{"id":29833,"date":"2021-12-02T09:28:41","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T08:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=29833"},"modified":"2021-12-02T09:28:42","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T08:28:42","slug":"silence-continues-in-regards-to-the-1988-massacre-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2021\/12\/silence-continues-in-regards-to-the-1988-massacre-in-iran\/29833\/","title":{"rendered":"Silence Continues in regards to the 1988 Massacre in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pictures
Pictures some martyrs of the 1988 massacre in Iran \u2014 file photo<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since Ebrahim Raisi<\/a> was inaugurated at the Iranian regime\u2019s latest president in August, much of the international community are remaining silent in regards to his long history of appalling human rights abuses, even though the Iranian Resistance have consistently brought attention to his involvement in the 1988 massacre<\/a> in Iran<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 30,000 political prisoners were brutally executed in prisons across the country for refusing to denounce their support of the regime\u2019s opposition, the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>). At the time, former political prisoner Asghar Mehdizadeh<\/a> was halfway through his 13-year sentence for his activism with the Iranian Resistance group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said, \u201cThat affiliation made me a prime target of the \u2018death commissions\u2019 that were in charge of the 1988 massacre<\/a>. It is practically a miracle that I survived, having been detained throughout the course of that massacre in Gohardasht Prison, where Raisi <\/a>wielded much of his authority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following his arrest in 1982, Mehdizadeh witnessed many of his fellow inmates being tortured to death, and was even threatened by officials himself to be killed by firing squad in the absence of a capital punishment ruling years before the massacre took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massacre began following the issue of a fatwa by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, which branded all members of the MEK <\/a>as enemies of God and ordered regime officials to kill them without mercy. Raisi was one of the officials who carried out that order, sitting on a panel of judges who decided the fates of the prisoners who passed through the \u2018Death Commission\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mehdizadeh said<\/a>, \u201cAt the height of the massacre, I personally witnessed 15 groups of between 10 and 15 prisoners being taken to the Gohardasht death hall. When I myself was taken in, I fainted at the sight of a dozen prisoners being hanged simultaneously upon an elevated platform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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