Ex-UN officials, rights experts urge probe of Iran's 1988 mass killings
More than 450 people signed an open letter calling for the UN human rights office to investigate the Iranian president's involvement in the1988 massacre, which Ebrahim Raisi denies.
A group of former United Nations officials and experts have penned an open letter urging the United Nations human rights office to investigate Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's involvement in the mass killing of political prisoners.
“We believe it’s long overdue for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 massacre,” read the letter signed by dozens of human rights groups and more than 450 people.
Following the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini appointed Raisi to a four-man “death commission” that helped facilitate the purge of perceived dissidents from Iran's jails. Amnesty International estimates more than 5,000 prisoners, a majority of them affiliated with the People’s Mujahideen of Iran dissident group, were killed across 32 cities.
The letter describes “thousands of political prisoners who refused to abandon their beliefs were executed. The victims were buried in mass graves scattered throughout the country.”
