2024 was an eventful year. In the face of a deluge of bad news, there was also some encouraging news.
Omid Memorial is a Sensation!
2024 was an eventful year. In the face of a deluge of bad news, including that Iranian authorities have embarked on another execution spree with at least 918 people killed so far this year, there was also some encouraging news. The quality of our documentation at Abdorrahman Boroumand Center (ABC) was acknowledged and awarded by prestigious institutions such as the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and the University of Parma. The awards went to the co-founders of ABC, and Omid Memorial in Defense of Human Rights, the project we have worked on relentlessly for the past 23 years, occupied center stage as a groundbreaking tool for Iran’s history and human rights advocacy.
In April 2024, ABC's executive director, Dr. Roya Boroumand, was awarded the ASIL’s Goler T. Butcher Medal, an honor recognizing “outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights.” With this prestigious award, the Honors Committee of the Society recognized her “commitment to the rigorous, objective documentation of human rights violations in the service of justice and accountability under international law.”
In her opening statement at ASIL’s 2024 Annual Meeting, Roya shared the medal with the countless individuals whose vision, support, advice, collaboration, and testimonies contributed to making her and her sister Ladan’s goal a reality:
“I’m profoundly honored and humbled to receive the Goler. T Butcher Medal, which I see as a recognition of the courage, hard work, and commitment of many individuals of diverse nationalities, ethnicities, faiths, and political beliefs, who have contributed to our achievement. It is also a tribute to thousands of victims, survivors, and witnesses inside and outside Iran, who came forward to testify, and without whom a documentation of this magnitude would not have been possible.”
During their conversation at ASIL’s Annual Meeting, Professor Karima Benoune – Michigan University Law Professor and former UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights – acknowledged ABC’s “objective” and “rigorous” documentation, and commended Roya for “her response to the violence that so gravely affected her own family [which] has taken the form of a sustained campaign of precision human rights fact-finding and advocacy using international human rights standards.”
At the ASIL 2024 Annual Meeting, Karima Bennoune speaks about ABC's rigorous documentation efforts and its impact on the international human rights mechanisms.
While ABC’s documentation is critical to human rights advocacy, truth telling, acknowledging the harm done to victims, and memorialization were also fundamental motivators for ABC’s co-founders, and key to Iran’s future.
In her opening statement at the ASIL 2024 Annual Meeting, Roya Boroumand describes the aims and impact of the Omid Memorial.
ABC’s Executive Director pointed out to the ASIL event audience that the State eliminates dissidents, but does not stop there. It bans funerals and commemorations, breaks gravestones, and punishes those who seek justice, as it has done for protesters killed in 2022 and thousands before them. Using intimidation and violence, the State attempts to erase its victims from public memory; as if they had never existed. ABC counters these efforts by ensuring that victims are remembered, and that society faces the truth and understands what went wrong and why. ABC has engaged generations of survivors and victims of all backgrounds – and the society at-large – in an empowering truth-telling effort, while raising their awareness of their human rights.
Amnesty International report, August 21, 2023.
In November, the University of Parma acknowledged the importance of Omid Memorial, which it described as “one of the most important and disruptive historical research projects on contemporary Iran.” Recognizing the “exceptional intellectual journey" of Dr. Ladan Boroumand, ABC’s co-founder, the University awarded an honorary professorship in the field of history for Omid Memorial; a “masterpiece” according to Rector Paolo Martelli.
"[Omid] is a work of huge and impressive historical reconstruction, distinguished by methodological rigor and meticulous impartiality in the use and updating of sources… Through the close examination of individual persecutions, placed within a precise historical and legal context, we are able to discern the logic of state violence and the mechanisms of the repressive machinery underpinning Iranian totalitarianism… But Omid also holds a cathartic value… From this mosaic of collective suffering, vivid voices emerge – diverse human characters and stories that transcend the tragic moment of persecution and resonate in our present. The Memorial thus binds victims, their mourners, and a broader international public, fostering solidarity among all these groups." Laudatio (commendation speech) of Professors Mario Tesini and Luca Iori.
