Security Forces Destroy Part of Graves of Executed Political Prisoners from the 1980s

Reports indicate that security forces of the Islamic Republic have recently destroyed part of the Behesht-e Reza cemetery in Mashhad, which is the burial site of political prisoners executed in the 1980s, using bulldozers. According to the Telegram channel Maneshour Azadi, Refah, Barabari, 'the recent demolitions in Mashhad began in early October of this year and have continued until now.' The report states that although since 2016, the policy of destroying the burial sites of executed political prisoners in Behesht-e Reza cemetery and the Salim Hill in Mashhad has been on the agenda of security institutions, 'in recent days, this action has intensified.' Similar actions have previously taken place in cities such as Ahvaz, Tabriz, and Babol. The Telegram channel noted that in Ahvaz, mass graves of 44 political prisoners, buried in a barren piece of land three kilometers east of the Behesht Abad cemetery, were destroyed, and construction work was carried out there to eliminate evidence of crime and atrocity. Additionally, during excavation work at the end of Phase 2 of Padad City and Bankdar Boulevard, several bodies in a mass grave covered with cement were uncovered, which security forces ultimately covered with soil, continuing the street widening project to conceal these graves. Furthermore, more than 75 graves of those executed in 1987 and generally in the 1980s were destroyed in the Wadi Rahmat cemetery in Tabriz. The Telegram channel reported that the Ministry of Intelligence forces poured concrete and cement over 10 centimeters thick and leveled the ground in this section of the cemetery to erase the evidence of their massacre and genocide. In Babol, many graves of political prisoners executed in the 1980s, especially in 1987, buried in the Bahá'í and Jewish cemeteries, were destroyed by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards. The Telegram channel added that on part of the graves of the executed, multi-story buildings were constructed as apartment units named Kowsar, and all those residential units were allocated to agents of the Revolutionary Guards and the police. The Khavaran cemetery in Tehran has also become a burial site for deceased Bahá'ís under pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence in recent years, which has faced opposition from the families of the victims and the Bahá'í community. The alteration of the Khavaran cemetery by creating new graves is a common method used by the regime to destroy evidence of its crimes. Thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s, especially in the summer of 1987, were executed due to their membership in groups and organizations such as the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the Tudeh Party of Iran, and the Fadaiyan Khalq (majority and minority), or for supporting them. The executions of the summer of 1987 were carried out by a committee appointed by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Ebrahim Raisi, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was also a member of the committee responsible for the summer 1987 massacre.