Crimes against humanity

IACNT- On Sunday, August 21, 2016, North Texans held a rally at Daley Plaza in downtown Dallas to commemorate the 1988 Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran.

In the summer of 1988, while demands for political change were rising in Iran, Rouhollah Khomeini, issued a decree ordering the massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners, turning it into one of the bloodiest seasons in the history of Iran. A vast majority of the victims were members and sympathizers of the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The prisoners were serving their sentences while the massacre took place. Mass graves were dug up overnight to bury the bodies; families were not notified of the executions for a long time and were never given the location of the burial site. In some cases, these mass graves were discovered by citizens living nearby.

The Iranian regime has never openly talked about this massacre. Though many previous or current officials from both factions of the regime, so called hardliners and reformists, were directly involved in this massacre, no faction has dared to talk about the crime against humanity which took place in the summer of 1988.

However, on the 28th anniversary of this atrocious crime, a newly surfaced audio tape shocked the world. A conversation between Ayatollah Montazeri, Khomeini’s heir, and the ‘death committee’ revealed shocking details of political prisoners’ executions. This audio tape which was swiftly translated to English went viral and human rights activists all over the world are asking for a new inquiry into the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has started a worldwide campaign to bring perpetrators of this crime to justice; it’s ironic that one of the members of the death committee is serving under President Rouhani, the so called ‘moderate’.


North Texans support Maryam Rajavi’s campaign for an inquiry into the 1988 massacre. They also condemn the recent executions of 20 Sunni prisoners. They ask the international community to be active and prosecute the Iranian regime officials for crimes against humanity. Many North Texans stopped by the rally to talk to IACNT members and show their support for the cause.