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

Parviz Sagvand

About

Age: 25
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: August 5, 1988
Location of Killing: Dezful, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam; Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech

About this Case

Mr. Parviz Sagvand is listed among 3208 members and sympathizers of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) whose execution was reported by the organization in a book entitled Crime Against Humanity. This book documents the 1988-1989 mass execution of political prisoners. Additional information was drawn from the Bidaran website and the web site of the PMIO. He was born in Andimeshk and a high school graduate.

Arrest and Detention

The exact circumstances of this defendant’s arrest and detention are not known. Mr. Parviz Sagvand was arrested in 1986. He was detained in Dezful prison.

Trial

There is no specific information about the circumstances of the trials that condemned this defendant and thousands of other political prisoners to death in a period of a few months. 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 at the time they were retried and sentenced to death.

Charges

No charge has been publicly levelled against the defendant. 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 authorities’ accusations against the prisoners – accusations 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 PMOI 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.

Evidence of Guilt

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

Defense

No information is available about Mr. Sagvand’s 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 guerrillas 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. Visits were limited to 10 minutes behind a glass divider through a telephone every two weeks. We witnessed during the past seven years that they were denied access to anything that would have allowed them to establish contacts outside their prisons 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 verdict. Mr. Parviz Sagvand was executed by a firing squad during the mass killings of political prisoners in Dezful on August 5, 1988.

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