Victims’ Families[1]: Searching for Truth & Justice[2]

Following several peaceful demonstrations between June 15 to June 21 in 1981, led by some opposition organizations and supporters of Aboul-Hassan Banisadr (Iran’s first elected president, who was dismissed from his position on June 21, 1981 by the hardliners), the IRI started massive organized attacks against opposition parties, trade unions, women’s’ and students’ groups, and even professional associations (Bar Association, Writers Association, etc.). Tens of thousands of political and social activists were arbitrarily arrested. They disappeared for months and, in many cases, for years[3].

Soon after the all-out repression and the reign of terror, the families of political prisoners and the disappeared gathered in front of the detention centers, prisons, and judiciary buildings to obtain information about their loved ones. They learned through hard experience that if and when the authorities admitted the arrests and revealed the location of prisoners, it would become more difficult for them to kill the detainees. Thus, despite all the threats and assaults by the prison authorities, they continued to show up in front of the detention centers demanding answers to their questions and whereabouts of the prisoners.

The gatherings of the victims’ families became a venue to exchange information they acquired at their visitations with their loved ones and/or from other sources. It also became a place for them to pour out worries about the fate of their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, espouses.[4] common pains and concerns drew the families closer together.

In the beginning of the 80s, families’ efforts were mostly limited to personal initiatives, as any collective actions or initiatives were severely punished.[5]

Apart from detainees released from prison, families were one of the main sources of information about prison conditions. Prisoners secretly transferred information to them about torture, executions, their medical needs, food conditions, beatings by the prison guards and their resistance inside prisons. The families in turn spread the information to the outside world[6]. This was a very dangerous undertaking, both for the families and prisoners.

Through-out the years 1981- 1982, dozens of political activists were executed on a daily basis without due process [7]. In most cases, the dead bodies of the victims were not returned to their families. The victims, if Muslim, were buried in official cemeteries, but nonbelievers, including leftists, were deprived of the right to be buried in Muslim or other official cemeteries (there are no secular cemeteries in Iran).[8] Authorities allotted a piece of land in the vicinity of Tehran, on the Khavaran Road, for the burial of left leaning victims in individual or mass graves. They named this cemetery La’nat Abaad (doomed land), but the families named it “Golzar Khavaran” (Khavaran garden) or “Golestan Khavaran” (Khavaran Cemetery).[9] In many cases, the burial location of the victims in Khavaran were not released to the families.

Victims’ families were not allowed to put gravestones or plant trees and flowers on individual or mass graves.[10] IRI forces maintained a continuous presence in Khavaran, and other cemeteries around the country to prevent any memorial ceremonies from taking place. The commemoration ceremonies were another opportunity for the victims’ family to share their pain, reminisces their loved ones, talk about the injustices they had suffered, and make other people aware of the atrocities.

IRI authorities used every possible means to prevent the families from holding these commemoration services in cemeteries, other public spaces such as mosques, or (in most cases) in their residences. Families were assaulted, beaten, insulted and even (on many occasions) arrested by the authorities to prevent these commemorations. The families, however, have not yield to the pressure and, to this day, continue to hold public commemorations and maintain a presence at the burial locations of the victims in Khavaran[11] .

The regime’s pressure on the families of prisoners of conscience was also a means to spread fear in the society at large. The security forces and plain cloth agents were systematically harassing them, sometimes forcing their neighbors spy on them. Any cooperation or display of sympathy with political opponents and their families was considered an act of subversion against the State and had harsh consequences. The regime’s plan was to isolate the victims’ families. This worked to a certain extent as most people during that period were hesitant to maintain relationships with ''counter revolutionaries''[12].

