A few weeks after the bloody incident during the Hajj (Mina - Saudi Arabia), the release of an important video about the secret trial of members of the elected council of the Baha'i community in Iran in 1981 at the Revolutionary Court has brought a keyword back into consideration: 'Truth-Seeking Committee.' This concept is particularly significant as the leader of the Islamic Republic had also called for its establishment regarding the deaths of several hundred Iranian citizens during the Hajj. Ayatollah Khamenei, in his harsh remarks against the rulers of Saudi Arabia, emphasized the need for a truth-seeking committee with the presence of Islamic countries, including Iran, stating: 'Investigations must be conducted; I do not make premature judgments about the causes of this incident, but certainly, there must be individuals from the Islamic world (including our country) who go and investigate closely to determine the cause of the incident; there is no discussion about that.' (October 8, 2015) The proposal from the top of the political system in Iran was quickly echoed and repeated by various governmental platforms and officials. Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, was among those who emphasized the necessity of establishing an independent truth-seeking committee to investigate the causes of the tragedy in a letter to his counterparts in some Islamic countries.
'No' to the Truth-Seeking Committee in Iran
While the leader of the Islamic Republic utilized the concept of a truth-seeking committee in the context of the tragic and bitter Hajj incident, he and his government have shown indifference to the establishment of such a committee, especially in areas intertwined with the fundamental rights of Iranian citizens. This is while the truth-seeking committee is linked to the body that was formed in South Africa after the transition to democracy and the presidency of Nelson Mandela (1994), where black citizens raised their complaints against the previous regime (the apartheid system) and protested against human rights violations and crimes that had occurred.
Human rights, however, do not recognize geography. The recently released important film about the trial of senior members of the Baha'i community in Iran in 1981 (all of whom were executed that year) is a significant witness to how justice and fairness were observed in the Revolutionary Courts. There, trials were neither conducted publicly, nor was there a jury, and the accused did not benefit from the presence of a lawyer. All of this occurred in stark violation of the explicit text of the Islamic Republic's Constitution (Article 168) and has been happening for nearly the entire lifespan of the political system. Will the rulers in Iran allow a truth-seeking committee to investigate the cases of executed and persecuted Baha'is in Iran after the Islamic Revolution?
Ayatollah Khamenei's significant remarks and his request for the establishment of a truth-seeking committee coincide with the anniversary of the mass execution and slaughter of political opponents in 1988. The central power in the Islamic Republic has not yet responded positively to the requests of the families of victims to pursue the tragedy. In contrast, the questioning and human rights protests of Ayatollah Montazeri, the deputy leader of the first regime (Ayatollah Khomeini), led to the expulsion of the humanitarian cleric from the political power structure and later to his house arrest.
There are numerous instances of the political authority's indifference to requests for the establishment of a truth-seeking committee; the infamous case of the chain murders (Autumn 1998) is one significant example. There, the roots and main perpetrators of the murders of Parvaneh and Dariush Forouhar, Majid Sharif, Mohammad Mokhtari, Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, Pirouz Davani, and indeed several dozen other writers, intellectuals, and political activists were never traceable by a truth-seeking committee.
This situation continues; after the controversial and ambiguous elections of 2009, the leader of the Islamic Republic also paid no attention to the request for the establishment of a truth-seeking committee. After the electoral coup, the committee to protect the votes of engineer Mir Hossein Mousavi proposed the establishment of a truth-seeking committee. It was suggested that this committee consist of three representatives from religious authorities, four representatives from candidates, one from the Ministry of Interior—who had not taken an official position in favor of a candidate—and one under the same conditions from the Guardian Council, along with a university legal expert and an impartial judge nominated by the Bar Association, the Attorney General, the head of the judiciary, and the head of the general inspection office.
Neither the proposal from Mousavi's headquarters nor a similar proposal from Mehdi Karroubi, another candidate contesting the official election results, received any attention.
It is noteworthy that even the truth-seeking committee formed by the then Parliament (with a conservative and principlist majority) ended up being fruitless and admitted that it had become 'stuck.' According to the committee members: 'On one hand, access to many locations is not allowed, and on the other hand, what they do see cannot be narrated.' They also stated: 'No unrestricted and unconditional visits to any center are permitted,' and of course, 'the reports did not lead anywhere.'
Months after the electoral coup, the Islamic Iran Participation Front also called for the establishment of a truth-seeking committee to investigate the actions of security, judicial, and military institutions. This request was never positively responded to.
A similar request was made by the Organization of Iranian People's Mojahedin, which also met a similar fate.
No truth-seeking committee was allowed to be established or operate to investigate the murders of dozens of innocent citizens during the street protests against significant electoral fraud and the bloody suppression and arrest of thousands.
After the death of Haleh Sahabi during the funeral of Izatollah Sahabi, the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope called for the establishment of 'an independent and reliable truth-seeking committee to pursue the perpetrators of the aforementioned crime, at any level and position.' A similar demand was emphasized after the death of Sattar Beheshti due to torture. The outcome, as in previous cases, was negative.
A demand alongside human rights and democracy
From the perspective of the aforementioned cases, the Supreme Leader's proposal for the establishment of a truth-seeking committee regarding the bloody and unfortunate Mina incident (this year's Hajj) would be welcomed if a similar determination is observed within the country. Will Ayatollah Khamenei and the head of the judiciary allow a national and independent truth-seeking committee to operate to report on the conduct of trials in the Revolutionary Courts and the issuance of bizarre sentences? Courts that, in complete violation of the Constitution, punish political activists, civil activists, and writers and poets with prison sentences of 10 years or more, at the command of interrogators dominating the judges. Nasser Hashemi, Rouyin Atoufat, Atena Farghadani, Atena Daemi, Mohammad Ali Taheri, Fatemeh Ekhtesari, and Mehdi Mousavi are just some examples in the long line of victims of the Revolutionary Courts. Victims who, at least, are allowed to continue living; and unlike several thousand other political and ideological prisoners, have not been handed over to execution squads and gallows during the Islamic Republic. Despite the rulers' unwillingness and indifference, 'truth-seeking committee' is a keyword that emerges in connection with the concept of human rights, alongside democratic transition, and in an inescapable manner.