Statement to the International Criminal Court & the UN Human Rights Council
The Islamic Republic of Iran, in its 37-year history, has executed more than 15,000 political prisoners. In 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini, the country’s Supreme Leader at the time, ordered mass execution of political prisoners. According to Amnesty International, at least 4,482 young men and women disappeared during a two-month period in 1988. Many of the executed prisoners had already served their sentences. The bodies of the victims were buried in unmarked graves and their families were never informed of their whereabouts. In 2012, a people’s tribunal, presided over by respected international judges, investigated these crimes and found Iran’s leaders guilty of crime against humanity. Iran’s clerical leaders remained silent about the massacre for nearly thirty years.
Now, an audiotape of a meeting on August 15, 1988, reveals that Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, then designated successor to Khomeini, addresses the clerics who carried out the executions and says: “let me be frank with you. You have committed the biggest crime in the Islamic Republic – a crime that will condemn us all in history.” Montazeri’s words led Ayatollah Khomeini to dismiss him as his heir apparent and pave the way for emergence of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as his successor. Montazeri died in 2009 and his son, Ahmad, posted the thirty-year old audiotape on his website on August 9, 2016. Here is the link to the audiotape.
Montazeri’s description of the massacre compelled Iran’s clerical authorities, including the chief of Judiciary Sadegh Larijani, to admit and defend the executions. The audiotape also reveals the names of the clerics who carried out the criminal acts. They include Mostafa Pourmohammadi, then deputy intelligence minister and now minister of justice in President Rouhani’s cabinet; Hussein Ali Nayeri, then the religious judge at Evin Prison and now a high court judge; and Ebrahim Raeesi, then deputy prosecutor of Tehran and now head of Astan Quds Razavi – one of the largest Shiite shrine-based religious institutions in Iran.
As we approach the 30th anniversary of the massacre, the families of the victims are still waiting for justice. Every year while they gather to demand the truth from the government, they are harassed and violently dispersed by security forces. This is an example of the behavior that impels Iran’s theocratic dictatorship to reject the legitimacy of both the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Other reasons for Iran’s refusal to join the ICC have to do with penalties provided in Iran’s criminal law, including whipping, stoning, cutting off of body parts and mistreatment of minorities. While they see no problem in Muslims committing mass murder against other Muslims, Iran’s theocrats maintain that Non-Muslim judges cannot judge Muslims.
In 2009, following the suppression of a popular movement against the rigged presidential election, more than 200 Iranian lawyers and human rights activists appealed to the ICC prosecutor to investigate the violence committed by Iran’s security forces. Those who took this initiative knew that the ICC is procedurally barred from responding to their request. They simply wanted to inform the international community about the Iranian government’s relentless violence against the civil society. Canada is the only country that condemns Iran’s 1988 massacre of political prisoners as crime against humanity. The legal basis for the court's jurisdiction regarding Iran would be a referral by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter but political interests of the members with veto power prevent the realization of this option.
We, the undersigned, consider the 1988 massacre of Iranian political prisoners to be a clear case of Crime against Humanity. We urge international human rights organizations and the United Nations Human Rights Council to condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran for its systematic hostility to the civil and political rights of its citizens.
