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

Hojatollah Khoshkafa

About

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

Case

Date of Killing: March 15, 1980
Location of Killing: Andimeshk, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Arbitrary shooting
Charges: Unknown charge

About this Case

Mr. Hojatollah Khoshkafa is one of the 430 individuals whose names appear on the list of “Martyrs of the Peykar Organization for the Liberation of the Working Class” published on the website of Andeesheh va Peykar. 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.

Based on the information published in the Peykar magazine (No. 48, March 31, 1980), a group of unemployed individuals gathered on March 15, 1980 at the Rah-Ahan square in Andimeshek, in the south-western province of Khuzestan, in order to make their voice heard and publicize their requests of state officials. The revolutionary guards arrested a group of them. A larger group of local residents gathered in front of the revolutionary guards corps center in Andimeshk, in order to show their solidarity with the those arrested. The revolutionary guards opened fire of the protesters.

Mr. Khoshkafa was one of the casualties of March 15, 1980. He was a sympathizer of the Peykar Organization, and a high school student (Peykar, No. 53, April 25, 1980).

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.

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