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Women’s Forum Against
Fundamentalism in
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September
1, 2004
Public
Statement
The 16th Anniversary of the
Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran
Boston, MA – September 2004 marks the 16th
anniversary of the mass executions of political prisoners in Iran. Thousands of people, including
several hundreds of women, were executed in accordance with Khomeini‘s
religious edict. The Financial Times of August 17, 1988 reported: “Iran has resorted to mass executions of political
prisoners, possibly intended to forestall or divert attacks on the Government…”
The edict was issued in July of 1988 targeting mainly one Iranian opposition
group, the Mojahedin, but the bloodshed continued until September of 1988.
In March 1989, Le Monde reported:
“…Khomeini summoned the Revolutionary Prosecutor, Hojjatol-Islam
Khoeiniha, to instruct him that henceforth all
Mojahedin, those in prisons or elsewhere, must be killed for waging war on God.
The executions followed summary trials. The trial consisted of various means of
pressuring the prisoners to repent, to change their ways and confess. Cases of
young Mojahedin who were executed included some who were jailed about eight
years earlier, when they were 12 to 14 years old, for taking part in public
demonstrations.” Sixteen years after this massacre, the families of the victims
have not been able to locate the graves of their loved ones.
The government of Iran has kept anything related to this
horrifying event secret and has not released any reports of the details of this
massacre. What took place in 1988 and what is carried on in the Iranian prisons
today are in gross violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to
which Iran is a signatory.
Amnesty
International has declared September 1st the International Day in
Remembrance of the Massacre of Political Prisoners. The 1988 massacre of
political prisoners in Iran is a
crime against humanity but it is important to recognize the gross human rights violations in Iran did not end in 1988. The
Iranian leaders such as Khameini, Khatami and
Rafsanjani are the masterminds of such heinous crimes and should be punished
according to international laws.
Women’s
Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran calls
upon the governments of the world, particularly the Europeans, to cut all their
ties with the criminal regime of Tehran. We call
upon the international community to launch a full investigation into the
massacre of 1988 and establish a tribunal to bring these criminals to justice.
###
WFAFI
P.O.Box 15205, Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617) 590-1665
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