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

Ezzatollah Zare' Kashani

About

Age: 60
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam (Shi'a)
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: September, 1988
Location of Killing: Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech

About this Case

Mr. Ezzatollah Zare’ Kashani, son of Mohammad, is one of the victims in the mass killings of political prisoners in 1988. He is one of 1000 people identified in a UN Human Rights Commission’s Special Representative’s Report, “Names and particulars of persons allegedly executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran during the period July-December 1988,” published January 26, 1989. The report specifies that although 1000 names are mentioned, “in all probability” there were several thousand victims. “Most of the alleged victims were members of the Mojahedin. However, members of the Tudeh Party, People’s Fedaiyan Organization, Rahe Kargar, and Komala Organization and 11 mollahs were also said to be among the alleged victims.”

The information about Mr. Ezzatollah Zare’ Kashani is taken from an electronic form sent to Omid by a person close to him as well as from the book The Martyrs of the Tudeh Party of Iran by the Tudeh Party Publications. He was born in Shahr-e Rey in 1928. He joined the Tudeh Party in 1944 when he was very young. After the Revolution, in 1981, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party.

The Tudeh Party of Iran was created in 1941. The Tudeh Party ideology was Marxist- Leninist and it supported policies of the former Soviet Union. The Party played a major role in Iran’s political scene until it was banned for the second time following the August 19, 1953 coup. After the 1979 Revolution, the Party declared Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic regime revolutionaries and anti-imperialists and actively supported the new government. Although the Party never opposed the Islamic Republic, it became the target of government attacks in 1982 when most of the Party’s leaders and members were imprisoned.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Zare’ Kashani was arrested without a warrant by the Revolutionary Guards on February 6, 1983 at 10 p.m. for “membership in the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran” (electronic form). According to the abovementioned book, he suffered from stomach and kidney pain due to severe torture.

Trial

Specific details on the circumstances of the trials that led to the execution of Mr. Zare’ Kashani and thousands of other individuals in 1988 are not known. According to existing information, there was no official trial with the presence of an attorney and prosecutor. Those who were executed in 1988 were sent to a three-man committee consisting of a religious judge, a representative from the Intelligence Ministry, and a Public Prosecutor of Tehran. This committee asked the leftist prisoners some questions about their beliefs and whether or not they believed in God.

The relatives of political prisoners executed in 1988 refute the legality of the judicial process that resulted in thousands of executions throughout Iran. In their 1988 open letter to then Minister of Justice Dr. Habibi, they argue that the official secrecy surrounding these executions is proof of their illegality. They note that an overwhelming majority of these prisoners had been tried and sentenced to prison terms, which they were either serving or had already completed serving when they were retried and sentenced to death.

Charges

No charge was ever publicly leveled against the victims of the 1988 mass executions. In their letters to the Minister of Justice (1988), and to the UN Special Rapporteur visiting Iran (February 2003), the families of the victims refer to the accusations against the prisoners that may have led to their execution. These accusations include being “counter-revolutionary, anti-religion, and anti-Islam,” as well as being “associated with military action or with various [opposition] groups based near the borders.”

An edict of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, reproduced in the memoirs of Ayatollah Montazeri, his designated successor, corroborates the reported claims regarding the charges against the executed prisoners. In this edict, Ayatollah Khomeini refers to the Mojahedin members as “hypocrites” who do not believe in Islam and “wage war against God” and decrees that prisoners who still approve of the positions taken by this organization are also “waging war against God” and should be sentenced to death.

It is possible that the prisoners who were members of organizations other than the Mojahedin were charge for being “anti-religious” and were condemned for insisting on their beliefs.

Evidence of guilt

The report of this execution contains no evidence provided against the defendant.

Defense

In their open letter, the families of the prisoners note that defendants were not given the opportunity to defend themselves in court. Against the assertion that prisoners were associated with guerrilla forces operating near the borders, the families submit the isolation of their relatives from the outside during their detention: “Our children lived in most difficult conditions. Our visits were limited to 10 minutes behind a glass divider through a telephone every two weeks. Over the past seven years, we witnessed that they were denied access to anything that would have allowed them to establish contacts outside their prison walls.” Under such conditions the families reject the claim of the authorities that these prisoners were able to engage with the political groups outside Iran.

Judgment

No specific information is available about the execution sentence. Mr. Ezzatollah Zare’ Kashani was hanged during the mass killings of political prisoners in September 1988.

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