Detailed report of the meeting "Memorial to Political Prisoners Executed in the 1960s in Iran"

On Wednesday, September 1, the Iranian Diaspora Network (Shad) held an online commemoration of political prisoners executed in Iran in the 1960s through the Clubhouse network, with the participation of a group of human rights activists, former political prisoners, and families of the victims of these executions.

Narges Mohammadi, Shirin Ebadi, Kaveh Shahroz, Nina Tobaei, Amir Khadir, Reza Moridi, Ladan Bazargan, and Majid Jamshidit were among the participants in this virtual meeting.

In 2013, the Canadian Parliament unanimously recognized the executions of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 as a "crime against humanity" and designated September 1 as "Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Iran."

 

• Shirin Ebadi: The government's claim that the executions of 1967 were carried out after Forough Javidan is completely wrong

Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former lawyer for the judiciary in Iran, said about the executions of 1967: "The government always says that we were at war with a foreign enemy and the Mojahedin Organization had declared armed conflict. They organized the attack on Mersad or Forough Javidan. In a state of war, these were prisoners. The Swedish court has also considered this a war crime. Whatever quality we can provide for these criminals, it is good."

Ms. Ebadi stated that her husband's brother, Fawad Tavaslian, was arrested at the age of 17 while still a student for reading the Mujahid newspaper and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She said, "All visits were stopped two or three months before the Forough Javidan incident... The claim that this massacre took place after the Mersad incident is completely wrong."

Shirin Ebadi, stating that people associated with or members of socialist groups were buried en masse in Khavaran without ceremony, said: "With all my pain, I must say that Tehran does not have Khavaran. It is in other cities as well. We should not focus only on Tehran, there are cemeteries in other cities that are related to these people. The story of the 1967 massacre must be told face to face so that future generations do not forget it, lest it be repeated."

 

• Narges Mohammadi: Full disclosure of the truth is necessary to realize the cause of justice

Narges Mohammadi, vice president and spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders, recalled personal accounts of the execution and torture of her relatives, saying that in addition to addressing execution, torture, and imprisonment, which are very necessary for Iranian history, it is also very necessary to examine the effects and consequences that they had on society and families. According to Ms. Mohammadi, “These events do not only affect the victim, but the families also suffer a lot.”

This human rights defender considered documenting the narratives and statements of "survivors of these crimes" to be very important and necessary for the cause of justice, and said: "Full disclosure of the truth is necessary for the cause of justice to be realized."

Referring to the hacked footage from Evin's security cameras, "which, according to human rights activists, is the tip of the iceberg in the ocean of crimes committed by the Islamic Republic," he said that even when "the hacked camera shows a small part of reality, some people are skeptical and say, 'Is it possible for something like this to happen?'"

Ms. Mohammadi also emphasized that some of the executed were under the age of 18, "according to the testimony of many prisoners," and added: "We must first examine whether the executed were able to defend themselves? What trials did they go through? Were they involved in the armed incident?"

According to Ms. Mohammadi, "Justice will be achieved by revealing the truth and keeping it alive from generation to generation so that human society can leave this violence behind and achieve a world free of violence and peace."

 

• Mohammad Tajdoulati: The characteristic of a crisis-ridden society is that it does not allow people to remember events.

Mohammad Tajdoulati, one of the organizers of the meeting, stated that the Islamic Republic has imposed many events on the people in these four decades, and "one of the saddest of them is the massacre of the 1960s," adding that one of the characteristics of a crisis-ridden society is that it does not allow people to remember events and have them recorded in history.

He emphasized that trying to hold accountable a political system that "was the cause and the mastermind of those tragedies" is a civic responsibility so that future generations do not witness such tragedies.

Mr. Taj Dolati, emphasizing that "one of the main factors in the summer of 2018 massacre and a member of the death squad is sitting in the chair of the Iranian presidency," referred to the trial of Hamid Nouri in Sweden and called for "recording these tragedies" and linking it to the major movement of legal action.

 

• Kaveh Shahroz: Human rights activists should constantly talk about the connection between the executions of 1967 and the events of later years

Kaveh Shahroz, a human rights activist and member of the Macdonald Laurier Institute, said at the meeting, referring to his role in the Canadian Parliament's recognition of September 1 as a memorial for the 1967 massacre and crimes against humanity in Iran in 2013, that at the time, many political and human rights activists did not support this move and "thought it was a symbolic decision."

He emphasized that the duty of human rights activists, regardless of their ideological orientation, anywhere in the world is to work with governments and convince them that human rights are a primary issue for them, and "today, when Ebrahim Raisi, a member of the Death Committee, is president, the existence of this opportunity allows us in Canada and around the world to demand answers from politicians."

According to Mr. Shahrooz, "The 1967 massacre is only part of the crimes of the Islamic Republic and it continues, and it is wrong to consider it separate from the rest of the crimes. The duty of human rights activists is to constantly talk about the connection between the 1967 massacre and the University Alley, to 2009 and November 2019."

 

• Amir Khadir: The 1967 Massacre Memorial is a ground for limiting the Islamic Republic's ability to normalize its relations

Amir Khadir, former spokesperson for the Quebec Solidarity Party and former member of the Quebec parliament, considered the designation of this day as a memorial for crimes against humanity as a means to limit the Islamic Republic of Iran's ability to normalize relations "at a time when human rights violations were continuing in this country."

Referring to the trial of Hamid Nouri in Sweden, he called it the result of civil society activities to "prosecute his role in the death commission and expose the role of other government officials, including Raisi and Khamenei."

