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

Jalil Ghaybshavi

About

Age: 28
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: 1988
Location of Killing: Dezful, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam; Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech

About this Case

Mr. Jalil Ghaybshavi is among 3208 members and sympathizers of the People's Mojahedin of Iran whose execution has been reported by the organization in Crime Against Humanity, which documents the 1988-89 mass execution of political prisoners. Additional information was drawn from the Bidaran website.

Arrest and detention

No specific information is available on Mr. Ghaybshavi's arrest and detention.

Trial

The circumstances that led to this defendant's execution are unknown. However, 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 letter to then Minister of Justice Dr. Habibi, they question the official secrecy surrounding these executions. 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 that 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 accusations against the prisoners by the authorities 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 People's Mojahedin Organization as "hypocrites" who do not believe in Islam and "wage war against God" and decrees that prisoners who remain loyal to that 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 the political groups outside Iran.

Judgment

No sentence was issued publicly.

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