To Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
To Mr. Christoph Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
To Mr. Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
To Mr. Pablo De Greiff, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence
To the UN Working Group Group on Enforced Disappearances
Dear Special Rapporteurs,
Dear members of the Working Group,
FIDH, jointly with the League for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI), wishes to refer your respective mandates to their responsibility to directly engage the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the impunity that prevails 25 years after the 1988 prison executions in Iran.
In a report published today, “25 years on, and still no justice: 1988 prison executions remain unpunished”, FIDH and LDDHI qualify these executions as extrajudicial and arbitrary executions and crimes against humanity. As you all well know, in the span of a few months, several thousand prisoners were then executed. The scale of executions, the common pattern and proceedings and the convergence of testimonies substantiate that those killings were widespread and systematic.
FIDH and LDDHI are concerned by the fact that the Iranian authorities have so far consistently declined to open any investigations into the crimes, and bring to justice the perpetrators. In addition, they have consistently denied the families’ right to know where their beloved ones have been buried. Worst still, families trying to visit, in late August/early September each year, the sites where executed prisoners are presumably buried, are regularly harassed and threatened by security and intelligence agencies. The 25th anniversary of the massacre has been no exception.
Back in January 2003, families of executed prisoners wrote to the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, and the then-chairman of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, seeking their help in determining the truth behind the mass executions. The Working Group carried out a visit to Iran from 15 to 27 February 2003; however its report, published in following June, focused on on-going arbitrary detentions and conditions of detentions at the time, as well as on the fate of some prisoners followed by the Working Group for some years, but not on past prison executions such as the ones that occurred in 1988.
As you all know, the visit by the Working Group was the first by a thematic mechanism of the then Commission since 1996, when the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (formerly called the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance) visited the country. The visit by the Working Group was also the first mission to the country by a Commission mechanism since February 1996, the date of the last mission by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since then, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not extended any invitation to any UN special procedure.
The March 2012 report to the UN Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran clearly referred to requests from several organizations, calling upon the Special Rapporteur to investigate prison executions that occurred in the 1980s including in 1988, and which deserved, as observed by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1989, to “be the subject of detailed investigation and information from the Government concerned in conformity with international practice”.
In the absence of the possibility of a country visit, FIDH and LDDHI believe that it is part of your respective mandates to raise specific observations and recommendations, in your next reports, regarding the 1988 executions in Iran and the on-going persecution of the victims’ families.
Should the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran extend you an invitation for a country visit, you should explicitly demand to be granted free access to relatives of the victims of the 1988 executions and to former political prisoners, as well as to the Khavaran cemetery and other sites where executed prisoners are presumably buried, to examine the unmarked mass graves and the best way of undertaking an investigation into the executions.
We understand that it has been your constant intention to engage in a human rights dialogue with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but you are currently not in a position to examine all human rights violations, especially those requiring thorough investigations on the ground. However, as part of your respective mandates, you may urge the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to acknowledge these crimes, open investigations, bring to justice the perpetrators and respect the right to truth of the victims’ families. All kinds of persecution and prosecution against the families should be stopped.
More than ten years after the last country visit by a UN special procedure, we sincerely hope that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran will take once again the initiative of cooperating and make it possible for you to fulfil your respective mandates without any hurdle and limitation.
We remain at your disposal for any question and for further discussion.
Most sincerely,
Karim Lahidji
FIDH President