UNITED NATIONS
Economic and Social Council
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CN. 4/1959/25
February 1989
original: ENGLISN
Excerpts from the report by the Special Rapporteur on
Arbitrary Executions to the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission
E/CN. 4/1989/25
page 28
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
142. Cables were sent to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 26 August, 14 September, 11 and 15 November, 1, 8, 9,20 and 23 December 1988 concerning allegations that since July 1988 a large number of prisoners, said to be members or supporters of groups or organizations opposing the Government, had been executed and several others were facing imminent execution in various parts of the country. According to information received, a number of prisoners had their sentences of imprisonment changed to the death sentence or were executed even though their terms of imprisonment had been completed. The Special Rapporteur, mentioning a total of some 150 cases of prisoners whose names had been received, appealed to the Government on purely humanitarian grounds to ensure that the right to life of those persons was protected and requested information on the aforementioned cases.
143. On 13 January 1989, a cable was sent concerning 302 persons on 13 January 1989, a cable was sent concerning 302 persons who might be facing imminent execution. According to the information, these persons, as in the cases communicated to the Government by the previous cables, had already served or were currently serving sentences of imprisonment. It was alleged that many of the persons in question were tortured and deprived of visits from their families.
144. In view of persistent reports received that several thousand persons had been executed without trial or with a trial of a summary nature, the Special Rapporteur appealed to the Government to ensure that the right to life of the above- mentioned persons was protected as provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He also requested information on the above- mentioned cases as well as any information on the fate of the persons mentioned in his previous cables, as follows: cable of 26 August concerning 12 persons, cable of 1 November concerning Ali Akbar Shalgoolney and Adel Talebi, cable of 11 November concerning Fereidoun Faroughi, cable of 15 November concerning 24 persons, cable of 1 December concerning 55 persons, cable of 8 December concerning Soraya Ali-Mohammadi, cable of 9 December concerning Monireh Rajavi, cable of 20 December concerning 21 persons and cable of 23 December 1988 concerning 43 persons.
145. On the same day, the list of 302 persons was communicated to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
146. On 9 November 1988, a letter was sent to the Government transmitting the allegation that, since July 1988, a large number of prisoners had been executed in various parts of the country, without trial or with a trial of a summary nature. The victims allegedly included members and supporters of organizations and groups opposing the Government, and also Kurdish prisoners. The Special Rapporteur described by way of example the following allegations: (a) On 10 July 1988, 10 persons accused of being “counterrevolutionaries and Iraqi spies” were executed; (b) On 20 July 1988 about 20 persons belonging to political opposition groups were executed in Evin Prison. The victims included three members of the Tudeh Party and a member of the People’s Fedaiyan Organization of Iran (majority); (e) Alleged collaborators with the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMO1) were publicly executed in Kangavar, Bakhtaran and Islamabad-e Gharb. According to the official account, 15 PMOI supporters were executed on about 5 August 1988. They included seven persons executed on 1 August 1988 in Bakhtaran and one person on 3 August 1988 in 11am; (d) On 28 July 1988, 200 prisoners said to be PMOI sympathizers, were executed in Evin Prison. In Mashad, 50 other PMOI sympathizers were executed; (e) On 14, 15 and 16 August 1988, 860 corpses were transferred from Evin Prison to the Behecht Zabra cemetery; (f) It was further alleged that on the night of 15/16 May 1988 a large number of Iraqi prisoners of war were found killed, their feet bound with ropes, in the Mawat region in northern Iraq.
147. The Special Rapporteur requested information on the alleged occurrence of summary or arbitrary executions and in particular the legal proceedings following which the alleged executions might have been carried out.
148. At the time of preparation of the present report, no reply had been received from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
