“Iran Destroying Evidence of 1980s Executions”

Amnesty International and Justice for Iran have accused the Iranian government of intentionally destroying mass graves of executed prisoners from the 1980s. These two organizations say Iran is making independent investigation into the events of summer 1988 impossible.

Thirty years have passed since the mass massacre of political prisoners in Islamic Republic prisons. Two human rights organizations, “Amnesty International” and “Justice for Iran,” issued a statement on Monday morning (April 30/Ordibehesht 10) strongly criticizing the destruction of mass graves of “summer 1988 massacre” victims.

These two human rights organizations say the Iranian government destroyed the burial sites of thousands of executed prisoners from the 1980s between 2003 and 2017 through road construction, establishment of new cemeteries, and launching of waste collection sites.

Amnesty International and Justice for Iran estimate the number of victims of the summer 1988 executions at approximately five thousand people and emphasize that by intentionally destroying the mass graves of executed prisoners, the possibility of investigating this crime and holding those responsible accountable before courts is eliminated.

Execution of Prisoners by Khomeini’s Order

The execution of political prisoners in 1988 was carried out under the direct order of the Islamic Republic’s leader at the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Dieter Karg, an Iran expert at Amnesty International’s Germany branch, says the Iranian government has not allowed any independent investigation into the massacre of political prisoners over the past three decades.

Dieter Karg from Amnesty International told the French news agency: “The elimination of mass graves that Amnesty International has documented as destroyed has forever eliminated the possibility of conducting a comprehensive investigation and disclosure about this crime.”

Amnesty International and Justice for Iran have called on Islamic Republic officials to stop the continued destruction of political prisoners’ burial sites and allow independent investigations into unlawful executions so that those responsible for this crime can finally face court.

Over the past three decades, almost no senior Islamic Republic official has formally acknowledged the mass execution of political prisoners in summer 1988.

Montazeri’s Protest, Dismissal and House Arrest

Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri is the only senior government official who has explicitly spoken about this incident. In his memoir published in 2000, he criticized this massacre and revealed Khomeini’s direct role in it.

Protest against the execution of prisoners who were serving their sentences is considered one of the main reasons for Montazeri’s dismissal from his position as deputy leader of the Islamic Republic. He spent many years under house arrest.

In a conversation with a four-member team responsible for issuing execution orders for prisoners, Ayatollah Montazeri called this action the “greatest crime” in the Islamic Republic. An audio file of this conversation was widely circulated on the internet recently.

There are different figures regarding the number of victims of executions in the 1980s. Ayatollah Montazeri stated the number of victims to be between 2,800 and 3,800 people, Amnesty International estimates around five thousand, and Iranian human rights activists have reported this figure to be as high as 30,000 victims.

One of the members of the “death committee” of the 1988 executions is Ebrahim Raisi, who was appointed to the custodianship of Astan Quds Razavi by the current leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, two years ago. He was one of the candidates in the twelfth presidential election competition and suffered a heavy defeat against Hassan Rouhani.