Amnesty International protests "cruel" treatment of families of 1967 massacre victims

Amnesty International accused the Iranian government of systematically violating the prohibition of torture and “cruel treatment” of the families of the victims of the 1967 massacre. According to the human rights organization, the systematic torture “constitutes a crime against humanity.”

Amnesty International issued a statement today, Wednesday, June 26, accusing the Islamic Republic of systematically violating the "absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel and inhumane treatment" in relation to the families of the victims of the killing of political prisoners in the summer of 2018.

In its statement, published on the occasion of the "International Day in Support of Victims of Torture," the human rights organization accuses Iranian government officials of continuing "brutal encounters" with family members of thousands of prisoners who "were victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in prisons across the country in 1988."

The United Nations Convention Against Torture entered into force on June 26, 1987. This agreement is a major step towards improving the human rights situation in the world. For this reason, to commemorate this historic day, the United Nations General Assembly in 1997 declared June 26 as the “International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.”

Amnesty International's statement on the occasion of this historic day states, among other things: "Three decades after the Iranian government forcibly disappeared, secretly killed and buried thousands of political opponents and dissidents in unmarked mass graves, Iranian authorities continue to torture and torment the victims' relatives, refusing to reveal the truth about when, how and why their loved ones were killed, and where their bodies were buried."

The statement continued: "Those members of the victims' families who have called for the truth to be revealed and justice to be served have been threatened, harassed, intimidated, and attacked."

Organized torture “evidence of crimes against humanity”

According to Amnesty International, a group of families of the victims of the 1967 massacre complained in an interview with this human rights organization about their lives under the shadow of "anxiety, sadness, and deep suffering." Many of them said that they are still in a state of "purgatory" because the bodies of their loved ones have not been received, and it is difficult for them to believe that they are missing.

Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: “Iranian authorities continue to refuse to publicly acknowledge the killings and to inform the families of the victims of the fate and burial places of their loved ones. This practice has placed the families of the victims under relentless pressure; their scars are still fresh and their lives are tied to uncertainty and injustice.”

Mr. Luther added: “Undoubtedly, this excruciating suffering inflicted on the families of the victims for more than 30 years violates the principle of the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment, under international law.”

Amnesty International has also stated that "torture and inhumane treatment, if it becomes an organized or widespread attack, constitute crimes against humanity."

Request for “independent investigation”

The Middle East and North Africa Director of Amnesty International also called for an independent investigation to shed light on the factors and those responsible for the 1988 massacre, saying: "The failure to bring justice to those responsible for the heinous and senseless killing and disappearance of thousands of people in 1988 will only increase the pain and suffering of the victims' families."

According to Philip Luther: “This suffering will not end unless the full truth about the 1988 prisoner massacre is revealed, through a process that includes the exhumation of graves by independent experts, autopsies and DNA testing, and the facilitation of the return of the remains of the victims to their family members.”

On December 4, 2018, Amnesty International issued a report, referring to the Iranian government's secrecy regarding the fate and burial locations of the victims of the 1967 massacre, accusing the Islamic Republic of continuing to commit "crimes against humanity" and calling for an independent and comprehensive investigation into the matter.

In the summer of 1988, thousands of political opponents and dissidents in the prisons of the Islamic Republic were handed over to the firing squad, despite the fact that they were serving their sentences. However, Iranian authorities only informed the families of the prisoners’ executions in mid-autumn of this year. The families of the victims were not given any explanation about the reason, the time of the execution, or the burial place of the executed. There have also been reports that some families have not even been informed of the execution of their loved ones.

There are different figures and statistics regarding the number of victims of the 1967 massacre. Hossein Ali Montazeri, the then deputy prime minister of the founding of the Islamic Republic, who strongly opposed these executions and was dismissed from his position for this reason, stated in his memoirs that the number of those executed was between 2,800 and 3,800. Some other sources estimate the number of victims to be around 4,500.

The decision on the fate of political prisoners in the summer of 2018 was made by a committee known as the “Death Committee.” The members of this committee were Ebrahim Raisi, the current head of Iran’s judiciary and then-deputy prosecutor of Tehran, Hossein Ali Nayiri, the then-Islamic religious leader, Morteza Eshraghi, the then-prosecutor of Tehran, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Ayatollah Montazeri had said to these people on August 14, 2018: "In my opinion, the greatest crime committed in the Islamic Republic and for which we are condemned in history was committed by you, and your [names] will be written among the criminals in history in the future."

Source: DW