6 September 2021
To:
UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
The governments around the world
Members of parliaments
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Mr Javaid Rehman
Re: 48th Regular Session of UNHRC and an investigation into the crime against humanity in Iran
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will hold its 48th regular session between 13 September and 1 October 2021. I am writing on behalf of the CFPPI, political prisoners and their families in Iran, to strongly urge you to use your power to support political prisoners in Iran by investigating the crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi, the current president of the Islamic regime in Iran.
It has been more than 42 years that the Islamic regime in Iran has routinely and systematically suppressed, imprisoned, and tortured millions and executed thousands of people in Iran. Currently, thousands of rights activists and those who merely attended a demonstration are in prison. They have been held on fabricated charges, tortured, and given lengthy jail sentences. The Islamic regime is harassing and arresting rights activists and even their families on a daily basis. The terrorising acts of the Islamic regime have also been extended beyond the borders of Iran. This regime has threatened, kidnaped, and assassinated tens of dissidents living outside Iran.
I am writing this letter to you to specifically draw your attention to the crime committed by Ebrahim Raisi, the current president of the regime, and to urge you to take steps to investigate his crimes.
Ebrahim Raisi is a mass murderer who has been committing crimes against humanity since 1980. Prior to being announced as a so-called president, Raisi has been in charge of various positions in the judiciary system since 1980, and he is responsible for arresting, torturing and executing thousands of dissidents over the past 41 years.
Please see the following examples and related documents, which are only a drop in the ocean, of crimes against humanity committed by Raisi:
- In the summer of 1988 Ebrahim Raisi was Tehran’s deputy prosecutor and member of the “death committee”, when more than 5000 political prisoners were executed in only 3-4 weeks and then their bodies were dumped in mass graves, never to be found. After 33 years, many families still do not know where their loved ones are buried. Some families have been arrested and tortured only because they are demanding to know the truth about why their loved ones were executed in 1988. Until now, no one within the Islamic regime, including Raisi, has been charged for the massacre of 1988. The following is the conversation between Ebrahim Raisi with Montazeri in 1988. In the recording, Raisi is trying to get permission to execute 200 political prisoners in Iran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKfLFXIiB2w
In one of his recent interviews at the end of June 2021, Raisi publicly defended the massacre of thousands of political prisoners and claimed that it was “one of the proud achievements of the system” and that he was “defending the human rights”.
- Under his power as the head of the Judiciary, the Islamic regime carried out the crackdown on the protesters in November 2019, when 1500 people were shot by the security forces, and more than 8000 were arrested, tortured and given lengthy jail sentences. Many are still in prison.
- Under Raisi’s power, tens of protesters, including the Iranian wrestling Champion Navid Afkari, were executed for merely expressing their opposition to the crimes committed by the leaders of the Islamic regime. Navid’s brothers, Habib and Vahid Afkari, are still in prison. They have been tortured and sentenced to lengthy jail sentences.
- Under Raisi’s power, the Iranian journalist, Rouhollah Zam who lived in France was kidnapped by the agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), when he visited Iraq. He was then taken to Iran and imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to death by hanging which was carried out on 12 December 2020.
- Under Raisi’s power, tens of dual nationals have been arrested, while travelling to Iran or kidnaped from Iran’s neighbouring countries. They were tortured and given jail sentences based on fabricated charges. Mr Ahmad Reza Djalali, Iranian-Swedish was tortured and then sentenced to the death penalty.
- Raisi as a member of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic regime has been instrumental in intentionally shooting down Ukrainian flight PS752 on 8th January 2020 which resulted in the killing of all 176 passengers on board.
- Hundreds of rights activists and their families have been harassed by security forces, arrested, tortured, and have been given flogging or lengthy prison sentences as well as being issued death sentences. Mr Heidar Ghorbani has been tortured and is currently at risk of execution.
A letter has been signed and sent to the UNHRC by more than 700 families of political prisoners, families who are seeking justice, and the rights activists from Iran and around the world. In the letter which is attached to this letter, the signatories have exposed various crimes against humanity committed by Ebrahim Raisi and other authorities in the Islamic regime such as the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). These signatories have urged the UNHRC to “take effective and practical steps to establish an independent commission to investigate and gather evidence on international and domestic crimes committed by the Islamic regime in Iran.” Please see the following link for the letter as well as the attachment below. https://wp.me/p9yWrK-1Qp
Amnesty International in its press release, which was published in June 2021, stated that “It is now more urgent than ever for member states of the UN Human Rights Council to take concrete steps to address the crisis of systematic impunity in Iran by establishing an impartial mechanism to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious crimes under international law committed in Iran to facilitate fair and independent criminal proceedings.”
For all the above-mentioned crimes, and many more, Ebrahim Raisi must be investigated for committing crimes against humanity for over 41 years.
On behalf of the political prisoners and their families in Iran, I would like to urge you:
- To use your power to take specific steps to establish a commission to collect evidence and to facilitate an independent criminal proceeding to investigate the crime against humanity committed by Ebrahim Raisi.
Sincerely,
Shiva Mahbobi, Spokeswoman
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
www.cfppi.org , shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com
Related resources:
Iran: Ebrahim Raisi must be investigated for crimes against humanity | Amnesty International
Ebrahim Raisi’s path to Iranian president — and likely future supreme leader – The Washington Post
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Navid_Afkari
The following footage was published in Aug 2021 by a group called Edalate Ali who hacked the security cameras in the notorious Evin prison in Iran to expose the crimes committed by the regime. The video shows the torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners which seems normal to the guards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAsZjqX1-Qo