In his interview entitled June 20, 1981: One of the Greatest Crimes of the 20th Century, Mansoor Hekmat likened the Islamic movement’s suppression of the left-leaning Iranian revolution as “a violent coup d’état that succeeded as a result of widespread executions and murders”:
They poured onto the streets and arrested anyone who did not look like a Muslim. If someone had salt and pepper in his/her pockets, they accused him/her of planning to throw it in the eyes of the Revolutionary Guards. They arrested anyone who had recited a poem, who was known to be a Socialist or supporter of women’s rights, anyone who was not veiled and anyone who looked Left wing and executed them that same night. Statistics, documents and witnesses proving these atrocities are ample. There will come a day when the people of Iran and the world will observe the trials of those who committed these crimes. On that day, the world will weep for the hundreds of thousands of victims of 20 June (30 Khordad 1360) and after and particularly 1988 (1367).
Last year, I wrote about Iran Tribunal’s investigations into the Islamic regime of Iran’s mass executions and massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s.
The tribunal’s verdict has now been issued. Here it is.
Not surprisingly, the regime has been found guilty of crimes against humanity.
Guilty as charged!
Next step: Arrest them!
I disagree slc1 – there was a huge targeting of leftists and anyone who was not a Khomeini Islamist.
I used to work with a woman whose husband was hunted down by the Khomeini forces and had to escape through Afghanistan. Her brother-in-law was killed out-right. University students were targeted from the out-set.
The recent purges and rounding-up of dissenters is just a continuation of the violent anti-moderate(anti-left) killings/tortures.
I don’t think that Mr. Hekmat is entirely correct. As I recall, in the early 1980s, the Khomeini regime was is serious trouble with assassinations of high government officials occurring weekly. What happened was that Saddam Hussein saw weakness there and launched an invasion of Iran. Naturally, the people rallied behind the regime and Khomeini was able to complete his purge of the army. Thus, I think that Saddam was more responsible for the mad Mullahs retaining power then anything else.