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Official complaint of Maryam Akbari Monfared: Where are my brother and sister buried?

March 7, 2018

On 14 October 2016, Maryam Akbari Monfared, a political prisoner serving a 15-year sentence in Evin prison, filed an official complaint filed an official complaint with the Iranian judiciary requesting an investigation into the executions of her sister and brother who were killed in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.

This marked the first time any official complaint regarding the 1988 massacre was submitted to the Iranian judiciary.

Below you can find the full translated text and images of this complaint.

Letter of Complaint

Public and Islamic Revolutionary Courts of Tehran

I am writing to inform you that on an unknown day in the summer of 1988, my brother, Abdolreza Akbari Monfared, and my sister, Roghieh Akhbari Monfared were executed. Both were tried and sentenced to imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court without access to a legal counsel. My younger brother Abdolreza Akbari Monfared was 17 years old at the time of arrest for distributing PMOI publications in 1980 and was sentenced to three years in prison. Despite completing his sentence, authorities refused to release him and eventually executed him in 1988.

My other brother Alireza Akbari Monfared was executed on 19 September 1981 on the allegation of ‘supporting the PMOI’. On the seventh night of mourning for my brother Alireza Akbari Monfared, security forces raided the place of mourning, and arrested mourners including my mother and sister Roghieh Akbari Monfared. My sister, mother to her infant, was sentenced to eight years in prison, yet she was executed in August 1988, one year before her sentence would officially end.

Considering that:

The majority of legal experts believe that in the case of executing an innocent person due to lack of mastery of laws, negligence or mistake on the part of the judge, an order is issued to investigate the case to decide the nature of the execution of the innocent—whether it was a knowingly, or a criminally negligent type of murder on the part of the judge;
According to the Proceeding no.122, issued by the High Disciplinary Court of Judges, the second branch, on 9 August 1985, the issuance of death penalty against the Sharia standards and the law of the country is a clearly defined as a violation on the part of the judge and is clear on preserving the right to legal action for the family of the victim;
The Double Jeopardy rule that is recognized in the legal system of Iran states as well, states that a person may not be subjected to a second trial for the same crime or offense for which they have already been tried and acquitted or punished in the judiciary of any country;
Even if we accept that due to PMOI’s military attack on western Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the said organization were at war with each other, [it is concluded that] the followers of this organization in prison, including my brother and sister, were prisoners of war. According to the Sharia standards, killing a prisoner of war is forbidden. In addition, killing them has been a violation of Article 3 of the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, which pursuant to Article 10 of the Civil Rights Code, is legally binding and a law of the Islamic Republic of Iran;

and taking into account the existing evidence, especially the content of the meeting on 15 August 1988, among deputy leader Ayatollah Montazeri, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Hosseinali Nayyeri, Morteza Eshraghi, and Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, the executions of political prisoners including my sister and my brother in 1988 was against the law, Sharia standards, and the international obligations of Islamic Republic of Iran.

Observing that filing a complaint with international authorities is only possible after having filed a complaint with the country’s own judicial offices, and given the legal arguments and evidence, I would like to request an investigation into the illegal executions of my sister and my brother, and the details thereof including those responsible for their deaths, their indictments and other case documents, and [carrying out] criminal proceedings according to the relevant laws, particularly Article 34 of the Constitution, which upholds seeking justice as an inalienable right of every citizen. Moreover, since their burial site has never been announced to my family, I request that their fates and whereabouts be disclosed.

Signed: Maryam Akbari Monfared

17 September 2016