1st, the NCRI had said
The Iranian Resistance makes a call to save the lives of a large number of Sunni prisoners on death row, requesting urgent intervention by the United Nations Security Council and Member States, and international human rights organizations, especially the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Rapporteur to prevent the implementation of these criminal and inhumane rulings.
A large number of special Revolutionary Guards forces raided hall 10 of ward 4 in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj (west of Tehran) in the afternoon of Monday, August 1. These repressive forces apprehended dozens of Sunni prisoners as their hands and feet were chained, mouths shut with tape and heads covered with plastic bags. These prisoners were transferred outside of the ward to an undisclosed location.
Hours prior to this transfer the regime’s forces and IRGC members had closed all wards and open-air areas, imposing special conditions in the jail. Gohardasht Prison is under the complete IRGC control.
Appeasement vis-à-vis the criminal rulers of Iran, with the execution of 120,000 political prisoners in their report card, and sending more youths to the gallows with each passing day, is nothing but collaborating and encouraging the continuation of these crimes. All political and economic relations with this regime must be conditioned to the complete halt of all executions in Iran, and this regime’s officials must be placed before justice for their crimes against humanity.

 

The Iranian regime will blind 5 prisoners with acid

These eyes will be blinded  by the Iranian regime

The horrible law of retribution, or as it is called by the mullahs’ regime in Iran as Qisas, which is based on the old saying of “an eye for an eye”, the Iranian regime is to blind at least five prisoners in Iran’s notorious Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, northwest of the capital Tehran. This barbaric punishment also includes to deafen the prisoners as well.
According to reports from inside the prison, some 40 kilometers from the Iranian capital Tehran, the Iranian regime’s judiciary is pushing for the sentences to be implemented quickly; however prison doctors have thus far refused to carry out the draconian procedures.
Mojtaba Saheli (Yasaveli), 31, who was previously blinded in his left eye by the regime, was recently informed by prison officials that he is to be blinded in the right eye with acid.
On March 3, 2015 he was blinded in one eye with acid in Gohardasht Prison in the presence of the regime’s deputy prosecutor in Tehran Mohammad Shahriari and prison officials after the draconian sentence was upheld by the regime’s Supreme Court.
On August 3, 2009 he allegedly blinded a driver in Qom, south of Tehran, with acid. The regime’s court in Qom sentenced Mr. Saheli to be blinded in both eyes with acid, pay blood money and serve a 10-year prison term as part of the regime’s inhumane law of retribution.
Mr. Saheli is currently imprisoned in Ward 2 of Hall 4 of Gohardasht Prison. He had been told to pay blood money to avoid the new blinding sentence from being implemented on his right eye.
According to one report, Mr. Saheli recently inquired from the prison’s office of implementations about his sentence and was informed that the implementation order for his sentence had been received, but until now no physician had been willing to break their doctor’s oath to carry out the sentence.
He was furthermore informed that the regime’s judiciary is pressing for the sentence to be carried out and that at any moment one of the doctors may decide to set aside their oath and carry out the blinding sentence.
Five prisoners are currently awaiting to be administered acid on to their eyes and ears. They are:
• Mojtaba Saheli (Yasaveli), 31, whose left eye has already been blinded, and who is awaiting implementation of a sentence to be blinded in the right eye.
• Fatollah Khojasteh, sentenced to be blinded in one eye and made deaf in one ear with acid.
• An unnamed prisoner, sentenced to be blinded in both eyes with acid.
• An unnamed prisoner, sentenced to be blinded in one eye and made deaf in one ear with acid.
• An unnamed prisoner, sentenced to be blinded in one eye with acid.
Dr. Sanabargh Zahedi, chairman of the Judicial Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ), earlier this month said: “The inhumane law of retribution (qisas) has been implemented against the Iranian people for the past 37 years. These punishments date back to the medieval ages and show the clerical regime’s reactionary nature. These inhuman punishments are clear violations of all principles and norms of a modern judiciary, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and all civil and political covenants. Such punishments undoubtedly constitute a savage form of torture and should be condemned by any freedom-seeking person. The Iranian Resistance and NCRI members have since 1980 condemned the regime’s qisas law as anti-human.”“According to the logic of the Quran and modern democratic Islam the first principle which applies to the penal code is dynamism. Thus the Islamic penal provision should be interpreted within the context of social and economic conditions and scientific progress. The clerical regime is centuries away from this logic, and as such it is clear that there is no possibility of reform within this regime,” he added.
Amnesty International in a statement on March 5, 2015 condemned the Iranian regime for blinding Mr. Saheli in his left eye two days earlier.
“Punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is an unspeakably cruel and shocking act,' said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran Researcher.
'This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran’s justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity. Meting out cruel and inhuman retribution punishments is not justice. Blinding, like stoning, amputation and flogging, is a form of corporal punishment prohibited by international law. Such punishments should not be carried out under any circumstances.”

