The culprits from the 1988 massacre and why it is important that they are prosecuted.

11.08.17
By Zohair Ahmad
As Rouhani starts his second term he has made some changes in his government, but it is not for the better, he just replaced an executioner with another. Alireza Avaie is replacing Mostafa Pourmohammadi who was one of the three members of the death commission responsible for the 1988 massacre.

The homepage of The 1988 Massacre in Iran site 

 Rouhanis new minister of justice, Alireza Avaie, was directly involved in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran’s Khuzestan province. It has been proven Avaie’s involvement in the 1988 massacre in Younesco prison in the city of Dezful in the south west of Iran. Avaie served as Dezful’s prosecutor from 1979 to 1988. during the horrific massacre in 1988, he was serving as the revolutionary court prosecutor. Avaie was in fact sanctioned by the European Union in October 2011 for his role in human rights violations and direct participation of torturing and massacring political prisoners.

Mostafa-Pour-Mohammadi preparator of 1988 Massacre

After the revelations of Pourmohammadi’s involvement in the 1988 massacre, it became impossible for Rouhani to keep Pourmohammadi in the government but it is proven difficult to find a member of the regime that does not have the blood of innocent victims on their hands. One other culprit in the massacre was Ali Fallahian, at the time of the massacre he was the deputy intelligence minister. Today he holds the position as a member of state expediency council. Before 1985 he was a religious judge in Khuzestan and he was directly involved in killings and murders.  Since November 7, 2007, he has been wanted by the Argentinian judiciary for his role in the terrorist bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. There is also an international warrant for his arrest for planning the assassination of Kurdish leaders in Berlin.

PourMohamadi replaced with avaie both perpetrators of 1988 Massacre in Iran

As we all remember Ebrahim Raeesi was Khamenei’s favorite in the 2017 presidential election, but Khamenei was forced to revoke Raeesi’s candidacy due to the revelation of Raeesi’s role in the 1988 massacre. He was a member of the death commission in Tehran during the massacre, he also headed the revolutionary court dealing with political groups that involved arrests, torture, and executions of members of political groups, in particular, the PMOI. 

A third individual is Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, during the massacre he was the head of Teheran’s Islamic revolutionary courts; head of the death commission in Tehran. Today he is the head of the Supreme disciplinary court for judges and deputy head of the national supreme court. 
These are only a few of the criminals from 1988 massacre. On September 6, 2016, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) revealed 59 individuals who had a direct role in the 1988 massacre. Many of these criminals now hold key positions in the current regime’s government. 
Many of the criminals from the 1988 massacre were rewarded with key positions in the government. If we have hopes of prosecuting these criminals in court there is a need for a regime change. As long as the mullahs rule Iran all criminals will be rewarded and innocent people will be executed.