ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Amnesty International slammed Iranian authorities Tuesday for erecting a concrete wall around mass graves containing remains of hundreds of political dissidents executed in secret decades ago, calling on authorities to refrain from concealing the gravesites and urging for an international investigation.
The Khavaran mass graves are located on the southeastern edge of Tehran, and contain the remains of hundreds or thousands of bodies of political dissidents buried impromptu by the Iranian government in 1988 “prison massacres” as it was preparing to accept a UN-sponsored ceasefire to end the eight-year war with Iraq.
The Islamic republic has in recent months built new two-meter high concrete walls around the gravesites to conceal the location from the public eye, according to Amnesty.
“The construction has sparked serious concerns that the authorities can more easily destroy or tamper with the mass grave site away from public view as the site is no longer visible to the outside,” the rights watchdog said, adding that security officials guard the entrance and only allow access to relatives occasionally.
RELATED: For Iran’s dissidents and minorities, even the dead cannot find peace
The Khavaran atrocities were renewed when, in April 2021, Iranian authorities ordered members of the Baha'i faith to bury their dead in the same plot of land - a site that contained the remains of those killed 33 years earlier.
“The Iranian authorities cannot simply build a wall around a crime scene and think that all their crimes will be erased and forgotten,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, blaming Iranian authorities for deliberately destroying “key evidence that could be used to establish the truth about the scale of the extrajudicial executions carried out in 1988 and obtain justice and reparations for the victims and their families.”
Amnesty also reported that security cameras have been installed on the perimeter of the Khavaran mass grave site “to intimidate mourning families and deter members of the public from visiting the site to pay their respects.”
The watchdog further slammed authorities complicit in the disappearance of the political dissidents, who have risen to top positions in the country instead of being investigated and charged for “serious crimes under international law.”
Eltahawy called on the international community to “not shy away” from speaking out about the “ongoing crisis of systemic impunity” in Iran, including the officials involved in the nuclear talks with Tehran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that impunity in Iran has served as a driving factor to the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi “who must be investigated for crimes against humanity.”
The Baha’is in Iran, estimated at 350,000, are not a recognized religious minority under the constitution, putting them outside of legal protection and making them susceptible to being targets of state-sponsored discrimination, as they are labeled apostates who have abandoned the Muslim faith.
Iranian national Hamid Noury, 60, is currently on trial facing charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in 1988 in Sweden. He had served as assistant to the deputy governor or Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near the Iranian capital of Tehran, where an estimated 5,000 prisoners were killed across the country following an order from then-Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In late August, Iran reiterated its calls for Noury to be released, as he is being tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a right reserved by Sweden to try foreigners suspected of serious international crimes.
Iran however has not brought a single official to justice for the crimes against humanity linked to the 1988 “prison massacres,” and has instead rewarded those who have acted with impunity by placing them in high positions of power, Amnesty said while exemplifying Ebrahim Raisi, the current president, who was a member of the “death committee” formed by Khomeini to oversee the prison massacres.
“This abomination must end once and for all, and the UN Human Rights Council must urgently establish an independent investigative mechanism to uncover the truth as a step towards bringing those suspected of responsibility to justice,” the watchdog stressed.
The Khavaran mass graves are located on the southeastern edge of Tehran, and contain the remains of hundreds or thousands of bodies of political dissidents buried impromptu by the Iranian government in 1988 “prison massacres” as it was preparing to accept a UN-sponsored ceasefire to end the eight-year war with Iraq.
The Islamic republic has in recent months built new two-meter high concrete walls around the gravesites to conceal the location from the public eye, according to Amnesty.
“The construction has sparked serious concerns that the authorities can more easily destroy or tamper with the mass grave site away from public view as the site is no longer visible to the outside,” the rights watchdog said, adding that security officials guard the entrance and only allow access to relatives occasionally.
RELATED: For Iran’s dissidents and minorities, even the dead cannot find peace
The Khavaran atrocities were renewed when, in April 2021, Iranian authorities ordered members of the Baha'i faith to bury their dead in the same plot of land - a site that contained the remains of those killed 33 years earlier.
“The Iranian authorities cannot simply build a wall around a crime scene and think that all their crimes will be erased and forgotten,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, blaming Iranian authorities for deliberately destroying “key evidence that could be used to establish the truth about the scale of the extrajudicial executions carried out in 1988 and obtain justice and reparations for the victims and their families.”
Amnesty also reported that security cameras have been installed on the perimeter of the Khavaran mass grave site “to intimidate mourning families and deter members of the public from visiting the site to pay their respects.”
The watchdog further slammed authorities complicit in the disappearance of the political dissidents, who have risen to top positions in the country instead of being investigated and charged for “serious crimes under international law.”
Eltahawy called on the international community to “not shy away” from speaking out about the “ongoing crisis of systemic impunity” in Iran, including the officials involved in the nuclear talks with Tehran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that impunity in Iran has served as a driving factor to the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi “who must be investigated for crimes against humanity.”
The Baha’is in Iran, estimated at 350,000, are not a recognized religious minority under the constitution, putting them outside of legal protection and making them susceptible to being targets of state-sponsored discrimination, as they are labeled apostates who have abandoned the Muslim faith.
Iranian national Hamid Noury, 60, is currently on trial facing charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in 1988 in Sweden. He had served as assistant to the deputy governor or Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near the Iranian capital of Tehran, where an estimated 5,000 prisoners were killed across the country following an order from then-Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In late August, Iran reiterated its calls for Noury to be released, as he is being tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction, a right reserved by Sweden to try foreigners suspected of serious international crimes.
Iran however has not brought a single official to justice for the crimes against humanity linked to the 1988 “prison massacres,” and has instead rewarded those who have acted with impunity by placing them in high positions of power, Amnesty said while exemplifying Ebrahim Raisi, the current president, who was a member of the “death committee” formed by Khomeini to oversee the prison massacres.
“This abomination must end once and for all, and the UN Human Rights Council must urgently establish an independent investigative mechanism to uncover the truth as a step towards bringing those suspected of responsibility to justice,” the watchdog stressed.
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