My name is Heydar Yousefli, a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). I was arrested twice and was sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison.
During the massacre of political prisoners, the situation was totally different, in my opinion, than the circumstances before the 1988 massacre.
And the difference, in my view, was that the 30,000 people who were hanged in the summer of 1988 were all tried in show trials on the basis of the reactionary and suppressive laws of the Khomeini regime. They were sentenced to various prison terms. Some of them were executed.
A large number of them had received various sentences. Some of these prisoners were even arrested during the political phase, but since they had refused to commit to avoiding political activities after their potential release, they were kept in prison.
After the regime opened fire on protesters and started arrests and torture of the people, these prisoners were tried and sentenced.
See the full text at “Eyewitness Accounts.”
