Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Saber Sabagh

About

Age: 23
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: July 12, 1981
Location of Killing: Behshahr, Mazandaran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Corruption on earth; Actively opposing the Islamic Republic; Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech; Participating in an anti-regime demonstration; Sympathizing with anti-regime guerilla groups

About this Case

The execution of Mr. Saber Sabagh was reported in the July 13th, 1981 issue of Jomhuri-e Eslami daily. Mr. Sabagh (Mojahedin Khalq Organization) is also one of the 12028 individuals listed in an addendum to the Mojahed magazine (No 261), published by Mojahedin Khalq Organization in 1985. The list includes individuals, affiliated with various opposition groups, who were executed or killed during clashes with the Islamic Republic security forces from June 1981 to the publication date of the magazine.

The Mojahedin Khalq Organization

The Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) was founded in 1965. This organization adopted the principles of Islam as its ideological guideline. However, its members’ interpretation of Islam was revolutionary, and they believed in an armed struggle against the Shah’s regime. They valued Marxism as a progressive economic and social analysis method but considered Islam their source of inspiration, culture, and ideology. In the 1970s, the MKO was weakened when many members were imprisoned and executed. In 1975 following a profound ideological crisis, the organization refuted Islam as its ideology, and after a few of its members were killed and other Muslim members purged, the organization proclaimed Marxism as its ideology. This move led to the split of the Marxist-Leninist Section of the MKO in 1977. In January 1979, the imprisoned Muslim leaders of the MKO were released along with other political prisoners. They began re-organizing the MKO and recruiting new members based on Islamic ideology. After the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the MKO accepted the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini and supported the Revolution. Active participation in the political scene and infiltration of governmental institutions were foremost on the organization’s agenda. During the first two years after the Revolution, the MKO succeeded in recruiting numerous sympathizers, especially in high schools and universities. Still, its efforts to gain political power, either by appointment or election, were vehemently opposed by the Islamic Republic leaders.*

Arrest and detention

The circumstances of this defendant’s arrest and detention are not known.

Trial

According to the newspaper report, Mr. Sabagh refused to reveal his identity during his detention and trial. No further information is available about this trial.

Charges

The report specifies that Mr. Sabagh and the four other convicts were charged with "threatening and intimidating Muslim people," "insulting the combatant clergy and the Islamic Republic," "repeated clashes with the people," "disseminating rumors and organizing demonstrations in favor of the impeached President Bani-Sadr, which demonstrations resulted in burning tires and throwing stones at security forces," "organizing secret political gatherings and team houses," "disturbing the mind of the youth by misleading them with wrong ideas," "distributing political leaflets and posters," "defending the political ideas of the People's Mojahedin Organization," "participating in disarming Revolutionary Guard brothers, and consistently opposing the Islamic Revolution."

Evidence of guilt

The report of this execution does not contain information regarding the evidence provided against the defendant.

Defense

No information is available on Mr. Sabagh's defense.

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Behshahr found Mr. Sabagh guilty of "corruption on earth" and "rebellion against God and the People". He was executed at dawn on July 12, 1981.

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* The exclusion of MKO members from government offices and the closure of their centers and publishing houses, in conjunction with the Islamic Republic authorities’ different interpretations of Islam, widened the gap between them. Authorities of the new regime referred to the Mojahedin as “Hypocrites” and the Hezbollahi supporters of the regime attacked the Mojahedin sympathizers regularly during demonstrations and while distributing publications, leading to the death of several MKO supporters. On June 20, 1981, the MKO called for a demonstration protesting their treatment by governmental officials and the government officials’ efforts to impeach their ally, President Abolhassan Banisadr. Despite the fact that the authorities called this demonstration illegal, thousands came to the streets, some of whom confronted the Revolutionary Guardsmen and Hezbollahis. The number of casualties that resulted from this demonstration is unknown, but many demonstrators were arrested and executed in the following days and weeks. The day after the demonstration, the Islamic Republic regime started a repressive campaign – unprecedented in modern Iranian history. Thousands of MKO members and sympathizers were arrested or executed. On June 21, 1981, the MKO announced an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic and assassinated several high-ranking officials and supporters of the Islamic regime. 
In the summer of 1981, the leader of the MKO and the impeached President (Banisadr) fled Iran to reside in France, where they founded the National Council of Resistance. After the MKO leaders and many of its members were expelled from France, they went to Iraq and founded the National Liberation Army of Iran in 1987, which entered Iranian territory a few times during the Iran-Iraq war. They were defeated in July 1988 during their last operation, the Forugh Javidan Operation. A few days after this operation, thousands of imprisoned Mojahedin supporters were killed during the mass executions of political prisoners in 1988. Since the summer of 1981, the MKO has continued its activities outside Iran. No information is available regarding the members and activities of the MKO inside the country. 
Despite the “armed struggle” announcement by the MKO on June 20, 1981, many sympathizers of the organization had no military training, were not armed, and did not participate in armed conflict.

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