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

Asghar (Mehran) Lorpur

About

Age: 27
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam (Shi'a)
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: June 2, 1982
Location of Killing: Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting

About this Case

Mr. Lorpur was an agricultural engineer. He had started his political activities when he was a student, during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

News of the execution of Mr. Asghar (Mehran) Lorpur, son of Ali, was electronically transmitted to Abdorrahman Boroumand Center by an acquaintance of his (May 23, 2022).  Additional information was collected from Jomhuri Eslami newspaper (March 17 & 18, 1982).

Mr. Asghar (Mehran) Lorpur was born in Zarqan, Fars Province, on September 2, 1955.  His father was a farmer and they were a religious family.  He had an agricultural engineering degree from Pahlavi University in Shiraz.  Mr. Lorpur started his political activities when he was a student, and that was the reason he missed two semesters at university.  During the January 1979 revolution, he was politically active in Shiraz and in Zarqan.  After the 1979 revolution, Mr. Lorpur turned down different job offers.  He said he only wanted to “help the people”.  During the late 1970s, after he completed his military service, he was recruited by the Mojahedin Khalq Organization.  In May 1981, when Mr. Lorpur was newly married, he and his wife were forced to live in hiding because of his political activities (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022).

The Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) was founded in 1965. This organization adapted the principles of Islam as its ideological guideline. However, its members’ interpretation of Islam was revolutionary and they believed in armed struggle against the Shah’s regime. They valued Marxism as a progressive method for economic and social analysis but considered Islam as their source of inspiration, culture, and ideology. In the 1970s, the MKO was weakened when many of its members were imprisoned and executed. In 1975, following a deep ideological crisis, the organization refuted Islam as its ideology and, after a few of its members were killed and other Muslim members purged, the organization proclaimed Marxism as its ideology. This move led to split of the Marxist-Leninist Section of the MKO in 1977. In January of 1979, the imprisoned Muslim leaders of the MKO were released along with other political prisoners. They began to re-organize the MKO and recruit new members based on Islamic ideology. After the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the MKO accepted the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini and supported the Revolution. Active participation in the political scene and infiltration of governmental institutions were foremost on the organization’s agenda.  During the first two years after the Revolution, the MKO succeeded in recruiting numerous sympathizers, especially in high schools and universities; but its efforts to gain political power, either by appointment or election, were strongly opposed by the Islamic Republic leaders. *

Arrest and detention

On March 16, 1982, at 11 pm, there was an armed altercation in a house in Gowdgari neighborhood, near Qasr al-Dasht Street and Asyab Ghavami Street.  During this incident Mr. Lorpur was injured in the right leg and he and several other people were arrested by the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022; Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, March 18, 1982).  According to the official media, this altercation had started at about 8 pm (Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, March 18, 1982).  Mr. Lorpur’s acquaintance said that this altercation lasted about 6 hours (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022). 

Mr. Lorpur was detained for about 3 weeks in the solitary wing of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards Detention Center in Shiraz, and then he was moved to the general section.  During this time, he was able to meet with his wife, who was also being held at the same detention center, and with his family.  Mr. Lorpur met with his wife for the last time at this detention center on June 2, 1982 (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022). 

There is no information regarding the circumstances of Mr. Lorpur’s interrogation or of his detention.  He did not have access to an attorney at the time of interrogation. 

Trial

During April 1982, Mr. Lorpur and another person who had a similar situation were tried at the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard Detention Center in Shiraz.  The trial lasted less than 30 minutes (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022).

Mr. Lorpur had no access to an attorney.

Charges

The charge brought against Mr. Lorpur was “cooperation with the Mojahedin Khalq Organization” and “armed resistance” (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022).

The validity of the criminal charges brought against this defendant cannot be ascertained in the absence of the basic guarantees of a fair trial.  International human rights organizations have drawn attention to reports indicating that the Islamic Republic authorities have brought trumped-up charges, including drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences, against their opponents (including political, civil society activists, as well as unionists and ethnic and religious minorities). Each year Iranian authorities sentence to death hundreds of alleged common criminals, following judicial processes that fail to meet international standards. The exact number of people convicted and executed based on trumped-up charges is unknown.

Evidence of guilt

On March 18, 1982, Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported that several members of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization were killed or arrested in Shiraz, and that they had been engaged in an armed altercation two days prior to that (Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, March 18, 1982).  According to this newspaper, on the morning of March 16, 1982, three members of the Mojahedin Organization had attacked a car belonging to Constructive Jihad and three people had been injured during this attack (Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, March 17, 1982). 

Mr. Lorpur’s child was born when he was in prison, and was only three months old when he was executed.

There is no information about the veracity of this incident, its connection to the Mojahedin Khalq Organization and to Mr. Lorpur, or about the rest of the documents and evidentiary materials.

Defense

No information is available on Mr. Lorpur’s defense.

Judgment

Mr. Lorpur was sentenced to death in court.  Mr. Asghar (Mehran) Lorpur was executed by firing squad in Shiraz, on June 2, 1982 (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022).

Mr. Lorpur’s family buried him at Shiraz DarolRahmeh Cemetery on June 4, 1982 (Electronic communication, May 23, 2022).

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*The exclusion of MKO members from government offices and the closure of their centers and publishing houses, in conjunction with to the Islamic Republic authorities’ different interpretation of Islam, widened the gap between the two. Authorities of the new regime referred to the Mojahedin as “Hypocrites” and the Hezbollahi supporters of the regime attacked the Mojahedin sympathizers regularly during demonstrations and while distributing publications, leading to the death of several MKO supporters. On June 20, 1981, the MKO called for a demonstration protesting their treatment by governmental officials and the government officials’  efforts to impeach their ally, President Abolhassan Banisadr. Despite the fact that the authorities called this demonstration illegal, thousands came to the streets, some of whom confronted the Revolutionary Guardsmen and Hezbollahis. The number of casualties that resulted from this demonstration is unknown but a large number of demonstrators were arrested and executed in the following days and weeks. The day after the demonstration, the Islamic Republic regime started a repressive campaign – unprecedented in modern Iranian history. Thousands of MKO members and sympathizers were arrested or executed. On June 21, 1981, the MKO announced an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic and assassinated a number of high-ranking officials and supporters of the Islamic regime.
In the summer of 1981, the leader of the MKO and the impeached President (Banisadr) fled Iran to reside in France, where they founded the National Council of Resistance. After the MKO leaders and many of its members were expelled from France, they went to Iraq and founded the National Liberation Army of Iran in 1987, which entered Iranian territory a few times during the Iran-Iraq war. They were defeated in July 1988 during their last operation, the Forugh Javidan Operation. A few days after this operation, thousands of imprisoned Mojahedin supporters were killed during the mass executions of political prisoners in 1988. Ever since the summer of 1981, the MKO has continued its activities outside of Iran. No information is available regarding members and activities of the MKO inside the country.
In spite of the “armed struggle” announcement by the MKO on June 20, 1981, many sympathizers of the organization had no military training, were not armed, and did not participate in armed conflict.

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