London, 21 August 2025 – Iranian authorities deployed bulldozers and security personnel on 11 August 2025 to flatten Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery—one of the most significant burial sites for thousands of political prisoners executed in the 1980s.
Tehran’s Deputy Mayor, Davoud Goudarzi, publicly confirmed on 19 August 2025 that the area had been converted into a car park.
Goudarzi stated: “Section 41 where members of the PMOI were buried in the early years of the revolution was just sitting there. We proposed to the custodians, and to the Supply Council, that ‘because people are coming and going in Section 42, we need a car park there. This site (Section 41) has just been left abandoned. Allow us to turn it into a car park’. We got the permission and did.”
Separately, on 16 August 2025, Mohammad Javad Tajik, CEO of Behesht Zahra Cemetery, told the state-run Shargh Daily that the authorities levelled Section 41, where executed members of the opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI or MEK) were buried and “turned it into a parking lot”.
Answering the reporter’s question, Tajik said: “You probably mean the adjacent section, Section 41, where a number of those executed in the early years of the revolution and members of the PMOI were buried—that one too, yes, we levelled it and turned it into a parking lot”.
This act represents a deliberate attempt to eliminate physical evidence of serious human rights violations and to obstruct efforts to secure truth and accountability. JVMI condemns this action and calls for urgent international intervention to prevent further destruction and to uphold the rights of victims’ families.
Section 41 of Behesht Zahra Cemetery contains thousands of individual graves of political prisoners executed throughout the 1980s, with a particular concentration from 1981—a year marked by mass arrests and summary executions of dissidents. Many of those buried in this section were affiliated with the PMOI as well as other opposition groups targeted by the authorities. The section is estimated to have a capacity of 9,500 graves.
Section 41 remains a critical site of collective memory for families of those executed across the decade. Since the early 1980s, Iranian authorities have maintained strict control over the area, routinely harassing families, defacing gravestones, and restricting access. The site has become emblematic of both the scale of political repression and the ongoing efforts to suppress public remembrance.
UN Documentation and Expert Findings
Professor Javaid Rehman, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, has repeatedly raised concerns about the systematic destruction of burial sites. In his landmark Atrocity Crimes report in July 2024, the Special Rapporteur described the 1988 executions as “ongoing crimes against humanity” and “genocide”. He called for the application of universal jurisdiction to prosecute those responsible.
Professor Rehman’s reports have documented the destruction of grave sites in both Section 41 of Behesht Zahra Cemetery and Khavaran Cemetery.
Need for Accountability
Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) expresses grave concern over the recent destruction of Section 41 of Behesht Zahra Cemetery. JVMI views it as a calculated assault on truth, memory, and justice. We stand in solidarity with the families of the victims and reaffirm our commitment to securing accountability for the mass executions of the 1980s.
We urge the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in conjunction with the current UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Dr. Mai Sato, and members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFMI), to launch an independent investigation into the destruction of Section 41 and other burial sites.
We further urge the UN and its Member States to demand an immediate halt to all demolitions of graveyards where political prisoners are buried and guarantee unrestricted access for families.
The government of Iran must be held accountable for its actions. The international community has a moral and legal obligation to stop Iran erasing evidence of its atrocity crimes. It must ensure that the memory of the victims is preserved, and that justice is not denied.