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The Iran Tribunal on the Abuse and Mass Killings of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1981-1988

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The Iran Tribunal on the Abuse and Mass Killings of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1981-1988 The Iran Tribunal On the Abuse and Mass Killings of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1981-1988 Findings of the Truth Commission, Held 18th-22nd June, 2012 Iran Tribunal Publication 2013 The Iran Tribunal On the Abuse and Mass Killings of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1981-1988 Findings of the Truth Commission, Held 18th-22nd June, 2012 ISBN 978-91-637-1749-7 Cower design: by Jamshid Golmkani First edition 2012 Second edition2013 Iran Tribunal Publication P.O.Box 95 123 22 Farsta Sweden [email protected] www.irantribunal.com Iran Tribunal International People’s Tribunal Finding of the Truth Commission Preface to the Report on the Findings of the Truth Commission of the Iran Tribunal In the 1980s the Islamic Republic of Iran went about arresting, imprisoning, torturing and executing thousands upon thousands of Iranian citizens because their beliefs and political engagements confl icted with that of the regime. The religious fervour of these crimes makes them ever more shocking: for instance, a woman’s rape was frequently the last act that preceded her execution in Iran, as under the “Sharia” law guidelines, the execution of a virgin fe- male is non-permissible. This process culminated with Khomeini’s “Fatwa” (Islamic De- cree), in July 1988, whereupon the mass execution of Iran’s politi- cal prisoners was implemented and within two months, between August and September of that year, thousands of political prisoners were executed. They were asked a few questions by what became infamously known as the “Death Commission” and were later sen- tenced to death. There are no exact fi gures of the number of victims due to the sup- pressive political climate and severe censorship in Iran. Neverthe- less, to this day, there are around 5,000 known names of victims which have been documented by the families, political parties and human rights organizations. A large number of executed political prisoners had already served their sentences. It is believed that around 20,000 dissidents executed and disappeared between 1981 and 1988. The victims’ bodies were buried in undisclosed mass graves. To this day, many families do not know where their loved ones are buried. The Islamic Republic of Iran refuses to give any information about where the graves are located, but a number of graves have been discovered by the families. This diffi culty is symptomatic of the effects this atrocity had on the families of those directly victim- ised by the massacre. Wives, mothers, sisters, husbands, brothers, daughters and sons of victims have suffered extended psychologi- cal and emotional damage. The Islamic Republic of Iran had prepared itself to carry out the mass executions of summer of 1988 earlier in December 1987. In the early days of December 1987 the political prisoners had gone through a new phase of interrogations and had been “categorized” by their ideology, belief and their stance with regards to the Islamic Republic rule. The prisoners were asked a few questions; such as if they were still devoted to their political organization, whether they would be prepared to be interviewed and renounce their ideology, or as decreed by Khomeini, if they would “repent”. According to the answers, the prisoners were “categorized” upon their prison sentences and segregated by either “leftist” or “religious” ideolo- gies in January 1988. The Iran Tribunal Campaign is a social movement which was ini- tiated by a group of individuals composed of the families of the victims of Iran’s political prisoners, former Iranian political pris- oners, the survivors of mass executions in the 1980s, political and labour activists, women’s rights activists, lawyers, students, chil- dren’s rights activists, writers, artists and human right activists, who have been holding regular meetings since October 2007 in order to assess the possibility of setting up a “Truth Commission” and a “People’s Court”. The aim of this campaign is to investigate the mass executions and massacre of Iran’s political prisoners during the 1980s and to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable for its crimes against humanity. The proceeding has a clear historical precedent and has been in- spired by the tribunal set up by Bertrand Russell and Jean Paul Sartre in their 1965-1967 world campaign against the American atrocities in the Vietnam War. However, although “Iran Tribunal” maintains the same responsibilities, it faces a more diffi cult and challenging task in comparison to “Russell Tribunal”. How can such atrocities be prevented? The procedures of a trial for the out- come of “Truth Commission” hearings are impossible to imple- ment. We do not represent any state power, nor can we compel the perpetrators responsible for crimes against the people of Iran to stand accused before us. We believe that these apparent limi- tations are, in fact, virtues. We are free to conduct a solemn and historic