Iran’s Islamic Republic Holds “Shameful” Anniversary Celebrations Amid Decades Of Mass Killings

As the Islamic Republic is marking the 44th anniversary of its founding with 10 days of “shameful” celebrations, Amnesty International says the Iranian authorities’ refusal to acknowledge and ensure accountability for the mass enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of the late 1980s has “perpetuated cycles of crimes” and cover-ups aimed at extinguishing any form of dissent in the country.

In a 17-page statement published on February 6, the London-based human rights watchdog commemorates the thousands of victims of what it calls “the worst incident of secret mass killings committed” since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

The statement, titled “Involvement of Iran’s former diplomats in the cover-up of 1988 prison massacres,” details the role played by the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic representatives in “denying the massacres, spreading misinformation and opposing an international investigation in the face of mounting credible evidence.”

Amnesty International says Iranian officials today “employ similar strategies to cover up and weaken international responses to crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations” as they try to crush ongoing nationwide protests triggered by the September death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of morality police following credible reports of her torture and other ill-treatment.

The authorities “have maintained an iron grip on power for decades through the commission of horror after horror with absolute impunity. They continue to systematically conceal the fate and whereabouts of thousands of political dissidents they extrajudicially killed in the 1980s and dumped in unmarked graves. They hide or destroy mass gravesites, and harass and intimidate survivors and relatives seeking truth, justice and reparation,” Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a press release. 

“Such crimes are not relics of the past. The anniversary arrives amid a horrific wave of bloodshed around the latest protests, as well as arbitrary executions and death sentences targeting protesters. This highlights the need for urgent global action from countries around the world to bring Iranian officials involved in crimes under international law to justice in fair trials.”

Amnesty International has said that nearly 5,000 prisoners were executed in a matter of months in 1988, while Iranian opposition groups put the figure closer to 30,000.

Between 1988 and 1990, Amnesty International says in its statement, Iranian diplomats around the world and government officials dismissed reports of mass executions as “propaganda from opposition groups” and claimed the killings had occurred in the context of the armed incursion of an opposition group then based in Iraq.

Iranian officials are currently resorting to similar tactics to discredit the anti-government protesters and dissidents as “rioters,” deny involvement in hundreds of killings, and resist calls for international investigations and accountability, the group says.

Iranian officials have blamed the killing of protesters and bystanders on “hired terrorists,” “suicides” or “accidents,” or questioned the death of some victims.

The Iranian security forces have killed more than 520 people, including dozens of children, and detained over 18,000 in their crackdown on the women-led protests, activists say. Following biased trials, the judiciary handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.

“For decades, Iran’s government and its diplomatic representatives around the world have orchestrated denial and misinformation campaigns to mislead the international community and rob those affected and society at large of the right to truth,” Eltahawy said.

“It is high time for Iranian diplomats to reveal the nature and source of instructions they received from capital, and stop contributing to the shroud of secrecy surrounding the 1988 prison massacres, which has only entrenched impunity and compounded the suffering of survivors and relatives.”