Draft:1981 Iran massacre

The 1981 Massacre was a religiously motivated, state-sponsored campaign of violence aimed at exterminating political and religious adversaries of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The victims included intellectuals, scientists, artists, socialists, social democrats, members and sympathizers of Mujahedin-e-Khalq, nationalists, liberals, monarchists, ethnic minorities, and followers of religious minorities such as the Bahá'í Faith. According to Nasiri and Faghfouri Azar, the 1981 Massacre is the most extensive mass execution of religious dissidents and political opponents in Iran’s recent history. This finding has been confirmed by Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran.

The 1981 massacre in Iran occurred two years after the 1979 revolution, under the pretext of Islamifying the political and legal systems in the newly established Islamic Republic. The government, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, sought to implement a theocratic framework based on his interpretations of Shia Islam and the doctrine of velayat-e faqih. Aiming to transform Iranian society into a Shi'ite theocracy, Khomeini issued several fatwas and executive orders to "purify" public institutions and higher education from Marxist, non-Islamic, Western, and liberal influences. This led to the enforcement of oppressive policies, including the closure of universities from 1980 to 1983, the gradual imposition of mandatory hijab for women, the systematic exclusion of independent and secular political parties from public life, the expulsion of critical academics from universities, and the harassment and persecution of intellectuals and artists.

Historical background

On 15 June 1981, the National Front of Iran, along with other secular opposition groups, publicly criticized the Qisas Bill, a legislative proposal aimed at transforming the criminal justice system entirely into Shia Sharia law. During the same week, various opposition groups announced demonstrations and public gatherings to protest the Qisas Bill, which they argued violated fundamental human rights principles. On 20 June 1981, the country witnessed a mass demonstration organized by supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) and other opposition groups. This protest was a reaction to increasing human rights violations, curtailment of political freedoms, and the contested impeachment of Abolhasan Bani-Sadr, the first president of the Islamic Republic.

In response to the increasing wave of protests, clerics reacted ferociously. Ayatollah Khomeini made several religious statements against critics, characterizing them as apostates (murtad), "anti-Islam" communists (zed-e Islam), atheists (kafir), and religious hypocrites (munafiqs). Following Khomeini’s order, hundreds of young protestors and critics were arrested, and many were sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Courts. On 21 June 1981, Said Soltanpour, a prominent poet and playwright, along with 14 other leftist dissidents, were subjected to summary executions on charges of 'enmity against Islam, Allah, and his prophet' and 'spreading corruption on earth'. The execution of these dissidents marks the beginning of the largest wave of mass executions that the country would witness in its recent history. Between June 1981 to March 1982, thousands of dissidents were subjected to systematic torture, summary, and arbitrary executions on religiously motivated charges of moharebeh ('enmity against Allah'), ifsad-fil-arz ('spreading corruption on Earth'), and irtidad (apostasy).

Scope of the Massacre

While the actual extent of the systematic killings is still unknown, the Rastyad Collective has verified and documented the identities of more than 3,500 victims who were executed between 21 June 1981 and 21 March 1982 in 85 cities. This data is based on more than 250 official documents from judiciary and political authorities, including statements and press releases issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Courts and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in these cities. Morever, the Rastyad Collective has documented the grave locations and identities of over 1,000 executed victims in Tehran’s largest cemetery, Behesht-e Zahra, to locate the grave locations of over 1,000 executed victims.

A significant number of victims of state violence during the 1981 massacre were minors under the age of eighteen. As Rastyad Collective, Nasiri and Faghfouri Azar have pointed out, at least 103 individuals, accounting for 10% of identified victims, killed or executed in Tehran were minors. Many of these underage victims were subjected to arbitrary detention, brutal torture, and summary executions on charges of moharebeh (enmity against Allah) and ifsad-fil-arz (spreading corruption on Earth).