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

Mohammad Validi

About

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

Case

Date of Killing: August 4, 1981
Location of Killing: Evin Prison, Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic

About this Case

The Public Relations Office of Evin Prison announced the execution of Mr. Mohammad Validi (with the pseudonym of Tofiq), son of Mohammad Baqer, and 11 other individuals to the Pars news agency. The news was published in the Kayhan and the Johuri Eslami newspapers on the 5th of August 1981.

Mr. Validi 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 list contains the names of those members of the Organization who died after the Revolution of 1979. More than 400 of the individuals on this list have been executed.

This execution was also announced in the addendum of the Mojahed magazine, No. 261, published by the Mojahedin Khalgh Organization on the 6th of September 1985. The list includes 12,028 individuals, affiliated with various opposition groups, who were executed or killed during clashes with the Islamic Republic security forces from June 1981 to the publication date of the magazine.

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.

Trial

No information is available on the defendant’s trial.

Charges

Mr. Validi was charged with “armed rebellion” or “armed action against the Islamic Republic” according to Kayhan and Jomhuri Eslami respectively.

The validity of the criminal charges brought against this defendant cannot be ascertained in the absence of the basic guarantees of a fair trial.

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 his defense.

Judgment

The Central Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal condemned Mr. Mohammad Validi to death. According to the Mojahed magazine, Mr. Validi was executed on the 4th of August 1981. Kayhan and Jomhuri Eslami published the story of the execution by a firing squad at Evin Prison the next day.

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