Prominent Iran political prisoner defies subjugation to mullahs’ regime

Pol. Prisoner Saleh Kohandel in Gohardasht prison

A prominent Iranian political prisoner has publicly defied bowing to the Iranian regime’s brutality by written an open letter from inside his prison cell.
Saleh Kohandel, a supporter of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) has written to his relatives announcing that he will refuse to have family visits due to the subjugation that he is forced to endure at the hands of the mullahs’ regime every time such visits are turned up.
Mr. Kohandel, who was arrested on March 4, 2007 over his ties to the PMOI (MEK), is currently behind bars in the notorious Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran.
The following is the text of his letter which has been smuggled out of prison:
Family visits at what price?
At a time when the rotten and decaying regime of velayat-e faqih (absolute clerical rule) is in its final chapter and each day there are new reports in state media of vast theft and embezzlement by various high-ranking and ordinary members of the regime, and as officials are overtaking each other in such theft and plundering of the nation, on Wednesday May 4 they summoned me for a visit from my family. Although it has been six years since I was allowed to have direct interaction with my relatives during their visits, and this latest visit was from behind the glass partition, I was searched four times between our Ward and the Visitors’ Hall. In order to degrade me, the wardens attempted to strip me in front of the other prisoners. This dirty action was despite the fact that the wardens know full well that in the 10 years that I am in prison I have not violated any of the prison regulations including those which stem from their reactionary nature. My only crime, in their view, are my political activities, and for this reason I have on many occasions been transferred to the Ward run by the Intelligence Ministry and spent months under torture in solitary confinement. Therefore in order to partly allay the insults that my relatives and I are being subjected to, I have decided not to attend any further visits. I urge all my relatives not to come to visit me from this day onward. I apologize to my family in advance because I can no longer tolerate the insults and humiliation that I am subjected to.
Saleh Kohandel
Gohardasht Prison

IRAN: Execution of 5 prisoners in Gohardasht Prison

The anti-human clerical regime ruling Iran has sent five more prisoners to the gallows again. Among the five is Alireza Shahi whose death sentence was condemned by Amnesty International. The execution took place in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj last Tuesday. 
Five men were part of a group of at least ten prisoners that their execution had been scheduled for 24 November.
The five victims, Said Najafi, Farshad Haqi, Mohammad Baygi, Mohammad Polombeh and Alireza Shahi had been transferred to isolation on Saturday.
There has been no public announcement of these executions by prison officials.
Amnesty International said on Monday that Alireza Shahi did not have a fair trial and “after his arrest he was placed in detention for two weeks where he says he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated to confess. He was also denied access to both a lawyer and his family.”
“It is always cruel and inhumane to take away an individual’s life by hanging but the cruelty is compounded when the execution follows an unfair trial which has relied on coerced confessions, and ignored allegations of torture and other ill-treatment,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.
“The rate of executions in Iran is deplorable which, if they continue at the current rate, could reach more than 1,000 this year. In case after case we hear allegations of torture, fundamentally flawed trials, all in breach of international law and standards,” Amnesty International said.

agreement with mullahs means more executions

   agreement with  mullahs means more executions

The following is an article written by Karim Moradi, an Iranian human rights activist and member of the Society of Iranian Political Prisoners. His article was published in The Hill.
I am often asked by my American friends what I think about the Iran deal. As someone who spent seven years of his life imprisoned in Iran, it is difficult for me to give a simple answer. I have spent the past few weeks reflecting not on the nuclear deal with Iran, but on the summer of 1988, when Iran systematically massacred 30,000 political prisoners in a matter of weeks. 
I was born in 1958 in the beautiful city of Shiraz in southwestern Iran. I was a student activist against the Shah’s dictatorship but after the 1979 uprising, I felt that my values stood in sharp contrast to the clerics, who had usurped the popular revolution. I felt closer to the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, (PMOI/MEK) an opposition organization that espoused a democratic interpretation of Islam and stood for a secular and democratic republic. 
I was arrested by the clerical regime for selling opposition newspapers in January 1982. I was 23 years old when after a sham trial I was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison. I was then tortured and later sentenced to death by a judge named Ramazani. 
While in prison, I was whipped with cables on my feet and back, and was routinely beaten. My cellmates, all political prisoners, were hung from the ceiling, sometimes for hours, or had parts of their bodies gradually burnt. I also heard about women, including two sisters of a family friend, who were raped before they were executed. 
Although our days were filled with isolation and torture, we would often find time at night to whisper poems and revolutionary songs together, both to stimulate our spirits and for momentary escape. Through these small acts of defiance, we were able to strengthen our resistance and maintain high spirits in what was living hell.  
I was released through a rare stroke of luck, two months before what would be the largest massacre of political prisoners in the history of Iran. My father was able to use a judicial contact in Supreme Judicial Council to overturn my death sentence and secure my release on medical grounds.  
The order for the massacre came from Khomeini directly in the form of a fatwa (religious decree), calling for the execution of all who remained steadfast in their support for the MEK. Prisoners were asked a simple question: do you still support the MEK? Those who answered yes were executed, even if their original sentence had ended. Many of my closest friends were executed. 
The vast majority of the victims were MEK members and supporters. They were hung in groups, sometimes 10 to 15 at a time, and later buried in mass graves. The scale of the massacre remains unknown, as no formal investigation has taken place, but opposition groups estimate as many as 30,000 were killed that summer.  read more