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Iran’s leaders ‘are responsible’ for executing 30,000 political prisoners

A survivor of the 1988 massacre says he is ready to testify before the UN about the role of Iran’s leaders in the extrajudicial killings

By Mostafa Naderi
Iran’s leaders ‘are responsible’ for executing 30,000 political prisoners
Remembrance of the 30,000 victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran. 4 October 2019, London | Matthew Chattle/Alamy Live News. All rights reserved
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I was only 17 in the autumn of 1981 when I was arrested in Tehran for supporting and selling the publication of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a political organisation opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I spent almost 11 years in Ayatollah Khomeini’s prisons in Evin, Ghezel Hesar and Gohardasht until I was finally released in the spring of 1992. During my time in prison I faced torture and mock executions. I was kept in solitary confinement for five years. But my most daunting experience was witnessing the infamous 1988 massacre.

On 19 July 1988, Khomeini, supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, charging all political prisoners affiliated to the MEK with “waging war against God” and ordering the execution of all those who refused to renounce the group.

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