After the regime dealt heavy blows to the secular opposition in 1981 and early 1982 and found itself in the position of strength, the impromptu state of siege was ceased, and the rate of executions decreased[13]. In view of these new circumstances, families of political prisoners started to act collectively.[14] They went to the governmental offices to ask for prisoners’ rights and reasons behind their continued detention. They also asked the Red Cross office and UN offices in Tehran to exert pressure on the IRI to cease the mayhem.[15]

In September 1987 Javier Perez de Cuellar, the then United Nations Secretary-General, came to Tehran to negotiate a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq war. Families of political prisoners, several hundreds of them in fact, planned to go en masse to the headquarters of the UN in Tehran to submit their petitions with the hope that the Secretary General would address the issue of gross human rights violations in Iran in his meetings with the IRI’s officials. But the authorities blocked all access to the UN headquarters and prevented them from meeting him and handing over their petitions. One such petition stated:

The authorities are reacting aggressively to any logical request by the prisoners by cancelling their visits, transferring them to solitary confinement, cancellation of basic needs … they do not hesitate to arrest or put pressure on the families when they protest against the cancellation of visits.[16]

The families’ concern became elevated when the regime cancelled all prison visitations through-out the country[17] the same time that two events occurred: the acceptance of the UN Resolution 598 on July 18 and the ensued cease-fire on August 20, 1988; and a few days military excursion by an opposition force in the west of Iran soon after the acceptance of the UN Resolution. Families being in the dark about the fate of their loved ones, went collectively and individually to governmental offices to enquire and ask for information about them.[18] It was at this conjuncture that a movement came into being. A movement that was later called the ‘Mothers of Khavaran’. A movement primarily composed of women who through their collective action and perseverance discovered the truth and later revealed that more than 4000 of their loved ones were executed in less than six weeks and buried in mass graves in Khavaran and other known and unknown cemetery around the country.

Families smuggled the news to the Iranians in exile in the hope that it would be diffused by the international news agencies, mobilize human rights activists and sensitise public opinion around the globe to save the lives of Iranian political prisoners. In an open letter to Javier Perez de Cuellar, families asked his highness to use his good office and “compel the Islamic Republic to 1) stop the execution of prisoners; 2) re-establish the visitations and contact of prisoners with their families and 3) free those prisoners who have finished their prison terms but were still in prison because they refused to do a televised or other type of public recantation”.[19]

At the end of November 1988, the regime, un-officially informed the families about the execution of their loved ones. The families transmitted the news of the great prison massacre to the outside world. Iranians in exile who had tried to save the lives of political prisoners were jolted by the news. They held hunger strikes, sit-ins, and rallies as well as other protests actions all around the world. Human rights advocacy organizations issued strong statements of condemnation against this atrocity. The fearless activities and endeavours of the families of victims and the prompt reaction by Iranians in exile defeated the IRI policy of concealing the Great Massacre. However, the massacre was overshadowed by IRI's acceptance of UN resolution 598 and the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq. The UN was unwilling to take up the issue of the massacre because of the concern that it might put the tentative peace in danger.

In Tehran, the families of the left leaning prisoners went to Khavaran cemetery, where the ''infidels'' had been buried since 1981. It was during one of their visits in the summer of 1988 that the first mass grave was discovered. Two other mass graves were uncovered in late December of 1988 due to flooding.

The bereaved families were adamant and insisted on their right to hold commemoration services in their residence and go together to Khavaran Cemetery each Friday morning, despite continuous pressure from security forces. Mother Riahi, one of the well-known Mothers of Khavaran, on the occasion of one of her arrests, recalls her answer to the interrogators on commemorations and gatherings at Khavaran Cemetery:

He said: “We’re not telling you not to hold a memorial and we’re not saying don’t go to the graveside. But why do you have to go there together? Why in groups?”

I said: “We got acquainted with each other through you [guys]. You grouped us together. Eight years of going to prison to visit our kids, got us acquainted; it’s one year now since you’ve killed our kids. Acquainted, yes indeed.”[20]

The massacre inflicted an immense shock on the families. Their immense pain and grief made them determined to struggle to find out the truth and make the State accountable for the crime that was committed in the summer and fall of 1988. The families went to the authorities, individually and collectively. Their requests were mostly about justice and the right to know when, where, and why their loved one were executed and where they were buried.[21] They also asked for the last wills and testaments of their sons and daughters, husbands and fathers. Their requests were reasonable and justifiable, and for this very reason the security agents and interrogators could not say much into their face.[22] In spite of this, the authorities never gave any answer or information to the families.

