Justice movement for the victims of the 1988 massacre from the outset
A glance at the Call for Justice movement seeking justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre from the outset
The 1988 massacre refers to the execution of 30,000 PMOI/MEK and other political prisoners by the clerical regime in Iran.
Baroness Boothroyd, the former Speaker of the House of Commons, once said that the 1988 massacre was “the greatest crime against humanity since World War II that has remained unpunished.”
The massacre in a few months of 30,000 political prisoners serving their sentences in the regime’s prisons is a genocide and a great crime against humanity.
The massacre was based on Khomeini’s fatwa after he was forced to accept a ceasefire in the eight-year war with Iraq.
Two years ago, the U.S. State Department announced that July 19, 1988, the day after the acceptance of the ceasefire, marked the beginning of the work of the “death commissions” for the massacre of prisoners. As the Iranian Resistance had said from the beginning, it was proven that Khomeini had planned the killings as an antidote to the ceasefire in the unpatriotic 8-year war with Iraq.
By his fatwa sanctioning the 1988 massacre, Khomeini intended to annihilate the generation of the PMOI/MEK to guarantee his rule. Of course, in those very days, Khomeini’s heir apparent, who was later ousted, Hossein Ali Montazeri, wrote him that the Mojahedin were a type of logic that could not be annihilated by killing but would further propagate.
On the 30th anniversary of the 1988 massacre, Amnesty International wrote in its report: “Across the country, the victims were primarily supporters of the PMOI, both men and women. In Tehran province, hundreds of men affiliated with leftist opposition groups were also executed.”
The 1988 massacre had another important aspect: a vast effort to cover up this crime.
First, they wanted to hush up the entire tragedy for years by concealing the names and details of the massacred victims and hiding their graves. In the following years, they embarked on the destruction of the mass graves which had been revealed. But the regime’s other attempt against the Call for Justice movement was to falsify and distort the identity of the massacred Mojahedin; a task carried out by the agents of its infamous Intelligence Ministry.
But neither concealing the crime, hiding the graves of the martyrs, nor distorting the identities of the martyrs could stop the international revelation of this brutal genocide.
As long as this land, this blood-drenched land remains bloody
Not a drop will be lost in the sea
And we will look for you
We will not forget the faces of the murderers
No, we will not forget.
Call for the international prosecution of Khamenei, Raisi, and Ejeii for crimes against humanity
Speech by Maryam Rajavi at the World Summit for a Free Iran, July 12, 2021
Why must the Iranian regime be held accountable?
Speech to the Free Iran Global Summit, July 19, 2020
For years, despite absolute repression, the Iranian Resistance provided the international community with documents of brutal torture in the regime’s prisons. Former political prisoners with limbs bruised by the continuous beating of cables frequently testified in international forums.
From the onset of the 1988 massacre, the Iranian Resistance provided information about the mass executions to the United Nations. Unfortunately, they chose to turn a blind eye to these crimes.
The Call-for-Justice movement is to overthrow the clerical regime
Speech to the International virtual conference with 1,000 former political prisoners in attendance, August 27, 2021
A glance at the activities of the Iranian Resistance and Call-for-Justice Movement to expose the 1988 massacre
Massoud Rajavi unleashed a wave of denunciations, revelations, and calls for justice in Iran and abroad from the first weeks after the massacre began.
As early as August and September 1988, he revealed a lot of information about the massacre in numerous letters and telegrams to the U.N. Secretary-General. Among other things, he announced the contents of Khomeini’s two main fatwas. On August 25, 1988, he wrote to the U.N. Secretary-General, “In a hand-written decree, Khomeini ordered the execution of PMOI political prisoners.”
Since 1988, whatever revealed about the massacre has been the outcome of unceasing efforts by the Call-for-Justice movement launched by the Iranian people’s Resistance, the victims’ families, and the tortured prisoners surviving the 1988 massacre.
In September 1988, simultaneous with the Iranian Resistance’s revelation of this heinous crime, large-scale global demonstrations and hunger strikes were held in Europe and the U.S. Maryam Rajavi sent a message to the strikers and commended them.
Since 1993, Maryam Rajavi has conducted extensive activities to expose the regime’s crimes and murders internationally, including the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.
She has kept open the regime’s dossier of crimes and massacre of political prisoners before the eyes of the world, including, among others, by holding meetings with delegations from different countries, numerous discussions in the European Parliament and parliaments of other European countries, and conferences and seminars.
In 1998, in a message on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adoption, Maryam Rajavi said: Khomeini personally issued a fatwa sanctioning aggression on the lives, property, and honor of all members and supporters of the PMOI/MEK. The massacre of 30,000 Mojahedin prisoners and activists in 1988 was carried out precisely within the framework of this fatwa.
