By INU Staff
INU
- Ali Fallahian, a former Intelligence Minister of Iran, participated in
an interview with Tarikh Online – a state-affiliated news website, earlier this
month. He admitted that the Supreme Leader at the time, Ayatollah
Khomeini, ordered the execution of anyone linked to the Iranian opposition
(MEK) in a fatwa in 1988.
During
the summer of 1988, more than 30,000 political prisoners, most of whom were
members or supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI or
MEK), the main Iranian opposition group, were executed.
He said that the fatwa ordered the execution of the MEK
members who insisted on maintaining their beliefs. To deal with the logistics
of it, a commission was formed, he said. This is what has become known as the
“Death Commission”. Fallahian said that the purpose of the commission was in
actual fact to see who would be pardoned instead of being executed.
He
explained that the people could have escaped execution by saying that they no
longer hold their beliefs and do not support the MEK or any other opposition.
If they declared their commitment to the Supreme Leader they would have
remained alive.
Mr.
Hossein-Ali Montazeri released an audio recording of him warning the other
members of the death commission about what they were partaking in. He said that
such an act would go down in history as an unforgettable and horrific event. He
was also concerned that it was not a good image of Islam. Fallahian said that
he also clashed with Khomeini on other matters, and he was instructed to carry
out his religious duties, in this case to participate in the 1988 massacre,
without any regard for “history’s judgement”.
The
Iranian regime has commented that the people who were executed in 1988 were
armed when they were arrested, but Fallahian explained that this was not the
case. Not all of the people who died were part of armed rebellion activities.
Fallahian said that they did not distinguish between those who were armed and
those who were not – if they were faced with a member of the MEK then they were
treated as if they were armed.
The
interviewer, clearly shocked by what they were hearing, asked Fallahian to
clarify what he said. They asked him that if someone was carrying a MEK
newspaper, would they have been arrested. Fallahian said yes, because they were
part of the MEK.
The
people of Iran are still waiting for justice despite repeated calls by the
international community.
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