In December 2018, Amnesty International published a 201-page report “Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity” calling on the UN to set up an independent investigation to help bring those responsible for these abhorrent crimes to justice.

The report said: “Amnesty International’s research leaves the organization in no doubt that, during the course of several weeks between late July and early September 1988, thousands of political dissidents were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Iranian detention facilities across the country and extrajudicially executed pursuant to an order issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran and implemented across prisons in the country.”

“For three decades, the Iranian authorities have denied and promoted misinformation about the killings both at home and internationally. Domestically, the authorities have concocted different stories to disguise, distort and “justify” the killings.”

Amnesty International called on UN political bodies and the international community as a whole to: “Establish an independent, impartial and effective international mechanism(s) to address impunity for the crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law committed including by: documenting and investigating the crimes, including the extrajudicial executions carried out in 1988, as well as the ongoing enforced disappearance of the victims and the torture and other illtreatment of victims’ families.”

Click here to read the full report.