kaveh20092009

Additional information about the back ground of the #1988Massacre was provided by surfacing an audio recording of a meeting between Ayatollah Montazeri, Khomeini’s ex-heir who acknowledged the massacre of PMOI by Iran regime with the “death commission” after 28 years; the imperative of putting the clerical regime’s leaders on trial for crime against humanity The publication of a shocking audio tape in which the former heir to then-Iranian regime’s supreme leader, Khomeini, a meeting with members of the “death commission” 28 years ago (August 15, 1988) reveals new information about the scope and breadth of the massacre of political prisoners at the time. It also shows that the Iranian regime’s leaders who held positions of power since the beginning of the regime’s establishment must face justice for committing one of the most horrific crimes against humanity. In the audio tape, Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was subsequently dismissed as the heir by Khomeini, for these very remarks, tells members of the “death commission”, Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, the regime’s sharia judge, Morteza Eshraqi, the regime’s prosecutor, Ebrahim Raeesi, deputy prosecutor, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, representative of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), “The greatest crime committed during the reign of the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you. Your (names) will in the future be etched in the annals of history as criminals.” He adds, “Executing these people while there have been no new activities (by the prisoners) means that … the entire judicial system has been at fault.” Mostafa Pourmohammadi is currently the justice minister in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet and Hossein-Ali Nayyeri is the current head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges. Ebrahim Raeesi was the clerical regime’s prosecutor up until several months ago and has recently been appointed by supreme leader Ali Khamenei as the head of the Astan Qods-e Razavi foundation, which is one of the most important political and economic powerhouses in the clerical regime. It appropriates public funds in order to financially support some of the regime’s acts of suppression and export of terrorism, including funds spent for the war in Syria. In the meeting, Montazeri tells Pourmohammadi that the MOIS had planned this massacre many months before. “(The ministry of) Intelligence wanted to do it (the massacre) and had made investments. And, Ahmad (Khomeini’s son) had been personally saying for three or four years (prior to the massacre) that the MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) must all be executed, even if they read their newspapers, publications and statements.,” he says, adding, “The Mujahedin-e Khalq are not simply individuals. They represent an ideology and a school of thought. They represent a line of logic. One must respond to the wrong logic by presenting the right logic. One cannot resolve this through killing; killing will only propagate and spread it.” Terrified of the consequences of this horrific crime, Pourmohammadi recently denied his membership in the “death commission” and claimed he had no role in the 1988 massacre. Elsewhere in the audio, Montazeri is heard as saying, “Someone was in prison. They said his sister was also accused. So, they went and brought his sister. They executed the man. Her sister had been imprisoned for only two days. She was only 15. They asked her sister what do you say? She said I liked these people. They said because her brother was executed, execute her as well.” In another shocking revelation, Montazeri says, “In Isfahan, a pregnant woman was among them [those massacred]. In Isfahan they executed a pregnant woman.” He adds that in clerical jurisprudence, “one must not execute a woman even if she is a mohareb (enemy of God). I reminded [Khomeini] of this, but he said they must be executed.” In rebuking the members of the “death commission,” Montazeri says, “For God’s sake, it is the month of Moharram, the month of God and the Prophet. At least feel some shame from Imam Hussein. Cutting off all meetings and suddenly engaging in such butchery!!… Is something like this done anywhere else in the world? Beware of fifty years from now, when people will pass judgment on the leader (Khomeini) and will say he was a bloodthirsty, brutal and murderous leader…. We will not be in power forever.” This meeting took place of the second day of Moharram 1409 (August 15, 1988). As regards the role of the then-head of the regime Judiciary, Montazeri says, “Mr. [Abdulkarim] Moussavi Ardebili, who I know is the most liberal of all, says during the Friday prayers that all of these people must be executed. And then people chant during the Friday prayers that the Monafeqin (Mujahedin) prisoners must be executed… And when he wants to ask the Imam, instead of telling him that [executions] on such vast scale does not serve our interests and would be damaging, he asks whether we should execute them in the provinces or in the cities.” Such is the meaning of moderates and liberals in the religious fascism ruling Iran. In the audio, the members of the “death commission” admit that the families of many of those waiting to be executed had already been executed and that they had been 15 or 16 years of age at the time of their arrest. Montazeri’s remarks provide indisputable evidence on the need to put those responsible for the 1988 massacre, the clerical regime’s leaders, on trial for perpetrating crimes against humanity. The Iranian Resistance draws the attention of the international community’s attention, especially the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, to the imperative of referring this case to a relevant and competent international tribunal. Remaining indifferent in the face of the greatest massacre of political prisoners since World War Two, and in view of clear evidence and documents, would be tantamount to a blatant violation of recognized values of human rights, peace and democracy, upon which the United Nations has been founded.