Some of the families of leftist victims were involved with “The Association for Defence of Political Prisoners (in Iran)”. The association published an underground newsletter under the name of “cry for emancipation”. The activities of the association continued until the early 1990s when several of its activists were arrested. In January 1989, the association published the first list of the victims of the Great Prison Massacre of 1988 and clandestinely sent it out of the country for publication.

In December 26, 1988, hundreds of families gathered in front of the judiciary palace to meet with Dr. Hassan Habibi, then Minister of Justice, to submit their formal grievances. The police and security forces savagely attacked the gathering and dozens of families were beaten and arrested. As such the families were not able to submit their grievances. Later on the grievance was published outside of Iran. At the end of this grievance they put forward their requests for the date, location and cause of executions, their burial locations and last wills and testaments. They also stipulated:

1) Because this atrocity clearly violates the IRI Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we accuse those responsible of committing this terrible tragedy and request their arrest and trial at a public tribunal.

2) We request that the Islamic Republic accept the visit by an international envoy to investigate prison conditions and meet with the families of the political prisoners and the victims of the recent tragedy. [23]

On the occasion of the Persian New Year day (March 21, 1989), hundreds of bereaved families gathered in Khavaran Cemetery. They then declared “ten days of commemoration for the martyrs of the national tragedy of 1988” starting from August 27, 1989 to September 6, 1989 and that Friday September 1 would be the commemoration day in Khavaran Cemetery. Huge numbers of the families and their associates showed up on that very Friday in Khavaran.[24] Since then, the closest Friday to the 10th of Shahrivar (September 1st), the bereaved families go to Khavaran for a memorial of the Great Massacre in the summer of 1988.

Since that time, the families have used every opportunity to demonstrate their grievances and protest against the massacres of the 80s. For instance, in July 1990, when Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights came to Iran, the families gathered in front of the UN office in Tehran to meet with him and to present their petition[25]. The mothers, sisters, daughters and spouses who participated in this action were attacked and beaten by the security forces and prevented from meeting with the UN special representative.[26] Despite the restrictions imposed during his second visit in October 1989, few families were able to meet with Reynaldo Galindo Pohl and him with some information about the executed prisoners and the harassments they were subject to at the hand of the State [27]. It is important to note that the authorities restricted the movements of the special representative and did not grant him permission to visit the Khavaran cemetery [28].

The regime has never admitted that there are mass graves in Khavaran, where the victims of the massacre of 1988 are buried. In fact, the officials at the Ministry of Intelligence told the bereaved families that the victims of the 1988 massacre were not buried in Khavaran.[29] It was clear that Khavaran cemetery had become a troubling issue for the regime. As Mother Lotfi said, “They want to erase the evidence of the executions and killings. They want to leave no trace of the ditches, so people won’t realize that the mass graves are here”[30].

But the victims’ families challenged the policy of denial with their persistence and continuous presence in Khavaran. Mother Lotfi continued:

Every year [on the anniversary of the 1988 massacre] we make sweets and take them to Khavaran. We cover the graves with flowers. Often, they came and harassed us. They smashed our windshields, the rear windows of our cars. They beat up the mothers and kicked them out of the cemetery.[31]

Yet the families showed that they were determined to defend their rights and seek justice despite the fact that the vast majority of the Iranian people were not aware of what had happened in the prisons and a tiny minority who had heard about the tragedy was afraid to show any sympathy towards the families.

The situation changed gradually after the presidential election of 1997. People became optimistic about the possibility of change towards some form of democracy. The re-emergence of resistance to dictatorship led to some change in the attitude of certain social and political activists vis-à-vis the massacres in the 80s.

