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

Reza Tavasoli

About

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

Case

Date of Killing: August 7, 1981
Location of Killing: Tabriz, Azarbaijan-e Sharqi Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam; Unspecified counter-revolutionary offense; Armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic; Apostasy

About this Case

News of the execution of Mr. Reza Tavasoli, son of Morteza, along with eleven others, was published in theKayhan newspaper on August 9, 1981. The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz issued an announcement concerning these executions, the defendants' names, and their charges, and released it to the media.

Mr. Reza Tavasoli is one of the 430 individuals whose names appear on the list of “Martyrs of the Peykar Organization for the Liberation of the Working Class” published on the website of Andeesheh va Peykar. This list contains the names of those members of the organization who died after the revolution of 1979. More than 400 of the individuals on this list have been executed.

Mr. Reza Tavasoli is one of 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.

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

Mr. Reza Tavasoli was tried in the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz. No information is available on the defendant’s trial.

Charges

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz announced the charges against Mr. Reza Tavasoli as, “armed uprising against the Islam and the Islamic Revolution of Iran in connection to the American fighter and illegal armed group of Peykar, distribution and publishing publications of this organization, and misleading the minds of ignorant young.”

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. Reza Tavasoli's defense.

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tabriz idendified Mr. Reza Tavasoli as, “Mohareb (fighter) against God, the Prophet, the Occult Imam, and his rightful representative, Mortad (apostate), and Baghi (reble).” He was condemned to death. The ruling was carried out in the Tabriz prison yard on August 7, 1981 at night. No specific information is available about the defendant’s execution.

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