In February 1999, the Iranian Resistance published a list of 3,200 victims of the 1988 mas-sacre.
On March 8, 1999, she said in a message: It was only last month that we published the list of names and particulars of 3,200 PMOI prisoners executed in the massacre of 30,000 polit-ical prisoners. The list is a shocking and revealing document containing hundreds of wom-en’s names and details. And it shows how Iranian women have paid the price of their partic-ipation in the Resistance with sacrifices.
In December 2004, in a Paris exhibition entitled “Human Rights Stoned in Iran,” Maryam Rajavi again brought up the issue of Khomeini’s fatwa. This document (Khomeini’s hand-written decree) is Khomeini’s written order for the massacre of PMOI/MEK political prison-ers. It is an “order for mass destruction” by which 30,000 defenseless prisoners were mas-sacred in 1988. Its ferocity was so shocking that, at the time, Khomeini’s successor objected to it. He wrote that many innocent people had been killed based on this decree and that “the execution of several thousand people in a few days” would have a negative impact.
In October 2005, at a conference in Paris on the International Day against the Death Penal-ty, Maryam Rajavi recalled that the massacre of 30,000 persons had taken place without any due process of law.
In contrast to such barbarism and the wave of brutal executions, Maryam Rajavi emphasizes in her Ten-Point Plan on the need to abolish the death penalty in the future Iran. In numerous speeches, she has declared repeatedly “our plan for future is an Iran without the Death Penalty.” The Iranian Resistance has declared since years ago that it seeks the abolishment of the death penalty, and end to torture and all forms of human rights abuses in Iran.
Sometime later, in a message to a human rights meeting in Italy, Maryam Rajavi said: In the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, the prisoners were executed based on a brief fatwa. The massacre was not racial or ethnic cleansing but eliminating opponents, which the mullahs consider their natural right. Khomeini’s decree said that prisoners who remained loyal to the People’s Mojahedin should be executed, and thus 30,000 prisoners were massacred.
In March 2005, Maryam Rajavi wrote a letter to the president of the Women’s World Conference (CSW) in New York, detailing the brutal and shocking crimes against PMOI and other female prisoners in Iran. She urged her to compel the mullahs’ regime to submit the names of thousands of female political prisoners executed during the 1988 massacre, the exact address of their burial sites, and the names of those responsible for these heinous crimes to the international authorities.
On February 7, 2006, Maryam Rajavi called on the United Nations Security Council to inves-tigate the crimes of the mullahs’ regime and its leaders against the Iranian people in an in-ternational tribunal, particularly the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 and their terrorist crimes abroad.
In December 2007, in a speech to the French Senate, Maryam Rajavi cited Amnesty Inter-national that the 1988 massacre was a crime against humanity sanctioned by top leadership levels of the Iranian regime. However, after nearly two decades, the international commu-nity has taken no action against the mullahs.
In December 2009, following the U.N. General Assembly condemnation of the regime, Maryam Rajavi, in a statement, called for referring the dossier of grave human rights viola-tions in Iran, including the 1988 massacre, to the U.N. Security Council. She said the leaders of the Iranian regime, especially Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, must face justice for crimes against humanity in international courts.
On August 1, 2010, on the 22nd anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners, Maryam Rajavi said in a message, “On behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance, I urge the U.N. Security Council to establish a special tribunal to investigate the case of the massacre of po-litical prisoners and prosecute those in charge. I call on international organizations and gov-ernments to encourage the Security Council to establish such a tribunal. I call on jurists and human rights defenders worldwide to work to advance this campaign. And I call on my compatriots to send the documents, testimonies, and information about the regime’s crimes, including the 1988 massacre and the martyrs of the nationwide uprising, to the Ira-nian Resistance through every possible means. Helping the campaign bring the religious dic-tatorship’s leaders to justice is an urgent national and patriotic duty.
On November 12, 2012, during her trip to Estonia, Maryam Rajavi exposed the 1988 massacre in several speeches, including before the Human Rights Committee in the parliament. She said that the 1988 massacre was the worst crime of its kind known after World War II.
In December 2012, Maryam Rajavi visited Spain. At a meeting of the parliament’s human rights commission, she denounced the crimes of the mullahs’ regime, including the massa-cre of 30,000 political prisoners.
During her revelations of the regime’s crimes, she participated in numerous conferences at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
On August 14, 2014, she told a conference in Geneva: “I want to address a tragedy that the U.N. and the Security Council never reacted to, neither at the time it was committed nor in the years and decades that followed. The massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in 1988 is the worst carnage of political prisoners of our time.
