SERENDIP: Neither Life, Nor Death

Khomeini' massacre of political prisoners in 1987-1988 : Crimes Aganist Humanity

The 1988 massacre started with Khomeini's fatwa, which read in part:

"Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin [Mojahedin], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.... Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately. As regards the cases, use whichever criterion that speeds up the implementation of the [execution] verdict."

Iraj Mesdaghi's interview with VOA (Survivor of the Massacre) :

Excerpts and my transliteration since the interview is in Persian.( Confession: I couldn't stop crying listening to the chilling accounts of savagery and pure evil inflicted upon him and thousands of other prisoners. I don't think I can recover from this anytime soon. I will translate some more when I can):

Those days Evin was full of blood, unspeakable torture, executions, all in the name of God and salvation by Allah". The executioners competed with each other to become torturers like Hadi Khamanie (now a reformist), Hadi Ghafari (now a reformist), Akbar Khoshkoosh, ....There was a waiting list to become torutrers and executioners.

Khomeini used to say we are going to achieve What prophet Mohammad was not able to achieve, referring to world domination by muslims.

Does anyone think that the religious zealotry and savagery of the mullahs has changed since? I don't think so. Why would it.

LAST DAYS BEFORE THE MASSACRE of 1987, 1988
PDF document (Farsi)
Author: Iraj MesdaghiPublished: 2004Type: Book chapter

The present text in Persian is an excerpt (chapter 6, volume 3), of the Memoirs the former political prisoner Iraj Mesdaghi, Neither life, nor Death (published in Stockholm). One of the most comprehensive works by a former prisoner, Iraj Mesdaghi's memoirs is a valuable testimony from a witness who spent 10 years in the Islamic Republic's jails.

The author was arrested and imprisoned for being a sympathizer of the People's Mojahedin of Iran. His writing provides a fascinating and humane account of life in the Iranian prisons. "Last Days Before the Massacre", reports on the prison massacre of 1988, when prisoners where tried by a three-man committee and sentenced to death for their religious and political opinions.