Reporters Without Borders Supports Investigation into Raisi’s Role in 1988 Massacre
Reporters Without Borders announced that it supports the request of Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, to establish an investigation commission at the UN Human Rights Council regarding Ibrahim Raisi’s role in the 1988 massacre.
Javaid Rehman has called for an independent investigation into the execution of thousands of political prisoners by order of Islamic Republic officials in 1367 (1988) and Ibrahim Raisi’s role in this mass killing.
Reporters Without Borders stated that among the thousands of political prisoners killed in the 1988 massacre, hundreds were journalists.
Antoine Bernard, the director of global advocacy and legal strategy at Reporters Without Borders, said that placing the establishment of an investigation commission on the UN Human Rights Council’s agenda is a crucial first step and this commission should receive comprehensive support from all UN member states.
On Monday, June 28, Javaid Rehman said in an interview with Reuters that his office has collected testimonies from various individuals and evidence in this regard over the past years, and if the UN Human Rights Council or other institutions are ready to begin an impartial investigation in this field, he is prepared to place this evidence at their disposal.
Ibrahim Raisi, the recently elected president of Iran, is one of the main defendants in this massacre and is a member of what is known as the “death commission” regarding the 1988 executions.
At that time, Ibrahim Raisi was the Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran and was a member of a commission to which decisions about executing prisoners were delegated.
Ibrahim Raisi is under sanctions by the United States due to his background, and the United States and human rights activists say he is one of four prosecutors involved in the 1988 killings.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, which was the primary target of these executions, claims that the number of those killed was around 30,000, but human rights organizations estimate it at between 4,000 to 5,000. These executions also affected leftist groups such as the Fadaiyan-e Khalq.
Although the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran have never formally acknowledged committing crimes in 1367 (1988), in 2002, seven expert members of the UN Working Group and UN human rights rapporteurs published a striking report about the massacre of prisoners in 1988 with questions posed to Iranian government officials.
The organization also, referring to the arrest of Hamid Nouri, one of the perpetrators of these executions in Sweden, and his trial which will begin on August 10 in Stockholm, announced that more revelations about the death commission and Ibrahim Raisi’s involvement in the massacre will be heard in this court.
In his first press conference after the presidential election, when asked about his role in these crimes, Ibrahim Raisi said: “If a lawyer and judge defended the rights of people, they should be commended and encouraged for protecting the security of the people against attacks and threats. All the actions I took during my period of responsibility were always in the direction of defending human rights.”
Source: Radio Farda
