I Will Kill You in the Name of God; 1988

These are the enemies of God; do not show mercy; peace... The summer of 1988, with a brief decree to this effect, stamped with the seal of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, became one of the gray chapters in Iran's human rights record. A three-member committee, which based its actions on this decree, unlawfully sent hundreds and perhaps thousands of political prisoners – mainly from the Mojahedin and leftist groups – to the gallows and in front of firing squads. Now, after nearly three decades, this issue has returned to the headlines. The release of an audio file of a meeting between Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and three members of this committee, where he strongly protested against the executions, has sparked widespread and varied reactions; in this file, the then Deputy Leader of Iran refers to the committee members as 'historical criminals.' However, today, nearly thirty years later, the response from these 'historical criminals,' as Mr. Montazeri termed them, is decisive, explicit, and clear. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a member of the execution committee and the current Minister of Justice, states: 'I take pride in executing God's decree.' Taghi Rahmani, a political activist who was imprisoned during the executions in that tumultuous summer at Evin prison, was a guest on Radio Farda's Sixth Hour program this week to recount an event that the Supreme Leader's representative deemed 'the greatest crime' of the regime.