“The massacre of political prisoners marks the identity of the mullahs’ dictatorship as a criminal system. The regime’s factions have supported the massacre over the past 26 years. “Currently, under the Rohani government, the Minister of Justice, Mullah Pour-Mohammadi, was a member of the death commission that ordered the execution of the victims.
“The former U.N. Human Rights Commission, which had found witnesses and documents on the subject, refrained from holding the regime accountable. And the body that replaced it, the Human Rights Council, did not have the slightest reaction.”
In December 2014, Maryam Rajavi told the European Parliament: “This regime has erected the pillars of its rule on the blood of 120,000 executed political prisoners. Thirty thousand of them were executed in 1988 in the span of a few months based on Khomeini’s fatwa. The mullahs’ constitution, penal code, civil code, and laws adopted by its parliament are all based on the violation of human rights.”
In April 2015, Maryam Rajavi said in a hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives:
In 1988, due to the role of the Iranian people and Resistance, the regime was forced to stop a war with one million Iranians killed and 2 million others injured and disabled. So, the clerical regime massacred more than 30,000 political prisoners in a few months to block social protests. Most of those executed were Shiite Muslim Mojahedin. Those in charge of this massacre occupy the most critical positions of power in the government and the Judiciary.
Call for a movement to seek justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre
In the summer of 2016, on the 28th anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners, Maryam Rajavi sent a message to the victims’ families and all Iranians, announcing a movement to seek justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre.
The Call-for-Justice movement must hold the clerical regime accountable for concealing secrets about this heinous crime. The regime’s leaders must reveal the complete list of those massacred. They must declare how many people were executed in each city and provincial capital. They must announce where the victims were buried and their mass graves. It is the most basic right of every bereaved mother to know where her child is buried.
Following this call, a wave of activities was launched inside Iran and abroad. From collecting documents and names of the victims to demonstrations and exhibitions in different cities in Europe and North America, as well as political activities, international conferences, legal actions, and extensive work with lawyers, some of which are mentioned below:
The message of Maryam Rajavi to the conference at city hall in the 2nd district of Paris, August 24, 2016
Interview with As-Sharq Al-Awsat, July 2016
The Iranian Resistance published a list of 110 decision-makers on executions in Tehran and various provinces; information on 213 officials involved in the massacre in 35 cities; and the addresses of some of the mass graves concealed in 12 provinces.
Speech at the European Parliament, December 2016
Speech at the European Parliament on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 7, 2016
The message of Maryam Rajavi to a meeting at the U.S. House of Representatives- for Human rights and Democracy in Iran, March 9, 2017
Meeting with the elected representatives of the people of France and French supporters of the Iranian Resistance, April 22, 2017
The message to the conference on international actions to implement justice – British Parliament, July 18, 2017
Message to the conference in Italy – International measures to implement justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre, July 27, 2017
Message to Exhibition at the Paris 1st District municipality – August 17, 2017
Maryam Rajavi urges formation of an investigative commission to prepare the prosecution of those in charge of this heinous crime, on the 29th anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners – August 20, 2017
Interview with Fox News about the Call for Justice Movement, June 27, 2017
Message to Iranians’ rallies in London, The Hague, and Stockholm in support of the Call-for-Justice movement seeking justice for victims of the 1988 massacre – 2017
Speech to the Paris conference, “Mullah regime beset by crises,” December 16, 2017
Speech to the European Parliament on the eve of Human Rights Day, December 2017
Maryam Rajavi urges the UN to form a fact-finding mission to investigate the 1988 massacre and prosecute and punish those in charge, November 14, 2017
Speech to the ceremony at Paris District 5 Municipality, commemorating victims of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, November 28, 2017
Speech to the Conference of Iranian Communities on the 30th anniversary of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, August 25, 2018
Maryam Rajavi’s message to Iranians’ rally in Paris: The uprising and struggle to overthrow the mullahs cannot be contained, December 2, 2019
Message to conference at Paris District 1 Municipality, August 2018
Speech to the European Parliament, Strasbourg, introducing the Book on the 1988 Massacre, October 23, 2019
Speech to the Exhibition of Crimes against Humanity in Paris, October 29, 2019
Speech at the French National Assembly, October 29, 2019
Interview with Spanish Magazine, El Pais, February 8, 2020; Gari Duran: What price did Iranian dissidents pay over the past 40 years?
Message to participants in the 1988 Massacre Exhibit in Washington, D.C., September 4, 2020
Message to the “Seeking Justice for victims of the 1988 Massacre” conference, September 10, 2011
Maryam Rajavi’s message: UN official experts declared the 1988 massacre as “a crime against humanity,” December 11, 2020
