R.nr :162
Canada’s Parliament recognized the 1988 Prison Massacre in the Islamic Republic of Iran as Constituting Crimes Against Humanity (June 5th , 2013)
Political-Executive Board of the Organization of Iranian People’s Fadaian (Majority)
Endorsement of the Canadian Parliament
We welcome the endorsement of the Parliament of Canada concerning the acknowledgment of the crime committed by the Iranian regime in 1988, considering it a crime against humanity.
The Parliament of Canada is the first parliament of a foreign country that has recognized the mass execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 (1367) in Iran as crimes against humanity. To commemorate the victims who were buried in the mass graves of Kharavan and other places in Iran, the Canadian Parliament has named the first of September a day of solidarity with political prisoners in Iran.
We welcome the endorsement of the Parliament of Canada and congratulate for their success all the militants in the campaign to commemorate the victims of human rights violations in Iran. It is necessary that in other countries, parliaments take steps similar to the ones taken by Canada in order to double our efforts for the recognition of the mass murders of summer 1988 in Iran as crimes against humanity*. Establishing a day of solidarity with political prisoners on the 25th anniversary of the assassinations can focus international public opinion on the continuous violations of the human rights committed since the 1980’s. These efforts might bring an end to the violation people’s fundamental rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is important to pursue these efforts because they prove the existence of state authoritarianism that deprives the population of Iran of its legitimate rights in conformity with the norms of human rights and recognized international treaties.
Let us make an effort to use the first day of September 2013 to demand the release of political prisoners and thus transform that day into a call for an international investigation on the tragic massacres of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. The Iranian authorities cannot relieve themselves from responsibility in this tragedy. The people of Iran and the world did not forget this tragedy and they accuse the regime of Iran to be responsible for its criminal actions and its violence of human rights in Iran.
* At the end of the Iran-Iraq war , in the summer of 1988, on the orders of Khomeyni, more than 5000 political prisoners were executed.