Iranian Government Under Siege After Latest Report on 1988 Executions

In 1988, the Iranian regime used its power in an attempt to silence the opposition known as the PMOI/MEK. The opposition was standing up to the regime and calling for change. In response, the Supreme Leader issued a fatwa that resulted in thousands being executed for their membership or support of the PMOI/MEK. The plan was to silence this group and any resistance to the regime along with them.

Years later, Amnesty International released a report that demonstrates how far the regime was willing to go to cover up this crime against humanity. According to the report, over the past three decades, the Iranian government as systematically tried to deny the killings or place the blame on rogue groups that followed through with the executions without approval from the Iranian government.

Video Clip Demonstrates Iranian Avoidance

As part of their efforts to conceal this crime, even the highest members of the Iranian government in 1988 refused to discuss or acknowledge that it had occurred. Meanwhile, Amnesty International and other groups were trying to draw international attention to the killings while they were still taking place.

“(1988 Iranian Prime Minister) Mir Hossein Mousavi’s interview with the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, ORF, shows that, in late 1988, he unashamedly propagated the same false narrative, used by other Iranian authorities for decades, to hide the truth that they had forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed at least 5,000 political dissidents as part of a systematic efforts to eliminate political opposition,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

ORF made the video clip public after a public debate was ignited regarding the extent that the Iranian government was aware of the executions.

Testimony and Eyewitnesses Demonstrate Massacre Happened

The mass executions did not just target the PMOI/MEK members, but also hundreds affiliated with leftist and Kurdish opposition groups. Testimony from survivors confirm the interrogations took place over the summer. Families have spoken out about loved ones that disappeared that summer.

While the Iranian government now claims it was part of a crackdown on dissidents, it is clear that the regime committed a reprehensible crime against humanity. The UN and other groups have repeated drawn attention to this massacre, in hopes of holding the members of the Iranian government that were involved to account.

Currently, there are multiple officials that are part of the Iranian government who served as part of the machinery that allowed these executions to take place.