The new environment opened some space for the victims’ families to speak out about the atrocities of the 80s.[32] At the tenth anniversary of the massacre, the families wrote an open letter to president Khatami:

With due attention to article 113 of the IRI constitutional law which implies that the president is responsible to make sure that the law is followed, we request that you send this petition to the Judiciary and follow it with all your power and prerogatives, in order to re-establish the rights of the political prisoners who were executed because of their political opinion or beliefs and us, their relatives.[33]

In autumn of 1998, several well-known intellectuals and opposition leaders in the country were assassinated. Due to a strong campaign in condemnation of the chain political killings and the international outcry for truth and justice, the government announced that the assassinations were carried out by rouge elements of the security forces and acknowledged that it was a criminal act. The families of those victims were able to file their grievances in the judiciary. This raised hope among some of the families of the victims of the 80s massacres that their request for justice and truth could be pursued in this new environment. They began to speak to the overseas media whenever it was possible. They also wrote articles and gave interviews about the Great Massacre and the ways in which the government had tried to stop the memorial services in Khavaran. Once again, they asked for:

1. The name of the victims, the date of executions and the burial location of our loved ones should be announced.

2. Prevent the burial of others on top of the mass graves of our kids.

3. Remove the restrictions for the families to put sign and plant trees on the burial location of our loved ones,[34] and

4. Those who were responsible for the massacres of the 80s must be brought under the justice. [35]

The reaction to the changes was not unanimous amongst the families and those who became active in supporting their cause. Some were deeply concerned about the elevating public presence of the “mothers and families of Khavaran”, retorting that the security forces may react harshly and thwart them from holding their memorials or get together in Khavaran.

Despite their disagreement on this issue, the families were able to talk about their requests, their grievances and unresolved issues.[36] They talked about two decades of denial, suppression, and injustice. They talked about their ignored rights. The videos of the memorial ceremonies were published on the internet and the Mothers of Khavaran acquired a face. In one of the memorials in Khavaran, Mother Sharifi, who lost two of her sons, said: “We have the right to come to the graves of our loved ones. We will come to this place despite what you are doing. The only way to prevent us from coming to Khavaran is to execute us like our kids.”[37]

he memorial ceremony in Khavaran also became a venue that social and political activist took advantage to give speeches in solidarity with the families and in support of the cause.

Some of the victims’ families were also active in other social movements, such as the ‘budding woman’s movement’. The active presence of victims’ families in other movements contributed to a deeper understanding of the atrocities of the 80's. However, many of the activists were reluctant to show open sympathy towards the Mothers of Khavaran, as they were concerned with the harsh reaction of the security forces.[38]

The children of victims grew up and some of them became active in seeking justice and truth for what had happened to their parents. Some of them also became active in other social movements, such as the student movement. Their presence in these movements created a bond between the Mothers of Khavaran and other social movements.

These changes were indications of the imminent failure of the denial and isolation policy by the state. This new phase of the movement to some extent forced the hardliners and security forces to change their policies. Consequently, the state decided to ban all memorial services in Khavaran as well as the residence of the families. They knew that to avert the emergence of any serious movement for justice and truth, they had to silence the families as they were the heart and soul of any such movements. The IRI developed a plan to put more pressure on the families by summoning them to the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence, arresting the most active members and attacking the private memorials. They developed a plan to destroy the Khavaran Cemetery, as it was the only public space where the families could gather together, hold public memorials and cry out their demands for justice and truth.[39]

In June 2005, the authorities informed the families in Khavaran that they were going to “re-build” the Khavaran cemetery[40]. Some of “the Families and Mothers of Khavaran” issued a statement on August 27, 2005:2005,

Many of our loved ones were buried in mass graves [in Khavaran]. And if it is necessary to build Khavaran flower garden, first the dates, the names, and the burial location of each of our loved ones should be announced. After that, the families of the victims would take care of the construction.[41]