investigation, unrestricted by the confi nes of any state or other such obligations. Towards the end of 2010, campaigners succeeded in establishing a steering committee in order to form a “People´s Court” to “adju- dicate” the Islamic Republic of Iran for the crimes it had commit- ted during the 1980s. After months of deliberations, the steering committee decided to organise the proceedings in two parts. The fi rst part, i.e. the “Truth Commission” session has already taken place. The second part, i.e. the “Tribunal” which is composed of international judges, will be holding its sessions between 25 and 27 October in The Hague. The proceedings of the “Truth Commission” took place in London at Amnesty International’s Human Rights Action Centre between 18 and 22 June 2012. A report has been produced on the fi ndings of the Truth Commis- sion, documenting the statements from the witnesses and themati- cally describing the captivity of the prisoners and their executions, as well as the effects on the broader victims of the massacre and compiling a list of the perpetrators. The report explains how civilians were violently taken from their homes or from the streets on vague or non-existent charges, and imprisoned for extended periods without any pretence of a trial. Prisoners were held under inhuman conditions. They were beaten, physically tortured in a number of gruesome ways to within an inch of their lives, and psychologically tortured. None of them were given a fair or conventional trial. According to international penal laws, a crime against humanity is defi ned as part of a systematic or widespread onslaught against civilians. Widespread means that the violation is of “massive”, fre- quent and large scale nature carried out collectively with consider- able violence and directed against a multitude of people. A sys- tematic attack is also a qualitative term, pointing to the organized nature of the act of violence and the improbability of its random occurrence. The 1988 killings were certainly widespread and part of a com- prehensive organized crime that began in June 1981 with the mass executions and lasted until September 1988; when the infamous massacre took place. They were geographically spread across the country and the number of victims is estimated to be 20,000, al- though the exact fi gure is open to debate. And the killings were carried out in a systematic manner. Whether or not this campaign manages to put the perpetrators to justice in anyway, the Iran Tribunal is achieving something mo- mentous. It has provided families of the victims and survivors of these atrocities a chance to speak out about their suffering, to fi nd some fragment of justice seeking and peace from the pain that is still with them. The Iran Tribunal On the Abuse and Mass Killings of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1981-1988 Findings of the Truth Commission Held 18th-22nd June, 2012 30th July 2012 CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION A. Introduction 2 B. The Proceedings 3 C. The Mandate of the Truth Commission 4 D. Background 5 E. The Commission’s Findings 9 i. General Observations ii. Procedure iii. Structure of this Report PART B: FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION CHAPTER I: CAPTIVITY 13 1.1 Arrests 13 1.1.1 Sudden Disappearances 13 1.1.2 House Raids 13 1.1.3 Set-ups 14 1.1.4 Warrants and Formal Documents 14 Evidencing Authority to Arrest 1.1.5 Dates of the Arrests 15 1.2 Detention 15 1.2.1 Length of Detention 15 1.2.2 Location of Detention 15 1.2.3 Interrogations 16 1.2.4 Physical Torture 17 1.2.5 Psychological Torture 21 1.2.6 Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment 23 1.3 Trial 26 1.3.1 Location of Courtroom 26 1.3.2 Description of Proceedings 26 1.4 Imprisonment 29 1.4.1 Continuation of Torture 29 1.4.2 Sexual Abuse 29 1.4.3 Repenters and Collaborators 30 1.5 Release 31 1.5.1 Conditions of Release 31 CHAPTER II: EXECUTIONS 32 2.1 Pre-1988 Executions 32 2.2 The 1988 Massacres 30 2.2.4 The Death Commissions 30 2.3 Other Killings 34 2.3.1 The Jahrom Massacre 34 2.3.2 The Rasht Prison Fire 35 2.3.3 Massacres in Kurdistan 35 CHAPTER III: PRISONS 36 3.1 Overview 36 3.2 Major Prisons 37 3.2.1 Adel Abad Prison 37 3.2.2 Evin Prison 38 3.2.3 Ghezelhesar Prison 38 3.2.4 Gohardasht Prison 38 3.2.5 Tabriz Prison 38 3.2.6 Urumiyyeh Prison 38 3.2.7 Vakilabad Prison 39 3.2.8 Other Major Prisons 39 3.3 Lesser Prisons 39 3.4 Detention Centres 40 3.5 Unoffi cial and Overfl ow Facilities 41 3.6 Corruption in Prisons 35 CHAPTER IV: VICTIMS 43 4.1 Women 43 4.2 Minors 43 4.2.1 Minors Imprisoned with Their Parents 43 4.2.2 Minors as Political Prisoners 44 4.2.3 Execution of Minors 44 4.3 Legacies of Abuse 45 4.3.1 Physical Suffering 45 4.3.2 Psychological Suffering 45 4.4 Suicides 46 4.5 Political Groupings 46 CHAPTER V: FAMILIES 48 5.1 Brutality Towards Families 48 5.2 Visitation Rights in Prison 48 5.3 Notifi cation of Death 49 5.4 Burial and Mourning Rights 50 5.5 Suffering of Families 51 CHAPTER VI: THE PERPETRATORS 53 6.1 Judges 53 6.2 Prison Offi cials 55 6.3 Prosecutors 58 6.4 Torturers and Interrogators 59 6.5 Other Death Commission Members 59 6.6 Miscellaneous Figures 60 PART C: CONCLUSIONS I.
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