The 1988 executions of political prisoners in Iran (Persian: )

refers to the state-sponsored execution of political prisoners across Iran, starting on 19 July 1988
and enduring for approximately five months. The majority of those killed were supporters of the
People's Mujahedin of Iran, although supporters of other leftist factions, including the Fedaian and
the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were executed as well.[1][2]
The killings have been described as a political purge without precedent in modern Iranian history,
both in terms of scope and coverup.[3] However, the exact number of prisoners executed remains
a point of contention. Amnesty International recorded the names of over 4,482 disappeared
prisoners during this time,[4] but Iranian opposition groups suggest that the number of prisoners
executed was far higher, and as many as 30,000 dissidents may have been executed.[5][6]
Great care was taken to keep the killings undercover, and the government of Iran currently denies
their having taken place. Justifications offered for the alleged executions vary, but one of the most
common theories advanced is that they were in retaliation for the 1988 attack on the western
borders of Iran by the PMOI Mujahedin. However, this happened months after the executions
commenced and does not fully account for the targeting of other leftist groups who opposed the
Mujahedin invasion
Shortly before the executions commenced, Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued "a secret but
extraordinary order - some suspect a formal fatwa." This set up "Special Commissions with
instructions to execute members of People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran as moharebs (those
who war against Allah) and leftists as mortads (apostates from Islam)."[8]
In part the letter read:

(147: ) .

[9]
Translation:
"Since:
PMOI members do not believe in Islam, while pretending otherwise.
Due to their systematic military war in the northern, western and southern Iranian borders ...
Due to their cooperation with Saddam Hussein in war against Iran ...
Due to spying against Iran ...
Due to their connections with Western powers ([acting against Iran's independence]) ...
all those jailed PMOI members who continue supporting PMOI and its positions are considered
militant enemies and need to be executed."
Administering of the executions[edit]
In Tehran the special commission for the executions had 16 members representing the various
authorities of the Islamic government - Imam Khomeini himself, the president, the chief

prosecutor, the Revolutionary Tribunals, the Ministries of Justice and Intelligence, and the
administration of Evin and Gohar Dasht, the two prisons in the Tehran area from which the
prisoner were eliminated. The chair of the commission was Ayatollah Eshraqi. His two special
assistants were Hojatt al-Islam Nayeri and Hojjat al-Islam Mobasheri. The commission shuttled
back and forth between Evin and Gohar Dasht prisons by helicopter. In the provinces similar
commissions were established, but less is known about them.[8]
The prisoners were not executed without any proceedings, but were "tried" on charges totally
unrelated to the charges that had landed them in prison. They were interviewed by commissions
with a set list of questions to see if they qualified as moharebs or mortads to the satisfaction of
that commission. Many, if not most, of the prisoners were unaware of the true purpose of the
questions, although later some were warned by the prison grapevine.
Some of the victims were killed because of their beliefs about religion because they were
atheists or because they were Muslims who followed different versions of Islam.
Isolation of the prisoners[edit]
Some scholarly examinations of the massacre argue that the planning stages of the 1988
Massacre began months before the actual executions started. According to one report: "prison
officials took the unusual step in late 1987 and early 1988 of re-questioning and separating all
political prisoners according to party affiliation and length of sentence."[10] The actual execution
process began in the early hours of 19 July 1988 with the isolation of the political prisoners from
the outside world. Prison gates were closed, scheduled visits and telephone calls were canceled,
letters, care packages, and even vital medicines from the outside were turned away, the main law
courts went on an unscheduled vacation. Even relatives of prisoners were forbidden to
congregate outside the prison gates.
Inside the prison, cell blocks were isolated from each other and cleared of radios and televisions.
Places where prisoners gathered communally, such as lecture halls, workshops, infirmaries, were
all closed down and inmates were confined to their cells. Prison guards and workers were
ordered not to speak to prisoners. One prisoner constructed a homemade wireless set to listen to
the radio news from the outside but found news broadcasters were saying nothing at all about the
lockdown
The first prisoners to be interviewed or "tried" were the male Mojahedin, including those who had
repented of their association with the group. The commission prefaced the proceedings with the
false assurance that this was not a trial but a process for initiating a general amnesty and
separating the Muslims from the non-Muslims. It first asked their organizational affiliation. If they
replied 'Mojahedin', the questioning ended there. If they replied 'monafeqin' (hypocrites), the
commission continued with such questions
'Are you willing to denounce former colleagues?'
'Are you willing to denounce them in front of the cameras?'
'Are you willing to help us hunt them down?'
'Will you name secret sympathizers?'
'Will you identify phony repenters?'
'Will you go to the war front and walk through enemy minefields?'
Not surprisingly almost all the prisoners failed to answer in the affirmative to all the questions.
These were then taken to another room and ordered to write their last will and testament and to
discard any personal belongings such as rings, watches, and spectacles. They were then
blindfolded and taken to the gallows where they were hanged in batches of six. Since "hanging"
did not mean death by breaking of the neck by drop through a trap door, but stringing up the
victim by the neck to suffocate, "some took fifteen minutes to die. After the first few days, the
overworked executioners requested firing squads. These requests were rejected on the claim that
the sharia mandated hanging for apostates and enemies of Allah, though it is thought that the real

reason may have been that the hanging was quieter than gunfire and would better preserve the
secrecy of the operation.
At first this secrecy was effective. "One survivor admits that he thought he was being processed
to be released in time for the forthcoming peace celebrations.
After August 27, the commission turned its attention to the leftist prisoners - members of the
Tudeh, Majority Fedayi, Minority Fedayi, other Fedayi, Kumaleh, Rah-e Kargar, Peykar, etc.
These were also assured they were in no danger and asked:[citation needed]
'Are you a Muslim?'
'Do you believe in Allah?'
'Is the Holy Koran the Word of Allah?'
'Do you believe in Heaven and Hell?'
'Do you accept the Holy Muhammad to be the Seal of the Prophets?'
'Will you publicly recant historical materialism?'
'Will you denounce your former beliefs before the cameras?'
'Do you fast during Ramadan?'
'Do you pray and read the Holy Koran?'
'Would you rather share a cell with a Muslim or a non-Muslim?'
'Will you sign an affidavit that you believe in Allah, the Prophet, the Holy Koran, and the
Resurrection?'
'When you were growing up did your father pray, fast, and read the Holy Koran?'
Prisoners were told that authorities were asking them these questions because they planned to
separate practicing Muslims from non-practicing ones. However, the real reason was to
determine whether the prisoners qualified as apostates from Islam, in which case they would join
the moharebs in the gallows.
Some prisoners saved from execution by answering the questions properly returned to their cells
and passed along what the commission was asking. A leftist prisoner "who had at one time
attended a seminary quickly grasped the theological significance of the questions" and "spent the
night of August 30 sending morse code messages to other cells" by knocking on the prison walls.
He pointed "out the hidden dangers." The questioners wanted to know why prisoners' fathers
prayed, fasted, and read the Koran because the sons of those fathers who had not could not be
called apostates. If they had not been raised in proper Muslim homes first and "exposed to true
Islam," they could not be apostates. Another wrong answer was refusing to answer "on the
grounds of 'privacy,'" which "could itself be taken as an admission of 'apostasy.'"[13]
All this was a surprise to the prisoners, one commenting, 'In previous years, they wanted us to
confess to spying. In 1988, they wanted us to convert to Islam.'[14] It also meant there was no
correlation between the length of sentence being served and the likelihood of death. "The first
leftist to go before the Evin commission were those with light, and even completed, sentences."
These had no warning of what was in store and many died.