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

Mehrdad Farjad Azad

About

Age: 43
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: 1988
Location of Killing: Iran
Mode of Killing: Unspecified execution method
Charges: Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech; Apostasy

About this Case

Mr. Mehrdad Farjad Azad is one of 1000 people listed in a UN Human Rights Commission's Special Representative's Report, "Names and particulars of persons allegedly executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran during the period July-December 1988," published on January 26, 1989.

The report specifies that although 1000 names are mentioned, "in all probability" there were several thousand victims. The report further notes that: "most of the alleged victims were members of the Mojahedin. However, members of the Tudeh Party, People's Fedaiyan Organization, Rahe Kargar, and Komala Organization and 11 mollahs were also said to be among the alleged victims."

Additional information about Mr. Farjad Azad’s is drawn from two electronic forms sent to Omid, by individuals familiar with this case. He was born in Tehran in 1945.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Farjad Azad was reportedly arrested on February 3, 1983 for being a member of the Tudeh Party. No other detail is known.

The Tudeh Party of Iran was created in 1941. The Tudeh Party ideology was Marxist- Leninist and it supported policies of the former Soviet Union. The Party played a major role in Iran's political scene until it was banned for the second time following the August 19, 1953 coup. After the 1979 Revolution, the Party declared Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic regime revolutionaries and anti-imperialists and actively supported the new government. Although the Party never opposed the Islamic Republic, it became the target of government attacks in 1982 when most of the Party's leaders and members were imprisoned.

Trial

The circumstances that led to this defendant's execution are unknown. According to the available information, the Iranian authorities did not try the victims of the 1988 mass execution in a court with in the presence of a defense lawyer. The prisoners who were executed in 1988 had been questioned by a three-member special committee, composed of a religious judge, a representative of the Intelligence Ministry, and the Tehran Prosecutor. The committee questioned the leftist prisoners about their beliefs and their faith in God and religion.

The relatives of political prisoners killed in the summer and fall of 1988 refute the legality of the judicial process that resulted in thousands of executions throughout Iran. In their 1988 open letter to then Minister of Justice Dr. Habibi, they argue that the official secrecy surrounding these executions is the proof of their illegality. They note that an overwhelming majority of these prisoners had been tried and sentenced to prison terms, which they were either serving or had already completed serving, at the time they were retried and sentenced to death.

Charges

No charge has been publicly leveled against the defendant. In their letters to the Minister of Justice (1988), and to the UN Special Rapporteur visiting Iran (February 2003), the families of the victims refer to the authorities' accusations against the prisoners; accusations that may have led to their execution. These accusations include being "counter-revolutionary, anti-religion, and anti-Islam," as well as being "associated with military action or with various [opposition] groups based near the borders."

An edict of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, reproduced in the memoirs of Ayatollah Montazeri, his designated successor, corroborates the reported claims regarding the charges against the executed prisoners. In this edict, Ayatollah Khomeini refers to the PMOI's members as "hypocrites" who do not believe in Islam and "wage war against God" and decrees that prisoners who still approve of the positions taken by this organization are also "waging war against God" and should be sentenced to death.

Evidence of guilt

No information is available regarding the evidence presented against the defendant.

Defense

In their open letter, the families of the prisoners note that defendants were not given the opportunity to defend themselves in court. Against the assertion that prisoners were associated with guerillas operating near the borders, the families submit the isolation of their relatives from the outside during their detention: "Our children lived in most difficult conditions. Visits were limited to 10 minutes behind a glass divider through a telephone every two weeks. We witnessed during the past seven years that they were denied access to anything that would have allowed them to establish contacts outside their prisons' walls." Under such conditions the families reject the claim of the authorities that these prisoners were able to engage with any political group outside Iran.

It is very possible that the prisoners who were members of organizations other than the Mojahedin Khalq were charge for being "anti religious" and were condemned for insisting on their beliefs.

Judgment

No information is available about the verdict leading to this execution. Mr. Mehrdad Farjad Azad was executed during the mass killings of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.

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