Documents related to the 1988 massacre
In this section you will find Iran’s constitution and penal code and other relevant documents and reports related to the human rights situation in Iran, with special focus on the 1988 massacre.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has published a book in which he defends the order given by his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini leading to the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran. Khamenei’s remarks are included in a book […]

Seven United Nations experts have sent a letter to the Iranian authorities stating that the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners could amount to “crimes against humanity” and vowing to call for an international investigation into the mass murders […]

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 […]

The United States House of Representatives on 26 April 2018 passed the Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (H.R. 4744). The text in particular refers to the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran:

The latest report to the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the late Asma Jahangir, drew attention to the need for an investigation into the 1988 […]

Click here to read the report of a civil society hearing into Iran’s 1988 massacre of political prisoners held in Geneva on 1 February 2018.

The JVMI is today publishing a new report about Iran’s 1988 massacre of political prisoners, exposing the identities of dozens of members of the “Death Commissions”, some of who are current senior members of the Iranian administration including the government […]

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has in her latest report made numerous references to the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, pointing out that the families of the victims […]

Letter by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion […]

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has in a new report to the Human Rights Council included references to Iran’s 1988 massacre of political prisoners and human rights abuses towards campaigners demanding justice over the massacre.

Asma Jahangir, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, has in her latest report to the Human Rights Council included references to Iran’s 1988 massacre of political prisoners and human rights abuses towards campaigners demanding justice […]

Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) unveiled its report on Iran’s 1988 massacre at the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 15 March 2017. The 366-page report evidences […]

Partial Translation of the remarks by Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri in a meeting with the members of the “death commission” in Tehran regarding the massacre of political prisoners in Iran August 15, 1988 Introduction:

The Sunday Telegraph By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent 4 February 2001 CHILDREN as young as 13 were hanged from cranes, six at a time, in a barbaric two-month purge of Iran’s prisons on the direct orders of Ayatollah Khomeini, according […]

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (or religious decree) in July 1988 ordering the execution of members and supporters of the main opposition group PMOI (MEK) who remained loyal to the organization, including those who had already […]

On July 31, 1988, Iran’s former Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri wrote to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to express his grave concern over the mass executions of political prisoners in Iran, namely members of the PMOI, which he […]

In his second letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on August 2, 1988, after failing to receive a response to his earlier appeal, Iran’s former Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri once again notified him of the way […]

Iran’s former Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was shocked by the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988, expressed his dismay in a letter to members of the ‘Death Commission’ in Tehran on […]

Iran’s former Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri criticized on a number of occasions the practices of the Iranian regime’s officials and the decrees by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini which had led to the massacre of political prisoners in […]

Text of letter sent to Khomeini by the religious judge of Islamic Revolutionary Courts in Khuzistan on the manner of implementation of His Eminence’s decree on the Monafeqin [Mojahedin] In the Name of God, the Most High, His Eminence […]

In 1988, Ahmad Khomeini, son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, conveyed a message to his father on behalf of Iran’s then-Chief Justice, Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, who raised some ambiguities about Khomeini’s death decree and how it should […]