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

Hossein Okhovat Moqaddam

About

Age: 31
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: February 20, 1983
Location of Killing: Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Unknown charge

About this Case

The information about Mr. Hossein Okhovat Moqaddam has been drawn from an interview with a relative. He is one of the 430 individuals whose name appears on the list of “Martyrs of the Peykar Organization for the Liberation of the Working Class” published on the website of Peykar Andeesheh. This execution was also announced in the addendum of the Mojahed magazine, No. 261, published by the Mojahedin Khalgh Organization on September 6, 1985. Additional information has been taken from the Peykargar magazine (No. 6, Feb. 1995), the publication of the Union of Peykargar Students for the Liberation of the Working Class.

Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam started his political activism during the previous regime. According to the interviewee, he was arrested for the first time in a demonstration in 1969 protesting to the increase of bus fares in Tehran. Having been released from prison, he went to Dubai to initiate contact with Palestinian groups and stayed there for 7 months. After returning to Iran, he was re-arrested and imprisoned for 2 years. After he was freed, he resumed his political activities in the labor movement.

On the political spectrum, Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam had a leftist inclination. He founded a political organization called Kargaran-e Mobarez, which participated in the Vahdat conference as one of the Khat-e Se (Third Line) organizations. The Peykar Organization held his conference (which started in February 1979 and continued until the summer) in order to recruit other organizations. Kargaran-e Mobarez joined the Peykar Organization. Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam, a new member of the Organization, continued his political activity in the labor movement, namely political analysis and organizing sympathizers of this Organization in factories.

Mr. Hossein Okhovat Moqaddam enjoyed hiking and he was a member of the Society of Mountain Climbing of Tehran. He was married and had a daughter who was born in prison.

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. According to the interviewee, in order to find Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam, the authorities had taken his father as hostage and kept him in solitary confinement in Section 209 of Evin prison. His mother was also arrested and imprisoned in Evin for months. Then the location of his house (in Shahbaz neighborhood in Tehran city) was disclosed and he and his pregnant wife were arrested. According to Peykargar, the arrest took place in late November 1982.

Trial

No information is available on the defendant’s trial. Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam was denied the right to have an attorney or even access to his file, throughout the interrogation and trial.

Charges

The charge brought against Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam 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 on Mr. Okhovat Moqaddam’s defense.

Judgment

Mr. Hossein Okhovat Moqaddam was executed by a firing squad in Tehran February 20, 1983. His body was not returned to his family. He was buried in Khavaran cemetery.

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