mazanan/en/?p=436 Massacre of 1988 and 25 years of silence In September 2013, 25 years will have passed from the catastrophe that befell the people of Iran with the mass execution of political prisoners, the best sons and daughters of our country who had devoted their lives to their aspiration for justice, peace, independence and freedom from despotism. They were executed on the order of Khomeini, for the ‘crime’ of dissent. In that grim summer, as Khomeini lamented drinking from the poisoned chalice – his reference to the ceasefire after eight bloody years of Iran-Iraq war – he unlashed the plan which had been in the making for some time, and commenced the purge of the prisons from dissidents. Death squads started work immediately in Tehran and other cities. They cut all prison visits, and managed to completely isolate the prisoners from the outside world. Prisoners where then brought before inquisition courts in groups, and were handed death sentences in sham trials that lasted no more than a few minutes. Years later, international human rights organizations put the number of prisoners executed in that period at more that 5,000. Men, Women and children were among those executed. The victims of this heinous crime were mostly the supporters, members or high-ranking members of progressive organizations and parties, especially Marxists – of whose rights to freedom, Khomeini had spoken before coming to power, and while in exile in Paris. Many of those executed had spent many years in the Shah’s prisons. Only Ayatollah Montazeri, protested at the executions – something that prompted his fall from favour and Khomeini’s anger. Other leaders of the regime supported the massacre by their silence. They still hold the secret of the truth of the scale of their crime through their collective silence. Some day, they will have to answer for their inhuman acts in the court of the people. In that dark and tragic summer, the families of political prisoners did all they could to get news of their loved ones, they visited the relevant officials and bodies over and over but could find absolutely no news of the fate of their loved ones. Even when the families stumbled on the truth by accident, the authorities did their best to silence them by the most savage means. The way the scale of the regime’s atrocity came to light is that those who went to Khavaran (cementry) to visit the graves of those executed in previous years, noticed a strong stench of corpses and noticed that the ground was disturbed. When they dug the ground they found bodies buried on top of each other in a mass grave. Their photographs of the mass grave were made public abroad and that is how the families found out about what had become of their loved ones. Following the massacres, the families of the martyrs and political prisoners were put under the most brutal repression. The families’ queries at Evin prison, in order to retrieve any wills or to mourn their loved ones were met with threats and brutality. Although the conspiracy of silence has been breached, the regime is still not making an official announcement on the names of those executed. Even now the doors of Khavaran are closed to the families and the regime has bulldozed the ground over and again in order to conceal the scale of its crime. And those responsible for this catastrophe are still at the seat of government. Khomeini’s successor, Khamene’i has also orchestrated more atrocities, among them the serial assassinations of opponents in Iran and abroad, the killing of innocent people following the electoral coup d’etat of 2009 and more. There are many who are heavily implicated or are known to have ordered the killing, and are still in positions of power – even ministerial. Today, after 25 years, the families of the victims of these crimes are searching for the truth. Mansooreh Kish who has lost 6 members of her family in executions by the Islamic Republic’s regime, has written to the new President, Hassan Rohani with these questions: 1. “How were the prisoners executed in the 1980s, especially in 1988. 2. Why were the prisoners who had prison sentences executed? 3. Why were the trials conducted by death committee and behind closed doors? 4. Why has no-one in authority given an explanation of how and why these executions were carried out? 5. Why are we not given information of the location of burial? 6. Why are we not given their wills? 7. Why are the families prevented from visiting Khavaran (cemetery) or are being persecuted? 8. Why are the families not allowed to hold commemorative ceremonies? 9. Why have they bulldozed Khavaran several time in 2008 and why have they not given us a response to our complaints. 10. Why has the main gate to Khavaran been shut for the past five years so that the families have to travel long distances on foot to reach the unconfirmed position of their sons/daughters’ burial place. 11. Why are we not allowed to plant, put flowers on the graves or water and keep the graves clean? 12. Why have we been refused the right to complain and are persecuted?” She continues: “Mr. Rohani, Are you aware that the ‘Justice’ Minister (PourMohammadi) whom you have appointed, was a member of the death committee in the last 25 years, and has executed thousands of the best and truest human beings, among them my two dearly loved brothers, for the crime of dissent.” On the 25th anniversary of the National Catastrophe of mass-executions, the families of martyrs and political prisoners know that only through the united struggle of progressive forces, their wishes may be realized. Their search for justice and for exposing those responsible for this atrocity is in line with the rejection of the rule of theocracy. Let us defend their rightful demands through our united action. MaZanan 25.08.2013
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 00:05:10 +0000