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

Morteza (Behnam) Bigdeli Shamlu

About

Age: 16
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam (Shi'a)
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: July 2, 1981
Location of Killing: Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic

About this Case

The news about the execution of Mr. Morteza (Behnam) Bigdeli Shamlu was announced by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz which was published in Jomhuri Eslami newspaper on July 5, 1981. The announcement reads as follows: “While our heroic nation is fighting the attack of Saddam the Yazid, the puppet of America . . . the anti-human groups . . . under the guise of Mojahedin, Fadaiyan, and Peykar, in connivance with the enemy of this country and following the ominous plans of the world-domineering America, have engaged in an armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic.”

Mr. Bigdeli Shamlu is also one of the 12,028 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.

Additional information about Mr. Bigdeli Shamlu, son of Mohammad Sadeq, was sent to the Boroumand Foundation by a person familiar with his case. Mr. Bigdeli Shamlu was born in 1965 in Ahvaz in a religious family. According to the information in the electronic form, he was a Muslim believer, knew Quran and Nahj al-Balagha by heart at age of 12, helped the poor, and did not have any political affiliations.

According to the announcement of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz and the addendum to the Mojahed magazine, Mr. Bigdeli Shamlu was a sympathizer of the Mojadehin Khalq Organization.

The Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) was founded in 1965. This organization adapted the principals of Islam as its ideological guideline. However, its members’ interpretation of Islam was revolutionary and they believed in armed struggle against the Shah’s regime. They valued Marxism as a progressive method for economic and social analysis but considered Islam as their source of inspiration, culture, and ideology. In the 1970s, the MKO was weakened when many of its members were imprisoned and executed. In 1975, following a deep 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 split of the Marxist-Leninist Section of the MKO in 1977. In January of 1979, the imprisoned Muslim leaders of the MKO were released along with other political prisoners. They began to re-organize the MKO and recruit 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; but its efforts to gain political power, either by appointment or election, were strongly opposed by the Islamic Republic leaders.*

Arrest and detention

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

Trial

Mr. Bigdeli Shamlu was tried at the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz.

Charges

According to the announcement of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz, Mr. Bigdeli and three other defendants were collectively charged with “armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic of Iran” as affiliates of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization.

The validity of the criminal charges brought against this defendant cannot be ascertained in the absence of the basic guarantees of a fair trial.

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. Bigdeli Shamlu’s defense. His relative states that he did not have any political affiliation.

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz condemned Mr. Bigdeli Shamlu to death. He was executed by a firing squad at 1:45 a.m. on Thursday July 2, 1981 in Ahvaz. He was 16 years old.

International laws have strictly prohibited capital punishment against those who were under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime. As a party to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iran has the obligation to avoid capital punishment for an offence committed before the age of eighteen.

*The exclusion of MKO members from government offices and the closure of their centers and publishing houses, in conjunction with to the Islamic Republic authorities’ different interpretation of Islam, widened the gap between the two. 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 regime 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 a large number of 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 a number of 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. Ever since the summer of 1981, the MKO has continued its activities outside of Iran. No information is available regarding members and activities of the MKO inside the country.

In spite of 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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