UN Special Rapporteur Calls for Investigation into Raisi's Role in 1967 Massacre

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran called for an independent investigation into the execution of thousands of political prisoners ordered by the Islamic Republic authorities in 1988 and the role of Ebrahim Raisi in this mass killing.

On Monday, July 27, in an interview with Reuters, Javed Rehman said that over the past years, his office has collected testimonies from various individuals and evidence in this regard, and if the UN Human Rights Council or other institutions are ready to launch an impartial investigation into this matter, he is ready to provide this evidence to them.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights also said that he was concerned about reports of the Islamic Republic destroying mass graves of these prisoners.

Ebrahim Raisi, the president-elect of Iran in the recent elections, is one of the main suspects in this massacre and a member of a committee known as the Death Committee in connection with the executions of 1988.

At the time, Ebrahim Raisi was the deputy prosecutor of Tehran and a member of the board tasked with making decisions about the execution of prisoners.

Amnesty International put the number of prisoners executed that year at around 5,000, and said in a 2018 report that "the actual number could be higher."

Ebrahim Raisi is under US sanctions due to his background, and the US and human rights activists say he is one of four prosecutors involved in the 1967 murders.

"I think the time has come, and now that Mr. Raisi is the president-elect, it is very important to begin an investigation into what happened in 1988 and the role of individuals in it," Javed Rehman said in an interview with Reuters on Monday about the investigation into Ebrahim Raisi's case.

He said that "this investigation would be in Iran's interest and could bring an end to a chapter of pain and suffering for the families of the victims," ​​adding, "Otherwise, there will be serious concerns about this president and the role he has reportedly historically played in these executions."

In his first press conference as Iran's elected president, Ebrahim Raisi defended those executions, saying that as a judge he should be "appreciated" and "encouraged" in this regard.

He also claimed that from the beginning of his judicial responsibility, human rights have been the "most central" issue that he has always had in mind.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, numerous articles have addressed his background, and some organizations and groups are calling for his case to be investigated for human rights violations at the international level.

The mass killing of prisoners in 1988 was carried out on the orders of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a Shiite religious authority, described those executions as "the greatest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic."

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran continued his interview on Monday, saying: “The scale of the executions we are hearing suggests that this was part of a policy that was being pursued … and it was not the work of just one person.”

The November 2019 Massacres

In another part of his interview, Javed Rahman also referred to the killing of protesters during the November 2019 protests in Iran, saying that "no proper investigation" had been conducted into the killings, which were the bloodiest political unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

He said: "Even with a conservative estimate, it can be said that more than 300 people were arbitrarily and extrajudicially killed, and no one was held accountable and no compensation was paid."

Mr. Rahman added that in Iran, “both in the past and in the present, there is widespread and systematic impunity for gross human rights violators.”

Source: Radio Farda