Khomeini's Second Order for the 1988 Executions; BBC Report on Montazeri's Second Meeting with the Death Committee

According to an audio file released by BBC Persian, Hossein Ali Montazeri, during his second meeting with the decision-making group regarding the summer 1988 executions, speaks about the 'disgusting nature of the Velayat-e Faqih' and another order issued by Ruhollah Khomeini for the execution of leftist prisoners. This audio file, lasting about 27 minutes, was published on Tuesday, April 25, and is dedicated to Montazeri's second meeting with three members of the group known as the 'Death Committee.' According to the report, Montazeri spoke with three senior judicial officials at his home in Qom on December 30, 1988; these officials included Hossein Ali Niri, the Sharia judge, Morteza Eshraqi, the Tehran prosecutor, and Ebrahim Raisi, the deputy prosecutor. Several years ago, Montazeri's office first released an audio file related to his remarks during a meeting with members of the 'Death Committee' on August 15, 1988. The newly released audio file pertains to a meeting held about four and a half months after the first meeting; of the four decision-makers regarding the executions who attended the first meeting, only Mustafa Pourmohammadi, the intelligence representative at Evin, was absent from the second meeting. According to BBC's report, Montazeri's second meeting with the members of the 'Death Committee' took place about three months before his dismissal from the deputy position of Ruhollah Khomeini, and during this meeting, he strongly criticized the execution of political prisoners, stating that the Velayat-e Faqih had become 'disgusting.' Montazeri mentions that the Velayat-e Faqih had 'popularity and sanctity' at the beginning of Khomeini's arrival in Iran, but now it has become 'disgusting' to the people, who are fed up. The first meeting of Montazeri with the members of the Death Committee mainly focused on the widespread executions of members and supporters of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization; however, the new audio file reveals new points regarding the second wave of executions, which mainly included leftist groups. According to Montazeri's statements in the new audio file, Khomeini, in addition to the initial order regarding the executions, later wrote another text for the execution of leftists and communists in response to Hossein Ali Niri. Montazeri states that Ali Khamenei, the then-president, told him during a meeting that he believed Khomeini's second order was issued after 'Mr. Niri wrote to the Imam about, for example, the leftists.' Niri, who was present at this meeting, does not deny Montazeri's remarks about his role in the execution of leftists. Montazeri also mentioned in his oral memoirs that some justified that 'since the religious people were executed, what about the communists?' and obtained a 'separate order' from Khomeini for the execution of leftist political prisoners. In the documents and records officially published by the Islamic Republic, only one order from Khomeini regarding the executions is mentioned; he wrote in early August 1988, after the Mojahedin-e Khalq's attack known as 'Eternal Light,' that 'those who insist on their hypocrisy in prisons across the country are considered waging war and condemned to execution.' A short note from Khomeini has also been published in response to his son, Ahmad Khomeini, regarding the nature of the executions, stating: 'Anyone at any stage who remains in hypocrisy is sentenced to execution. Quickly destroy the enemies of Islam.' Following this order, thousands of political and ideological prisoners were secretly executed in Iranian prisons in August and September 1988 and were mostly buried in mass graves. The dimensions and details of these executions have remained shrouded in ambiguity for four decades. It is said that in the first wave of executions that occurred in early August, members and supporters of the Mojahedin-e Khalq were executed, and in early September, the second wave of executions began, targeting leftist and communist prisoners.