“After the heroic uprising of our people, courts called the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal were formed. These courts dealt with the crimes of those who, according to the Imam, were not accused but guilty. Their offenses and crimes were clear to all people, and they had long ago been sentenced to death in the court of public opinion for many crimes. Therefore, just proving their identities was enough to send them in front of firing squad. It was necessary to punish these criminals with full speed and determination, in order to dissuade the counter-revolution, which had not yet completely lost its hope, and take away all its opportunities.”
The Revolutionary Court, the Islamic Republic execution machine, is the symbol of terror and religious tyranny’s ruling. And it is not without reason that the order to form this tool of terror rule was issued by Khomeini on February 13, 1979, two days after he came to power. That same day, Sadegh Khalkhali was appointed as the ruler of Sharia by his decree. Almost all political parties and groups wholeheartedly supported the formation of this murderous and criminal organization and its revolutionary executions of those days: the Tudeh Party, Peykar[1], the People’s Fedayeen Guerrillas[2] and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK)[3], each in some way praised and justified the revolutionary courts of the Islamic Republic. They supported the widespread human rights violations by this institution. The Marxist Tudeh would quote from the Qur’an: “You, people of understanding, And in the retribution, there is (hidden) life”, another communist poet was enthusiastic about the volume of obvious barbarism and wrote poems for the Imam:
“Do not put aside the drawn sword,
While your ruling is going, let it run,
While your sword is cutting,
hit”[4]
And he “hit”. His revolutionary courts are still “hitting”.
The MEK, of course, in the same issue of their publication, made two important criticisms of the revolutionary courts. One, the members of the Mojahedin Organization did not get appointed to these courts as judges and did not participate in the process of issuing death sentences in these courts, and the other is why in some cases the trial and deliberation (for sentencing) took time. In this regard, the trial of Bahman Naderipour, aka “Tehrani” was cited as an example: “Why did the deliberation took 3 days? Three days, for a prisoner and a torturer whose crimes were proven?” Therefore, the Mojahedin proposed the formation of “People’s Courts”, in which 1- they themselves would sentence others from a judge position and 2- no trial would ever take 3 days. The model that the MEK used as an example, more brutal model of the Khalkhali Revolutionary Courts, the “People’s Courts,” is the tradition of executing all men of a tribe in one day, dividing their property, and capturing women and children by the Prophet of Islam after the “Battle of Confederates” (Battle of the Trench) in Medina.
The Mojahedin themselves did not achieve the dream of “people’s courts”.[5] But only a few years after this revolutionary fervor for execution, a death commission consisting of judges from the same revolutionary courts and “according to the criteria set by” the same “revolutionary leader”, executed thousands of prisoners in the summer of 1988. Many of these prisoners were supporters, activists or members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK). Khomeini made the Mojahedin’s dream of “People’s Court” a reality.
Contrary to the regime’s propaganda machine, the Mojahedin, like other groups such as People’s Fedayeen Guerrillas, Tudeh and Peykar Party, and the Fadaiyan-e-Islam terrorist group, played a significant role in the 1979 riots and installing Khomeini as the ruler. But just as this organization, cites its “expenses” (sacrifices) and history of struggle during the Shah’s reign in its propaganda program and claims they have a “share” in power, so must it share the responsibility and blame for the crimes and bloodshed that took place between 1979 and 1982. The Mojahedin Organization is involved not only in the revolution, but also in its crimes. Amnesty International’s report, which provides a comprehensive picture of the human rights situation between February 1979 and March 1980, clearly points to the role of Mojahedin’s revolutionary militia in street executions and the arbitrary killing of civilians outside any legal framework.[6] The legal investigation into Mojahedin’s role in the crimes of those years, just like the investigation into the executions in the summer of 1988, is something that will never be forgotten. The prosecution of these crimes in the courts in accordance with international legal standards will be one of required tasks right after Islamic Republic is overthrown.
