The following video clips are a series of eyewitness accounts from men and women who survived the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in iran, most of whom were affiliated with the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK).
International human rights organizations have called this massacre the greatest case of “crimes against humanity” since World War II.
The eyewitness accounts will reveal the barbarity of the Iranian regime in harrowing detail. At the same time, these testimonials will vividly demonstrate a generation’s unbreakable resolve to neither abandon their ideals nor submit to the hated mullahs despite the heavy cost.
Even after 33 years, families of the victims have not received death certificates or information on the manner in which their loved ones were murdered or what was done with their bodies.
These prisoners—none of whom had been sentenced to death—were executed based on a 1988 fatwa issued by the then-supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
“As the treacherous Monafeqin [Mojahedin] do not believe in Islam and what they say is out of deception and hypocrisy… and as they are waging war on God …. and as they are tied to the World Arrogance, and in light of their cowardly blows to the Islamic Republic since its inception, it is decreed that those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin (Hypocrites) [Mojahedin (MEK)], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution,” Khomeini wrote. He urged the regime to carry out his order with “no mercy.”

“Death commissions,” were established in every province to identify prisoners who were suspected of remaining steadfast in their allegiance to the MEK and its ideals of a free, democratic Iran with a duly elected, secular government.

Tens of thousands of prisoners from Evin and Gohardasht prisons were brought before these “death commissions” and usually had their fates determined in just a few minutes. In one case, a 28-year-old man named Mahmoud was brought before a death squad around 7:00 p.m. on July 30, 1988, according to a witness. Mahmoud said he told the death commission “I am a supporter of the MEK.” Around 9:00 p.m., he and a large number of other prisoners were taken to the “death corridor,” where they were lined up and led into execution halls. Mahmoud was hanged that night.
Hamid Noury, a former assistant prosecutor in Iran, is now in Sweden facing criminal charges for his role in the 1988 “killing machine.”
Many of Iran’s current senior officials were also part of the 1988 massacre, according to witnesses. These include Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi, who was a member of the Commission in Tehran in 1988; prominent Sharia Judge Hossein Ali Nayyeri; Tehran Prosecutor Morteza Eshraqi; Deputy Minister of Intelligence Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi; and several criminal mullahs such as Ali Mobasheri, Mohammad Moghesiye, Esmail Shushtari, and Ali Razini.

Eyewitness Accounts

Asghar Mehdizadeh

Political prisoner: 1982 -1995; He spent 13 years in prison.
Prisons: Fooman, Rasht, Evin and Soomehsara, Gohardasht
Watch video & read text here

Farideh Goodarzi

Political prisoner: 1982- 1988; she spent 6 years in prison.
Prison: Hamadan
Watch video & read text here

Akbar Samadi

Political prisoner: 1981- 1991; He spent 10 years in prison.
Prisons: Ghezelhesar, Evin, Gohardasht
Watch video & read text here

Hossein Farsi

Political prisoner: 1981-1993; He spent 12 years in prison.
Prisons: Evin, Ghezelhesar, and Gohardasht
Watch video & read text here

Mahmoud Royaei

Political prisoner: 1981-1991; He spent 10 years in prison.
Prison: Evin, Ghezelhesar, and Gohardasht
Watch video & read text here

Parvin Pour Eqbali

Political prisoner: 1981-1991; She spent 10 years in prison.
Prison: Evin
Watch video & read text here

Mohammad Zand

Political prisoner: 1981-1992; He spent 11 years in prison.
Prisons: Evin, Ghezelhesar, and Gohardasht
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Majid Saheb Jam

Political prisoner: 1982-1999; He spent 17 years in prison.
Prisons: Evin, Ghezelhesar, and Gohardasht
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Hassan Zarif Nazarian

Political prisoner: 1981-1993; He spent 12 years in prison.
Prisons: Jamshidia, Evin, and Ghazal Hesar
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Hassan Ashrafian

Political prisoner: 1983-1995; He spent 12 years in prison.
Prisons: Evin, Gohardasht
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Heydar Yousefi

Political prisoner: 1983-1991; He spent 8 years in prison.
Prison: Gohardasht
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Mohammad Sarkhaili

Political prisoner: 1984-1993; He spent 9 years in prison.
Prisons: Evin and Gohardasht
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Gholamreza Jalal

Political prisoner: 1980-1986; He spent 6 years in prison.
Prisons: Tehran, Evin, Ghezel Hesar, Gohardasht
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Khadijeh Borhani

Ten family members, including six of her brothers, have been executed by the Iranian regime.
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Seyyed Hossein Seyyed Ahmadi

Two of his brothers have been executed in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
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Seyyed Jafar Mir Mohammadi

One of his brothers has been executed in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
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Ebrahim Khaksar

Two of his cousins have been executed by the Iranian regime, and his brother was executed in the 1988 massacre
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Fereydoun Hamzeh Alipour

He was arrested in 1980 and was interrogated by Ebrahim Raisi
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Massoud Abouie-Rad

Political prisoner: He spent 8 years in prison.
Prisons: Evin, Gohardasht, Ghezelhesar, Babol, Sari, and the joint committee.
Watch video & read text here