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

Shahrokh Zargar

About

Age: 22
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: May 23, 1982
Location of Killing: Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Unspecified counter-revolutionary offense
Age at time of alleged offense: 21

About this Case

The information about Mr. Shahrokh Zargar, son of Abdolmajid, is based on an interview by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation with his sister, and an electronic form sent to Omid by her. News of his execution, along with five others, was published in the Ettela’at newspaper on May 26, 1982.

Mr. Zargar is one of the 12,028 individuals listed in an addendum to the Mojahed magazine (No 261), published by the 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.

According to the interviewee, Mr. Zargar was born in Ahvaz in December of 1960. He was single, a medical student at Jondishahpur University in Ahvaz, and a sympathizer of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization. His political activities were limited to promotion of the organization. He was once arrested, in November of 1980, and condemned to three months imprisonment. He was arrested for the second time in a telephone booth on June 20, 1981 when he was beaten severely in a street and transferred to a hospital. Since he was a medical student, a nurse identified him and informed his family. Mr. Zargar had a heart problem and was about to be operated on. He was released because of his father’s efforts, who was a judge at the time.

Mr. Zargar was a clever and generous individual. He played chess and ping pong well and hoped to become a doctor who would not charge the poor.      

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’s leaders. *

Arrest and detention

According to the existing information, Mr. Zargar was arrested in Ahvaz and transferred to the Karun Prison in August of 1981. The circumstances of his arrest and detention are not known. He had weekly visitations with his family from behind two fences and in the presence of a guard. During one of his last visitations, he expressed concern about his fate. He was not allowed to talk in the prison and even could not even leave his bed for some time.   

Trial

Mr. Zargar was tried in Ahvaz about one month after his arrest in 1981. According to the interviewee, his father’s efforts resulted in a life sentence. No information is available whether there had been another trial condemning him to death. 

Charges

According to the Ettela’at newspaper, the charges brought against Mr. Zargar were “membership of the organization [Mojahedin Khalq] in Khuzestan, being in charge of collecting weapons and ammunition in Abadan, being a high ranking member of the organization in prison, and being in charge of connections with the organization between inside and outside of the prison.” According to the interviewee, however, his charge was being a Monafeq [Mojahed].     

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 Mr. Zargar.  

Defense

No information is available about Mr. Zargar’s defense.

Judgment

According to the existing information, Mr. Shahrokh Zargar was executed by firing squad in Ahvaz on May 23, 1982. According to the interviewee, quoting a person who was present at the time of Mr. Zargar’s death, he and five others had been beaten so severely that they died before their executions.

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* 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 fromFrance, they went toIraqand 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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