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 Qalambor

About

Age: 36
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: September, 1988
Location of Killing: Evin Prison, Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: Apostasy; Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech

About this Case

Mr. Hossein Qalambor is one of 1,000 people identified in a UN Human Rights Commission’s Special Representative’s Report, “Names and Particulars of Persons Allegedly Executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran from July through December 1988,” published January 26, 1989. The report specifies that although 1,000 names are mentioned, “in all probability” there were several thousand victims. “Most of the alleged victims were members of the Mojahedin (MKO). However, members of the Tudeh Party, People’s Fedaiyan Organization, Rahe Kargar, and Komala Organization as well as 11 mollahs were also said to be among the alleged victims.”

The information about Mr. Hossein Qalambor is taken from the book The Martyrs of the Tudeh Party of Iran by the Tudeh Party Publications. He was born in Ahvaz in 1952. In 1971, he was admitted to Tehran University of Technology where he majored in electrical engineering. In 1972, during the demonstration against US President Richard Nixon’s visit to Iran, he was arrested and condemned to one-year imprisonment. After his release, he joined the Fedaiyan Khalq Organization and went underground in 1974. In 1976, along with some others, he parted from Fedaiyan Khalq and joined the Tudeh Party. After a while, he became an advisor to the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party.

The Tudeh Party of Iran was created in 1941. The Tudeh ideology was Marxist-Leninist and it supported policies of the former Soviet Union. The Tudeh 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 Tudeh 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 leaders and members were imprisoned.

Arrest and detention

The details of this defendant’s arrest and detention are not known. Mr. Hossein Qalambor was arrested in May, 1983. He was taken to Evin prison. According to the above book, he was held there in solitary confinement for several months.

Trial

Mr. Hossein Qalambor was tried and condemned to life imprisonment. Specific details on the circumstances of the trials that led to the execution of Mr. Qalambor and thousands of other individuals in 1988 are not known. According to existing information, there was no official trial with the presence of an attorney and prosecutor. Those who were executed in 1988 were sent to a three-man committee consisting of a religious judge, a representative from the Intelligence Ministry, and a Public Prosecutor of Tehran. This committee asked the leftist prisoners some questions about their beliefs and whether or not they believed in God.

The relatives of political prisoners executed in 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 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 when they were retried and sentenced to death.

Charges

No charge has been publicly leveled against the victims of the 1988 mass executions. 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 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, 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 MKO 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.

Defendants, who did not belong to the MKO may have been accused of being “anti-religion” for not having renounced his or her beliefs.

Evidence of guilt

The report of this execution contains no evidence provided 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 guerrilla forces 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, over 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 the political groups outside Iran.

Judgment

No specific information is available about the execution sentence. Mr. Hossein Qalambor was hanged during the mass killings of political prisoners in September, 1988. According to available information, leftist prisoners executed in 1988 were found to be “apostates.” Months after the executions, prison authorities informed the families about the executions and handed in the victims’ belongings to their families. The bodies, however, were not returned to them. The bodies were buried in mass graves. Authorities warned the families of prisoners against holding memorial ceremonies.

Correct/ Complete This Entry