#Maryam Rajavi’s Message on the Anniversary of the #1988 Massacre
http://justice.iran-hrm.com/index.php/2017/07/30/maryam-rajavis-message-anniversary-1988-massacre/
On the 29th anniversary of one of the most hideous crimes against humanity since the Second World War, Mrs Maryam Rajavi,
the president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (
NCRI) sent a message urging the UN High Commissioner on human rights to
immediately set up an independent committee to investigate the 1988
massacre and subsequently put those in charge before justice
Fellow
compatriots, 29 years ago on these days, Khomeini, the century’s most
ruthless murderer, launched the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners
affiliated with the PMOI and other dissident groups.
He
sought to uproot the resistance movement in a bid to preserve his own
rule. He wanted to do something that no one would ever again think of
change and of freedom. He found his answer in the hasty annihilation of
the PMOI and all those who persisted on the ideal of freedom.
In
the face of such unprecedented brutality, the PMOI prisoners took pride
in going to the gallows in the thousands. They registered themselves in
the historical conscience of their nation as symbols of dedication and
loyalty to the cause of freedom. And the history of Iran was blessed
with the light and hope of their unwavering resistance.
Throughout
the years, their blood has continued to run in the veins of society,
provoking the spirit of rebellion and protest in the struggle against
the tyrannical clerical regime.
Our
endless salutes to all the prisoners massacred in 1988 who persisted on
their positions against the Velayat-e Faqih under interrogation and
stood up for freedom. Their struggle and resistance has been battering
the regime since then until now.
Khomeini
concealed their names, but they are the most famous men and women of
Iran’s modern history. The regime hid their graves, but they have
remained the most spirited and obvious members of the nation fighting in
the field. Long years pass since they kissed the gallows, but they
continue to sing the crimson anthem of freedom.
My fellow compatriots and courageous youths,
Last
year, on July 28, 2016, the families of martyrs and political prisoners
issued a statement announcing a campaign commemorating the victims of
the 1988 massacre. The movement demanding justice for the victims of the
massacre is now one-year-old. During this period, the campaign
energized by the victims’ sacrifice and our nation’s will to achieve
freedom has time and again shaken up the clerical regime that relies on
massacre.
It
has brought about broad-based knowledge in Iranian society particularly
among the youth about the dreadful crimes committed by the Velayat-e
Faqih regime. It shattered the mullahs’ conspiracy of silence to cover
up the 1988 massacre and compelled the ruling clerics to confess to
their involvement in this crime against humanity.
The
justice seeking movement dealt a heavy setback to Khamenei who had
nominated a death-commission member for presidency. It defeated the
regime in its totality in the elections sham, as the nation embraced the
movement’s slogan of “no to the executioner, no to the charlatan.” The
campaign also resuscitated this case internationally while it had been
silenced by the western governments’ policy of appeasement.
These efforts led to the point where the UN Secretary General noted the 1988 massacre in his annual report this year.
This
year-long campaign proved that the Velayat-e Faqih regime is extremely
vulnerable with regards to the slaughter on which the pillars of its
rule rest. As a result, every effort by the mullahs to incriminate the
PMOI immerses them even further in a quagmire of disgrace.
Since
the outset, when the news of this massacre began to leak out of
prisons, the Iranian Resistance has endeavored to expose this crime on
the international level. In a letter to the UN Secretary General at the
time, Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance, wrote, “The
international community must compel the regime to answer questions about
the identities of all those executed, the date, place and manner of
executions and their place of burial. It must introduce those in charge
and those who carried out this major crime.”
In
the past year, too, supporters of the Iranian Resistance risked their
own lives to collect the previously unannounced names of victims of the
massacre and addresses of their graves, as well as information about
members of the death commissions in the provinces.
I
thank all of them and everyone who joined the justice seeking movement
over the past year. I thank all the youths and students who voiced their
demand for justice for victims of the 1988 massacre at any opportunity,
and the prisoners who supported the movement under the most difficult
circumstances.
Nevertheless,
everything done so far has been only the first step. The Iranian people
and Resistance will not relent until those in charge of the massacre of
political prisoners, namely those who hold the highest positions of
authority in this regime, face justice.
In
the start of the second year of the movement calling for justice, I
urge everyone to help further expand the movement. This is part and
parcel with the Iranian people’s quest for freedom and the overthrow of
the regime in its entirety. Accordingly,
1.
I call on all the courageous youths of this land to stage protests to
compel the regime’s leaders to publish a complete list of names of those
massacred, addresses of their graves, and names of those in charge of
the slaughter.
2.
I call on the families of martyrs and political prisoners to gather at
the gravesides of their martyrs and in this way force the clerical
regime to recognize their trampled right to hold memorial ceremonies for
their heroic children.
3.
I call on my fellow compatriots to actively participate in the national
campaign to collect the information of the martyrs, find their tombs
and expose the mullahs and murderers involved in this crime.
4.
I call on young seminary students and the clergy who have distanced
themselves from the ominous regime of the velayat-e faqih to openly
condemn the massacre and distance themselves from Khomeini and the
inhuman and anti-Islamic velayat-e faqih regime.
5.
I call on parliaments, political parties, human rights organizations,
religious leaders, political and social personalities in various
countries to strongly condemn the massacre of political prisoners in
Iran in an act of solidarity with the Iranian people. They should urge
their governments to make their continued political and commercial
relations with the mullahs’ religious dictatorship contingent on end to
executions and torture in Iran.
6.
I urge the UN High Commissioner on human rights to immediately set up
an independent committee to investigate the 1988 massacre and
subsequently put those in charge before justice. I urge the UN Security
Council to make the arrangements for prosecution of the regime’s leaders
for committing crime against humanity.
All
the major cases of carnage and repression in the past quarter of a
century in Iran are linked to the person of Khamenei and his corrupt
offices. He earned succession to Khomeini by actively participating in
the 1988 massacre, and must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity
before all the other leaders of the regime.
Dear compatriots, the main target of the massacre in 1988 was the PMOI.
Khomeini taught his successors that to preserve power, they must
annihilate the group that persists on its positions. In the past three
decades, Khamenei and his accomplice, have put this lesson into
practice.
In
contrast, the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, as
the democratic alternative to the regime, are the force of victory and
freedom. They will realize their glorious goal by relying on the people
of Iran. On that day, the victims of the 1988 massacre and all the
120,000 martyrs fallen for Iran’s freedom will live in the determination
of Iran’s youths, in 1000 bastions of rebellion, 1000 Ashrafs, and in
the army of freedom. They will thus start a blessed era of freedom,
democracy and equality.
Endless salutes to the shining stars of the Iranian Resistance, the proud martyrs of 1988.
And
hail to the pioneers who have risen to call for justice for the victims
and continue their path and cause on a higher level for Iran’s freedom.