The government’s plan for the destruction of Khavaran was defeated then, but the oppression did not stop. The government continued to exert pressure on the families, did not permit them to go to Khavaran and hold commemorations at their residences. Each year, before the anniversary of the Great Massacre of 1988, they summoned many of the families to the Ministry of Intelligence and asked them to stop the memorials. They even arrested some of those women. Mansoureh Behkish, who lost 6 of her siblings in the 80s massacres, told the interrogators at one of her arrests that she would never stop going to Khavaran and will participate in any memorial services held by the families. She emphasised that it was her natural and legal right to go to the cemetery and whoever prevents her from doing so, is tramping on her rights and deserves punishment.[42]

On the second week of January 2009 the government dispatched bulldozers to Khavaran and demolished the graveyard, removed some topsoil, added new soil and planted trees on individual and mass graves. As of now, nobody knows if they removed the remains of the victims. This savage act brought about protests and condemnation by the political, social and human rights activists both within and outside of Iran. Amnesty International called:

On the Iranian authorities to immediately stop the destruction of hundreds of individual and mass unmarked graves in Khavaran, south Tehran, to ensure that the site is preserved and to initiate a forensic investigation at the site as part of a long-overdue, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the mass executions which began in 1988 and which are often referred to in Iran as the “prison massacres.[43]

In the summer of 2008 the security forces attacked a private memorial, held in the residence of Mother Sarhadi who had lost her son in the Great Massacre of 1988. They entered her house without a warrant, harassed all participants in the memorial, including the aged mothers, and stopped the commemoration. Later the participants were summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence and were asked to sign a statement conceding that they would not participate in any commemoration. However, many of the families refused to sign the statement or ignored the ruling and continued to hold and participate in memorial services.[44]

The efforts and struggle of the Mothers of Khavaran is now wildly acknowledged. In its 19th Annual Conference in 2008 the Iranian Women’s Studies Foundation, based in Cambridge, M.A. chose the “Mothers of Khavaran” as “Women of the year”. The organizers of the Conference stated that, “These women did everything they could to look after, protect and preserve the burial place of their sons and daughters, husbands and brothers. That is why we chose them as our women of the year.”[45]

The Movement of the Mothers of Khavaran continues to this day and has been supported by the families of other victims of the IRI’s atrocities, such as the families of the political personalities and intellectuals who were assassinated in the chain political killings of the autumn of 1998 as well as the violent crackdown of prodemocracy demonstrators after the disputed elections of June 2009.

Today, the awareness of the atrocities that have taken place in the past 37 years, is more comprehensive than it has ever been. The victims’ families have played a vital role in spreading this awareness. The pain and agony felt by the families have motivated them to seek for justice and truth. Their quest to know why, where, when, by whom and under whose order the crime was committed, has mobilized other activists and challenged the politics of cruelty and the conspiracy of silence by the IRI. The victims’ families, along with other social and political activists, became a strong force to promote human rights and prevent similar atrocities to happen once again in Iran.

[1] - Three years ago, May 18 memorial foundation asked all Gwangju Human Rights Award laureates, including “Mothers and Families of Khavaran” to send an introduction to be included in a book with the name of: The laureates of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Award; Who really they are?

I am proud that a part of section 1 of my unpublish paper on Seeking Truth and Justice After Islamic Revolution and politics of memory (completed in September 2010) was selected by “Mothers and Families of Khavaran” and was included in the introduction. This part has been removed from the original work and re-published, with May 18 Memorial Foundation written permission, in my weblog (A Better World is Possible) for information.

Book information:

The laureates of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Award; Who really they are?

ISBN 978-89-92422-50-5(93300)

The revised paper will be published this year, as my contribution to the commemoration of the thirties anniversary of the great prison massacre of 1988.

[2] - This work would not have been possible without the support and help of my wife, Leili, and my son, Nima. I am greatly indebted to Azam Kiakejouri and Nasser Mohajer for their comments and assistance throughout my work on this paper. I am also very grateful to Rhoda Howard Hassmann, Parastou Forouhar, and Reza Afshari who read all or part of the drafts and shared their thoughts and comments with me. I am also very thankful to Bethany Osborne for her help. I dedicate this work to “Mothers and Families of Khavaran”, especially to the memory of Omol-Banin Jalali Mohajer and Ali-Asghar Behkish, my mother and father, who lost six of their children in the atrocities of the 80s, and also to my mother-in-law Najiyeh Peyvandi, who lost one of her sons in the great prison massacre of 1988.