September 7, 2016
Signatures
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh - Founder & Director, Zanan TV & NGO Training, USA
Reza Afshari - Professor of History at Pace University, USA
Maryam Ahari – Human Rights Activist, USA
Kazem Alamdari - Department of Sociology, California State University, Northridge, USA
Reza Alavi - Author and political analyst, USA
Bahman Amini – Human Rights Activist, France
Homeira Amini - Human Rights Activist, USA
Mehdi Amini – Human Rights Activist, USA
Mohammad Anousheh – Political Activist, USA
Shahin Anzali - Political Activist, Austria
Ali Arab - Associate Professor of Statistics at Georgetown University and a member of the 2016 Board of Directors of Amnesty International, USA
Houshang Ardavan, PhD, Emeritus staff, Institute of Astronomy and Emeritus Fellow, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
Farid Ashkan – Human Rights Activist, USA
Djamshid Assadi - Ph.D. Iran: Market & Democracy, France
Rose Samii Atwood - CEO Unique It Jobs, Inc., USA
Faramarz Bahar - Human Rights Activist, France
Panetea Bahrami - Filmmaker and Journalist, USA
Soheila Vahdati Bana - Human Rights Activist, USA
Khosro Bandari - Human Rights Activist, USA
Mehran Barati, Ph. D. - Analyst of future political trends, Germany
Mohammad Behboudi – Human Rights Activist, USA
Sohrab Behdad - Professor of Economics, Denison University, USA
Farhad Bokaee – Survivor of 1988 massacre/High School Teacher, Canada
Hormoz Chamanara – Political Activist, USA
Elahe Chokraie - Nurse, Canada
Bahram Choubin - Sociologist and Historian specializing in the social, political and Religion history of Iran, USA
Mehrdad Darvishpour – Senior Lecturer at Mälardalen University, Sweden
Parviz Dastmalchi - Human Rights Activist, Germany
Mehdi Djamshidi -
Shirin Ebadi – Nobel Laureate for Peace and Human Rights Defense Lawyer
Bijan Eftekhari – Political Activist, Austria
Mansour Farhang – Retired Professor of International Relations and advisory board member of Human Right Watch/Middle East and North Africa, USA
Soheyla Farhang, Lawyer, Forner UN professional, USA
Nehzat Farhoody - Ph. D., USA
Hadi Ghaemi, human rights advocate, USA
Kambiz Ghaemmagham, political activist, USA
Mohsen Ghaemmagham , Physician and Human rights Activist, USA
Shahram Ghanbari, Socilologist, U. S. A.
Roberto Godoy - Architect, Canada
Dr. Jaleh Lackner- Gohari, Former Medical Officer& Coordinator (IAEA & other UN-Agencies) Austria
Reza Goharzad – Journalist, USA
Hamid Hamidi - Human Rights Activist, USA
Nader Hashemi - University of Denver, USA
Abbas Hazheer, Poet and Composer, Sweden
Ata Hoodashtian - Associate Professor of Political Science, Swiss UMEF University, Switzerland
Mahmood Jaafari - Political activist, Netherlands
Mehri Jafari - Attorney at Law, LPC at University of Westminister, United Kingdom
Farhang Jahanpour - former professor, University of Isfahan, and tutor in the Middle East Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Jahanshah Javid - Publisher iroon.com, USA
Arsalan Kahnemuyipour - Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Canada
Abdee Kalantari - Political Activist and Author, USA
Sadegh Kamali – Political Activist, USA
Mehrangiz Kar - Human Rights lawyer and Author, USA
Kazem Kardavani, Sociologist, retired professor and former executive director of Iran’s Executive director of Iran's Writer Association, Germany
Nasim Khaksar, writer, Holland
Farideh Kioumehr, DVM,MPH,Dr.PH, 1st Recipient, Peace Award from APHA Founder
Hamid Kowsari - Political Activist, USA
Alan Kushan -
Ali Limonadi - Television host and author, USA
Ahmad Machouf - Pediatrician, Canada
Elahe Machouf – Human Rights Activist, Canada
Anousheh Machouf - Psychologist, Canada
Nima Machouf - Epidemiologist, Canada
Ali Akbar Mahdi - PH. D. Department of Sociology, Calif. State University, Northridge, USA
Mehran Mirfakhrai - Political Activist, Italy
Abbas Milani - Stanford University, USA
Ali Mirsepassi - Professor of Sociology, New York University, USA
Shokooh Mirzadegi - Writer, Journalist and Human rights activist, USA
Mansoor Moaddel - University of Michigan, USA
Behrooz Moazami, Loyola University New Orleans, U. S. A.