In 1988, in the span of several months, thousands of political prisoners in what is now known as 'the 1988 Iran massacre”' were brutally murdered. The roots of the 1988 massacre go back to the early years of the mullahs' rule when the newly established theocracy began to crackdown on the democratic opposition forces. Soon after the 1979 revolution, the paramilitary Bassij Forces and memebers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked political rallies and the offices and publishing houses of opposition groups. On June 20 1981, in a major public display of peaceful dissent, nationwide demonstrations organized by the vast network of Iran's main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) also known as Mujahedeen-e-Khlaq (MEK), brought several million people to streets of Iran's main cities. In Tehran alone, half a million people converged in the capital's main thoroughfares, chanting slogans against the regime and demanding political freedoms. Under direct orders of the Khomeini, the regime's forces moved to crush the march. By day fall thousands were arrested. Amnesty International: The 1988 Massacre was a crime against humanity In a statement issued on November 2, 2007, concerning the arrest of several families of the victims of the 1988 massacre, Amnesty International wrote, "The executions were authorized at the highest level of the Iranian leadership… Amnesty International believes these executions amount to a crime against humanity. Under international law, valid in 1988, crimes against humanity consist of widespread or systematic attacks against civilians on discriminatory, including political, grounds. Amnesty International believes that there should be no impunity for human rights violations, no matter where or when they took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to an independent impartial investigation, and all those responsible should be brought to justice, and receive appropriate penalties." Khomieni’s fatwa for murder Later, in a shocking fatwa in summer of 1988, Khomeini ordered the following: "Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain committed to their support for the [PMOI / MEK], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.... Destroy the enemies of Islam immediately. As regards the cases, use whichever criterion that speeds up the implementation of the [execution] verdict." Khomeini’s designated successor complains The scale of massacre was so horrifying that Khomeini's designated successor, Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, complained to his mentor in a July 1988 letter: "... Executions of individuals who have already been sentenced by courts to a lesser sentence, without any precedent and without any new activities [by them], disregard all judicial standards and verdicts... As you presumably will insist on your decree, at least order that women not be executed, especially pregnant women. Ultimately, the execution of several thousand people in several days will not have positive repercussions and is not without mistakes." “Death Commision” A special body, known to political prisoners as the 'Death Commission,' headed by Pourmohammad, the Interior Minister carried out the fatwa. During hearings, prisoners were asked about their ideological and political allegiances. If there were even shred of doubt of sympathy with the opposition, particularly the PMOI, the prisoner would be sent to a firing squad. Referring to the massacre, the state-run daily Iran News wrote on April 9, 2000, "Officials were astonished to see that these prisoners were still insisting on resisting the regime and supporting the PMOI." Within several months, tens of thousands of political prisoners, some having completed their prison terms, were executed. 30,000 massacred The exact number of the victims is not known, given the swiftness and secrecy with which the inhuman fatwa was carried out. Estimates are up to 30,000 executed. Khomeini’s sacked successor reference to the execution of “several thousand people in several days” confirms the figure. By any measure, the massacre of 1988 amounts to crime against humanity. Present officials were actively involved in 1988 massacre Many officials presently holding senior posts in the government of Iran were actively involved in conducting this hideous crime, and they must be brought to justice. Ali Khamenei, then the mullahs' president and currently the supreme leader, tops the list. Khamenei was present in the meeting of regime's most-trusted top officials where Khomeini ordered the massacre. As the highest ranking executive authority in 1988, Khamenei authorized unlimited governmental resources to be used in implementing Khomeini's edict. Khamenei defends the 1988 massacre In 1988, in a radio interview, he defended the massacre and said: “Do you think we should give sweets to a prisoner who has connections with the activities of the Mojahedin? If his connection with that group is revealed, what should we do to him? He is condemned to execution and we will execute him” Rafsanjani oversaw the implementation of 1988 massacre Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then Speaker of Parliament, and Acting Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, also is on the list. He was present in the infamous meeting with Khomeini. As Acting Commander in Chief and the regime's de facto Number Two after Khomeini, Rafsanjani oversaw the enforcement of Khomeini's edict and reported to him on the progress of the massacre. Several years earlier he had said: “God's law prescribes four punishments for them (the Mujahedeen). 1-Kill them. 2-Hang them, 3- Cut off their hands and feet 4-Banish them. If we had killed two hundred of them right after the Revolution, their numbers would not have grown this big. I repeat that according to the Quran, we are determined to destroy all [Mujahedeen] who display enmity against Islam.” Khatami defended Khomeini’s fatwa Mohammed Khatami, the mullahs' former president also participated in the meeting during which Khomeini discussed his decision for the massacre. As state—run daily Ressalat has reported: 'This verdict was issued and enforced when Mr. Khatami was Director of Cultural Affairs at the Armed Forces General Command and he resolutely defended His Holiness the Imam's decision.'

#FreeIran defines the aspiration of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy in Iran. The Iranian people desire for freedom in the face of all repression and executions in Iran under the current government has not died and their efforts in 1979, 1981, and yet again in 2009 did not go in vain. Support for #FreeIran, means supporting the struggle for a free, democratic, non-nuclear Iran, where there will be no capital punishment, and equal rights and opportunities for all - regardless of their faith, race and gender - will be guaranteed. This best has been defined here http://***