Iranian Writers Association: August 17 is an Important Page in the History of Censorship and Repression in Iran

The Iranian Writers Association, coinciding with August 17, the anniversary of the Ministry of Intelligence's conspiracy to drive a bus carrying a group of writers off a cliff in 1996, described this event as 'an important page in the history of censorship and repression in contemporary Iran.' On this occasion, the association published a statement on its Telegram channel stating: 'The murder of writers, artists, and dissenters is the highest and most inhumane level of censorship and the most horrific form that censorship of thought and expression takes. August 17 reminds us of the failed attempt by the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence to murder a group of writers and journalists in Iran, some of whom were members of the Iranian Writers Association.' The association referred to the incident of the trip to Armenia, known as the 'Writers' Murder Bus' and 'Armenia Bus,' stating: 'In the summer of 1996, as part of the chain murders of the 1990s, the Ministry of Intelligence orchestrated a conspiracy to drive the bus carrying a group of writers, who were heading to Armenia at the invitation of the Armenian Writers' Union, off a cliff to kill them. Twenty-one unaware writers, poets, and journalists attended this trip. The driver, who was hired by the security forces, twice steered the bus to the edge of the cliff, and then threw himself out of the bus. The second time, thanks to the alertness of two writers, the bus was stopped, and this unsuccessful trip ended with the passengers being saved from death.' The association also recalled the chain murders and the killings of Ahmad Miralayi, Ghafar Hosseini, Mohammad Mokhtari, and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, members of the Iranian Writers Association, emphasizing: 'This event is an important page in the history of censorship and repression in contemporary Iran, which has always been accompanied by the breaking of pens, closing of newspapers, banning of writers, preventing the publication of books, censorship of words, intimidation, threats, arrests, imprisonment, torture, execution, murder, and physical elimination of independent and freedom-seeking writers. A bloody and painful history that in the incident of the trip to Armenia, the violent and rigid nature of despotism and monologue is once again revealed.'