ABC is grateful to both institutions for their recognition of the importance of Omid Memorial, which contains today 26,588 profiles of victims of summary, arbitrary, and extrajudicial executions. Many of these cases were unreported or underreported. Our documentation work is slow and laborious, but our researchers never give up. This year, we added 134 profiles of cases of the violation of the right to life, including executions, arbitrary and summary killings, extrajudicial assassinations, as well as cases of death threats and failed assassination attempts. ABC's research focused on high profile individuals as well as individuals whose death has not received attention. Read some of their stories below:
Dr.Aida Rostamiwas a young doctor who secretly treated injured protesters and shared medical advice online for at-home treatment during the 2022 protests. An active participant in the protests, she narrowly escaped arrest twice and believed she was being targeted by security forces prior to her death. Rostami disappeared on December 12, 2022 after leaving her workplace at Chamran Hospital in Tehran. In her last phone call to her mother, she mentioned she was heading home, but never arrived. Police notified her family that she had died in a “car accident” the following day, though judicial authorities later ruled her death a suicide.
Farshid Hakiwas an economist and university lecturer as well as a human rights defender. He was very active in support of workers’ rights and was also working on environmental issues; activities for which he had received multiple threats. On October 17, 2018, he was found burned in the back seat of his car. In his last post on the Telegram channel called "Pioneers of Justice," he wrote:
"Now, at the beginning of fall in 2018, it can be said, with certainty and in reliance on socio-economic indices and the general public discontent, that Marx's class interpretation of the working class applies to the entire population of Iran. Today, people have nothing to lose but their chains . Strikes and union protests are indications of the critical situation that has caused deep havoc in the structure of the economic and political system, and has driven people to the end of the rope.”
Mohammad Rajiwas a Revolutionary Guards Corps commander who had joined the Gonabadi Darvish Order. In January 2018, he and hundreds of his fellow darvishes and their families joined a sit-in in Tehran near the house of their spiritual leader, aiming to prevent the latter’s arrest. While protesting at the IRGC stationhouse after the spiritual leader's eventual arrest, government forces shot, beat, and arrested the darvishes. Raji was among those arrested in the early hours of February 20. He died in custody, some time shortly after his arrest; his family did not learn of his death until March 4. Prior to his death, Mr. Raji had been receiving death threats.
Emran Dehvari, born into a prominent and devout Sunni Baloch family, was pursuing a medical degree while leading his father’s congregations after his father’s assassination on November 10, 2008. He faced increasing pressure from security agencies, including surveillance and regular interrogations. Mr. Dehvari died under suspicious circumstances on November 20, 2016, at only 28 years old; complaining about stomach pain after a hospital shift, he was found dead in his bed the following morning, with white foam coming from his nose and mouth. Doctors present at initial examinations of his body hypothesized that he may have been poisoned, however the forensic authorities refused to report a cause of death or provide autopsy results to the family.
Haik Hovsepian Mehrwas born into an Armenian family in Iran and held leadership in the Protestant churches in Iran and represented the congregational churches across the Middle East. He was at the origin of a successful campaign for the release of Mehdi Dibaj, a priest and a converted Muslim, who had been arrested ten years earlier. Hovsepian Mehr was stabbed to death in January 1994. Mehdi Dibaj, who was released in early 1994, was found stabbed to death in June 1994. The authorities said that they had discovered his body in a park during their investigation of the disappearance of Tatavus Mika’ilian, a Christian priest who was found stabbed to death in July 1994.
Fereshteh Fayeqiwas a popular primary school teacher in Kurdistan and an avid reader. She had taught in remote villages and distributed books, even censored ones, before the revolution. After the 1979 revolution, she joined the Peykar Organization of the Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class and married another member of the organization. The couple was arrested in the winter of 1982 in Sanandaj. She was hanged in February 1983 on unknown charges, at the age of 27. Her execution may be linked to the coerced confessions of a fellow member of her organization. Whether she was tried or not is not known. Peykar’s members were deemed to be apostates.
