Opposition over death committees besieges Ebrahim Raisi in four European capitals

Mohamed Shaat

The Iranian opposition abroad continues its campaign in major European capitals, including London, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin, to demand the trial of new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for committing a crime against humanity by participating in the so-called “death committees” that was behind the massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.

In the summer of 1988, 30,000 political prisoners were murdered, 90 percent of whom were members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK), on the orders of then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. Raisi was a member of the four-member death committee that sentenced political prisoners to death in Tehran, executing thousands.

Reviving the case

These moves come in conjunction with the Swedish trial of Hamid Nouri, deputy assistant prosecutor of Gohardasht Prison in Iran, which began on Tuesday, August 10, for his involvement in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, as hundreds of Iranians participated in a march in Stockholm to urge the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to hold the leaders of the Iranian regime accountable for their crimes against the people, especially the 1988 massacre.

In 1988, Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering the execution of all members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization who were steadfast in their position and refused to repent.

Subsequently, death committees were formed across Iran to liquidate political prisoners who were supporters of the MEK, and within a few months, 30,000 prisoners were executed, more than 90 percent of whom were MEK members and sympathizers.

Raisi was one of the four members of the death committee in Tehran, who directly participated in the execution of thousands of prisoners in Evin and Gohardasht prisons.

Major campaigns are to be organized about the massacre, which prominent international jurists have described as a clear case of a crime against humanity following World War II.

Attempting to hide evidence

The opposition MEK revealed in a statement that in recent years, with the emergence of a litigation movement in Iran, the regime resorted to a systematic plan to even destroy the secret mass graves to hide any evidence of this crime.

On September 3, 2020, seven United Nations special rapporteurs wrote to Iranian officials that the extrajudicial executions of 1988 and the enforced disappearance of thousands of political prisoners “may constitute a crime against humanity.”

The statement quoted the secretary-general of Amnesty International as saying that Raisi’s ascension to the presidency rather than an investigation of him for crimes against humanity such as murder, enforced disappearance and torture is a grim reminder that impunity prevails in Iran.

The statement also quoted Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, as saying, “Over the years, this office has collected testimonies and evidence and is ready to share it if the UN Human Rights Council or any other body conducts an impartial investigation into the 1988 massacre.”