Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNEWSRESISTANCEMass graves of Iranian political prisoners destroyed by regime, Amnesty International warns

Mass graves of Iranian political prisoners destroyed by regime, Amnesty International warns

Reporting by PMOI/MEK

Iran, October 29, 2020—The clerical regime ruling in Iran is destroying the mass graves of victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, Amnesty International has warned in a recent statement.

 

Referring to the recent report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council, Amnesty International declared: “The international community must ensure that the geographical coordinates and information related to mass graves are identified and documented by a well-organized global procedure.”

“The purpose of these illegal acts is not only to prevent the handover of the remains to the families but also to block the path of litigation and judicial justice for the 1988 victims,” Amnesty International added.

 

“UN Special Procedures have denounced both the reported imprisonment in Iran of people who search for or mention mass graves, and alleged destruction or damaging of mass graves, including by bulldozing

them; hiding them beneath new, individual burial plots; constructing concrete slabs, buildings

or roads over them; and turning mass grave sites into rubbish dumps,” the Special Rapporteur warned in the report.

 

Amnesty International reported on its Telegram channel on October 27:

“Today Agnes Callamard the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, presented a detailed report on mass graves and human rights situations to the UN General Assembly.

 

“In the foreword of her report, the Special Rapporteur calls on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities to protect and care for mass graves and places of mass destruction, and to assist countries and communities with mass graves in this regard.

 

“According to the Special Rapporteur, mass graves are the burial sites of human beings who need to be formally investigated for the legality of the causes and circumstances surrounding their deaths and how their remains are dealt with.

“The Special Rapporteur wrote that the mass graves are crime scenes and contain evidence that most likely points to widespread and atrocious human rights abuses.”

 

Amnesty International added that according to international law, governments have a responsibility to seek and to identify the remains of the missing persons, return the remains to their families, and provide families access to their loved ones' burial places.

“Mass graves generally reflect the fact that the remains of the victims were ill-treated, and the aim of these illegal acts was not only to prevent the return of the remains to the families but also to block the path to litigation and judicial justice,” Amnesty wrote

 

According to the Special Rapporteur, what separates mass graves from other mass burial sites is the attempt to suppress or even erase the identity of the victims after death.

By creating mass graves, responsible actors commit human rights violations in many ways. These include:

 

  • Violation of the right to live and the prohibition of murder and other unlawful killings
  • Violation of the ban on forced disappearance.
  • Violation of the right to be recognized as a person before the law.
  • Violation of the right to personal liberty and security.
  • Violation of the right to protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
  • Violation of rights related to the respectful and humane treatment of the remains of the dead and the prohibition of desecration of the dead.
  • Violation of civil, cultural, and religious rights of bereaved families to mourn and pay their respects and tribute.

The Special Rapporteur emphasized that the governments must not under any circumstances deny the existence of mass graves or to destroy and annihilate them. Those who seek or inform about the location of mass graves should not be harassed, intimidated, threatened, or imprisoned and silenced.

 

The Special Rapporteur also reminded that the future of mass graves and the remains of human beings buried under these graves are of great importance, from personal, family but also from a national and global perspective to millions of people and future generations.

“The international community must ensure that geographic coordination and other information related to the mass graves are identified and documented by a well-organized global procedure,” Amnesty wrote. “Recognition and registration of mass graves are necessary not only to respond empathetically to the deep grief of families but also as one of the necessary collective steps to combat forgetfulness and prevent the recurrence of crime.”

In his report, the Special Rapporteur also mentioned the imprisonment in Iran of people who search for or mention mass graves, and alleged destruction or damaging of mass graves, including by bulldozing them.

 

An ongoing crime

 

Previously on September 12, the internal network of the MEK the destruction of mass grave sites in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, southwest Iran.

 

Regime authorities have reportedly built a boulevard over the gravesite of many executed PMOI/MEK members massacred during the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners-Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, southwest Iran.

Regime authorities have reportedly built a boulevard over the gravesite of many executed PMOI/MEK members massacred during the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners-Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, southwest Iran.

 

Many victims of the 1988 massacre were buried in this site and regime authorities intended to build a boulevard over this area in an obvious attempt to destroy all evidence of its horrendous crime against humanity.

 

In the summer of 1988 over 30,000 political prisoners were executed across Iran based on a fatwa by regime then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. The massacre aimed to annihilate the main opposition movement the MEK. The massacre was carried out by approvement of a Death Committee. Some of the members of the Death Committee are still in power and enjoy immunity. Some of these figures include Ebrahim Raisi, the regime’s judiciary chief, and Alireza Avayi, the current Justice Minister, who were members of the death commissions during the 1988 massacre.

 

These officials are responsible for ongoing human rights violations in Iran, including the murder of 1,500 protesters during the November 2019 protests.

RELATED ARTICLES

Selected

fd88217f-1f1b-4525-92f8-1ec00c750fc9_330
PMOI-MEk1-1

Latest News and Articles

No feed found with the ID 1. Go to the All Feeds page and select an ID from an existing feed.