Ahmad Montazeri: According to Ayatollah Montazeri, the executions were fundamentally flawed both religiously and legally

The son of Ayatollah Montazeri emphasized that his father considered the executions of political prisoners in 1988 to have "fundamental flaws" both religiously and legally, dismissing claims about the intention of some of these prisoners to "revolt" after the attack by the People's Mujahedin Organization as unacceptable. Ahmad Montazeri also stated that the allegations regarding his father's connection with the Mujahedin were a "distortion" of the issue of the executions, noting that Ayatollah Montazeri had "objected" to the "friendship and relations" of Ahmad Khomeini, the son of Ayatollah Khomeini, with this group, which led to the inversion of this matter against him. In an interview published on Friday, August 19, Ahmad Montazeri responded to some of the accusations raised regarding the release of Ayatollah Montazeri's audio file. He stated that the claim regarding the executions of prisoners due to their intention to revolt after the Mujahedin's attack on Iran is "not acceptable for various reasons." He emphasized that "regardless of whether such an opportunity existed for prisoners given the usual restrictions of prisons, especially in those years, even the committee responsible for the executions did not mention this claim of revolt and cooperation, but only raised the issue of their stance." According to Ahmad Montazeri, "many" of the executed prisoners had "no connection" with the Mujahedin, but were supporters of other groups or independent individuals. Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, the Attorney General during the early years of Ayatollah Khomeini's leadership, reacted to the release of Ayatollah Montazeri's audio file by accusing the executed prisoners of intending to "revolt" in prisons simultaneously with the Mujahedin's operations that year and the entry of their forces into Iran. Ahmad Montazeri called for officials of the Islamic Republic to "apologize." In recent weeks, Ali Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, Mohammad Ali Ansari, a member of Ayatollah Khomeini's office, Mohammad Mousavi Bejnordi, a member of the Supreme Judicial Council during Ayatollah Khomeini's time, and the father-in-law of Hassan Khomeini, have protested the release of Ayatollah Montazeri's audio file regarding the executions of political prisoners in 1988. In response to these criticisms and the potential exploitation of the release of this audio file by the "authoritarian" faction and the division among reformist forces, Ahmad Montazeri stated that reformists and the office of Ayatollah Khomeini should not fall into the "trap" of the authoritarian faction. He emphasized that "the necessity for a precise and correct examination of history is impartiality regarding factional and political boundaries and should not be approached emotionally." Regarding the possibility of international bodies intervening in the executions of prisoners in 1988, he stated, "If the officials of the Islamic Republic act on the benevolent suggestion of Mostafa Tajzadeh and apologize to the families of the victims, there will be no room for the intervention of international bodies and courts." In recent weeks, some principlist media outlets have republished previous letters from Ahmad Khomeini to Ayatollah Montazeri, in which accusations of Ayatollah Montazeri's support for the Mujahedin were raised, and some officials of the Islamic Republic have made these accusations. Ahmad Montazeri responded to this accusation by saying that "this accusation goes back to some statements made and letters from Ayatollah Montazeri to Imam Khomeini, in which he explicitly objected to the friendship and relations of the late Haj Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini with the Mujahedin, and this issue has led to the inversion of this matter against him." He emphasized that some individuals "ignorantly or deliberately" distort the issue and present Ayatollah Montazeri's criticism of the executions of prisoners as support for the Mujahedin. Ahmad Montazeri did not refer to the details of Ayatollah Montazeri's warnings about what he called the "friendship" of Ahmad Khomeini with the Mujahedin. Previously, reports about Ahmad Khomeini's connections with members of the Mujahedin in the early years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution had been published. At the fortieth-day memorial for the late Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani in 1979, Ahmad Khomeini was also seen next to Massoud Rajavi, and after the speech, Rajavi embraced him. In the released audio file, Ayatollah Montazeri refers to the role of Ahmad Khomeini and the Ministry of Intelligence in planning the executions of prisoners years prior, stating that Ahmad Khomeini had said years before these executions that all members of the Mujahedin, even those who read the organization's publications, should be executed. Ahmad Montazeri also stated that from his father's perspective, the executions of political prisoners in 1988 had "fundamental flaws" both religiously and legally. He explained that the "religious flaw" of this cleric regarding these executions was that a prisoner who had been sentenced and had not committed a new crime was not "a combatant" and could not be punished "for the crime and wrongdoing committed by others." Regarding the "legal flaw" of the executions, he stated that these executions were carried out without legal trials, which undermines the judiciary and the rulings issued by it, rendering them "invalid." He emphasized that according to Ayatollah Montazeri, "being steadfast in thought and belief is not considered a criminal act in law and custom" to deserve punishment. Ahmad Montazeri also mentioned that the release of this audio file might serve as a "lesson" for the judicial and security authorities of the country to "better consider the dignity of Islam, the revolution, and the system in their actions and trials." In recent weeks, some media close to the principlists have linked the release of Mr. Montazeri's audio file to the holding of a conference by the Mujahedin in Paris and the presence of Turki Al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence, at this conference, considering it evidence of "planning" for this action. In response to this accusation, Ahmad Montazeri stated that the connection between Saudi officials and the Mujahedin had been raised months ago and had "absolutely nothing" to do with the release of this audio file. According to Ahmad Montazeri, the "main reason" for the connection between Saudi officials and the Mujahedin is opposition to the policies of the Islamic Republic in the region, and the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad also had a "significant impact" on exacerbating the differences between the two countries. He emphasized that if this attack had not been carried out by "government favorites" or had been dealt with "immediately and seriously," there would "certainly not have been a basis" for the connection between Saudi Arabia and the Mujahedin. Regarding the attack on the Saudi embassy, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic had previously criticized the "accusation" of "Hezbollahis" of extremism, stating that "just because an issue like the Saudi embassy and the British embassy arises, which is a very bad act and harmful to the country and Islam, should not be used as an excuse to attack believing youth."