From: saied@cwis.unomaha.edu (Saied*)
Subject: IRAN: Executions of prisoners continue unabated
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 23:31:38 GMT


Excerpts from:

    IRAN: Execution of prisoners continue unabated
    1 October 1992
    AI Index MDE 13/18/92

``Between July 1988 and January 1989 alone AI recorded more than 2,500
political prisoners who were executed, including prisoners of conscience.
In 1992 executions have continues to take place after secret summary
trials. In June 1992, for example, ... Most executions have been carried
out by hanging, often in public, but victims have been stoned to death,
beheaded, or subject to combination of punishments, including flogging and
amputation, before being put to death. ...

``Thousands of political prisoners, including many prisoners of conscience,
have been executed in Iran after unfair trials... Trial hearings are
usually held in cameras, inside prisons; proceedings are summary, hearings
often last only a few minutes, with defendants no access to lawyers, no
right to call witnesses in their defense and no right to appeal.  ...

``Before the executions took place, prisoners were interrogated for a few
minutes by a commission made of clerics regarding their past activities,
..., whether or not daily performed the daily prayers. ... the commission
ultimately became known as the ``Death Commission''. The late Ayatollah
Khomeini has reportedly issued a fatwa (religious edict) sanctioning the
execution of any prisoner who failed to fulfill his or her religious
obligations. Most of the executed were supporters of the PMOI, but ...

...
``In women's section at Evin Prison around 200 women members or
sympathizers of the PMOI were separated from the rest of prisoners before
they were executed. A former political prisoner who survived the massacre
testified that some prisoners first knew about the fate of their companions
when through a window they caught a glimpse of a `huge pile of rubber
slipper which numbered may be 1,000'. ...

``Former political detainees who witness the massacre have told AI that
they believed the overall number of those executed during that period was
between 5,000 and 10,000... May already serving their prison terms ...Many
of those executed had been tries and sentenced to long prison terms in the
early 1980s simply for non-violent political activities such as ...
collecting donations for prisoners' families. ...

``Nasrin Rasooli, a physics graduate born in 1958, was arrested in 1981 for
supporting the PMOI... After two years in detention, she became mentally
ill and by 1986 her condition deteriorated further. Consequently, she was
released apparently without having been charged or tries. In 1988 she was
arrested, like many other former political prisoners, and summarily
executed. ...

``Many relatives still do not know for certain whether missing members of
their families were among those killed, and if they do know, they may
still be left in ignorance as to where their bodies are buried. Horrifying
pictures were smuggled out of Iran showing half-buried bodies in shallow
mass graves. ...

``Execution of political prisoners have continued... During the second half
of April 1992, at least 40 alleged members or sympathizers of the PMOI
were reportedly executed in Tehran.... executions are often not announced
and it remains difficult to obtain full detail. ...

Summary Executions Following Riots and Demonstrations

[Report on Mashhad; this has been widely reported]

``In April and May 1992 several other Iranian towns, including Shiraz, Arak,
Bukan, and parts of Tehran saw widespread demonstrations in protest against
the government... On June 1992 the official Islamic Republic [sic] News
Agency announced that a further four people had been executed and five
others had been sentenced to death for participating in the riots that took
place in Shiraz in May 1992. AI fears that the true total may be much
higher.

Execution of Individuals on Religious Grounds

[two cases, A Christian pastor, Rev. Hossein Soodman, and Bahman Samandari,
member of a prominent Baha'i family, were reported.]

From: moussavi@hplred.HP.COM (Farshid Moussavi)
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 16:59:56 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: What is MKO position on the Islands?
Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA