How the history will judge us?
During the summer of 1988, thousands of Iranian political prisoners were taken from their cells and executed. All over Iran, men and women were blindfolded and shot, or hanged in exercise yards or prayer halls. None of them was taken to trial, instead they were asked a few questions by what became known as the “Death Commission”, and sentenced to death according to their responses. These prisoners had survived the mass executions of the early years of 1980s and were in the process of serving their long sentences.
No one knows the exact number of those executed a consequence of censorship and severe repression in Iran. But, to this day, there are around 5,000 known names of victims which have been documented by families, political parties and organizations. Many of those who were killed had served their sentences, but were still in prison as they would not agree to the conditions of their release. Victims were either shot by a firing squad or were hanged.
Their bodies were buried in mass graves, the locations of which remain undisclosed. To this day, many families do not know where their loved ones are buried. The Islamic Republic of Iran refuses to give any information about where the graves are located, but a number of graves have been discovered by the families. The most well-known graves were found in Khavaran cemetery in the southwest suburbs of Tehran, the capital of Iran. Khavaran is an abandoned Bahai cemetery.
The massacre was the climax of a massive elimination process from 1981 to 1988, under which around 20,000 dissidents disappeared, either dying under torture or being executed by firing squads. According to political prisoners who survived the killings, young girls were raped with support from the Sharia laws before they were executed by firing squad. A woman's rape is frequently the last act that precedes her execution in Iran. Under Sharia law in Iran, virgin girls are not allowed to be executed. This practice has been documented by families, former political prisoners, the Iranian opposition and human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Over the years since these terrible massacres took place, family members of the victims, former political prisoners, opposition political parties and human rights organizations have attempted to bring to the attention of the world the murderous campaign of the Islamic Republic of Iran by various means; publishing statements and statistics and holding seminars and demonstrations.
In spite of all these efforts, the world at large is not aware of the extent of this human tragedy. Family members, especially the children whose parents were killed, have only had one wish over all these years; to bring to justice the murderers of their loved ones. Their lives have been deeply affected by this tragedy, but they cannot seek justice in Iran. Investigating the killings and holding the perpetrators of these murders to account is practically impossible in Iran, as long as many of the perpetrators continue to occupy seats of power in Iran, independent judicial institutions are non-existent; the judiciary has been directly and indirectly an accomplice in these crimes, and is itself seen as one of the instigators of suppression in Iran.
Investigating people’s grievances against their governments is not within the jurisdiction of international courts because they operate within government frameworks and, as such, would not be able to preside over such cases. Courts in Western countries operate within well-defined laws and, with the exception of a few individual cases, do not deal with complaints against governments. Cases of genocide and crimes against humanity committed by governments do not fall within the remits of these courts either.
According to international penal laws, the mass executions of the early years of the 1980s and the massacre of the political prisoners in the summer of 1988 constitute crimes against humanity.
According to international penal laws, a crime against humanity is defined as part of a systematic or widespread attack against civilians. Widespread means an attack is a “massive”, frequent, large scale action carried out collectively with considerable violence and directed against a multitude of people. A systematic attack is also a qualitative term, pointing to the organised nature of the act of violence and improbability of its random occurrence.
The 1988 killings were certainly widespread and part of a comprehensive organized illegal action that began in June 1981 with mass executions and lasted until September 1988 with the massacre. They were geographically dispersed across the country and the number of victims is estimated to be 20,000, although the exact figure is open to debate. And they were systematic. The “crimes” committed by these prisoners consisted of expressing their non-violent political beliefs, perhaps by selling newspapers or attending meetings or demonstrations.
Political prisoners, whether in the early years of 1980s or in the summer of 1998, were not afforded anything even remotely resembling a trial, let alone a fair trial. They were arrested on very vague charges, tortured, and then taken to a room where their charges and sentences were communicated to them. The whole process lasted only a minute or two. No legal process was followed. No defense was allowed. No appeals. No safeguards.
Family members, children in particular, who were able to leave Iran and settle in western countries have, on different occasions, pleaded for justice, but no governments or justice departments are willing to take up their cause. For this reason, until a real process is undertaken to seek justice in Iran, a group of individuals composed of the families of the victims, former political prisoners, survivors of this human tragedy, political, labour and human right activists, women’s rights activists, lawyers, students, children’s rights activists, writers and journalists have been holding regular meetings since October 2007 to assess the possibility of setting up an internationally symbolic tribunal, where the Islamic Republic of Iran would be called to account for its crimes against humanity. This symbolic inquest will have the authority to bring this human tragedy, concealed and unacknowledged for so long, onto the world stage, where the brutality and cruelty of the Islamic regime can at last be examined, exposed and judged.
The world should know what took place in Iran in the 1980s - in the summer of 1988 in particular. The horror and brutality was of such criminal magnitude that if it can be exposed, and we believe the evidence will be sufficiently convincing, then the Islamic Republic of Iran should be condemned and held to account.
The Tribunal has a clear historical precedent and will be modelled on the tribunals set up by Bertrand Russell and Jean Paul Sartre in their 1965-1967 world campaign against the American atrocities in the Vietnam War. In late 1967, the campaign planned two sessions in Paris and Copenhagen, but, due to the French government refusal, the Paris hearing was moved to Stockholm. The Copenhagen session resembled a Truth Commission. A panel of twenty five prominent legal experts, writers, poets, journalists, academics, philosophers, political activists and representatives of labour movements from eighteen countries was chaired by Russell and Sartre. The tribunals were held in Stockholm and Copenhagen and attended by such world famous writers as Simone De Beauvoir and several noble laureates.
