Two human rights lawyers discussed the statements of the then-head of Evin Prison regarding the 1988 executions in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America. Hossein Raeisi stated, "Hossein Mortazavi Zanjani should be placed in the position of the accused, and Saeed Dehghan considers the statements of this former judicial official of the Islamic Republic as credible testimony and confession." Hossein Mortazavi Zanjani, in a Clubhouse room, stated that "we must confess" rather than "repent," claiming that the Islamic Republic wanted to resolve the prison issue in the name of Ruhollah Khomeini during his lifetime, asserting that "we no longer have anything called opposing political groups." The former head of Evin Prison condemned the mass executions of political prisoners at that time, confirmed the transfer of the bodies of the executed individuals "by truck" outside the prison for burial, and while emphasizing that he had no responsibility in the court proceedings and executions, he stated that his words were not for "self-exoneration" and that "I cannot be cleansed even with Zamzam water." He stated that he does not accept the "Republicanism and Islamism" of the Islamic Republic and attributed responsibility for the 1988 executions to the committee known as the "Death Committee" under the "order" of Ruhollah Khomeini, the former leader of the Islamic Republic. Mortazavi emphasized that his words should "never" be interpreted as "cleansing" and mentioned that he intended to resign because he could do "nothing" and that he is speaking these words "even if late" because the Islamic Republic does not want these words to be spoken. Hossein Raeisi, a Canadian-based lawyer, stated in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America that bringing up the statements of the then-head of Evin Prison in the Clubhouse space "does not help us at all" and that first, "in a precise judicial trial system" with the presence of a judicial panel, "evidence must be collected accurately, and then this individual should be placed in the position of the accused." This human rights expert emphasized that "we need a truth-finding committee that can access all documents from the archives and documents of Evin Prison, Rajai Shahr, and other prisons" to gather necessary evidence, and "then this person and others like him should be placed in the position of the accused and speak." Raeisi noted that Mortazavi has placed himself in the position of a victim and an uninformed person, stating that he is "attempting to normalize that horrific violence and extrajudicial executions" and that "this is actually giving a wrong address" regarding a judicial issue. He added, "We must address the accusations against these individuals in a fair court, and to address the accusations, we need fact-checking and a truth-finding committee so that when this individual speaks, it can be clearly stated by a lawyer or prosecutor's representative whether these statements are correct or not." This lawyer stated that Mortazavi has "placed himself in the position of the accuser" and is "accusing and even condemning others," while "he himself should be in the position of the accused," stating: "When he is placed in the position of the accused, we can assess his level of responsibility. Because right now he is judging himself alone and in a way is whitewashing himself, and to make his statements acceptable, he is forced to provide some information that is incomplete. One cannot be the head of a prison and be unaware of the details, as he claims to have had no role in the torture or to be unaware of the scale of the massacres, and then after years, want to speak about it in this manner." According to Hossein Raeisi, it is correct that this person should be "in the position of someone who has criminal responsibility and has participated in crimes against humanity and the mass killing of prisoners; otherwise, he is speaking from a wrong position, and his words have no legal value, are deniable, and merely occupy thoughts and may even be a project by the regime or part of the regime that wants to promote a false discourse in this regard."
In this context, Saeed Dehghan, a human rights defense lawyer, also considered Mortazavi Zanjani's statements reliable in an interview with Voice of America. Saeed Dehghan divided the former head of Evin Prison's statements into two parts: "confessions" against himself and "testimonies" against "individuals and political figures and judicial officials," stating that these statements "can be referenced in due time, and the issue is not in what space or application they were made." This lawyer emphasized that according to Article 12(a) of the Electronic Commerce Law passed in 2003, "it does not matter in what space the messages are, and one cannot deny their legal value," and when "a dispute is ongoing, or arises, or someone wants to use this data in defense, in all three cases, these statements are credible and reliable." Dehghan added regarding Mortazavi Zanjani's statements about the "67 massacres" and the transfer of the bodies of executed prisoners by truck that this issue is raised in the appeal case of Hamid Noury, and "given Mr. Mortazavi Zanjani's statements from Evin and Gohardasht, and the focus of the Stockholm court on Gohardasht prison, I think the first thing we as human rights lawyers should do is to quickly document and translate these statements and provide them to prosecutors and case lawyers to respect the truth and ensure that justice and redress can reach a conclusion.