Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, examined the “atrocities” of the Iranian regime against Iranian citizens from 1981 to 1982 and in 1988 in a detailed report.
According to this report, published on Monday, July 22, the “atrocities” comprise genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and are considered “the most serious crimes against humanity.”
In this 66-page report, Mr. Rehman details the arbitrary and extrajudicial executions of thousands of opponents and political prisoners by the Iranian regime, describing these acts as murder and slaughter and labeling them crimes against humanity.
In the methodology of his report, he relies on five sources: testimonies and interviews with witnesses, official government sources, UN documents and sources, documented evidence, and reports and documents from international organizations and expert contributions.
The report also details other crimes committed by the Iranian regime against humanity, including torture, harassment, and enforced disappearances, as well as inhumane actions such as inflicting severe pain and causing physical and mental injuries to political prisoners.
Javaid Rehman, in another part of his report, addresses the executions of prisoners, including a large number of children and women prisoners, some of whom were sexually assaulted before their execution.
In examining the instances of crimes against humanity, he analyzes sexual and gender-based crimes against women and girls, as well as harassment of religious and ethnic minorities (Baha’is, Christians, and Jews), and ethnic and linguistic minorities (Kurds, Ahwazi Arabs, Turkmen, and Baluch) during the first decade of the Iranian regime’s rule.
Khomeini’s Fatwa and the 1988 Summer Massacre of Prisoners
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran dedicates a significant portion of his report on the Iranian regime’s “atrocities” to Khomeini’s 1988 fatwa and the subsequent massacre of political prisoners following sham and extrajudicial trials.
According to the report, most of those executed were members of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), but hundreds of other opponents of the Iranian government were also executed by “death committees” as a result of Khomeini’s fatwa and buried in unmarked mass graves across Iran.
Javaid Rehman notes that the “atrocities” committed by the Iranian regime are the worst and most flagrant human rights violations in living memory, in which senior Iranian government officials, through planning, active participation in organization, ordering the execution, and committing these acts, have committed crimes against humanity and genocide against their own citizens.
According to the report, despite the abundant evidence and documentation, the perpetrators of these “atrocities” still hold power, the international community has been unable or unwilling to hold them accountable, and these “criminals” continue to enjoy governmental privileges and immunity from international justice and accountability.
Javaid Rehman reiterated that survivors and witnesses of these “atrocities” continue to grapple with its psychological consequences, families of the disappeared are still searching for their loved ones, and victims and survivors expect the United Nations and members of the international community to help achieve justice and hold the criminals accountable.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur, examining the crimes committed by the Iranian regime in its first decade provides a clear picture of the current flagrant human rights violations by this government, with the continued issuance of arbitrary and illegal sentences, such as “moharebeh” (enmity against God) and “ifsad fil-arz” (corruption on earth) against political opponents, indicating this.
In the final section of his report, Javaid Rehman calls for the establishment of an independent international mechanism to promptly, impartially, comprehensively, and transparently address the crimes committed by the Iranian regime in its first decade and hold the perpetrators accountable.
He also calls on the international community to oblige Iranian government officials to fully and publicly disclose enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in the first decade of the regime’s rule, issue public apologies and accept responsibility for committing these crimes, stop the destruction of mass graves, provide information to survivors’ families about the burial sites of their loved ones, end the harassment of grieving families, and grant international human rights organizations access to the burial sites of those killed.
Javaid Rehman also calls on world governments to prosecute and issue arrest warrants for the perpetrators and instigators of the “atrocities” in Iran.