Our own task is different in many ways and more difficult, but the same responsibility remains. How can such atrocities be prevented? The procedures of a trial or a truth commission are impossible to implement. We do not represent any state power, nor can we compel the perpetrators responsible for crimes against the people of Iran to stand accused before us. We believe that these apparent limitations are, in fact, virtues. We are free to conduct a solemn and historic investigation, unrestricted by the confines of state or other such obligations.
The proposal will allow tens of thousands of families of victims to have a voice. We have learned from history if the account of an atrocity does not transcend the boundaries of a country, and if the world doesn’t hear about it, history will repeat itself and human society will witness such crimes again and again.
This Tribunal will examine all the evidence that may be placed before it by any source or party. The evidence may be oral, or in the form of documents. No evidence relevant to our purposes will be refused attention and no competent witness who wishes to testify at the inquiry will be denied a hearing.
Hundreds of family members of the victims are willing to provide the necessary information, including checking the accuracy and reliability of the information. They offer to help by the production of evidence and attending the sessions. The Islamic Republic of Iran will be invited to present evidence or cause it to be presented, and to instruct its officials or representatives to appear and state their case. Our purpose is to establish, without fear or favour, the full truth about the bloody decade of the 1980s. We sincerely hope that our efforts will contribute to world justice and to the establishment of a more secure world for oppressed peoples.
In order to carry out this humanitarian and historical task, the tribunal would require a commission of inquiry composed of 6 to 10 high profile jurists and a panel(jury) of 12 to 15 international figures composed of prominent legal experts, academics, writers, playwrights, reporters, Noble Prize Winners …).
Stages of the investigation
According to the proposed plan, the Tribunal will compromise of two stages: A “Commission of Inquiry” and the “tribunal”.
The Commission of Inquiry will aim to collect statements, witness documents, dossiers and to publish and report on extensive executions in the early 1980s as well as mass execution of political prisoners in 1987. The commission will also prepare recommendations regarding instances of human rights violation, arrest, torture and execution of political opponents and ways of avoiding such violations in future.
Commission of Inquiry allow victims, relatives of victims, journalists, experts and perpetrators to come forth and provide testimony. The strict rules governing the introduction of evidence in trials are typically more relaxed in truth commissions. As a result, during truth commissions, there is a greater opportunity for individuals to come forward with stories of harms they have suffered.
The raison d'etre of the Truth commission is to allow victims to have a voice, to publicize the abuses of human rights, and to account for past atrocities.
The Commission of Inquiry, set up to investigate the murder of political prisoners, will be an unusual phenomenon, because In addition, the prosecution taken up by the commission is unusual as it will deal with human rights violation by a government that is still in power. The Commission would require a panel of international experts (preferably composed of illegal, political experts, academics and reporters). Although the presence of lawyers/judges is important, it is preferable that the panel of experts is not comprised exclusively lawyers/judges, since such a panel would convey the impression that the commission is intended as a legal proceeding rather than as a fact-finding proceeding. A professionally diverse panel would be best.
The jury will be supplied with witness statements from the victims, their families and experts over a period of one to two weeks. During this period, individuals who produce statements can appear in person or deposit witness statements in writing. Witnesses must limit their statements to personal experiences or areas of expertise. For example, families of political prisoners must limit their statements to what happened regarding the death of their relatives. Once the jury heard all the statements, it must produce a written report, encompassing all of its findings, publish the report and submit it to the court. The report must provide detailed research of the events of 1980s and in particular the events surrounding mass execution of prisoners in the summer of 1988, referring to those responsible for these crimes , clarifying how the court should investigate this matter.
The court
The court's proceedings will also be unusual, because amongst trials held over the last 100 years, it will be the second people’s court, taking up the case against a government, the other one being the Russell tribunal, held against the crimes of the United States in Vietnam. The tribunal will investigate the findings of the Commission of Inquiry and will issue a judgements based on this.
The court needs a jury (an international panel) with members from well known, progressive writers, reporters, lawyers, academics, political and labour activists, intellectuals from various countries. The important issue is that representatives from the families of those executed should be present in the commission and the court. There is no need for two separate juries. We propose a panel with twenty members and a smaller group, about a third of the panel, will be elected to run the commission.
As the dossier of this bloody decade in Iran, has so far been ignored by the international media, it would be best if the panel would be made up of influential international figures
It is important to involve independent human rights, legal and reporters organisations from other countries, especially those involved in similar experiences, such as families of political prisoners executed in Chile, mothers of the disappeared in Argentina, political prisoner support groups in Turkey... As more organisations get involved, we can rely on increased publicity, both before and after setting up the tribunal.
No doubt, it is important that the commission draws the attention of mass media to its proceedings. Reporters must be given the opportunity to cover the statement of witnesses (unless a witness has requested privacy). In addition, published reports must be distributed amongst Iranian and non Iranian media outlets. Members of the jury have a duty to write reports and articles regarding their experience in the jury or the panel. The final report of the truth commission and the court's verdict should be used for publicity internationally.
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