Haideh Moghissi, PhD - Professor emerita and senior scholar Equity Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada
Fariba Davoodi Mohajer - Human Rights Activist/Journalist, USA
Majid Mohammadi - Iran Analyst and TV Host, Former Associate Professor of Sociology, USA
Shahram Mojab
Shahrzad Mojab, PH. D., Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada
Parviz Mokhtari – Human Rights Activist, Germany
Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh - Composer, USA
Farhad Nomani, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Economics, The American University of Paris, France
Shawn Nowakhtar, CPA, USA
Nasser Pakdaman, Writer, France
Koroush Parsa – Political Activist, USA
Misagh Parsa - Dartmouth College, USA
Mahshid Pegahi – Women’s Rights Activist, Germany
Ahmad Purmandi - Political Activist, Germany
Fariba Rad - Human Rights Activist, USA
Saeed Rahnema, PhD, Retired Professor,York University, Canada
Fatemeh Rezaie - Human Rights Activist, Germany
Taraneh Roosta - Women's Righs Activist, USA
Banoo Saberi – Wife of a political prisoners executed in 1988, USA
Reza Saffari – Human Rights Activist, Canada
Kourosh Sehati - Human Rights Activist, USA
Soli Shahvar, PH. D. Director, The Ezri Center for Iran @Persian Gulf Studies, The University of Haifa, Israel
Hassan Shariatmadari - Political Activist and Author, Germany
Behrouz Sotoodeh - Political Activist, USA
Raheleh Tarani – Political Activist, Canada
Mehdi Khanbaba Tehrani- Political Activist, Germany
Nayereh Tohidi - Professor at California State University, Northridge, USA
Mohsen Yalfani, Writer, France
Reza Fani Yazdi - Former Political Prisoner, Political Analyst, CIO of CPUC, USA
Hamid Zangeneh, Professor of Economics, Widener University, USA
I hate to sound insensitive but what about all the killings of 1979, 1981 and beyond , should those just be ignored or what?
As always with IRanian Expats it is about self promotion ...
What does one's "profession" and PhD have to do with outrage over human rights violations ?
For a Reminder Bachar Assad is a dentist ... and Dr. Mengele a Surgeon ...
And as MRX rightly pointed out ...
How many of these signataries shouted "Marg Bar Shah" back in 1979 or expressed the slightest outrage at the executions of civil servants and patriotic military on the onset of the very Revolution they continue to praise to this day ?
Shah's Senior Officers Executed
Those who were executed in 1988 were for the most victims of the monster they themselves created ... and with the help of some of the above signataries if not their parents ...
Rule of thumb as I understand it in the west among intellectuals is:
A. Victims who were western allies are to be ignored
B. Victims who were anti-western in their ideology are to be memorialized
unfortunate
"Crime Against Humanity" is what Iran is committing in Syria today with the help of Russia and Assad's Militia and the silent approval of Your Homegrown "neville chamberlain" turned US President .
Obama, Khamenei and the making of Syrian tragedy - Al Arabiya English
Clearly none of the signataries understand the significance of the word "Genocide"
Terms like "Genocide" or "Crimes against Humanity" are very specific and cannot be used lightly.
What happened in 1988 was a Crime Yes ... no doubt about that but one motivated by purely political intentions ... not ethnic cleansing as in Ex Yougoslavia or the Nazi Holocaust to be qualified as Crime Against Humanity ?
By constantly using such words out of context we end up stripping them from their real significance.
Even Abbas Milani who is being funded by generous Baha'i doners has gone all the way of calling the predicament of the Baha'i in Iran as a "Quiet Genocide" ... which is ridiculous.
Baha'is are repressed true and some have been subject to physicial threats and killing ... but nothing can be compared to what the jews faced under Nazi Germany of the types of massacres committed by Pol Pot in the killing fields of Combodia ( something which the likes of Naom Chomsky, whom some of the above signatuaries admire, to this day claims never happened).
There is an expression in French : "A force de jouer avec le feu on finit par se bruler"
Our "Roshanfekr" would be well advised to ponder on this and stop playing with "words" they hardly understand.
The IRI is a Criminal Regime but if it has committed "CRimes Against Humanity" as Hitler ... then why did many of the above signataries approve the Nuclear Deal with IRan and have encouraged people to vote at each election ?
A Regime which has carried out Crimes Against Humanity should have been bombed long ago ...
Marlene Dietrich a German Supported the War Effort against her own Country because she saw the evilness of the Nazi Regime ...
Marlene Dietrich's best scene in A Foreign Affair
Where as the likes of Abbas Milani along with his NIAC "experts advocates negotiation ...
Should the U.S. Use "Surgical Strikes" on Iran?
