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Iran officials behind 1980s executions defend decision

Iranian officials involved in the executions of thousands of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq members in the 1980s are having to defend themselves publicly as the killings are back in the news.
Iran's Interior minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi talks during a news conference in Tehran March 15, 2008. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAN) - RTR1YC1Z

When the website of late Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri posted an audio recording of his objections to the execution of thousands of people, mostly members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) in the late 1980s, it revealed little new information beyond what had been printed in Montazeri’s autobiography. One thing the recording does confirm, however, is the identities of the individuals involved in carrying out the executions, some of whom hold important positions in the Islamic Republic today.

No one has more vociferously defended their actions from that time than Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who was the Intelligence Ministry’s representative at Evin Prison when the executions took place. Pourmohammadi and three other individuals were in charge of the committee that oversaw the executions. Using the religiously charged term “hypocrites” to refer to MEK members, Pourmohammadi told reporters Aug. 28, “You cannot show mercy to the hypocrites, because if they can bloody and soil you, they will.” He added, “We take pride in executing the orders with respect to the hypocrites.”

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