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| Ahmad Raoof Bashardoost was amongst the 30,000 victims of the Iranian mullahs’ madness in the summer of 1988 |
The West's indifference to Iran's historic crimes lets my brother's killers get away with murder.
By Massoumeh Raouf
International Business
Times August 30, 2017 14:53 BST
On a cold day in March 1988, my
colleague came to me and said "Masoumeh, Masoumeh, you have a
letter".
Receiving a letter is a routine
for most people, but not for me. I was a former political prisoner in Iran and
had been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in the city of Rasht in northern
Iran. I was able to escape the prison miraculously and cross Iran's borders in
a completely non-standard fashion. In the midst of a severe crackdown on
dissent in Iran, it was very risky to send me a letter.
I opened the envelope with
curiosity. I was shocked after reading a few lines. It was a letter from my
younger brother, Ahmad. "Ahmad? Can this be true?"
For years I was waiting for
such a day. Ahmad was arrested when the regime's Revolutionary Guards raided
our home in 1982, when he was 16-years-old. His crime was participating in
meetings held by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the
regime's main opposition. After suffering long torture he was sentenced to five
years in prison. He was first held in Rasht Prison and was subsequently
transferred to the notorious jails of Evin and Gohardasht.
He remained in prison for
months after his sentence came to an end. His former cellmates had told me
stories about his resistance and high spirits.
He was released in February of
1988. He quickly sought to leave the country and join the opposition. Now his
letter was in my hands. He had written: "If I wanted to write to you about
what I went through all these years, it would equal many, many books. So, let's
put this off for a later time..."
Months passed and I waited to
see Ahmad. But why wasn't there any news of him? Why didn't he call? My heart
was full of anxiety. There was a nagging feeling inside telling me something
had happened.
In late July 1988, former
Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa for the
execution of political prisoners. Despite all-out censorship and isolation of
all the prisons, news about this got out of Iran. Hundreds of executions were
taking place each day. There were non-stop hangings. Each news report was like
a severe blow to my head. I called my father and asked about Ahmad's
whereabouts. He asked in surprise: "Isn't he with you? He said goodbye to
all of us to go and see you! If he's not with you, then...?"
I still remember the long
silence during that phone call. If he was not with me, then...?!
My father had assumed
correctly. He started looking for Ahmad from one prison to another. But the
more he searched, the less he found. Neither a name, nor a sign, nor a grave.
In 1991 we came to understand
that my little brother, Ahmad Raoof Bashardoost, was amongst the 30,000 victims
of the mullahs' madness in the summer of 1988. Nearly all the victims,
including my brother, were PMOI/MEK supporters.
This painful story remains
alive for my family and all of Iranian society. Twenty-nine years later the
authorities have never given my brother's body to my family, and we don't even
know where he was buried. My father has been searching for his grave for 29
years.
But I have hope.
Since last year, a campaign in
Iran named the "Justice Movement" has been spreading the message of
the victims. It began when the audio file of a meeting on 15 August 1988
between Hossein Ali Montazeri, then deputy to Khomeini, and members of the
"Death Committee" shed new light upon the massacre.
This was made public after 28
years and came as a shock to Iranian society. Members of the Death Commission
were appointed directly by Khomeini and sent political prisoners like my
brother to the gallows after one-minute court sessions.
In the audio recording,
Ayatollah Montazeri told the Death Committee members: "The gravest crime
in the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, was carried out by
you. Your names will go down in history as criminals."
Montazeri was sacked and passed
away in 2009 while under house arrest.
Members of the Death Committee
have never been punished and continue to serve in key posts. On 8 August
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who some in the West continue to claim is a
"moderate", appointed Alireza Avaie, another perpetrator of the 1988
massacre in Khuzestan Province, as justice minister.
Rouhani's former justice
minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, was a member of Tehran's Death Committee. He
has now been appointed as an advisor to the regime's judiciary chief.
It may be strange, but people
who were either in early childhood or not yet born at the time of the 1988
massacre are seeking every opportunity to be involved in the Justice Movement.
This has become a dead-end for the mullahs' regime and all its factions.
Amnesty International issued a 94-page report on 2 August over the crackdown on
human rights advocates in Iran emphasising how the younger generation is
seeking the truth.
As underscored by Mrs Maryam
Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the West's
indifference has only emboldened the mullahs to continue their crackdown and
killings. An international fact-finding mission into the 1988 massacre should
have been established long ago. This is the minimum expectation of my father,
who continues his effort to find his son's grave.
Does the international
community prefer to continue going easy on Iran? I hope it has learned
something from the past three decades.
Massoumeh
Raouf, a former political prisoner in Iran, is a member of the National Council
of Resistance of Iran. She lives in exile in Europe.
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