All Farsi quotes from Farsi references have been translated by the author.

[3] - Five government institutions were involved in mass arrests through the 1980s: Sepah Pasdaran Enghelab (Revolutionary Corps), Komitehay-e Enghelab (Revolutionary Committees), Dadsetani Enghlab (Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office), Nirohay-e Entezami (the police), and Basij (local paramilitary forces, usually located inside local mosques). Each force has its detention centers in their station, mosques or barracks. These detention centers were apart from the formal prisons like the notorious Evin prison in Tehran and Gohardasht and Ghezel-Hesar prisons in Karaj (a city close to Tehran)

[4] - Nasser Mohajer, Madaran Khavaran in Niyazhay-e Mobram Zan Irani dar Doran Kononi (Farsi) Mothers of Khavaran, in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women 68 (Golnaz Amin, ed., 2008)

[5] - Author’s personal communication with victims’ families

[6] - Effat Mahbaz, Faramoosham makon (Farsi) Don’t Forget me 134 (2008), Monireh Baradaran, Haghighat Sadeh (Farsi) The simple Truth 102 (2000), Iraj Mesdaghi, Na Zistan, Na Marg (Farsi) Neither life Nor Death, vol. 1, 231 (2nd ed., 2009). Prison memoirs are a valuable source of information about prison conditions and the relation between prisoners and authorities, between prisoners and their families, and between the prisoners themselves. It is beyond the scope of this article to review this literature.

[7] - Ervand Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran 129-30 (1999)

[8] - In Iran, there are only religious cemeteries, and they are under the authority of the municipalities.

[9] - According to Nasser Mohajer, throughout 1981, the authorities destroyed all the cemeteries that belonged to the Bahá’ís. In mid-1981, the burial of Bahá’ís began in Khavaran Cemetery. Nasser Mohajer, Madaran Khavaran in Niyazhay-e Mobram Zan Irani dar Doran Kononi (Farsi) Mothers of Khavaran, in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women 69 (Golnaz Amin, ed., 2008)

[10] - When the number of the executed was high, for example on some occasions in the summer and autumn of 1981, the winter of 1982, and especially in the summer of 1988, the authorities buried the victims in mass graves.

[11] - Mansoureh Behkish, Girim ke Bebandid va Bigirid and Bekoshid, ba Royesh Javaneha che Mikonid? (Farsi) supposed you arrested and killed us, what are you doing with sprout (2009) http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2009/08/092752print.php (last visited Feb 24, 2018), Zinat Heydari (Mother Riyahi), Madar Riahi Sokhan Migoyad (Farsi) Mother Riahi Speaking (2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LSCR35tzTc (last visited Feb 23, 2018)

[12] - Zinat Heydari (Mother Riahi), Madar Riahi Sokhan Migoyad (Farsi) Mother Riahi Speaking (2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LSCR35tzTc (last visited Feb 23, 2018), Fourog Tajbakhsh, Oay-e Sohbat Khanoom Forough Lotfi- Mother Lotfi (Farsi) Listening to Ms. Forough Lotfi – Mother Lotfi (2008) Baran Quarterly, no. 17-18 autumn 2007-winter 2008

[13] - Iraj Mesdaghi, Na Zistan, Na Marg (Farsi) Neither life Nor Death, vol. 148 (1st ed., 2009)

[14] - Available documents of the collective actions by families are only related to the families of left-leaning prisoners. However, my interviews with two members of families of Mojahedin shows that they too participated in collective actions and wrote letters to the authorities regarding prison conditions.

