My Pre-eminent Father, His Eminence the Imam;
With greetings, [Chief Justice] Ayatollah Moussavi Ardebili telephoned to raise three Ambiguities about Your Eminence’s recent Decree on the Monafeqin [Mojahedin]:
1. Does the decree apply to those who have been in prison, have already been tried and sentenced to death, have not changed their stance, but the verdict has not yet been carried out, or it also applies to those who have not yet been tried? Are they also condemned to death?
2. Those Monafeqin [Mojahedin] prisoners
Who have received limited jail terms, and have already served part of their terms, but continue to hold fast to their stance in support of the Monafeqin [Mojahedin]; are they also condemned to death?
3. As for reviewing the status of the Monafeqin [Mojahedin] prisoners, for provinces with independent judicial systems that do not depend on the central authority, is it necessary to refer the cases to the province’s capital or they can act independently? Your son, Ahmad
Khomeini’s reply:
In the name of God, the Most High In all the above cases, if the person at any stage or at any time maintains his [or her] support for the Monafeqin [Mojahedin], the sentence is execution. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately. As for review of the cases do whatever that speeds up the implementation of the verdict.
Rouhollah Moussavi Khomeini
I subsequently wrote to Ayatollah Moussavi Ardebili, then head of the Supreme Court: “Were it not your judges who condemned these prisoners to five or ten years in jail? Were you not responsible? So how is it that you telephone Haj Ahmad and ask him should we execute them in Kashan or in Isfahan? You should have gone to the Imam and told him that if someone has been in jail for some time and has been sentenced to five years, and had no news of Monafeqin’s [Mojahedin] operation, how can we execute him? They have not committed any new crime for which we could try them.”
Finally, they executed 2,800 or 3,800 women and men in the country (I doubt which figure is right). Even those who were saying their prayers and fasting were summoned and told to repent. The prisoner would find this offensive and would refuse. Then they would say, so you are steadfast in your position, and would have him executed.
One of the judicial officials in Qom came to see me and complained about the head of the Intelligence Department in Qom. He said: The man says let us kill them off as quickly as we can and get rid of them. The judicial official would complain and say: Let us at least look at the file and review the sentence, but the intelligence official would reply: The Imam has issued the verdict; all we have to do is to ascertain that the prisoner is holding fast to his views [Supporting the Mojahedin]. The judicial official told me that they would ask prisoners: Are you still holding to your views? To which the prisoners would respond yes, unaware of the consequences. Then they take them immediately for execution.
I finally felt that this was not the correct way of doing things and decided to write a letter to the Imam… I sat down and wrote the following letter:
