This summer, ultra-hardliner cleric Ebrahim Raisi took office as President. Major human rights organizations have listed him as a major perpetrator of the massacre of thousands of political detainees in 1988.
Raisi was the Deputy Prosecutor in Tehran at the time when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini charged him with serving on a Death Commission that dispatched prisoners to the gallows following sham trials lasting only minutes.
Khomeini issued a decree ordering the execution of all political prisoners associated with the main opposition the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) who remained loyal to the organization, which was declared to be ‘Mohareb’, or waging war against God.
Survivors of the 1988 massacre estimate that about 30,000 people were executed. They were buried in mass graves, which some legal experts believe amounted to crimes against humanity and genocide.
The perpetrators were never brought to justice. On the contrary, a large number of individuals have been promoted to the leading rank.
Raisi was Iran’s Chief of Judiciary before becoming President. In November 2019, the judiciary and security forces launched a savage assault on peaceful protests, murdering an estimated 1500 anti-government demonstrators and dissidents, as well as detaining and torturing many more.
Reuters confirmed in a special report on December 23, 2019, about the deadly crackdown on November nationwide protests in Iran the death toll of 1500 that was announced by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) on December 15, 2019.
The increase of impunity can be attributed in part to the inaction of the international community. Seven UN Special Rapporteurs claimed in September 2020 that the lack of UN bodies to act in response to the 1988 massacre had “emboldened” Iranian authorities to perpetrate other human rights violations.
In May, 152 former UN officials and highly recognized human rights and legal experts wrote to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, requesting that a Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 massacre be established.
In a statement released on June 19, Amnesty International stated that Raisi played a crucial part in the 1988 massacre and that he should be “investigated for his involvement in past and ongoing crimes under international law, including by states that exercise universal jurisdiction.”
On June 29, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, issued statements, demanding an official inquiry into the 1988 state-ordered executions and Raisi’s role as a deputy prosecutor in Tehran.
If the UN Human Rights Council or another organization conducts an independent inquiry, Rehman said his office would be willing to share the testimonies and evidence acquired.
In a report to the Human Rights Council on August 4, the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances asked for an “international investigation” into the 1988 massacre.
The ultimate responsibility is now on the world’s leading democracies, particularly the EU and the United States, to fight Iranian leaders’ impunity.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose nation now holds the rotating EU presidency, declared his country’s support for a UN Commission of Inquiry in July.
Unfortunately, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell soon distanced the EU from such a viewpoint, claiming that Brussels pursues a “balanced” Iran policy.
It is past time for Europe to cease ‘business as usual with Iran’s mass-murdering government. Instead, the European External Action Service (EEAS) should use its Magnitsky Act powers to impose harsh penalties on those responsible for the murder in Iran in 1988.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI): The Iranian people and Resistance demand the international prosecution of Khamenei, Raisi, and other henchmen responsible for massacres and killings in Iran.
Source » einnews