Iranian opposition calls for international investigation into 1988 massacre

Ali Ragab

The Iranian opposition considers the 1988 massacre as a “crime against humanity” and deserves an international investigation.

Ali Safavi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said that the massacre committed by the Iranian regime against thousands of political prisoners in 1988 is still remembered.

Safavi added that the tens of thousands of families of victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran recently received a big push for their calls for justice.

In a report, seven UN experts described this massacre as a “crime against humanity” deserving an international investigation.

The report presented a detailed and evidence-based list of claims, including the regime’s continued refusal to reveal the cause of the death of thousands of political opponents who were forcibly disappeared and then allegedly extrajudicially executed between July and early September 1988 in 32 Iranian cities.

Safavi pointed out that this is a major blow to the Iranian regime and heralds a new era that will see an end to the climate of impunity for the regime’s murderers and criminals.

“After the reign of terror and violence against the opposition was launched during the 1980s in Iran, the ruling mullahs in 1988 arrested thousands of imprisoned political activists and executed them secretly within weeks,” he said.

It is estimated that at least 30,000 political prisoners were killed and buried in secret cemeteries, in what is considered one of the worst political crimes of the twentieth century.

The majority of those killed were members or supporters of the main democratic opposition, the PMOI, which is part of the broader coalition of opposition forces that make up the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

“Over the past three decades, the regime tried to hide the increasing evidence of its crimes by demolishing them with bulldozers and then constructing buildings or paving new roads over them,” according to the United Nations report, Safavi confirmed.

Reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights groups and opposition sources have reported on numerous occasions that attempts to hold a memorial service at the famous Khavaran mass cemetery near Tehran are regularly suppressed.

In one of the most famous examples, 62-year-old Ali Sarimi, a supporter of the PMOI who attended a memorial service for the victims of the 1988 massacre in 2007, was arrested and later hanged in December 2010, Safavi said.

A member of the Iranian Resistance considered that these are despicable acts by those whom it called Iran’s murderous tyrants, indicating that they deserve urgent international attention and action.

He added that no one in Iran has faced justice for involvement in the 1988 massacre, explaining that recognizing or talking about the 1988 massacre is a red line for the mullah regime.

Safavi concluded by saying, “This is a dark stain that must be removed from the conscience of contemporary humanity, and an international investigation into the 1988 massacre is inevitable and long overdue.”

Many perpetrators still hold high positions in the Iranian regime, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, numerous ministers, judicial officials, Ministry of Intelligence officials, and members of the Revolutionary Guard, according to Safavi.

Senior UN human rights experts have clearly warned that in the absence of domestic investigations, they will call on the international community to take action to investigate the cases, including by establishing an international investigation.

Experts at the United Nations indicated that they are concerned that “the situation may amount to crimes against humanity,” warning that if Iran continues to refuse to respect its obligations, an international investigation will be opened to uncover these facts.

Seven UN special rapporteurs wrote in September 2020 a letter to the Iranian government, expressing their “grave concern over the continued refusal (on the part of Tehran) to reveal the fate of the people killed and their burial sites.”

They called on Iran to carry out a full and independent investigation, and to prepare accurate death certificates for the sake of their families.

The United Nations in Geneva confirmed the content of the letter it sent in September, although it has not been made public yet.