In a report the same year, Amnesty International described the revolutionary courts as a “temporary” structure.[7] This prediction, as we see today, was wrong. Amnesty International reporters did not imagine that such a criminal and murderous apparatus would have a stable place in a political system; Amnesty International’s miscalculation stemmed from a misunderstanding of the religious regime in Iran: The “revolutionary court” lies in the inner ideological core of political Islam, around which the Mojahedin and the Islamic Republic, as two religious brothers, revolve, not around its margins. A list of 438 executions is included in Amnesty International’s report [8], they were carried out only by the revolutionary courts, approved and praised by the MEK. The task of arresting the citizens and handing over the detainees to the court was entrusted to the Islamic Revolutionary Committees and the forces of the “People’s Mojahedin Militia”, who in those days were all armed and engaged in personal vendetta, revolutionary executions on the streets and neighborhoods. One of the most common charges leading to immediate execution was “counter-revolutionary”; An accusation that had no clear legal definition and still does not, and as we have seen, the Mojahedin also used it as a reason for execution. In May 1979, Sadegh Qutbzadeh described “counter-revolution” to Bamdad: “The merchant who charges a high price is a counter-revolutionary. Similarly, those who stole money from people on the day the arms were seized, those who smuggle heroin and other narcotic drugs, and those who indulge in sabotage and espionage are counter-revolutionaries and they must not be given a chance.”[9]
The “Martyr Cult” has a central place in MEK’s structure – just like the one it occupies in the ideology of theocratic regime in Iran. And just like the regime’s propaganda apparatus, the Mojahedin plan the “martyr” mise-en-scène for political exploitation, mobilization of human resources, brainwashing of members, and their terrorist and violent acts; They “cultivate martyrdom”. The martyrs are considered “ideological and propaganda capital” on both sides. Their path must continue. Their revenge must be taken. they are right. Holiness is woven around the martyr phenomenon, the streets and squares of the city are changed to their names, monuments and statues are made of them, the logos and emblems of institutions and organizations are engraved next to their names and images. The instrumental use of human beings by the Mojahedin and the Islamic Republic is not limited to their lifetime. People become more instrumental when they are killed. Human rights and freedom have never had a place in the dictionary of these two religious brothers. The dead become the spiritual property of the organization as martyrs, and therefore their confiscation and seizure is a daily occurrence. It should not be forgotten that the concept of MEK’s “People’s Courts” was presented in response to human rights and international organizations protests against the gross violation of human rights by Khomeini and Khalkhali Revolutionary Courts, defending the barbarity of Sharia laws, Revolutionary Courts, execution, torture.[10]
For today’s revolutionary courts, the mere accusation of having contacts with the Mojahedin is enough to prove the crime of “moharebeh*” and execute the person. In recent years, the MEK has shown, on numerous occasions, that even where innocent citizens are caught in the clutches of the “revolutionary courts” and who are in fear of being hanged, they refuse to give up their names and use human beings as tools. Where the interrogators have no evidence or confession of the prisoner, the Mojahedin cooperate with the interrogators in filing a case against the prisoner and executing him by affixing the logo and emblem of their infamous organization on the prisoner’s pictures, publishing them and propagating their sect. They introduced Gholamreza Khosravi, who was born in 1965, as an active member of the organization since 1979 (!). Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei, who was executed just for visiting his son in Iraq on charges of working for the Mojahedin, is owned as a “People’s Hero,” while case experts say Hajaghaei was fired by the MEK because of his old age!
IRGC intelligence has detained, tortured, and interrogated Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi for more than two months in solitary confinement and six months in the IRGC detention center. These two elite students of Sharif University, the same university named after Majid Sharif Vaqefi, one of the bombers of the Mojahedin Organization and its leaders, who was killed and cremated in 1976 by the order of the senior cadre of the Mojahedin Organization and his wife’s cooperation, have been in custody of IRGC intelligence since April 10, 2020 without any charge. State media cited Ali Younesi’s mother and father’s former connection to the MEK as the reason for his arrest. This was enough for all the propaganda network of the Mojahedin Organization to start publishing the organizational record for these two students, to be used by the IRGC interrogator brothers and to file a case against Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi. The two have not yet caved in and haven’t sit in front of IRIB cameras to give evidence to the interrogators.
Hamed Ghareh Oghlani, a citizen of Urmia, was illegally abducted by the forces of the Urmia Intelligence Service on June 27, 2020 and taken to prison. Human rights activists and Hamed’s family reported that Hamed interrogators were trying to file a case against him regarding his “connection to the Mojahedin.” Immediately, the Mojahedin’s organizational accounts began to seize his identity and manufacture documents for this prisoner at risk of execution. Hamed Ghareh Oghlani and his family were under intense pressure from the regime’s intelligence forces. They wanted to extract a confession from him, who was in solitary confinement and didn’t have a lawyer.
Hamed was interrogated in solitary confinement for 20 days. He had epilepsy and the goons did not give him his medicine. His family was threatened. Meanwhile, the Mojahedin Organization’s propaganda apparatus and affiliated user accounts on social media were constantly issuing Hamed’s membership card in the group and making him as part of their own. Hamed did not confess. His family has repeatedly stated explicitly that Hamed was not a member of any political organization and had never worked for any political group. So much so that Hamed Ghareh Oghlani wrote in a letter to the current Chief of Judiciary and former member of the death commission, Ebrahim Raisi, who happens to be the ideal figure of the Mojahedin’s “People’s Courts” of a Sharia ruler:
“I have never been a member of any organization. I consider myself a citizen and I am concerned about civic rights. As I emphasized to the judge, Mr. Sheikhlou, on September 28,2020, I have not accepted and will not accept the accusations made against me, and these allegations are false and nothing but shameless fabrications. Not only have I not been a member of any political group or organization, but I do not even have sympathy for the Mojahedin political party.”
“Shameless” is not only the case “fabrication” of the regime’s intelligence agents, but also the cooperation of the MEK with the regime’s intelligence interrogators, who help IRGC to add to the case of citizen Hamed Ghareh Oghlani by providing fake documents. The organization officials should know, this organization has never had, does not have and will never have a popular base in Iran civil society. It is better to continue to buy retired and corrupt politicians, launder money and expand their influence in Spanish parties with the same mafia structure; Whatever they want to do, just don’t stand in the way of the subversive movement.
- Peykar No.3 , May 1979, “People’s Holy Wrath”
- Kar, April 1979, “The trial and execution of mercenaries is a sign of the revolutionary power of the masses”
- Mojahed, August 1979, “People’s Court”
- Siavash Kasraei, a poem praising Khomeini for revolutionary tribunals
- Mojahed, August 1979, parts of the article on “People’s Court”:
6. Amnesty International, February 1, 1980, LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
7. ibid, p. 13
8. ibid, p. 136
9. Bamdad newspaper, May 19, 1979
10. “People’s Court”: “Not to be confined within the framework of pre-determined provisions of criminal law”
*: Moharebeh: “waging war against God and the state” is a vague charge used by Islamic Republic courts to execute government’s opposition.
Translation of this article by Sahar.