An opponent of political violence was once set to lead Iran. One last quarrel changed it all.
In 1988, nearly a decade after Iran's Islamic revolution, the
country's leader-in-waiting faced a decision.
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| Ayatollah Montazeri |
He could stay silent as Iran stepped up a campaign of mass
executions, torture and gulag-style imprisonment against perceived internal
opponents. Or he could follow his conscience and speak out.
It came at a high cost. Montazeri was dumped as the hand-picked
successor to the revolution's leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He would be
declared a foe of the state and placed under house arrest for six years.
The executions and purges of the late 1980s in Iran are well
known and have been examined in books and reports by rights groups such as
Amnesty International. Less clear, however, is what transpired at the highest
reaches of power during a pivotal period for Iran and, by extension, for the
wider region and Tehran’s relations with the West.
An
audio file that surfaced this
week — posted on a website maintained by supporters of Montazeri, who died in 2009 — purports to
offer a new glimpse into his last, desperate attempt to limit the killings and
roundups.
Its importance derives mostly from historical conjecture. Had
Montazeri been elevated to power, Iran could have taken a very different course.
It came to a head in the final months of the country's 1980-1988
war with Iraq. Worn down by conflict and nearly bankrupt, Iran lashed back hard
at those it deemed domestic enemies. They included Western-leaning
students, ethnic minorities and opposition factions including the PMOIor MEK, which had launched a failed guerrilla offensive.
Maryam Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of
Iran opposition group, urged international prosecutors to use the tape as
further evidence that can be used to press charges for the political slayings
of the late 1980s. She noted that some of the officials who helped carry out
the purges — such as Pourmohammadi and the others who met with Montazeri --
“have, from the beginning of this regime to the present day, held posts at the
highest levels of the judicial, political and intelligence apparatuses."
quotation
Maryam Rajavi: Tape recording of Montazeri’s Meeting with Those Responsible
for Mass Executions of Political Prisoners is a Testament to PMOI's Refusal to
Surrender
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