Mr. Khadir said, "We can count on international action to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable for these past crimes when civil society can organize itself and advance these cases."

 

• Majid Jamshidit: The President of Iran is a "serial killer of thousands of people"

Majid Jamshidit, a former political prisoner in the 1960s, said that “the greatest pain of our country is forgetfulness,” adding: “Today, the president of that country is a serial killer of thousands of people.”

He broadcast a portion of the speech of Asadollah Lajevardi, the former head of Evin Prison and Tehran's revolutionary prosecutor in the 1960s, and his public admission of hasty executions and his statements that an individual was executed on the same day of arrest, which he considered the greatest evidence of the crime.

He called Hamid Nouri "just one of the young men of that massacre" and, emphasizing the "continuation of the crimes of the Islamic Republic," said: "The system is the same, only its methods have changed. And only forgetfulness has caused this repetition."

Referring to the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, Mr. Jamshidit said, "His momentary decision in the death chamber" determined who would stay and who would go, and now the "murderer of tens of thousands" is sitting in the presidency today and the world is watching.

 

• Ladan Bazargan: We still stand by our demand for legal action

Ladan Bazargan, a human rights activist and family member of the victims of the 1960s, mentioned his brother Bijan Bazargan and said: "First they executed the MEK prisoners, and then they executed the leftists from 5 to 8 September, and we found out at the end of December."

Referring to a letter written to the then Minister of Justice in January 2018, the former political prisoner said that the letter stated that the executions "were against international law" and that "all of those executed had prison sentences and had not committed any new crimes."

Ms. Bazargan stated that the letter "called for an investigation by international authorities" and the trial of "the perpetrators and commanders of the crimes," and emphasized that "we still stand by our demands."

The human rights activist also mentioned details from Hamid Nouri's trial in Stockholm, Sweden, and referred to Nouri's defense lawyer's words regarding the lack of evidence, saying: "They kept it a secret for 30 years and didn't give us the bodies of our loved ones, and now they are demanding evidence in court."

 

• Nina Tobaei: Execution survivors live in anxiety, fear, and sadness as long as they live.

Nina Tobaei, a political activist and family member of the victims of the 1960s, recounted a personal account of the execution of three young members of her family from 1960 to 1968, saying: "The family has been living in anxiety, fear, horror, and sadness since the day their beloved child was arrested, and they have to live with these bad memories for as long as they live. Some say they should forget, but they really can't."

According to Ms. Tobaei, “the massacre of 67 prisoners began with a simple fatwa from Khomeini in all prisons in the country.” She said that the massacre took place in complete silence and that “our loved ones had no rights, no will, no lawyer, no family visits, and not even a tombstone.”

 

• Reza Moridi: "Ayatollah Killer" is sitting on the presidency

Reza Moridi, former Minister of Science and Technology of the Canadian province of Ontario, was another speaker at the meeting. He considered the naming of the “Day of Solidarity with Iranian Political Prisoners and the Massacres of the 1960s in Iran” to be “a very important move,” and by calling Ebrahim Raisi a “murderous Ayatollah,” he said that he “sits in the presidency today as one of the founders of this crime.”

Mr. Maridi said that it could be very effective if the parliaments of other countries also recognized the 1967 executions as "crimes against humanity."

 

• Behnam Darabizadeh: The Islamic Republic's claim that Mujahideen prisoners intend to revolt is "fiction"

Behnam Darabizadeh, a lawyer and human rights activist who was one of the organizers of the meeting, said that in its narrative of the mass execution of political prisoners, the Islamic Republic has attempted to link the massacre to the Mojahedin's Operation Forough Javidan, while the leftist and Marxist prisoners had "basically no organizational affiliation with the Mojahedin" and were "buried in nameless cemeteries."

Mr. Darabizadeh emphasized that there is no evidence to support the claim that the Mujahideen prisoners intended to revolt, and that this is a story that "you also see in the propaganda section of the Islamic Republic and in cinema."

Mr. Darabizadeh expressed hope that "we will achieve truth-finding and that the perpetrators of the massacre will appear before the court and accept responsibility."

 

• Zarrin Mohiuddin: Khomeini's speech at Behesht Zahra was a message to turn Iran into a "basic cemetery"

Zarrin Mohiuddin, one of the other organizers of the memorial, said that "the 1967 massacre was one of the worst crimes of the Islamic Republic," which claimed the lives of several thousand people in a short period of time.

Recalling Ayatollah Khomeini's speech at Behesht Zahra upon his arrival in Iran, he said that "certainly" this was "a message" that he wanted to turn Iran "into a basic cemetery," as he began the executions from the roof of the Refah School and "today he is shooting at a passenger plane and taking the lives of 176 people."

 

• Shahram Tabemohammadi: The opposition should spend its limited power on unity instead of fighting each other

Shahram Tabe Mohammadi, a member of the Iranian Diaspora Network, said that the forces opposing the Islamic Republic must “be aware of their own power” and know that they do not have “unlimited power” and cannot “rely on the support of Western governments.” He urged them not to “waste this limited power on falling out with each other and fighting with each other,” but to “respect differences of opinion,” and to know that “no single ideology can take on the Islamic Republic on its own.”

Referring to the gap that the Islamic Republic is trying to create between inside and outside, he emphasized that "left and right, monarchist and republican, Mujahideen and communist groups can sit side by side and work together with respect."

Some other attendees at the meeting also joined the speakers by recounting personal stories from the 1967 massacre.