Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Europe, October 13, 2019—On World Day Against the Death Penalty, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held ceremonies in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and commemorated victims of a mass execution of Iranian prisoners.
In 1988, the Iranian regime executed 30,000 political prisoners, most of them MEK members and supporters, in the span of a few weeks. After 31 years, the incident, known as the 1988 massacre, remains an unpunished crime against humanity. Many current regime officials, including Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi and Justice Minister Alireza Avaei, were directly involved in the sentencing and execution of the political prisoners.
In the UK, Iranian communities and MEK supporters set up an exhibition in front of the parliament and displayed pictures of the victims of the 1988 massacre. The exhibition lasted three days, from October 7 to October 10, which marks the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
During the event, jurists, human rights activists and witnesses of the Iranian regime’s crimes delivered speeches and reflected on the importance of holding Tehran to account for its heinous human rights abuses, especially the mass execution of MEK prisoners.
“31 years ago, the mullahs’ regime in Iran decided to commit an atrocious crime, a crime against humanity… All kinds of revelations have reached us to prove that more than 30,000 political prisoners were executed,” said Tahar Boumedra, legal expert and advisory board member of Justice for Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI), an organization that is documenting the 1988 massacre and the role of regime officials in the execution of Iranian political prisoners.
On the World Day against the Death Penalty, I salute the 120,000 champions of #Iran’s freedom slain at the hands of the ruling mullahs #NoDeathPenalty #NoImpunity4Mullahs #1988Massacre https://t.co/vqx2pLytiC pic.twitter.com/HLie2XlGzR
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 10, 2019
Boumedra, who is also the former chief of the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), demanded an end to the impunity of Iranian regime officials and called on the international community to launch an independent probe into the 1988 massacre.
“Here, you see a small example of the brutal crime the mullahs committed in 1988,” said Hamidreza Taherzadeh, member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). “The regime aimed to annihilate every political prisoner who supported the MEK, including those who had already been sentenced to prison in court and many who had finished their sentence.”
“We have gathered here today, on the World Day Against the Death Penalty, to draw attention to the 1988 massacre,” said Rana Rahmanifard, representative of Iranian communities in London. “We demand the United Nations put an end to executions in Iran and investigate the 1988 massacre to bring its perpetrators and orchestrators to justice.”
“Even though many years have gone by, we will neither forget nor forgive,” said Reza Fallah, former Iranian political prisoner and one of the witnesses of the 1988 massacre.
Netherlands-supporters of MEK and the Iranian Resistance hold ceremony in front of the Dutch parliament in The Hague in memory of victims of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 Iranian political prisoners
In the Netherlands, supporters of MEK and the Iranian Resistance held a ceremony in front of the Dutch parliament in The Hague. They too held an exhibition and portrayed the Iranian regime’s brutal crimes against political prisoners and its systematic use of execution as a tool to suppress dissent and consolidate its power.
The organizers paid homage to the victims of the 1988 massacre and demanded that the perpetrators of this crime against humanity be brought to justice. The exhibition featured names and pictures of thousands of MEK members executed by the regime.
#MEK supporters in the Netherlands underlined that the Iran's regime has massacred 120,000 people during past 40 years of its rule, including the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988.#1988Massacre #NoDeathPenalty #WeSupportMEK@UN_HRC @UNWatch pic.twitter.com/VsswWAnVQ5
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) October 13, 2019
In his speech, Hadi Mozafari, one of the organizers of the event, described the Iranian regime’s abysmal human rights record, especially its current president Hassan Rouhani, whose government has executed more than 3,800 people. Mozafari condemned the appeasement policy toward Iran’s regime and said, “The people of Iran know well that the only solution for Iran and the Middle East is the overthrow of this regime.”
The participants in the event demanded that Iranian regime officials be tried in international tribunals for their crimes against humanity.
