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The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: an Addendum Witness Testimonies and Official Statements

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The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: an Addendum Witness Testimonies and Official Statements The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Published by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation For the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran www.iranrights.org The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum Witness Testimonies and Official Statements The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Drawing by Sudabeh Ardavan, a prisoner in Evin Prison, a composite of various sections of the prison, including the interrogation corridors, the Amuzeshgah, and wards 216 and 325, from her book Memories from Prison. The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements About the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (ABF) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of human rights and democracy in Iran. ABF is an independent organization with no political affiliation. It is named in memory of Dr. Abdorrahman Boroumand, an Iranian lawyer and pro-democracy activist who was assassinated in Paris on 18 April 1991, allegedly by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. ABF believes that promoting human rights awareness through education and the dis semination of information is a necessary prerequisite for the establishment of a stable democracy in Iran. ABF was founded in 2001 by Ladan and Roya Boroumand, the daughters of Dr. Boroumand. In 2009 they were awarded the Lech Walesa Institute Foundation Prize in honor of their work promoting human rights, freedom of expres- sion, and democracy in Iran. ABF is committed to the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in other internationally recognized human rights instruments. ABF seeks to ensure that human rights in Iran are promoted and protected without discrimination. Guided by the belief that impunity and unremedied human rights violations are major obstacles to the establishment of a stable democracy, ABF is committed to the rights of all victims of human rights abuse to justice and public recognition. The work of ABF is enabled through the support of a diverse range of funders, including private foundations in Europe and the U.S. and individual donors. It has re- ceived funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which is funded by the U.S. Congress but is governed by an independent Board of Governors. On the front cover: Photographs of some of the victims of the 1988 massacre, from the Omid memorial on the foundation’s website (www.iranrights.org). The photographs were supplied by families and friends; some were taken from newspapers and others from Internet sites, including Facebook and the sites of various political parties. On the back cover: top, photograph of a gathering on 2 September 2005 commemorating the victims of the 1988 massacre at the gravesites in Khavaran Cemetery, Tehran; below, left to right, a newspaper photograph of a pro-Khomeini demonstration on 23 November 1978, from the Pars News Agency; Khomeini’s fatwa ordering the execution of Mojahedin prisoners; a doll Fatemeh Zare’i, one of the victims, made for her daughter while she was imprisoned; letters and receipts from prison from Shahram Shahbakhshi, a victim of the massacre. Photographs of the Zare’i doll and Shah bakh- shi letters and receipts are from the exhibition Omid ist mein Name, held at the Anne Frank Educa- tional Centre, Frankfurt, in 2012, and are reproduced courtesy of the exhibition curators. Frontispiece: Sudabeh Ardavan’s book Memories from Prison was published in Laholm, Sweden by Trydells Tryckeri AB in 2003; the drawing is reproduced with the artist’s permission. © 2013 Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Contents Acknowledgments • 9 Introduction • 11 Executive Summary, by Geoffrey Robertson • 15 Witness Testimonies Mohammad Reza Ashough • 39 Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi • 209 Hamid Ashtari • 48 Ahmad Najarha • 215 Mehdi Aslani • 51 Mehrdad Neshati Malekians • 225 Monireh Baradaran • 62 Maryam Nuri • 239 Hossein Behbudi • 76 Ebrahim Rastak • 252 Jahangir Esma’ilpur • 92 Mihan Rusta • 260 Manuchehr Esshaqi • 96 Banoo Saberi • 272 Ebrahim Fatemi • 110 Fariba Sabet • 283 Mersedeh Ghaedi • 116 Reza Shemirani • 298 Rahmat Gholami • 122 Shahab Shokoohi • 316 Mehrdad Kavousi • 133 Soraya Zangebari • 330 Hossein Maleki • 144 Seifollah Mani’eh • 159 Fatemeh Zare’i: Three Witnesses Mohammad Reza Matin • 174 Hassan Makaremi • 344 Iraj Mesdaghi • 183 Aziz Zare’i • 351 Rezvan Moghaddam • 198 Chowra Makaremi • 360 Official Statements 1 Imam’s last warning to the conspirators, 17 August 1979 • 46 2 Prosecution of dissident educators and teachers; Islamic education and pardons for Kermanshah Prison inmates, 23 September 1979 • 61 The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Official Statements 3 Message to the Iranian people on the subjects of dealing with strikers, the necessity of a Cultural Revolution, and the role of the press, 22 March 1980 • 74 4 Ten-point statement on freedom of the press and association, 8 April 1981 • 90 5 Hashemi Rafsanjani’s opinion about the MKO and its leaders, 24 April 1981 • 108 6 Government’s position vis-à-vis political groups and parties, 1 May 1981 • 121 7 On the dangerous nature of the MKO and the necessity for the whole people to be [members of] the intelligence organization, 2 July 1981 • 130 8 Those municipal public prosecutors who are lenient toward corruptors [on earth] will be punished themselves, 18 September 1981 • 142 9 Killing rebellious hypocrites is justice par excellence, 25 September 1981 • 158 10 Who is an apostate and what is his sentence in Islam? 19 October 1981 • 172 11 What to do about the political groups who confront the Islamic Republic, 29 November 1981 • 182 12 On dispensing justice in Islam and the spiritual guidance of prisoners, 14 December 1981 • 197 13 Open discussion on issues raised by Evin prisoners, January 1982 • 207 14 Whoever disobeys the government is disobeying the command of God and His messenger, 7 January 1983 • 213 15 On university admission requirements, 3 January 1987 • 223 16 Eligibility requirement for pardons, 27 January 1988 • 251 17 On pardon eligibility requirements for prisoners, 29 January 1988 • 259 18 On confronting the deviant mini-groups and on campaigning against corruption and drug addiction, 13 July 1988 • 271 The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Official Statements 19 Courts to act with greater resolve in confronting mohareb and drug traffickers, 1 September 1988 • 282 20 The danger from the hypocrites has not been completely removed, 23 September 1988 • 297 21 The students’ question and answer session with the president regarding human rights, the difficulties experienced by students, and economic issues, November 1988 • 314 22 Divine government, non-divine or human governments, and due process of law, 20 January 1989 • 328 23 Ayatollah Khomeini’s classified death fatwa against the Mojahedin, 21 August 2004 • 343 Appendices Appendix A Brief Chronology • 367 Appendix B Glossary • 376 Appendix C Political Parties and Religious Denominations Referred to in the Witness Testimonies • 385 Victims who were remembered by name by the witnesses • 395 Group photograph of the witnesses • 398 The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: An Addendum. Witness Testimonies and Official Statements Acknowledgments They volunteered to bear witness to the unspeakable; they were willing to revisit their traumatic memories for the sake of truth and justice; with patience and understanding they submitted to the time constraints of their interviews; they summarized their many years of suffering, sometimes in less than 30 minutes, while every minute of their experience should have been given unlimited time to be recorded. Listening to them tell their stories and working with them was a humbling experience for the editors and the ABF staff. We would like to express our pro found gratitude to all the witnesses whose testimonies made the publi­ cation of this volume possible. We are especially indebted to two of the witness­ es, Monireh Baradaran and Iraj Mesdaghi, both of whom are former political prisoners and survivors of the prison massacre. Since relocating to Europe, Monireh Baradaran and Iraj Mesdaghi not only have published their prison memoirs but also have indefatigably fought against oblivion and for making the truth known. Monireh Baradaran’s numerous interviews with other survivors, published in Persian on the Bidaran website, have enriched the body of evidence pertain­ ing to the 1988 prison massacre. She also helped ABF obtain the authorization to publish in this book the photographs of prisoners’ belongings, writings, and artifacts that come for the most part from a remarkable exhibition, Omid ist mein Name—und der steht für Hoffnung (Omid Is My Name—and It Stands for Hope), held in the Anne Frank Educational Centre in Frankfurt from 10 March to 31 October 2012. ABF is grateful to the organizers of the exhibition for graciously allowing the publication
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