Mohammad Parvin's
Speech at September 1 Conference
Honorable Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Distinguished Guest, Dr. Rubin, ladies and gentlemen: On behalf of MEHR and all those who worked for this event, I would like to thank you for participating in our conference. The objective of this gathering is to expose one of the most dreadful crimes of the Islamic regime of Iran and ask the world community to stand by the Iranian people rather than their abuser. You all have already done this, by being present here and contributing to the promotion of this event, and I thank you for it. The execution of thousands of prisoners of conscience started by the direct Khomeini's fatwa in Summer 1988, which read in part: "Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain committed to their support for the Monafeqin [Mojahedin], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.... Destroy the enemies of Islam immediately. As regards the cases, use whichever criterion that speeds up the implementation of the [execution] verdict." This
was how the founder of Islamic Regime of Iran, Khomeini started one of the
most horrendous crimes of all times. Let’s read another part of
Khomeini's decree to the “Death Commission” in regards to the massacre
of political prisoners – taken from a book by Mr. Montazeri
who
was designated successor to Khomeini: “Showing
mercy for enemies is simple mindedness. Islam’s decisiveness against
God’s enemies is the fundamental and undoubted principle of Islamic
discipline. We hope
that with your revolutionary anger and hatred towards enemies of Islam,
you earn the Almighty God’s endorsement” Fourteen years after these events, it is still not clear how many people died during the six-month period from July 1988 to January 1989. Two years after these events, Amnesty International reported the names of over 2,000 political prisoners. Mr. Montazeri, former designated successor to Khomeini, recently made public the shocking documents indicating that about 3800 prisoners were killed by July 31, 1988 alone. On the same day, Mr. Montazeri wrote to Khomeini in a letter: "At least order to spare women who have children, and finally, the execution of several thousand prisoners in a few days will not reflect positively and will not be mistake-free. . . . A large number of prisoners have been killed under torture by their interrogators . . . . In some prisons of the Islamic Republic young girls are being raped. . . . As a result of unruly torture, many prisoners have become deaf or paralyzed or afflicted with chronic diseases." A list of the 4537 massacre victims collected by various political and human rights organizations have been gathered by MEHR and translated into English. It is available in the form of a book that contains several reports on this horrifying event, including the report by the Amnesty International. The estimates run up to 30,000 but the exact number of victims will probably be known only after the era of terror in Iran has ended. But, does it really matter? What matters is that why the world community has been so indifferent to this terrible event and other human rights abuses in Iran. Although there is a mountain of documents and evidences available including the AI Report in 1990, the accounts of this massacre has been rarely covered by the western media. Why is it so? Is it ignorance, a deliberate attempt to cover up for the Islamic Regime, or what? We don’t have a pretty world. It is mostly dominated by power, profit, and interest and humanity if gets noted at all, would be close to last. Iranian people have been experiencing the terror of the IRI right after its inception in 1979. They have not been able to dress, speak, write, vote, pray, dance, love, laugh, and live the way they want, and they have paid with their lives, hundreds and thousands of lives, for not giving up these basic rights. They have been imprisoned, tortured, executed, and stoned to death by the IRI for so long and none of these were enough to qualify the IRI as a terrorist. Instead, western governments and media driven by “interest” factor turned a blind eye to horrible situation of Iranian people subjected to the worst type of human rights abuses and terrorism. The “interest” factor made the European countries so eager to establish relation with the IRI and a fierce competition started among them as to which one will take a bigger portion of the lucrative one-sided deals with a desperate regime to survive. The US, lobbied strongly by the financial institutions and especially oil companies, has left the door open by pursuing a dual policy towards the Islamic Regime. For IRI to qualify itself for such help, and for West to justify relations with one of the most brutal regimes of all times, both needed a wide spread cover up. While human rights abuses escalated in Iran, several conferences were repeatedly held in Iran and abroad on issues like human rights, civil society, dialog among civilizations, women rights, child abuse, etc. Western media and government authorities publicized these events, and participated in them and argued that they should support the so-called “reformists” vs. “radicals” knowing well that all real reformists are in jails. This policy of appeasement continued even after September 11. A few months ago, while Iranians were beaten on the streets because of their peaceful protests against the human rights abuses, the representatives of this terrorist regime were given the opportunity by the UN to take part in a conference especially organized for them to lecture the world on dialog among civilizations. Some US Senators and Representatives greeted IRI’s representative warmly in another ceremony and had very nice words for them. The family of the prisoners of conscience and other Iranian people were beaten and arrested under Mr. Kofi Annan’s nose during his recent trip to Tehran, for just trying to meet with him and pleading for the lives of their loved ones. What they got from Mr. Annan, instead, was words of praise for the government of Iran and statements in defense of Islamic Regime for the “allegation” of terrorism made against it! The UN policy to legitimize the State of terror goes beyond this. UN is cooperating with a religious school called Mofid School that trains military seminaries in the city of Qom in Iran, to stage a conference on “Human Rights” on May 2003. UN goes beyond this and makes another mockery of human rights by devoting one full page in its recent publication to Khatami to lecture us about Human Rights. Why is West trying to appease a regime responsible for the massacre of thousands of prisoners of conscience? A regime that has been condemned by a German court in