9 December 2020
A group of UN human
rights experts have written to the Iranian government warning that past and ongoing
violations related to prison massacres in 1988 may amount to crimes against
humanity and that they will call for an international investigation if these
violations persist, a push for accountability welcomed by Amnesty international
on the eve of International Human Rights Day.
“The UN experts’
communication is a momentous breakthrough. It marks a turning point in the
long-standing struggles of victims’ families and survivors, supported by
Iranian human rights organizations and Amnesty International, to end these
crimes and obtain truth, justice and reparation,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty
International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“Top UN human rights
experts have now sent an unequivocal, and long overdue, message: the ongoing
crimes of mass enforced disappearances resulting from the secret extrajudicial
executions of 1988 can no longer go unaddressed and unpunished”, said Diana
Eltahawy.
Decades of crimes
against humanity
Between late July and
early September 1988, thousands of imprisoned political dissidents across Iran
were forcibly disappeared and then extrajudicially executed in secret.
For more than 30 years,
the Iranian authorities have systematically concealed the circumstances
surrounding their deaths and the whereabouts of their remains, thereby
subjecting the victims, including those killed and their surviving families, to
the crime of enforced disappearance.
In their 18-page
communication, which was first sent privately to the Iranian government on 3
September 2020, the UN experts state that they “are seriously concerned by the
alleged continued refusal to disclose the fate and whereabouts” of these
individuals.
The UN experts’ communication is a momentous breakthrough. It
marks a turning point in the long-standing struggles of victims’ families and
survivors, supported by Iranian human rights organizations and Amnesty
International, to end these crimes and obtain truth, justice and
reparation.
Diana Eltahawy
They write that they
“are further alarmed by the authorities’ refusal to provide families with
accurate and complete death certificates, the destruction of mass graves, the
ongoing threats and harassment of the families, the lack of investigation and
prosecution for the killings, and the statements from the Government denying or
trivializing the cases and equating criticizing the killings as support for
terrorism.”
The communication
underlines that these enforced disappearances continue in effect “until the
fate and whereabouts of the individuals concerned are established”.
Demanding accountability
Consistent with their
calls for thorough, impartial and independent investigations into all cases,
the exhumation and return of remains to families, the identification and
prosecution of perpetrators, and the provision of effective remedy for the
victims, the UN human rights experts have asked Iran to provide detailed
information on, among other things,
- Whether the names of the individuals executed were
included in public burial registers;
- Measures taken to identify, recognize, protect and commemorate
desecrated mass graves;
- Known information on the identities of those interred
in each gravesite, as well as data on unidentified persons;
- Any provisions to allow families to commemorate and pay
their respects at burial sites; and
- Legal provisions to protect families and human rights
defenders who seek information on the fate and whereabouts of victims of
enforced disappearances and who demand justice.
The UN experts also
stated that if the Iranian government “continues to refuse to uphold its obligations
under international human rights law,” they “will call on the international
community to take action to investigate the cases including through the
establishment of an international investigation.”
Since the publication of
Amnesty International's 2018 report Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1988 prison
massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity, the organization has been calling for the UN Human Rights
Council to establish an independent, impartial and effective
international mechanism to address impunity for the crimes against humanity and
other crimes under international law identified in the report.
“The breadth and
strength of the UN expert analysis serves as a crucial stepping stone in our
ongoing push to have the UN Human Rights Council to take action to end
impunity for these past and ongoing crimes against humanity,” said Diana
Eltahawy.
Background
The UN experts issuing
the September 2020 communication are members of the Working Group on
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Special Rapporteur on the
rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran;
the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and
fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; the Special Rapporteur on
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the
Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and
guarantees of non-recurrence.
Amnesty International has
compiled evidence of the involvement of several individuals who continue to
hold high positions of power in the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial
executions including: the current head of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi; the
current minister of justice, Alireza Avaei; the former minister of justice and
current advisor to the head of the judiciary, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi; the head
of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges, Hossein Ali Nayyeri; and Mohamamd
Hossein Ahmadi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, a constitutional body that
has the power to appoint or dismiss Iran’s Supreme Leader.
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