Iran – 1,112 families of MEK martyrs urge the UN to prevent the destruction of mass graves

Letter to the UN Secretary-General, EU and US leaders and international human rights organizations

PARIS, FRANCE, May 9, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On Tuesday, May 4, 2021, in a letter to the United Nations Secretary General, EU leaders and the President and officials in the United States, 1,112 families of the martyrs of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), urged them to take immediate action to prevent further destruction of their relatives' graves by the religious fascism ruling Iran. For years, the clerical regime has been systematically and gradually destroying the graves of political executions in Tehran and other cities as part of an anti-human and criminal policy to eliminate the traces of its crimes against humanity.

Referring to Khomeini's criminal fatwa ordering the liquidation of all MEK political prisoners who had remained steadfast in their support for the MEK, the letter reads: "While international human rights organizations and experts have described the massacre as a crime against humanity… the Iranian regime has embarked on erasing the traces of the evidence on the massacre by destroying the mass graves where they are buried … These actions constitute the collective torture of thousands of survivors and families of martyrs. It is another manifest case of crime against humanity.”

The letter by 1,112 families of the MEK martyrs, while underscoring the need to refer the case of the massacre of the political prisoners and officials responsible for this crime to the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice, urges the UN and international human rights organizations to take immediate measures to prevent further destruction of martyrs' graves, and the elimination of the traces of crimes which amount to psychological torture of thousands of bereaved families across Iran.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
May 9, 2021

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Text of the letter by 1,112 families of the MEK martyrs:

May 4, 2021

Excellency António Guterres
Secretary General,
The United Nations
New York, NY 10017

Dear Mr. Guterres,

The undersigned are members of families of the members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), whom the Iranian regime massacred during the 1988 liquidation of 30,000 political prisoners. None of the victims had received a death sentence.

The regime’s first Supreme Leader Khomeini wrote in his fatwa, sanctioning the massacre, "Those in prisons across the country who insist on this support for the hypocrites (regime’s pejorative term to describe the MEK), have waged war on God and sentenced to death. Destroy the enemies of Islam immediately." The MEK has published a list of more than 5,000 of those summarily executed in 1988.

Most of us have forgotten where exactly our loved ones are buried, many of them in mass graves. The campaign for justice for victims of 1988 has gained greater prominence and broader scope. International human rights organizations and experts have described the massacre as a crime against humanity and called for holding the perpetrators of this heinous crime to account.

Paranoid of the repercussions of international scrutiny into this horrific atrocity, the Iranian regime has embarked on erasing the traces of the evidence on the massacre by destroying the mass graves where they are buried. The regime has tried to destroy the mass graves of massacred political prisoners in Tehran's Khavaran Cemetery in the latest attempt. Previously, it destroyed or damaged the mass graves of the 1988 victims in Ahvaz, Tabriz, Mashhad, and elsewhere.

These actions constitute the collective torture of thousands of survivors and families of martyrs. It is another manifest case of crime against humanity.

The Iranian public and all human rights defenders expect the United Nations, particularly the UN Security Council, to launch an investigation into the massacre of political prisoners and summon the perpetrators of this heinous crime before the International Court of Justice.

We, therefore, respectfully request Your Excellency and the relevant bodies at the United Nations and international human rights organizations to prevent the regime from destroying the mass graves, eliminating the evidence of their crime, and inflicting psychological torture upon thousands of families of the victims throughout Iran.

Copies sent to:
Leaders of the European Union
The United States President and other U.S. officials
Human rights organizations

Shahin Gobadi
NCRI
+33 6 50 11 98 48
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UN Must Investigate Iran's 1988 Massacre