Former senior United Nations (UN) officials and Nobel prize winners on Thursday (January 27) urged the UN human rights office to launch a probe into the mass executions of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran over three decades ago.
The open letter urging the UN to investigate the executions, names Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei among the alleged perpetrators, who “continue to enjoy impunity”.
Ultra-conservative cleric Raisi was elected president of Iran in June, replacing Hassan Rouhani.
For opposition and human rights groups, his name is linked to the 1988 executions when he was deputy prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both called for his indictment for human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
The killings in 1988 took place after Rouhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, declared a fatwa on prisoners who supported Marxists and other leftist groups, as well as the opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which Tehran considered a terrorist organization.
Exiled opposition groups say he was part of a commission that sent thousands of jailed opponents to their deaths within a few months.
In 2019, the United States placed Raisi on a sanctions list, citing the executions and other alleged rights abuses.
The killings in 1988 took place after Rouhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, declared a fatwa on prisoners who supported Marxists and other leftist groups, as well as the opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which Tehran considered a terrorist organization.
Hamid Noury, an Iranian national accused of “war crimes and murder” in connection with the execution of more than 100 political prisoners in 1988, has been on trial in Sweden since August.
Noury — known as “Abbasi” in the late 80s — was an assistant prosecutor at Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran, at the time of the mass executions, according to evidence and testimony from former political prisoners.