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

Nosratollah Biralvand

About

Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: August, 1981
Location of Killing: Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting

About this Case

The execution of Mr. Nosratollah Biralvand, along with eighteen others, was announced in a statement of the Public Relations Department of the Central Revolutionary Prosecution Office and reported in Keyhan and Jomhuri Eslami newspapers on August 16, 1981. Mr. Biralvand one of the 430 “Martyrs of the Peykar Organization for the Liberation of the Working Class” published on the Andeesheh va Peykar website. His execution is also mentioned in the Peykar magazine (No. 119, September 21, 1981). Additionally, Mr. Biralvand’s name is mentioned 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. Biralvand born in Borujerd (Lorestan province) in 1960. He began his political activity in the Peykar Orgnization in March of 1980.

The statement of the Revolutionary Prosecution Office, which calls the convicts “sworn agents of the superpowers”, begins with a reference to the Quran: “It is but a just recompense for those who make war on God and His apostle and endeavor to spread corruption on earth, that they are being slain in great numbers, or crucified in great numbers, or have, in result of their perverseness, their hands and feet cut off in great numbers, or are being [entirely] banished from [the face of] the earth: such is their ignominy in this world . But in the life to come [yet more] awesome suffering awaits them” [5:33].

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

No information is available on the defendant’s trial.

Charges

Mr. Biralvand was charged with being “an active member of the communication and financial committee of the American Peykar Organization, and in charge of its communications.” Collective charges against him and 18 others were announced as “attacking innocent people, assault and battery, and murder, living in the organization’s safe houses, activities aimed at overthrowing the Islamic Republic regime, planning to assassinate officials, and intending to carry out plans for world imperialism headed by the US.”

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. Biralvand’s defense.

Judgment

َThe Central Islamic Revolutionary Court called Mr. Biralvand “at war with God and His Prophet” and condemned him to death. He was executed in Evin prison in Tehran on August 15, 1981.

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