Theo van Boven, Director of the UN Division of Human Rights (1977-1982) and UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2001-2004), addressed at the International Conference on the 1988 Massacre, attended by 1,000 Former Political Prisoners — 27 August 2021.

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak as a former official of the United Nations and someone made an earlier commitment to the course we are all defending. I feel … to joining this panel, that discusses the events of July to September 1988, concerning enforced disappearances of several thousand political dissidents in the Evin and other prisons near Tehran.

These terrifying criminal events calling our hearts and minds to what is stated in the preamble of the Rome, statute of the international criminal court, and I quote, “mindful that during this century millions of children, women, and men has been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shocked, the conscience of humanity and determined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus contribute to the prevention of such crimes”

Let me know elaborate briefly on the right to truth. For the purpose of this panel, it appears highly pertinent to recall the inalienable right to the truth has the right to know the truth about past events, concerning the perpetration of heinous crimes and the circumstances and reasons that led through massive and systematic violations through the perpetration of those crimes.

Full and effective exercise of the right to truth provides a vital safeguard against recurrence of violations. I can now to the recent taking office of the president of Iran, the current president of Iran Ebrahim Raisi at the lengthy career in Judiciary of his country, between 1981 and 88. He was the first prosecutor of Hamadan and then the deputy prosecutor and the prosecutor of Tehran, moving to become prosecutor general and head of the judiciary.

By holding these functions and exercising authority, large scale killings occurred, across Iran, among these, 1988 massacre of many thousands of political prisoners, putting into serious question, the road, and the accountability of Ebrahim Raisi.

And therefor the most important for this panel, we have thus to call for an independent inquiry, preferably under the United Nations auspices into the massacre of 1988 with due regard for the law, and most pertinent, the accountability of Ebrahim Raisi.

I thank you for your attention.