Iran 1988 Massacre

  • Phone: +44 203 286 2959
  • Mail: info@iran1988.org
  • Website: https://iran1988.org
  • Address: London, United Kingdom

Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI)

  • Home
  • Perpetrators
  • Victims
  • Update
  • Activities
  • Library
    • 1988 Massacre Documents
    • International human rights conventions
    • Reports
  • 1988 Massacre
  • About Us
    • JVMI Official launch
    • Advisory Board
23
Sep

AFP: Campaigners demand 1988 Iran massacre probe as tape emerges

AFP: Campaigners demand 1988 Iran massacre probe as tape emerges

The French news agency Agence France-Presse covered the launch of ‘Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran’ in a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva on 21 September 2016. The following is the full text of AFP’s report from the press conference:

Campaigners demand 1988 Iran massacre probe as tape emerges

Agence France-Presse

September 21, 2016

AFPGeneva (AFP) – A new campaign group on Wednesday called for a UN probe into the 1988 massacres in Iran after the release of a decades-old audio tape shed fresh light on the alleged atrocities.

From August 1988 to February 1989, Iranian authorities executed nearly 5,000 political prisoners, according to Amnesty International. Iranian opposition groups have given a figure closer to 30,000.

The executions received limited attention at the time, in part because of a media blackout imposed Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had taken charge of the country in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

But a 1988 recording released last month by relatives of a late dissident cleric — which purportedly includes discussion of the killings among top Iranian officials — has sparked renewed calls for justice.

The new group called “Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran” launched Wednesday at a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva.

Its members include Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate held hostage for years by FARC rebels, and Tahar Boumedra, who served as the UN’s top human rights representative in Iraq.

The release of the tape “has re-opened a wound”, Betancourt said, with the group urging the UN rights office to initiate an investigation into the executions.

The tape is of Iran’s late Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Khomeini’s former heir apparent, meeting with top judges and prosecutors.

Montazeri, who had reportedly been critical of the executions, is heard describing the crackdown as “the worst crime committed in the Islamic Republic”.

“They’ll write your names as criminals in history,” Montazeri told his audience.

His family posted the recording on his official website in August.

Montazeri was subsequently sidelined by Khomeini and placed under tight surveillance by the Iranian regime until his death in 2009.

The campaign group said it has documented evidence of at least 12 mass graves across Iran where victims were buried, with relatives of victims increasingly coming forward after the tape’s release.

“The impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators must end,” said group member Azadeh Zabeti, a British-Iranian lawyer.

Most of those killed in the crackdown were members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, a dissident group that had support from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Original source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/campaigners-demand-1988-iran-massacre-probe-tape-emerges-174023413.html

Other sources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3800709/Campaigners-demand-1988-Iran-massacre-probe-tape-emerges.html

  • Tagged: 1988 Massacre, AFP, Campaigners demand 1988 Iran massacre probe as tape emerges
  • 0

Latest Update

  • Top Iranian Official Defends 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran – February 2021By Clerk on February 28, 2021
  • JVMI Joins 20 NGOs at UN Human Rights Council Calling for Commission of Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 MassacreBy Clerk on February 25, 2021
  • Michelle Bachelet Urged To Launch UN Commission of Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 MassacreBy Clerk on February 17, 2021
  • Khamenei Defends Fatwa Ordering 1988 Massacre in IranBy Clerk on February 1, 2021
  • No Remorse. Iran’s State Media Say Victims of 1988 Massacre “Should Have Been Executed 10 Times Over”By Clerk on January 28, 2021
  • Iran Supreme Court Judge Says Opponents Can Be Hanged ‘Without a Trial’By Clerk on January 27, 2021
  • Townhall Publishes JVMI Op-Ed on Trial in Sweden of Perpetrator of Iran’s 1988 MassacreBy Clerk on January 19, 2021
  • JVMI Op-Ed Published in NEWSWEEK Calling for UN Commission of Inquiry into 1988 Massacre in IranBy Clerk on January 15, 2021
  • Europe Must Finally Hold Iran Accountable for the 1988 MassacreBy Clerk on January 12, 2021
  • Call for a UN Commission of Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 MassacreBy Clerk on January 11, 2021

Feature Video

The untold story of the 1988 Massacre in Iran

Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (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.

Feature Video

The untold story of the 1988 Massacre in Iran

Recent Posts

  • Top Iranian Official Defends 1988 Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran – February 2021
  • JVMI Joins 20 NGOs at UN Human Rights Council Calling for Commission of Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 Massacre
  • Michelle Bachelet Urged To Launch UN Commission of Inquiry Into Iran’s 1988 Massacre
Copyright 2021 · JVMI . Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran | website design by AbixidA
  • /Home
  • /Latest Update
  • /Contact Us
  • /About Us