Seeking Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre is Indispensable for the Iranian Nation’s Campaign to Overthrow the Regime in IranDear sisters and brothers, the honorable friends of the Iranian Resistance,I salute you all.The presence of supporters of Iranian Resistance in this gathering, which is calling for justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran, is heartwarming.This is an extraordinary gathering.
Among you here today, more than 920 have spent many years in prisons of the Shah and Khomeini. Nearly 10 percent were incarcerated during under the Shah and about 90 percent under the mullahs’ regime. Some served anywhere from 5 to 10 and 12, 13, 15 and even 17 years.
In 2009, the Iranian Resistance’s Leader Massoud Rajavi said that the names of all of you, who were in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, at the time, had been sent to all relevant international organizations.
The renowned American law professor Alan Dershowitz, once described the residents of Ashraf as “the largest concentration of witnesses” to the crimes of the Iranian regime in the world and urged the international community to protect these witnesses.Hail to each and every one of you!
Paying Greatest Tribute to the heroes of 1988
Every freedom-loving Iranian pays respects to the martyred heroes of the 1988 massacre and honors their memory. The highest and most precious commemoration, however, is what you did by reaching Ashraf from the regime’s torture chambers amid the many mass killings. You bore the scars and the wounds of torture on your bodies, but could not be stopped. You suffered greatly under the regime’s blockade in Ashraf and Liberty and persevered despite your injured bodies.
You recounted the innocence of the victims conveyed their defiance of surrender and their message to everyone.Indeed, what could be a more effective and appropriate commemoration for those martyrs than what you did?
Time and again, I have heard you speak of the valiant Mojahdein prisoners who hailed Massoud Rajavi when facing the torturers and executioners. They called out his name while bidding farewell when taken to the gallows.
By repeating this forbidden name, they wanted to not only express their love and faith in Massoud but to send a message to every one of us.
Their message was to Mojahedin who were continuing their path, to the generation that would follow them and to the youths who would be hearing their unfinished story. And that message was: to follow Massoud Rajavi’s path and ideal, the path of paying the price of freedom, the path of the unrelenting struggle for equality, and the path to fight for a society devoid of oppression, discrimination, ignorance, and duplicity.
The founders of the tradition of standing by one’s ideals
Dear brothers and sisters,
Khomeini issued the fatwa for this horrific massacre. In those days, in response to the objections of Hossein Ali Montazeri, his heir apparent at the time, he wrote, 'The religious responsibility of this decree lies with me” and stated his wish for the annihilation of the PMOI/MEK.
But now, history has damned Khomeini has and the Mojahedin are the flames of hope, inspiring freedom.
September 6 will mark the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. Our founders founded this organization to bring freedom and eradicate of all forms of oppression. To do so, they sacrificed their lives.
They taught their comrades in arm to be the harbingers of new values and lead the way. They also taught us the secret, which is to be truthful and willing to sacrifice.
The PMOI members massacred in 1988 were faithful to this same teaching. They persevered on their stance in the fight against the ruling religious tyranny. They thus founded a tradition which was later called, “standing by one’s ideal.”Indeed, our movement has survived and thrived because it has stood by its ideal to liberate the people of Iran.
Iran’s future and the Iranian people’s freedom will be achieved by standing by one’s ideal, namely keeping aloft the flag and paying the price of overthrowing the mullahs’ reactionary Caliphate.
The Martyrs’ Final MessageSo, in the memory of those massacred heroes, let us recall some of their final words and messages.
Daryoush Rezaii, born in Mahidasht in Kermanshah, wrote in a poem for freedom:
“O’ freedom! Neither you thirst for blood, nor do we want to shed our own blood. How unfortunate that the evil executioners have drenched the path between us in blood.”
And these are the words of a brave PMOI woman, Zahra Bijanyar, who had been imprisoned for years in Ghezel Hessar Prison, to her relatives
“I have realized that even if the oppressors mutilate our bodies they cannot take our lives so long as we remain steadfast in our beliefs. They can take our lives only when we sell out our faith and hearts. This is the secret to resistance and sacrifice in the history of mankind. Pray to God to bestow me faith and belief so that I would never put that which I desire before His.”
And Ahmad Ra’ouf, from Rasht, said, “They kept beating me all the time and asking me my name. I knew that they knew my name, but I did not tell them anything. I wanted to test myself and see how steel become stained steel.”
Now, let us flash back 29 years, to a scene in the city of Gatchsaran in southern Iran. The body of a young girl was hanging in the city’s main square. It was Massoumeh Barzandeh who was only 20 at the time of her execution. A sign on her clothes said: “She had been a PMOI recruiter.”
And Ahmad Ra’ouf, from Rasht, said, “They kept beating me all the time and asking me my name. I knew that they knew my name, but I did not tell them anything. I wanted to test myself and see how steel become stained steel.”
Now, let us flash back 29 years, to a scene in the city of Gatchsaran in southern Iran. The body of a young girl was hanging in the city’s main square. It was Massoumeh Barzandeh who was only 20 at the time of her execution. A sign on her clothes said: “She had been a PMOI recruiter.”
Massoumeh rose to the Heavens, but she continues to recruit young people for the PMOI. And today, 29 years on, Amnesty International writes in its report that “younger human rights defenders born after the 1979 Revolution” are targeted for “seeking the truth and justice” for the victims of the massacres in the 1980s.
And finally, I want to pay homage to Monireh Rajavi. Throughout her detention, she cared for all her cellmates. She was a selfless and emancipated woman. Let us not forget the words she said to her cellmates in prison: “They want to kill our humanity and this is what we must fight against. We must show our affection toward each other more than ever.”
