Report: Iran Destroys Mass Graves Of Those Executed In 1988

Report: Iran Destroys Mass Graves Of Those Executed In 1988

30 April 2018

Varsi And Various

Iran is destroying or redeveloping the sites of mass graves holding those executed in a 1988 wartime purge that killed as many as 5,000 people, a report released Monday alleges.

The joint report by the London-based group Justice for Iran and Amnesty International calls new attention to the mass executions carried out nearly 30 years ago, which came at the end of Iran's bloody war with Iraq.

While largely not talked about publicly since then, the executions roiled Iran anew in 2016 with the release of a recording of a top official at the time condemning the killings as "the biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic."

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

"It has not become a part of history yet," Shadi Sadr, executive director of Justice for Iran, told The Associated Press. "As long as those responsible for the crimes are still in power … it's not something that belongs to the past."

Justice for Iran alleges in the report that it has identified over 120 locations in the country it believes were used as mass graves then. The report focuses on seven sites for which the group says it has a reliable testimony, photo and video evidence and satellite imagery.

It says Iranian authorities targeted the sites in areas including Iran's Gilan, East Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Khorasan Razavi and Tehran provinces in different ways.

"The actions include: bulldozing; hiding the mass graves beneath new, individual burial plots; constructing concrete slabs, buildings or roads over the mass graves; and turning the mass grave sites into rubbish dumps," the report says. "In at least three cases, the authorities appear to be planning actions that would further damage the mass graves."

The graves hold those killed in executions that came at the end of Iran's long war with Iraq, which began when Saddam Hussein invaded in 1980. By 1988, 1 million people had been killed in a conflict that featured trench warfare, Iranian human-wave attacks.

In July 1988, Iran's then-ailing supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reluctantly accepted a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that he called "more deadly to me than poison…

Some who appeared were asked to identify themselves. Those who responded "mujahedeen" were sent to their deaths, while others were questioned about their willingness to "clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic," according to a 1990 Amnesty report.

International rights groups estimate as many as 5,000 people were executed, while the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq puts the number at 30,000.

Iran has never fully acknowledged the executions, apparently carried out on Khomeini's orders, though some argue that other top officials were effectively in charge in the months before his 1989 death.

Sadr said evidence that has since come to light, including a posthumously released recording by Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, shows Iran had plans to execute prisoners years in advance.

"It's very important for the families to see some sort of truth and justice after three decades," she said.

U.S. House bill sheds new light on Iran's rights atrocities

The U.S. House of Representatives has adopted the "Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act" with an overwhelming majority of 410 votes in favor and only two votes against. This bipartisan bill considers Iranian regime officials accountable for their role in human rights violations and hostage-takings and takes measures to impose sanctions. This bill also condemns the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members, and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

The bill calls on the U.S. government to place sanctions on Iranian officials involved in a variety of specific measures against the U.S. or Iranian citizens.

Individuals involved in human rights violations, censorship or financial corruption will be sanctioned under this bill. These individuals will be banned from receiving visas, and their belongings and assets will be confiscated.

This bill will most likely not face any obstacles in the Senate and thus be signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump. Under this bill, the President will have a maximum of 270 days to report to Congress on Iranian regime officials involved in human rights violations under this & previous laws.

Another article of this bill accuses Iran of taking U.S. citizens hostage and arbitrarily arresting them. The bill calls on the U.S. Secretary of State to represent a report in a maximum of 120 days on U.S. strategy aimed at preventing Iranian measures in this regard.

Following the 2017/2018 uprising, the U.S. House of Representatives in a near-unanimous vote passed Resolution 676 and expressed their support for the Iranian people's revolt against a repressive regime.

For the first time, the U.S. government has been obliged to evaluate the 1988 massacre in Iran.

This bill also emphasizes all of Iran's human rights violations, anytime and anywhere, will be subject to evaluation.

This bill is passed as the political-social situation in Iran is very hectic. The recent uprising has opened the eyes of many across the globe, sending the message that a majority of Iranians seek this regime's overthrow.

Developments outside of Iran's borders are also rendering increasing isolation for Tehran. With only two weeks left to Trump's May 12th deadline for the Iran nuclear deal, we are witnessing a new velocity in political developments playing against Tehran's interests.

The recent human rights condemnations and sanctions, in line with a very possible return of pre-JCPOA sanctions, and increasing scrutiny over Iran's ballistic missile program and foreign meddling, are making the road ahead very, very difficult for the mullahs' regime.

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