Ahmad Khatami: Those Responsible for the Executions of 1988 Should Be Awarded Medals

Ahmad Khatami, the interim Friday prayer leader of Tehran, stated on July 21 that those who executed thousands of political prisoners in 1988 on the orders of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini should be awarded medals. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Khatami addressed the topic of the 1988 executions during his Friday sermon, saying: "Dealing with these individuals and uprooting the hypocrites from the country was a righteous and valuable action by the late Imam and all those who acted on his command; they should be awarded medals, not have their roles as martyr and executioner swapped on websites." The officials of the Islamic Republic refer to the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization as "hypocrites." Since the release of an audio file of a meeting between members of the "Death Commission" in 1988 and Ayatollah Montazeri last year, discussions regarding the mass executions of political prisoners in that year have entered a new phase in public discourse in Iran. Before the release of this audio file, Iranian officials rarely spoke about this issue. A large number of political prisoners were executed in Iranian prisons during the months of August and September 1988. Ayatollah Montazeri estimated the number of these executions in his memoirs to be between 2,800 and 3,800. Human rights advocates have reported this figure to be close to five thousand. Ayatollah Montazeri described these executions as "the greatest crime of the Islamic Republic." The main decision-makers behind the 1988 executions included Ebrahim Raisi, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Hossein Ali Niri, and Morteza Eshraqi. In another part of his Friday sermon, Khatami referred to the recent activities of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in France, stating: "Unfortunately, France has shown that it is politically backward by using these spent figures." The interim Friday prayer leader of Tehran criticized the French government for allowing the Mojahedin-e Khalq to hold a conference, asserting that permitting such a conference is practical support for terrorism. Khatami called for a re-examination of the events of the 1980s based on books published in Iran. He further emphasized that some individuals inside Iran and on their websites are swapping the roles of martyr and executioner. Khatami did not specify which websites have engaged in such actions. However, due to Ebrahim Raisi's candidacy as the main conservative candidate in the recent presidential elections, the topic of the 1980s executions has resurfaced in electoral discussions. Hassan Rouhani stated on May 7: "The people of Iran declare that they do not accept those who have only known executions and imprisonment for 38 years." In this context, 11 human rights organizations have called for Pourmohammadi's removal from Rouhani's cabinet, stating that the people do not accept those who only know executions and imprisonment. The response of Mohseni Ejei to Rouhani's remarks about the past 38 years of executions is also notable.