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

Davud Servatian

About

Age: 25
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: August, 1981
Location of Killing: Tabriz, Azarbaijan-e Sharqi Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Actively opposing the Islamic Republic; Armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic; Living in safe houses; Printing/distributing leaflets; Unspecified counter-revolutionary offense

About this Case

News of the execution of Mr. Davud Servatian, son of Ahmad, along with eighteen others, was published in the Keyhan newspaper on August 3, 1981. The Public Relations Department of the Revolutionary Prosecution Office in Tabriz issued a statement about these executions. Mr. Servatian is one of the 430 “Martyrs of the Peykar Organization for the Liberation of the Working Class” published on the website of Andeesheh va Peykar. His death is also reported in the Peykar publication (No. 115, August 24, 1981). Moreover, his name appears among the 12,028 individuals listed in an addendum to the Mojahed magazine (No 261), published by the Mojahedin Khalq Organization on September 6, 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.

Mr. Davud Servatian was from Miandoab, a city in West Azarbaijan province in north-west of Iran.

The Peykar Organization for the Liberation of the Working Class was founded by a number of dissident members of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization who had converted to Marxism-Leninism. Peykar was also joined by a number of political organizations, known as Khat-e Se (Third line). The founding tenets of Peykar included the rejection of guerrilla struggle and a strong stand against the pro-Soviet policies of the Iranian Tudeh Party. Peykar viewed the Soviet Union as a “social imperialist” state, believed that China had deviated from the Marxist-Leninist principles, and radically opposed all factions of the Islamic regime of Iran. The brutal repression of dissidents by the Iranian government and splits within Peykar in 1981 and 1982 effectively dismantled the Organization and scattered its supporters. By the mid-1980s, Peykar was no longer in existence.

Arrest and detention

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

Trial

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz tried Mr. Davud Servatian. No other information is available on the trial.

Charges

Mr. Servatian and six others were collectively charged with “armed uprising against the Islamic Republic of Iran in connection with his membership and effective cooperation with in the American group-let of Peykar which is at war with God, using the organization’s safe houses for all sorts of activities including publication of newspapers, posters, and placards for Peykar and Komaleh organizations, deluding the pure minds of unsuspecting youth, and cooperation with anti-Islam and anti-Koran armed groups of Komaleh, Fadaiyan Khalq (Ashraf Faction), and others.”

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. Servatian’s defense.

Judgment

َThe Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz deemed Mr. Servatian to be “at war with God, His Prophet and the Twelfth Imam, a rebel against the Islamic regime, a corruptor on earth, and an apostate.” He was condemned to death and executed by a firing squad in Tabriz prison on July 30, 1981 at 11 pm.

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