Holding Iran Regime Accountable Gains Support from International Community

In his October 9 article for American Thinker,Shahriar Kia writes that October 10th marks the 14th World Day Against Death Penalty. Rallies will take place across the globe in support of the abolition of executions. While great strides were made in 2015, with 169 of the 193 member states of the UN execution-free in the past year, we need to raise awareness in countries where the state of human rights has deteriorated and the application of capital punishment has continued.

Kia is specifically concerned about Iran, where more than 1,000 people have been executed in the past year. The regime sent 27 people to the gallows in the span of three days, just last week. This is a greater number than the yearly figures of most countries that still exercise capital punishment. Iran continues to allow juvenile offenders executed, and today, a young woman is waiting to join their ranks.

Kia says, “And a lot more is happening discreetly.”

The clerical regime in Iran has a 38-year history of human rights violations, going back to the 1988 summer massacre, where more than 30 thousand political prisoners were executed in the span of a few months. The massacre resulted from an order by Khomeini, the founder and then-supreme leader of the Iranian regime, who declared a fatwa, in which which every opposition member was to be executed unless they repented and rejected their ideals of freedom and democracy. The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the main opposition group, were the main targets.

During the 1988 massacre, A group of four clerics were appointed to what later became known as the "Death Committee.” They held very short, minutes long, trials at the prisons, and sealed the fate of prisoners, many of whom were executed merely because they had attended rallies or distributed newspapers belonging to the PMOI.

The PMOI continue to this day to fight to establish a free, democratic, and secular government in Iran. They had a pivotal role in exposing the Iranian regime illicit nuclear program and its terrorist venturing in the Middle East region.

The late Ayatollah Montazeri, Khomeini's heir apparent at the time, condemned the executions as "the biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic." Montazeri was later deposed from his position and sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life, because he spoke his conscience. His statements can be heard in a recently released audio recording.

According to Kia, “the UN and the international community has done little to shed light on and punish this crime against humanity that is compared to the Srebrenica genocide. What's more, the perpetrators of this atrocity continue to hold positions of power in Iran and continue their crimes with impunity.” He uses Mostafa Pourmohammadi, one of the leading members of the notorious Death Committee, as an example. Pourmohammadi now serves as justice minister in the administration of Hassan Rouhani, the "moderate" figure in the Iranian regime.

Kia also worries that, “Current efforts being made to renew ties with Iran and reintegrate the Iranian regime into the international community after years of isolation and animosity will only result in the ruling mullahs becoming more brazen in their crimes against the Iranian people.

In recent months, an international campaign has emerged, with the intention of holding those responsible for the 1988 massacre accountable, and to end the persecution of political dissidents. The movement continues to gather support from politicians and activists across the world, as well as from the U.S. Congress. A resolution introduced to the House of Representatives on September 21 by Homeland Security committee chair Mike McCaul called for the condemnation of the Iranian regime for massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and justice for the families of the victims.

“This underlines the need to stay true to the fundamental values that have been earned and bled for over decades and centuries of human history. Crimes against humanity such as the 1988 massacre and the continued violation of human rights in Iran should not be forgotten or overlooked for the sake of political and economic benefits. The perpetrators must be held accountable and any relations with the Iranian regime must be predicated on the improvement of human rights conditions in Iran,” writes Kia, who adds, “So while we get ready to celebrate and commemorate the efforts made to abolish the death penalty, we must also remember that there is still a lot that needs to be done.”