{"id":75997,"date":"2025-07-10T10:08:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T08:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=75997"},"modified":"2025-07-10T10:08:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T08:08:32","slug":"irans-state-media-calls-for-repeat-of-1988-massacre-jvmi-demands-urgent-un-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/human-rights\/2025\/07\/irans-state-media-calls-for-repeat-of-1988-massacre-jvmi-demands-urgent-un-response\/75997\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s State Media Calls for Repeat of 1988 Massacre; JVMI Demands Urgent UN Response"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Iranian Regime\u2019s State Media Calls for Repetition of 1988 Massacre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI<\/a>) has issued a strong condemnation<\/a> of an editorial published on July 7, 2025, by Fars News Agency, a state-linked outlet associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC<\/a>). The editorial openly advocates for the repetition of the mass executions that took place in the summer of 1988<\/a>, describing those extrajudicial killings of thousands of political prisoners as a \u201csuccessful historical experience.\u201d It explicitly calls for similar punitive measures to be applied to current detainees and opposition figures.<\/p>\n

The article not only attempts to justify and glorify these crimes against humanity but also amounts to incitement to commit future atrocity crimes. By framing political opponents as threats to national security, the editorial seeks to normalize extrajudicial killings and echoes a broader state strategy of dehumanizing and criminalizing dissent.<\/p>\n

The publication of such content by an IRGC-affiliated media outlet\u2014an organization internationally sanctioned for serious human rights violations\u2014highlights the imminent risk of recurrence of mass atrocity crimes in Iran.<\/p>\n

This threat emerges amidst ongoing brutal repression by Iranian authorities, including arbitrary detention, unfair trials, forced confessions, solitary confinement, and torture of political prisoners, dissidents, and minority activists. JVMI has documented multiple patterns of persecution reminiscent of the conditions preceding the 1988 massacre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

JVMI recalls the landmark 2024 report<\/a> by the former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Professor Javaid Rehman<\/a>, which characterized the 1988 killings as crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, persecution, and other inhumane acts. The report provided significant evidence suggesting the killings were carried out with genocidal intent and called for international accountability. It also noted a culture of impunity that has enabled continued gross human rights violations, such as recent unlawful executions of protesters and prisoners of conscience.<\/p>\n

The latest editorial by Fars News represents a clear incitement to violence and serves as a warning that Iranian authorities or affiliated institutions may be preparing or attempting to justify a renewed campaign of mass executions.<\/p>\n

JVMI condemns this incitement in the strongest terms and calls on the UN human rights system\u2014including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the current Special Rapporteur on Iran Dr. Mai Sato, and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (FFMI)\u2014to take urgent and decisive action. The international community must not remain silent in the face of such blatant threats to repeat crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

JVMI urges the following measures:<\/p>\n