Meegham stop using words you don't understand Doctor Milani and the rest ...
You can't have it both ways Sir !
Do you think that those who opposed and fought the Nazis would have approved deals with Hitler or Petain ?
Probably Your Socialist Likeminds would ...
Mitterand et Pétain
But then that is not surprising ...
But I very much doubt De Gaulle or Churchill would have engaged in negotiations with a Genocidal Regime ...
French General Charles de Gaulle broadcasts from London calling on the French to continue fighting the Germans ( British Pathe News)
Copy and Pasting Western concepts of what is deemed "Good" Vs "Evil" just to be viewed as "intellectual" in the eyes of a gullible western Audience who couldn't care less only to draw massalan "international Awareness" often ends up with masking a far deeper personal intellectual responsibility in the calamity that took place in our country more than a generation ago ...
And that is precisely the problem with most of these signataries hardly qualified to define what is a Crime and what is not ... given that they have their own conscience to deal with first instead of seeking ways to conveniently escape their own intellectual accountability by luring a gullbile international opinion to endorse a biased narrative shared by only their own likeminds ...
Marlene Dietrich - No Angel - A Life of Marlene Dietrich.flv
Self-centeredness and politcal sectarianism among the groups that actually suffered massive casualties in the 80s in the hands of the Islamic regime have disarmed the opposition to even prove to the international community at large that this thing happened.
For a long time, everyone tried to expose their own group's executions, and almost all ignored the shah's generals and etc. who were executed by the regime. The grim task of full disclosure of those atrocities might have to wait till unearthing mass graves after the fall of regime....a common phenomenon in the ME.
The unusally sad support of too many Iranians of those executions will not help either. Look here.
The Above Signataries should be held accountable for their hypocrisy in considering a "Genocidal" Regime "Reformable"
Woody Allen on how to handle Nazis
Wow! It's surprsing to see a group of West residing Iranians taking a break from beating their chests for Palestine, set asdie their burning desire for a summer chelo kabab trip to Iran, grow a pair, and actually try to do something about human rights in Iran. I guess better 35 year late than never...or maybe they just got bored with Palestine, speaking of which, I don't see Dabashi's name on the list. Doesn't he usually right an op-ed somehwere whenever a dog pees on a sidewalk in Ramallah?
Kudos to all those who signed this petition.
This is one of a number of actions being taken by Iranian human rights activists to hold the Islamic republic legaly accountable for the barbaric murders of tens of thousands of political prisoners , some children, some pregnant women. This is a great movement and I am fully behind it. We need millions of signatures on this petition.....
Although almost all of those murdered in summer of 1988 belonged to Marxist groupings and ideologies, we condemn murders over the past 37 years of Islamist rule in Iran of all political, ethnic and religious prisoners, regardless........
I fully expect for those feeding off the discredited Islamist regime of Iran to support these crimes and be against this petition. But Why certain sections of "Iranian monarchits??" go to the extent of tacitly supporting these murders, is beyond me. This despicable behaviour needs to be challenged and confronted by those Monarchits who care for human rights and campaign for a future democratic government in Iran, for Iranians, by Iranians. That is if they truely care for Iran and want to have a role in re building the future Iran......
"Why certain sections of "Iranian monarchits??" go to the extent of tacitly supporting these murders"
who might that be may i ask ? The issue I have is, these people have taken one date and one event as trajic and barberic as it was and simply forgot about everything else as if no other human right violations happend before and after this date! otherwise I have no issues with their stand and petition.
basically EVERY Petitioner up there supported the revolution of 1979
Google them and you will see that you can easily connect the dots and see that they all opposed the monarchy and still do. And attend the same meetings and think tanks close to NIAC.
That is not feeling guilty about what happened ... it's merely trying to reiterate :
"Shah Bee Shah !"
Oh and please feel free to add "Shahrvand" Reza to your List of signaturies ...
You can keep him ... we don't need your NIAC Affiliated "tears" !
بررسی سخنان شاهزاده رضا پهلوی در دالاس با دکتر جیسون رضا جرجانی_رودست 96
گفتگو با رکسانا گنجی از امضا کنندگان بیانیه "آخرین هشدار به آخرین ولیعهد_رودست 94