Iranian activist speaks out against regime's mock courts, executions

Iran: Massacre of political prisoners in 1988:

In the summer of 1988, in a matter of a few months, 30,000 political prisoners were massacred upon a fatwa by Khomeini, the Iranian regime's leader.

 Based on this fatwa, all the prisoners who were still loyal to the opposition People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and refused to renounce it were executed.

The interview Al-Arabiya with political prisoner Hashem Khastar:

Q: Mr. Khastar, as an activist and a member of the teachers’ union who has been arrested several times for your activities, how do you evaluate the human rights situation in Iran?

A: It’s deteriorating a lot. The government in our country does not care about human rights at all. For example, the regime does not allow free elections at the teachers’ union or at non-governmental organizations here in Khorasan and other provinces, although these organizations were established 13 years ago when president Mohammed Khatami was in power. There aren’t even the simplest forms of freedom in Iran and the government does not grant citizens any of their basic rights. You may get arrested and imprisoned for organizing a simple cultural activity.

If you see me free now, it’s because they don’t want to create an uproar like what happened previously when I was detained by the intelligence apparatus. They’ve reached the conclusion that they should release me because keeping me in prison would cause them trouble in the international arena and on the media front. But if they do decide to imprison me again, nothing can stop them from doing so.

Q: The recent mass executions of 25 imprisoned Sunni Kurdish activists coincided with the anniversary of the elimination of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988. In your opinion, why did the regime go back to the policy of mass executions?

A: All dictatorships across the world resort to murder and assassination as a means to spread terror and fear so that people do not take to the streets demanding their rights. These governments practice terrorism to silence their citizens and our country is not an exception. The elimination of political prisoners in1988 was an unprecedented crime in the last 200 years of Iran’s history.

I condemn these mass executions which happened against our brothers from the Sunni sect and everyone condemns these executions that happened in mock courts that resemble dark rooms.