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

Behruz Khasseh

About

Age: 21
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: July 21, 1981
Location of Killing: Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Unknown charge

About this Case

The execution of Mr. Behruz Khasseh and 14 other individuals was announced in the Kayhan newspaper No. 11340 dated the 22nd of July 1981. Public Relations department of the Public Prosecution Office released the names and charges of the convicted individuals to the media. Mr. Khasseh 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

The Public Prosecution Office did not release the charges brought against Mr. Behruz Khasseh to the media.

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

In accordance with the verdict of the Central Revolutionary Tribunal, Mr. Behruz Khasseh was executed by a firing squad at Evin Prison in Tehran on the 21st of July 1981. No information is available about the judgment but the bodies of the executed individuals were transferred to the forensic medical team.

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