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UN Votes to Recognise 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran: JVMI Calls for Urgent Action to End Impunity

London, 19 November 2025: Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) welcomes today’s landmark vote at the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee adopting resolution A/C.3/80/L.30, which for the first time acknowledges the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran.

Iran’s State Media Calls for Repetition of 1988 Massacre, JVMI Urges UN Action

Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) strongly condemns a deeply disturbing editorial published on 7 July 2025 by Fars News Agency, a state-affiliated outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which openly calls for the repetition of the mass executions carried out in the summer of 1988.

JVMI Joins UN Fact-Finding Mission & EEAS in Panel on Iran’s Human Rights Situation

Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) participated in a hearing on human rights in Iran in the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights in Brussels on 8 April 2025 alongside European Union and United Nations officials.

Civil Society Hearing into the 1988 Massacre in Iran

The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran and the Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances join JVMI and survivors of the 1988 massacre in Geneva on 15 February 2024 in an appeal for justice

It's time to investigate the 1988 massacre

Call for a UN Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 Massacre

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  • 30,000 political prisoners were massacred in Iran
  • The executions began based on a fatwa by Khomeini
  • ‘Death Commissions’ sent prisoners to their death
  • The victims were buried in secret mass graves
  • The perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity

What is Iran's 1988 massacre ?

Learn more about the extra-judicial executions of thousands of political prisoners that have been recognised as ‘ongoing crimes against humanity.’

The evidence

The Facts
Death Commissions
Mass Graves
Reports

JVMI is an association of families of the victims of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. Former political prisoners, international lawyers and legal experts with an interest in obtaining justice over the massacre and for all the victims of executions in Iran.

News and Activities

Joint Statement by Sports Icons to Stop the Execution of Iran’s Boxing Champion

London, 9 November 2025: Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a 30-year-old boxing champion and coach from Mashhad. Global sports icons are appealing for international action to save his life.
Full text of statement

Iran Destroying Graves of Political Prisoners in Behesht Zahra Cemetery

London, 16 August 2025: JVMI expresses grave concern over the recent destruction of Section 41 of Behesht Zahra Cemetery in Tehran. On 11 August 2025, Iranian authorities, deployed bulldozers, heavy machinery, and security personnel to flatten one of the most historically significant burial areas for political prisoners executed during the 1980s.

New Audio Evidence Reveals Further Details of Iran’s 1988 Massacre

London, 15 April 2025: Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) has reviewed a newly surfaced audio recording, reported by BBC Persian on 14 April 2025, which provides additional insight into the systematic mass execution of political prisoners in Iran during the summer of 1988.

International Experts Unite in Call for Accountability for Iran’s Atrocity Crimes

Leading international legal experts and human rights advocates joined forces on 24 August 2024 to condemn the ongoing impunity enjoyed by Iran’s leaders for decades of systematic human rights abuses. The focus of the international conference, held north of Paris, was the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, widely recognised as one of the gravest crimes against humanity in recent history.

Landmark UN Report Seeks Accountability for the 1988 Massacre in Iran

Geneva, 19 June 2024 – In a conference held on Wednesday in Geneva, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran, Prof. Javaid Rehman, presented a new landmark report titled “Atrocity Crimes and Grave Violations of Human Rights Committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (1981–1982 and 1988).” This report marks the first extensive UN investigation into the mass executions of 1981-1982 and the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran.

UN Experts Join JVMI In Seeking Accountability For The 1988 Massacre In Iran

27 October 2023

In joint letter, 125 former world leaders call for accountability in Iran

The international community should support pro-democracy protesters in Iran and blacklist the Revolutionary Guards, some 120 distinguished former world leaders have announced in an open letter to the world powers.
Full text of Joint Letter to world leaders
Profiles of 125 signatories of joint letter

Call for a UN Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 Massacre

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Key reports about Iran's 1988 massacre

UN report - Atrocity Crimes in Iran

July 2024: Read the landmark ‘Atrocity Crimes’ report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran

JVMI's second report - Oct 2017

"1988 Massacre in Iran: Evidence of a Crime Against Humanity"

Book Inquiry into the 1988 mass execution in Iran
JVMI's first report - Feb 2017

JVMI unveiled its report on Iran’s 1988 massacre at the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

JVMI report - Civil Society Hearing

Read the JVMI's report from a civil society hearing in Geneva in February 2018 into the 1988 massacre.

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