A group of political prisoners currently languishing in Iran’s jails wrote a letter of solidarity to the organisers, guests and participants of the 26 November 2016 conference in Paris, the theme of which was the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.
The conference, titled “Call for Justice: Ending Impunity for Perpetrators of Crimes Against Humanity in Iran and Syria”, sought to raise international awareness about the massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988 and call for justice by the international community.
The following is the full text of the letter by 11 Iranian political prisoners to the conference:
Translation of text of letter by a group of political prisoners to the organisers, guests and participants in the Justice Seeking Movement’s conference in Paris
Hails and salutes to all the sponsors and organizers, our fellow participating countrymen, and especially to the honourable guests from all around the world,
This conference which is held to reinforce the movement seeking justice for the massacre of summer 1988, voices the heartfelt desires of the bereaved people of Iran and is in line with our people’s ultimate desire to abolish tyranny and establish freedom and democracy.
When the religious tyranny is removed from Iran, its impact would not be limited to the Iranian people but will bring about happiness and well-being to the region and human society as a whole, and will defeat fundamentalism. We would therefore like to draw the attention of all governments and international circles to this conference and its demands.
Political prisoners appreciate the need for such justice seeking measures more than anyone else. Since the Iranian regime was not held accountable for its crimes and massacres, we continue to face waves of executions, today.
Dear friends,
Every day, when the names of prisoners are called and they are taken one by one to the gallows and hanged, we feel as if we are hanged with them. We must bitterly endure every moment of these crimes while we personally cannot do anything about it…
We wish we were able to meet you, our freedom-loving and humanitarian friends, in person. But now that there is an opportunity for us to express our heartfelt feelings, we believe it is necessary to thank you, sincerely. We thank all of you freedom-loving delegations, parliamentarians, jurists, and all the friends of this Justice Seeking Movement.
The demands of political prisoners are the same as the families of the massacred victims and the Justice Seeking Movement, and they have been reiterated time and again by Mrs. Rajavi.
We demand the prosecution of the masterminds and perpetrators of this “crime against humanity”, some of whom are unfortunately occupying government posts including the position of the Minister of Justice.
Signed by political prisoners:
Reza Akbari Monfared
Saeid Massouri
Saleh Kohandel
Ali Mo’ezzi
Mohammad Ali Mansouri
Mehdi Farahi Shandiz
Shahin Zoghi Tabar
Abol Ghassem Fouladvand
Hassan Sadeghi
Khaled Hardani
Ebrahim Firouzi
23 November 2016