London, 1 September – A political prisoner, who lost his brothers and sister during the 1988 massacre, has written an open letter condemning the actions of the Justice Minister who served on the death committee during the period.
Reza Akbari Monfared, imprisoned in the notorious Gohardasht prison, said in the letter that his siblings were murdered by the regime but the stress and heartache took his mother’s life too.
His letter, released in full on the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s website, said: “[The] ‘Justice’ Minister’s blustering is an attempt to justify his role in the massacre. A bloody-minded person whose name is Pour-Mohammadi is the justice minister of Rouhani’s ‘moderate?!’ administration.”
Pour-Mohammadi recently appeared in front of the press to defend his role in the massacre which turned into him blaming the victims and threatening their families.
He also threatened Ali Motahari (the deputy chief of Iran’s parliament who asked Pour-Mohammadi to apologise for the massacre) and Ahamad Montazeri (who released the audio tape revealing the regime’s role in the massacre).
His family was denied the ability to bury their relatives or hold a public memorial service. During a private funeral at their house, security agents raided and took many mourners prisoner.
Now, Monfared, states that he doesn’t fear the regime because they can’t subject him to that much more.
He said: “We don’t have any fear of being executed, and by sacrificing our lives we proudly declare these massacres and crimes have nothing to do with Islam and our prophet.”