[15] - Zinat Heydari (Mother Riahi), Madar Riahi Sokhan Migoyad (Farsi) Mother Riahi Speaking (2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LSCR35tzTc (last visited Feb 23, 2018), Fourog Tajbakhsh, Oay-e Sohbat Khanoom Forough Lotfi- Mother Lotfi (Farsi) Listening to Ms. Forough Lotfi – Mother Lotfi (2008) Baran Quarterly, no. 17-18 autumn 2007-winter 2008

[16] - Political Prisoners’ family, Nemeh Sargoshadeh be Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Farsi) Open letter to Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Nameh Mardom,

[17] - Ervand Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran 209-28 (1999)

[18] - According to Nasser Mohajer, “Dozens of families participated in a sit-in at the judiciary palace for three days starting on August 17, 1988” (2008), however, no other sources confirm the sit-in.

[19] - Nasser Mohajer, Madaran Khavaran in Niyazhay-e Mobram Zan Irani dar Doran Kononi (Farsi) Mothers of Khavaran, in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women 76 (Golnaz Amin, ed., 2008)

[20] - Ibid, 117

[21] - In recent years, the same problem has existed with the radical leftists who want to radicalize victims’ families’ activities; for example, see Behkish, 2006.

[22] - Personal communication with victims’ families, who were arrested and interrogated by security services.

[23] - Families of Executed, Shekayat-Namehay-e Khanevadehay-e Zendanian Edami 1367-1382 (Farsi) The Grievance Letters of the Families of the Executed 1988–2003 October 2, 2003. http://www.bidaran.net/spip.php?article25 (last visited February 26, 2018)

[24] - The police and security forces were also present. There are some reports that police raided the homes of the families of the Mojahed victims in Behest Zahra (personal communication with Iraj Mesdaghi).

[25] - Zinat Heydari (Mother Riahi), Madar Riahi Sokhan Migoyad (Farsi) Mother Riahi Speaking (2009)

[26] - The security forces confiscated all the documents collected by the families, including letters and document showing that the victims were sentenced to prison by revolutionary tribunals years before the 1988 massacre, and also a petition prepared by the families for submission to the representative, Nasser Mohajer, Madaran Khavaran in Niyazhay-e Mobram Zan Irani dar Doran Kononi (Farsi) Mothers of Khavaran, in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women 125 (Golnaz Amin, ed., 2008)

[27] - Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in The Islamic Republic of Iran. UN, 1990.

[28] - Zinat Heydari (Mother Riahi), Madar Riahi Sokhan Migoyad (Farsi) Mother Riahi Speaking (2009)

[29] - The same concept was cited by the officials of the Ministry of Intelligence when I was in Iran in August 2008 and was summoned to the Ministry for an interrogation.

[30] - Nasser Mohajer, Madaran Khavaran in Niyazhay-e Mobram Zan Irani dar Doran Kononi (Farsi) Mothers of Khavaran, in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women 126 (Golnaz Amin, ed., 2008)

[31] Ibid, 125

[32] - For example, there was a plan to send a petition to President Khatami in the fall on the tenth anniversary of the massacre, but due to the objection of a few families who were concerned about possible consequences of such an action, the families who were collecting signatures stopped their efforts to avoid disputes within the families. The letter, which was sent to President Khatami with only one signature, began by mentioning the legal obligation of the IRI president: “With due attention to the fiftieth anniversary of the ratification of the universal declaration of human rights… and with due attention to the fact that this year is the tenth anniversary of the great massacre of political prisoners in 1988, and with due attention to article 113 of the IRI constitutional law which implies that the president is responsible for ensuring that the law is followed, we request that you send this petition to the judicial system and follow it with all your power in order to re-establish the rights of the political prisoners who were executed because of their political opinion or beliefs as well as the rights of us, their relatives” (Behkish, 2008).

