London, 7 September – At least two more senior Iranian officials have been implicated in the 1988 massacre which killed 30,000 political prisoners, according to CNS News.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, have joined the likes of Justice Minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, and Ali Fallahian, who sits on the Assembly of Experts, in being accused of orchestrating and carrying out the mass murders.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the names of prominent Iranians involved in the killings of their political opponents, mainly members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran.
This follows on from the release of an audio recording last month which revealed the existence of death commissions. In the recording, Hossein Ali Montazeri, former heir to supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini, can be heard telling the committees that killing was the wrong way to resists ideas.
He said: “It is, in my opinion, the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Revolution for which history will condemn us.”
Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the NCRI’s foreign affairs committee, said: “A death commission was created in Tehran and in 10 other Iranian provinces to conduct the fatwa. Until now only the names of the members of the death commission in Tehran had been exposed, since Khomeini himself appointed them. Now we have more names of members involved in the massacre and we are making them public.”
He mentioned that among those slaughtered and buried in mass graves were 62 pregnant women and 789 minors, which breaks even Iran’s draconian code.
Mohaddessin expressed hope that the next U.S. president would have a different policy towards Iran in the light of these revelations.
He said: “President Obama conducted a politic of moderation toward Iran but it did not work out. This regime is more brutal than the former ones. Just have a look at its involvement in the Middle East. Look at what is happening in Iraq, Syria and other countries in the region where Tehran is deeply involved.”
William Bourdon, the NCRI’s French lawyer, said: “It is time that the United Nations, for instance, starts, looking at the 1988 massacre by the Iranian regime. We are now calling upon the international community in order to take actions against the Tehran regime.”
