Ahmad Montazeri: The Audio File is Evidence of Ayatollah Montazeri's Opposition to the 1988 Executions

Only a few months after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, in August 1988, many prisoners in Iranian prisons, from the People's Mujahedin to leftist and Marxist groups, were executed, an event referred to as the 1988 massacre. Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, upon learning of these executions, wrote two letters to Ayatollah Khomeini in an effort to stop them. To prevent further executions, on August 24, Ayatollah Montazeri held an important meeting with: Hossein Ali Niri (Sharia judge), Morteza Eshraqi (Tehran prosecutor), Ebrahim Raisi (deputy prosecutor), and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (intelligence representative in Evin). This meeting's audio file was published by Ayatollah Montazeri's official website on August 19 of this year. Ayatollah Montazeri refers to the 1988 massacre as a historical crime: "They killed my son. I know all of them. I am a straightforward person. I never keep what is in my heart, unlike those who act politically. In my opinion, the greatest crime committed in the Islamic Republic has been by you since the beginning of the revolution. In the future, you will be remembered as criminals in history." Ahmad Montazeri, Ayatollah Montazeri's son, explained to Radio Farda the reasons for releasing this audio version after 28 years on the anniversary of the 1988 massacre: "This audio file confirms Ayatollah Montazeri's statements that were published in previous years. It is said that these documents are not real or not accurate. This file confirms those documents. Specifically, Mr. Hamid Rouhani stated in the 15 Khordad publication that these memories attributed to Mr. Montazeri were not said by him and declared them distorted. This file is the voice of Mr. Montazeri. Perhaps if this file had been released earlier, it would have been lost among the documents and not received this level of attention. Now, with the expansion of cyberspace, it will have more impact. Currently, there is constant discussion about this topic in cyberspace, and this file is a solid reason that this situation existed and what Ayatollah Montazeri meant by his opposition." In part of Ayatollah Montazeri's meeting with those involved in the executions, he mentions the role of Ahmad Khomeini and the Ministry of Intelligence in planning these executions for years. Iraj Mesdaghi, a survivor of the 1988 executions and author of "Neither Living nor Dead," which provides a detailed account of the Islamic Republic's prisons, tells Radio Farda about important points emphasized in this audio file: "The 1988 massacre was pre-planned. Some were pursuing it. The Ministry of Intelligence and Ahmad Khomeini were behind it. They used the Mujahedin's attack to implement this matter. Another issue emphasized in this file is his recognition of Lajevardi and his crimes in the 1980s. Another point he makes is that Khomeini is accused of committing a great crime and giving the order for a great crime. Another important issue is that according to statements made by members of the committee, there was initially no intention to execute Marxist prisoners, and rather, Shushtari, the head of prisons, intended to establish visits after Muharram, where it was emphasized that only two hundred were under sentence and they wanted to address them. This is what Niri says. We conclude that right after the end of Muharram, they came with a new order from Khomeini for the mass execution of political prisoners." Ayatollah Montazeri, in another part of his speech, points out that these sentences also had religious issues and says these executions undermine the judiciary: "You have undermined the judiciary with this action. For several years, Mr. Niri and the judges condemned one to five years, one to six years, one to ten years, one to fifteen years. That we come to execute them without any new activity means that all of us 'have eaten dirt,' our entire judiciary was wrong." It is said that during the 1988 executions, more than 4,000 political prisoners, most of whom were serving their sentences or had completed them, were executed within two months. Many officials of the Islamic Republic have sought to deny or reject this mass killing in 1988, and this audio file sheds light on another part of the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran.