Ahmad Montazeri Charged with 'Action Against National Security' for Releasing Audio File of Ayatollah Montazeri on 1988 Executions

Ahmad Montazeri announced on Tuesday, September 6, that he has been charged with 'action against national security' for releasing an audio file of Ayatollah Montazeri regarding the execution of political and ideological prisoners in 1988, and has been released on a bail of 70 million tomans. The Telegram channel of Ayatollah Montazeri reported that Ahmad Montazeri responded to this charge from the Special Clerical Court in Qom, stating, 'I do not accept the charge, and since I am not aware of the legal materials mentioned, I will respond to it after consulting with my lawyer.' The next interrogation session for Ahmad Montazeri is scheduled for September 7. Following the disclosure of the audio file of Ayatollah Montazeri, Ahmad Montazeri was summoned to the Special Clerical Court and has been interrogated several times. He previously stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the interrogations were about 'the reason for releasing this audio file' and 'the timing of its release.' On August 15, he also told the 'Zeyton' website that he explained to the Special Clerical Court that the content of the released audio file had previously been mentioned in Ayatollah Montazeri's memoirs, and therefore its release does not constitute 'disclosure of secrets.' The audio file contains statements by Ayatollah Montazeri during a meeting with Hossein Ali Niri, Morteza Eshraqi, Ebrahim Raisi, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, members of the four-person committee that decided on the execution of political and ideological prisoners in the summer of 1988, and has received widespread attention in recent weeks. Among the members of this committee, only Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice in Hassan Rouhani's government, reacted to this audio file, stating in response to Ali Motahari's request for clarification that he 'takes pride' in his role in these executions. Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, has insisted that 'officials should provide necessary explanations instead of making slogans.' Some conservative members of Parliament reacted to these statements by announcing that they had filed a complaint against the Deputy Speaker with the Supervisory Board on the Behavior of Representatives. However, after these reports were published, several protesters withdrew their signatures, and Abdollah Razyian, a representative from Qaem Shahr, claimed that a signature attributed to him on this complaint was forged. Officials from the Judiciary, the Assembly of Experts, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Discernment Council, and close associates of the former Supreme Leader, including Ali Khamenei's grandson, Mohammad Ali Ansari, and Mohammad Mousavi Bojnourdi, a member of the Supreme Judicial Council during the founder of the Islamic Republic's era, have protested the release of Ayatollah Montazeri's audio file. Meanwhile, some officials of the Islamic Republic have declared that the reason for the execution of political prisoners in 1988 was their 'waging war' against the state, but Mohsen Kadivar, a prominent cleric and student of Ayatollah Montazeri, stated that even according to the 'jurisprudential principles' of Ayatollah Khomeini, these prisoners were not 'waging war.' In this audio file, Ayatollah Montazeri describes the executions of summer 1988 as 'the greatest crime of the Islamic Republic' and states that history will condemn us for this crime. He calls the judicial officials present in the meeting responsible for these executions and 'criminals.' Officials of the Islamic Republic have rarely spoken about the mass executions of political and ideological prisoners in the summer of 1988. Most of the executed prisoners that year were members of groups such as the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the Tudeh Party, the Fedayeen Guerrillas, and other leftist groups who had previously been tried and were serving their prison sentences.