Hashem Farnush, a Persian literature graduate, was born in Karaj into a Baha'i family. He began his career as a teacher in Rasht but eventually started his own business specialized in office supplies. In 1979, he was appointed to the Local Spiritual Assembly and later joined the National Committee for External Migration. In October 1980, armed men stormed his store and later raided his sister-in-law’s house, confiscating the store content, checks (claiming the funds were "ritually unclean" as they came from a Baha'i-owned store), and deeds, documents, and even food. They were led by a cleric who held no official position, but was known for his active participation in the persecution of Baha’is. Farnush was arrested later that year, when seeking justice for the armed robbery of his store. He was executed for “corruption on earth,” in June 1981. The litany of charges against him, published in newspapers, included the use of funds to “undermine the Islamic Republic, distribute publications to mislead youth, and promote blasphemy and heresy.”
The successes of ABC and recognition of the Omid Memorial would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of ABC’s team, the courageous victims and their families who continue to speak out in the face of growing pressure, and our supporters, whose generous donations have sustained our efforts in the past 23 years. We are grateful to all of you.
“[ABC, Roya and Ladan Boroumand are] model human rights defenders who have tirelessly championed the rights of human rights victims irrespective of religion, belief, race, ethnicity, political opinion or any distinction over decades, all with equal compassion” – Nazila Ghanea, Oxford University Law Professor and Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, on X (formerly Twitter).
Dr. Roya Boroumand, was awarded the ASIL’s Goler T. Butcher Medal, an honor recognizing “
Dr.
nd university lecturer as well as a human rights defender. He was very active in support of workers’ rights and was also working on environmental issues; activities for which he had received multiple threats. On October 17, 2018, he was found burned in the back seat of his car. In his last post on the Telegram channel called "Pioneers of Justice," he wrote: 
Revolutionary Guards Corps commander who had joined the Gonabadi Darvish Order. In January 2018, he and hundreds of his fellow darvishes and their families joined a sit-in in Tehran near the house of their spiritual leader, aiming to prevent the latter’s arrest. While protesting at the IRGC stationhouse after the spiritual leader's eventual arrest, government forces shot, beat, and arrested the darvishes. Raji was among those arrested in the early hours of February 20. He died in custody, some time shortly after his arrest; his family did not learn of his death until March 4. Prior to his death, Mr. Raji had been receiving death threats. 
rn into a prominent and devout Sunni Baloch family, was pursuing a medical degree while leading his father’s congregations after his 
teacher in Kurdistan and an avid reader. She had taught in remote villages and distributed books, even censored ones, before the revolution. After the 1979 revolution, she joined the Peykar Organization of the Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class and married another member of the organization. The couple was arrested in the winter of 1982 in Sanandaj. She was hanged in February 1983 on unknown charges, at the age of 27. Her execution may be linked to the coerced confessions of a fellow member of her organization. Whether she was tried or not is not known. Peykar’s members were deemed to be apostates. 
Persian literature graduate, was born in Karaj into a Baha'i family. He began his career as a teacher in Rasht but eventually started his own business specialized in office supplies. In 1979, he was appointed to the Local Spiritual Assembly and later joined the National Committee for External Migration. In October 1980, armed men stormed his store and later raided his sister-in-law’s house, confiscating the store content, checks (claiming the funds were "ritually unclean" as they came from a Baha'i-owned store), and deeds, documents, and even food. They were led by a cleric who held no official position, but was known for his active participation in the persecution of Baha’is. Farnush was arrested later that year, when seeking justice for the armed robbery of his store. He was executed for “corruption on earth,” in June 1981. The litany of charges against him, published in newspapers, included the use of funds to “undermine the Islamic Republic, distribute publications to mislead youth, and promote blasphemy and heresy.”