[33] - Jafar Behkish, Dadkhast Tedadi az Bastegan Edam Shodegan nheh 60, Khatab be Mohammad Khatami dar Azar 1377 (Farsi) Letter of Grivence of few family members of the victims of the 80s, to Mohammad khatami, December 1998, http://jafar-behkish.blogspot.ca/2016/07/60-1377.html (Last visited February 27, 2018)

[34] - Families of Executed, Shekayat-Namehay-e Khanevadehay-e Zendanian Edami 1367-1382 (Farsi) The Grievance Letters of the Families of the Executed 1988–2003 October 2, 2003. http://www.bidaran.net/spip.php?article25 (last visited February 26, 2018)

[35] - Jafar Behkish, Dadkhast Tedadi az Bastegan Edam Shodegan nheh 60, Khatab be Mohammad Khatami dar Azar 1377 (Farsi) Letter of Grivence of few family members of the victims of the 80s, to Mohammad khatami, December 1998, http://jafar-behkish.blogspot.ca/2016/07/60-1377.html (Last visited February 27, 2018)

[36] - Several interviews on BBC, Radio Farda, Radio Germany, and Radio France with the families of the victims, such as Parvaneh Milani, Fourogh Tajbakhsh (Mother Lotfi), Mansoureh Behkish and Mother Sharifi.

[37] - Pourandokht Mokhtari (Mother Sharifi), Mosahebeh ba Madar Sharifi (Farsi) Interview with Mother Sharifi (2008) http://biphome.spray.se/radiohambastegi/main.htm (Last visited Feb 23, 2018)

[38] - Personal communication with two women activists.

[39] - It is not known what impact the victory of the hardliner’s candidate in the 2005 presidential election had on this policy change. It is important to mention that the members of the death committee, who were appointed by Ayatollah Khomeini for the massacre of the political prisoners in the summer 1988, became the Minister of the Interior and Intelligence in the first cabinet of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (For more information see: Human Rights Watch, 2005).

[40] - Farzaneh Raji, whose 17-year-old brother was executed in September 1981 only a few days after his arrest and was buried in an unknown grave in Khavaran, wrote: “Don’t erase the name of our loved ones from the pages of history. If there is no space to put gravestone for all [the victims], just forget the gravestone! Let’s write the name of the executed… on [memorial] tablets and install them at the door [of Khavaran] or on top of each mass grave where dozens of young victims were buried. Then, turn the cemetery into a garden… [where victims’] relatives can smell the scent of the flowers in place of their loved ones. If really this is a humanitarian aspiration. If not, then we prefer to keep Khavaran as it is” in Farzaneh Raji, Nam Azizan Ma Ra Az Safheh Tarikh Hazf Nakonid (Farsi) Don’t Erase the Name of Our Loved Ones from the History (2005) http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/035322.php (last visited Feb 23, 2018)

[41] - Nasser Mohajer, Madaran Khavaran in Niyazhay-e Mobram Zan Irani dar Doran Kononi (Farsi) Mothers of Khavaran, in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women 93 (Golnaz Amin, ed., 2008)

[42] - Mansoureh Behkish, Girim ke Bebandid va Bigirid and Bekoshid, ba Royesh Javaneha che Mikonid? (Farsi) supposed you arrested and killed us, what are you doing with sprout (2009) http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2009/08/092752print.php (last visited Feb 24, 2018)

[43] - Amnesty International, Preserve the Khavaran Grave Site for Investigation into Mass Killings (2009) https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE13/006/2009/en/ (Last visited Feb 27, 2018)

[44] - Personal communication with some of the families.

[45] - Golnaz Amin, Pishgoftar (Farsi) Forward in The Essential Needs of the Iranian Women Today 4 (2008)

A Better World Is Possible

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Letter to the UN High Commissioner for HR on Destruction of Khavaran Cemetery and forced burial of Baha'is on mass-graves in Khavaran Cemetery in Iran

Saturday, February 15, 2020

My letter to Justine Trudeau on recent brutalities and avoidable "incidents" in Iran

Sunday, September 16, 2018

I never forget you; Complaint in General Courts and to Hassan Rouhani

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Victims’ Families: Searching for Truth and Justice

Victims’ Families[1]: Searching for Truth & Justice[2]

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