Preventing Families of Executed Individuals from Entering Khavaran; Authorities Blocked the Entrance

On Friday, August 5, government forces of the Islamic Republic prevented families of political prisoners executed in the 1980s from entering Khavaran cemetery to commemorate the victims. According to the Telegram channel 'Manifesto of Freedom, Welfare, and Equality', the families intended to honor 'the memory of their loved ones in the Khavaran flower garden' and to lay flowers on their graves, but officials blocked the entrance to Khavaran and denied them entry. The report states that 'the harassment of Khavaran families has continued in various forms for over 40 years.' This includes 'the use of bulldozers to overturn the graves of victims of the government killings in the 1980s, as well as the burial of deceased members of the Baha'i community to erase evidence of the crimes.' The Telegram channel noted that these actions particularly target 'the mass graves of those executed during the political prisoner massacre in the summer of 1988' and also mentioned the detention of families seeking justice. The report indicates that 'the Khavaran families have tried over the years to protest this oppressive process by writing letters and meeting with municipal officials and the Behesht Zahra cemetery authorities to defend their most basic human right to visit the graves of their loved ones and commemorate them. However, they have consistently faced closed doors.' Khavaran is a cemetery located in the southeast of Tehran, along the Khavaran road. This site is adjacent to several cemeteries for religious minorities and is where thousands of political and ideological prisoners executed in Tehran's prisons during the summer of 1988 are secretly buried in mass graves without identification. These political prisoners, who were members and supporters of leftist organizations and the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, were executed by a committee known as the Death Commission.