Berlin? Why are they ignoring even its terrorism against so many American people in many terrorist activities including seven cases tried in the US Federal courts? Of course, their answer to these questions as was 5 years ago is that, well, there is now a reformist president who is elected by the people and is trying to open the society and change things gradually. After five years of nice words and no action, they still say the same thing. Khatami and many others who are now in power were holding key positions at the time this tragedy and many others occurred. The newspaper Iran News wrote in April 10, 2000 about Khomeini ’s decree: “This decree was issued at a time when President Mohammad Khatami was the Director of Ideological and Cultural Affairs of the Armed Forces' High Command. He implemented the Imam ’s decree in the most decisive manner. " (Iran News, April 10,2000). Another state-controlled daily, Ressalat, wrote the same day: “Mr. Khatami, who was the Director of Cultural Affairs of the Armed Forces' High Command, vigorously supported the Imam's decree,”(Ressalat, April 10,2000). Have we heard one word from the man who has become the darling of the western media about this massacre? Have we heard one word from him in condemnation of stoning? “Why are you doing it in public? This is how his close ally and Minister, Mohajerani, showed his concern about stoning two years ago. His consultant on women affair, when questioned recently by the European Union representative about stoning, supported this barbaric act as a just punishment. In his last speech highly publicized by western press, this is how Khatami described his wishes for Iran: “ The best, most secure and legal option for this country is Islamic democracy” Eye for eye, stoning, body mutilation, mass murder, torture, and imprisonment, these are the most secure option that he wishes for Iranian people. Let’s hope that he never gets his dreadful wishes. The act of terrorism and all atrocities committed by this regime are not the arbitrary act of some hard liners within the regime. It is the law of the land and written into the constitution of this regime and obeyed by all elements including the President of this regime, Mr. Khatami. For example, the number of the people stoned to death has been the highest during the Presidency of Khatami, who preaches dialogue of “civilizations”. This “moderate” figure is the one who has repeatedly and proudly declared Khomeini, the mastermind of bloodsheds in Iran, as his mentor. Therefore, the hollow gestures, nice words, and appealing smiles of this or that the so-called “MODERATE” should not be taken seriously. Unfortunately, the U.S. mainstream media have done very little to expose this hypocrisy and are dead silent about the terrorism and human rights violations of the Islamic regime. They keep portraying Khatami as a democratically elected government and don’t want to view election in Iran with the same criteria they apply to their own elections. If only Christian Catholic men were permitted to become candidates, and further, those men had to be approved by the Vatican, would you call that an election? The struggle of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy is facing two main obstacles: Inside Iran, they are confronting a brutal regime that has no respect for human rights and dignity, and outside Iran, they are facing the interest-driven governments and individuals who are helping and legitimizing their abusers. The question before all of us, Iranians, Americans, and Iranian/Americans is how to help those brave Iranian men and women who are fighting for their lives. Fortunately, we have found some brave allies here in the US who are coming out in defense of the Iranians and exposing those who follow appeasing policies. We are no longer alone in our battle. Yes. There is a battle outside Iran. A battle between those who are with the Islamic regime and are trying to cover its ugly face under the disguise of reform, and those who stand for freedom and democracy and Iranian people and are trying to expose the ugly face of their abusers. In this war although we have been underdog so far, we are finding good, determined allies and are getting momentum. The area once dominated by the lobbyist of Islamic regime has now new contenders. If they have groups lobbying for unconditional relation with a terrorist regime, we have organizations like MEHR that lobby for Iranian people and link all relations to complete observation of human rights in Iran. If they have some members of congress and scholars to appease the Islamic regime, we have now Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez, Dr. Michael Rubin, Congressman Lantos, Congressman Berman, to be congresswomen Katrina Swett and many others on our side. If they have Exxon, Shell, and the rest of the crew on their side to influence the foreign policy of the US, we have the power of our votes and we have other strong allies who have already prepared a blue print of the US/Iran foreign policy. House resolution 434 introduced by Congressmen Lantos, Sherman, Ackerman, and Berman and Senate resolution 306 introduced by Senators Brownback, Wuden, Collins, Dorgan, Grassley, Conrad, Smith, and Boxer draw a clear picture of the power structure and its inhumane nature in Iran and proposes a humane approach to help the drive of Iranians for freedom and democracy. They break away from the formal dual policy of the US that targets only a few “un-elected” elements. Res. 306 concludes that: 1)
Legitimizing the regime in Iran stifles the growth of the genuine
democratic forces in Iran and does not serve the national security
interest of the United States; And last but not least, MEHR has been trying for years to bring to justice those who have committed crimes against humanity in Iran. In spite of many obstacles in the US, we have been able to successfully prepare many cases ready to be filed as soon as the perpetrators come to the US. We have a few cases in which the torture victims have been citizens of the US. This would enable us to bring charges against the Islamic Regime of Iran rather than individuals. We hope our first suite against the Islamic Regime of Iran will be filled at the beginning of next year. Let me end my speech by urging you again that if you cannot help the Iranian people (the people, not the Islamic Regime), please stay away. Don’t help this murderous regime. Don’t legitimize it." _______________________________________________________________ All the facts and accounts regarding the 1988 massacre given in this speech is taken from a report by Amnesty International, VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1987-1990, and Mr. Montazer's memoirs |
