The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran, 1988: an Addendum: Witness Testimonies and Official Statements

A secret killing in 1988 of at least 4000 individuals in Iran?s prison system became widely known to the international community in an inquiry by Geoffrey Robertson, QC, a leading human rights expert and barrister in the U. K. His report held the state of Iran ?accountable for crimes of war and crimes against humanity.? The Addendum to the report features material used by Robertson in his legal analysis of the 1988 massacres. Official Statements by Islamic Republic officials appear to justify political persecutions, torture, kangaroo courts, and executions. These are juxtaposed with the Witness Testimonies of 30 women and men whose fellow inmates or spouses were executed, mostly hanged, to be driven in plain vans to mass grave sites. Robertson compares the 1988 massacre in Iran to postwar killings in Srebrenica but insists the Iran case has ?never been properly investigated or acknowledged.? The Addendum features the voices of perpetrators and victims in revealing and explaining this unconscionable and neglected killing.