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

Abolqasem Seyedbaqeri

About

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

Case

Date of Killing: September 16, 1981
Location of Killing: Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Fatal
Charges: Unknown charge

About this Case

The information about Mr. Abolqasem Seyedbaqeri has been sent to Omid by someone familiar with this case. Mr. Seyedbaqeri is also one of the 12,028 individuals listed in an addendum to the Mojahed magazine (No. 261), published by the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) 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.

Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Mr. Seyedbaqeri was a member of the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization. He was in close contact with the families of political prisoners of the previous regime. He was arrested prior to the Revolution and was condemned to death; however, because of the mediation of a person close to the Monarch, his sentenced was reduced to life in prison. He was released from prison in October or November of 1978, along with other political prisoners, and resumed his activities with the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization. In the following months, he and some friends started the publication of the Kar magazine, the main publication of the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization. After a split within the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization, he joined the Minority faction and was in charge of the military wing in the north of Iran. As repression of political dissidents intensified in June 1981, many activists were arrested and executed, and Mr. Seyedbaqeri was forced to go into hiding.

The Fadaiyan Khalq Organization, a Marxist Leninist group inspired by the Cuban Revolution and the urban guerilla movements in Latin America, was founded in 1971 by two communist groups opposed to the Pahlavi regime. Following the 1979 Revolution, the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization, which had renounced armed struggle, split over their support of the Islamic Republic and of the Soviet Union. The Fadaiyan Khalq Minority group opposed the Islamic Republic and was most active in the political arena, and in the labor movement.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Seyedbaqeri was arrested in August or September of 1981 and transferred to Evin prison. He had been living in hiding prior to his arrest but visited his mother at night. His mother, who was worried about him, told some relatives about the visits with her son. A Hezbollahi relative informed the authorities of Mr. Seyedbaqeri’s affiliation and whereabouts. (Hezbollah means the ‘party of God,’ referring to individuals who actively supported the Islamic Republic and of those who informed authorities of “counter-revolutionaries”). During his last visit with his mother, agents of a revolutionary committee surrounded their house, jumped over the walls, and entered. In order to protect his mother from harm, Mr. Seyedbaqeri surrendered to the state agents without resistance.

During his detention, Mr. Seyedbaqeri’s family members visited various branches of the revolutionary committees, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, and the Qasr and Evin prisons, but the authorities refused to inform them of his whereabouts.

Trial

No information is available about the trial of Mr. Seyedbaqeri.

Charges

The charge brought against Mr. Seyedbaqeri is not known.

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. Seyedbaqeri’s defense.

Judgment

On September 16, 1981, the national radio announced, “Qasem Seyedbaqeri son of Mohammad,” among the names of individuals who had been executed. Having heard the news, his family members visited Evin prison many times in order to retrieve his body and his belongings. After a few visits, prison authorities told them that there were no belongings and that his body had been buried, without telling them in which cemetery he was buried.

Having contacted other families whose loved ones were recently executed, the Seyedbaqeri family found out that bodies were buried in a cemetery on the way to Khavaran, known as the Cemetery of Armenians. They went to this cemetery only to find out that the graves did not bear the name of the person buried there. Mr. Seyedbaqeri’s family members consulted other relatives and decided to find the driver of the ambulance, who transported bodies to the cemetery. They cautiously observed the cemetery, found the ambulance driver and followed him home. Some of Mr. Seyedbaqeri’s family members went to the driver’s house one night, begged and bribed him to give them the burial location of Abolqasem. The driver, who was frightened of the authorities, nevertheless told the family members the location of the grave. They exhumed Abolqasem’s body from the grave. They noticed bullet wounds on his body. Abolqasem was still wearing the same clothes that he was wearing at the time of his arrest.

Afterwards, the family frequently visited the cemetery. State agents and Basiji officials insulted them when they visited. Once, a young man of Basij (a paramilitary group), hit Abolqasem’s mother in the chest with the stock of his shotgun.

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