Autumn 1998 and the Elimination of Dissenters in Iran

Sixteen years have passed since Autumn 1998, a season during which several writers and dissenting politicians were assassinated. On the night of November 30, 1998, Dariush Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh Eskandari were killed in their home, and their bloody bodies were discovered on December 1. Dariush Forouhar was the leader of the Iran Nation Party after the 1979 revolution, served as a minister in Bazargan's government, and was a special representative of Ayatollah Khomeini in Kurdistan. However, shortly after, he distanced himself from the newly empowered officials and criticized the Islamic Republic system. During his funeral, thousands chanted slogans in defense of him. Parastoo Forouhar, the daughter of Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar, who has been pursuing the case of her parents' murder for sixteen years, went to Tehran this year to hold a memorial for them but faced many difficulties. On December 2, while in Tehran, she told Radio Farda: "The sixteenth anniversary ceremony for the murder of Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar, which we wanted to hold in their home and murder site, unfortunately faced prohibition from security organizations. Heavy police presence in the surrounding streets and blocking both ends of the street prevented many who wanted to attend from entering the house. I heard reports of severe confrontations with people, and even my uncle's immediate relatives, who are considered mourners, were not allowed to enter the house. They provided false information, including that they canceled the ceremony themselves or that they did not want it to take place. After we announced in various media outside the borders and the Iran Daily published our ceremony announcement for two days, they felt threatened and reiterated past claims of ambiguity and threats. They said they would not allow those who are 'known' to gather. I do not understand what 'known' means. I believe all the efforts of these sixteen years to remember and insist on the right will certainly remain in the community's mind." Before the Forouhars' murder, Majid Sharif, a writer and translator, was abducted on Wednesday, November 18, 1998, with no news of his fate. On December 4, 1998, his body was identified at the forensic office with a note on his chest declaring the cause of death as unknown. Reza Alijani, a political activist and analyst residing in Paris, who was a close collaborator of Majid Sharif at the Iran Farda publication, commented on the possible reasons for Majid Sharif's assassination to Radio Farda: "Majid Sharif, after years of exile, officially and publicly issued a statement and returned to the country. In an atmosphere where no one was returning, Majid openly and without any political or security coordination with the government issued a statement as a declaration of return. Many abroad opposed his return. The government thought he would return and could be used against forces outside the country. Majid was involved in various movements and had previously separated from the National Resistance Council with a critical public stance. When Majid returned, he connected with our friends at Iran Farda, participated in discussions, wrote articles, and gave interviews. Majid was one of our student elites who had ranked first in three entrance exams before the revolution. His voice is recorded on Radio Tehran and Radio Iran, where he was interviewed as the top student of university entrance exams." But why was the decision made to eliminate Majid Sharif, and who made and executed this decision? Reza Alijani said: "What led to Majid's assassination was his stance. Majid did not back down from his political positions. He was told not to connect with Engineer Sahabi and the Iran Farda people. We thought you wanted to come back and live your life; however, Majid was engaged in cultural and social work. He was summoned to numerous meetings and interrogated. In one of the last meetings, Majid was seen in a restaurant. An intelligence officer and two very strong men were present, and Majid said he was genuinely scared upon seeing them; it can be assumed that these were Majid's killers who recognized him and that Majid, seeing them, trusted that they were intelligence officers and surrendered to them to get into the car. This likely happened. Majid was reportedly abducted on Laristan Street, and there, according to what was later heard, a potassium capsule was injected into his body, causing his death." However, the disappearance of Majid Sharif was not the end of the story. Mohammad Mokhtari, a writer and poet, left his home on Friday, December 3, 1998, to shop and never returned. A few days later, his body was identified at the Tehran forensic office by his son. On Sunday, December 15, 1998, the Writers' Association discussed the disappearance of Mohammad Mokhtari and measures to protect other writers against potential dangers. Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh also attended this meeting. Three days later, Jafar Pouyandeh, who left his house on December 18, 1998, to go to work, never returned home. Sima Sahabi, Jafar Pouyandeh's wife, said that after her husband did not return home on time, she became worried and called Mohammad Mokhtari's house for news, but Houshang Golshiri answered the phone and said that Jafar had not come to the meeting and that Mohammad Mokhtari's body had been identified by his son at the forensic office. Sima Sahabi quoted her husband as saying that a death sentence had been issued for several members of the Writers' Association before their abduction: "The Ministry of Intelligence had a specific plan to eliminate dissenters in Iran. Since 1994, a consultative group was formed, of which my husband was an active member. In October 1998, when this group was summoned to the Revolutionary Court for the Writers' Association's general assembly, there were six of them, including Mr. Houshang Golshiri, my husband, Mohammad Mokhtari, Ali Ashraf Darvishiān, Kazem Kordvani, and Mr. Koushan. After four or five hours of interrogation, my husband returned home and told me that this was not an interrogation. They held a court for us there and issued a sentence, and he said this with certainty; however, these were absentia sentences. They had not given them the sentences. On that date, December 18... now these things that are mentioned in the file also refer to the people who abducted my husband, indicating that the Revolutionary Court's ruling was shown to my husband, and with that ruling, my husband got into the car, and it was