The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has used the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (June 26) to urge the international community to seek justice for Iranian torture and execution victims, as well as to bring new president Ebrahim Raisi to justice for his role in various crimes against humanity.
On the United Nations-sponsored World Day, the Committee noted that Raisi, who is known as the “henchman of the 1988 massacre” of 30,000 political prisoners, has been involved in some of the worst repression, torture, and murders against women and young people over the past 40 years.
Raisi was made a religious judge shortly after the 1979 revolution that saw the mullahs take power. In 1988, at the behest of regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini, Raisi became a Death Commission member and tried thousands of political prisoners in Tehran during minute-long trials where the vast majority were sent to the gallows. But, the Committee noted, his crimes do not end there. Since his appointment to Judiciary Chief, he notably oversaw the crackdown on the November 2019 uprising, where 1,500 protesters were slain in the streets by security forces and at least 12,000 more were arrested and put under torture.
Of course, these are likely minimum numbers. Iranian academics in America and Britain estimate that the true figures could be as much as three times that when they compared death rates in November and the months before and after, which are 4,200 and 4,900 less than the November rates respectively.
The Committee wrote: “Iranian society’s collective conscience was severely scarred by the summer 1988 massacre and the vicious slaughter of protesters in November 2019.”
Of course, it’s important to look at the torture of female prisoners in Iran, even those who are pregnant, which includes:
- Beating
- Rape
- Amputation
- Eye-gouging
- Burning
- Suspension
- Nail-pulling
- Insertion of sharp and/or hot objects
- Mock executions
Some specific examples include the rape, torture, and murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi, who was arrested for taking photos at a protest, and the physical and sexual torture of Christian convert Mary Mohammadi. More examples are available on the Committee website, but be aware that they are disturbing accounts.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said: “That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran.”
