Iranian Authorities Destroy Graves of Political Prisoners Executed in the 1980s

Security forces have reportedly demolished a section of the Behesht-e Reza Cemetery in the city of Mashhad, Iran, which was the burial site of political prisoners executed in the 1980s. According to social media reports, the recent demolitions in Mashhad began in early September and have continued since then.

While the policy of destroying the burial sites of executed political prisoners in the Behesht Reza Cemetery and Salam Hill in Mashhad has been in place since 2016, recent days have witnessed an intensification of these actions.

Similar inhuman actions have also been carried out in the cities of Ahvaz, Tabriz, and Babol. In Ahvaz, it is reported that mass graves containing the remains of 44 political prisoners, buried in a piece of remote land, three kilometers east of Behesht Abad Cemetery, were destroyed, and construction work was carried out there to eradicate the evidence of crimes.

According to the report, during excavation work in the outskirts of Phase 2 of Padadshahr and Bonakdar Boulevard, several bodies were discovered in a mass grave covered with cement. The security forces eventually covered the grave with dirt and continued the street widening project to conceal these graves.

In the past, more than 75 graves of the executed prisoners from 1980s, particularly from the year 1988, in the Vadi Rahmat Cemetery of Tabriz, were destroyed.

In the city of Babol, numerous graves of executed political prisoners from the 1980s, especially in 1988, which were buried in the Baha’i Cemetery and Jewish Cemetery, were also destroyed by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

A large housing project of multistory buildings was constructed on some of these execution graves, and all of the residential units were allocated to the agents of the IRGC and the police.

May 6, 2021, Amnesty International said in its account: “In recent years, Iranian authorities have repeatedly engaged in the destruction of mass graves of the victims of the 1967 massacre. These actions are criminal in nature and are carried out with the aim of eradicating evidence and traces of crimes against humanity. They also deprive the families of the victims and the society of accessing truth and justice. #Khavaran_Historical_Memory”

Over the past decades, the Iranian regime has repeatedly attempted to erase the evidence of its crimes in the Khavaran Cemetery and other cemeteries across the country using various methods. Last year, the regime tried to restrict access to the families of the victims of the 1988 massacre, especially the families of the victims of the summer 1988 massacre, by digging up the Khavaran Cemetery, installing security cameras, and building concrete walls.

The alteration of the Khavaran Cemetery’s structure through the creation of new graves is a common method employed by the government to destroy evidence of their own crimes. This tactic is used as a means of eradicating the traces of past atrocities.

Thousands of political prisoners, especially during the 1980s, particularly during the summer of 1988, were executed due to their affiliation with groups and organizations such as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) or their support for these groups.

The executions of the summer of 1988 were carried out by a committee with the fatwa and approval of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, who appointed its members.

Ebrahim Raisi, the current President of the Iranian regime, was also a member of the committee responsible for the summer 1988 massacre.