specifically mentioned in that ruling that a death sentence had been issued for him." Houshang Golshiri, during the funeral of Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, said they had been warned that they wanted to suffocate them: "Unfortunately, so much fate has befallen us that we have no time to mourn. The message has reached us clearly. We will suffocate you. We are ready. Is it not supposed to be for civil society, for freedom of expression, that we sacrifice? We are ready." However, before all these murders, Pirouz Davani, a political and cultural activist, disappeared on September 3, 1998, shortly after being released from prison, after leaving his home to go to his sister's house, and no news was ever received about him. Sixteen years later, despite the family's follow-ups, the search for Pirouz Davani's fate has not yielded results. Pirouz Davani, a writer, translator, and researcher, was 37 years old at the time of his disappearance. He was first arrested in September 1982 for supporting and working with the youth organization of the Tudeh Party and was imprisoned for seven months. After his release, he continued his political activities and played a role in forming the "Support Association for Political Prisoners in the Country." He was arrested again on March 1, 1990, and after seven months of detention, he was sentenced to three years in prison and fifty lashes. Reza Alijani told Radio Farda that the defendants in the case of the murders of dissenters confessed to the murder of Pirouz Davani as well: "I heard from one of the representatives of the sixth parliament, a member of the National Security Commission, that the defendants in the chain murders, after some developments in one of the sessions of this commission, explicitly confessed to the murders of Majid and Pirouz Davani, meaning those who were outside the four famous cases, and described the methods of their deaths and murders." High-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic condemned the chain murders after they were exposed. Ayatollah Khamenei also stated during the Friday prayer on December 21 and in his meeting with students at Amir Kabir University that the analytical employees of the Ministry of Intelligence are not the ones who would commit such acts, and if they did, why would they target such individuals. Mr. Khamenei referred to the past of the Forouhars, saying: "The late Forouhar was our friend before the revolution. He was our colleague at the beginning of the revolution. After the emergence of the turmoil of 1980, he became our enemy. But a harmless enemy. A harmless enemy. Between God and us, Forouhar and his wife were our enemies, but they were harmless and harmless. They posed no danger." Mohammad Khatami, the then President, also condemned all forms of violence and these murders, stating: "Violence is the work of weak, vile, and despicable people who can easily become tools in the hands of the main enemies. I extend my condolences to the survivors of the victims of these bitter and heartbreaking events and wish them patience. Although the issue was bitter, by God's grace, it will bear sweet fruit." Mr. Khatami ordered the formation of a special committee to follow up on these murders. An unprecedented event that occurred after the formation of this committee was the Ministry of Intelligence's announcement on January 5, 1999, which confirmed the ministry's responsibility for the murders, although this announcement introduced the perpetrators as a group of rogue elements acting in the interests of foreign powers. Numerous analyses have been conducted over the past sixteen years regarding the intentions and motivations behind the political murders of 1998. Many analysts believe that the motivation for these violent actions was to intimidate the fledgling government of Mohammad Khatami, which advocated political reforms and strengthening society, and whose statements were pleasing to dissenters. Kazem Kordvani, a researcher and member of the Writers' Association, told Radio Farda that these murders indicated a new policy that the government had adopted towards dissenters. Kazem Kordvani: "If you compare what happened in those years with the years 1980 and 1987, the government announced every night on television that fifty or a hundred people... all newspapers were filled with names, even the number of those executed. As a result, if we come to the 1990s, we see that the situation was entirely different. The internal situation was changing, and there was no longer the excitement of the early days after the revolution, nor was there the people's support for the government in the early years after the revolution, nor did the international situation allow them to suppress opponents and dissenters openly and broadly. Therefore, both internally and internationally, they could not eliminate opponents and dissenters using the same previous methods and norms. As a result, they began a new approach, which they had previously tested. That is, quietly eliminating opponents and so-called troublemakers by nameless and faceless individuals. Because when it is not known who made the decision and who executed it, when responsibility is not clear and no trace is left, then there will be no accountability. Quietly and without a name, eliminating or abducting in the street, in ignorance of family and friends, and then, for example, finding the body in a desert or a remote and low place that incurs no cost for the perpetrators and no responsibility for anyone. Then also widely spreading rumors that they were from within their ranks and that it was an internal purge or that, for example, the Kurds did it. I remember that during those days in Iran, a widespread rumor was spread that the late Forouhars were assassinated by the Kurds. As a result, we ourselves, in the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Chain Murders, which was later formed in Tehran, listed 75 such murders." However, Kazem Kordvani believes that certain factors prevented the continuation of the project to murder dissenters. Kazem Kordvani: "This project failed. I think, without wanting to prioritize, five factors can be seen in the failure of this affair. During this period, a large Islamic movement emerged, characterized primarily by non-violence and the revival of hope among the people to regain their lost rights. Secondly, the active and prominent presence of activists and members of the Writers' Association in social arenas and their perseverance. Thirdly, the existence of reformist press during that period and the relative freedom of the press and the active presence of intellectuals and politicians.