Speeches by Parvaneh Madanchi, Zohreh Rastegar, and Fahimeh Moaveni
Several former political prisoners, families, and witnesses seeking justice for the 1988 massacre in Iran gave speeches in a gathering near the Court of Stockholm, where Hamid Noury, one of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, is on trial. Following are excerpts of some of their speeches.
Former political prisoner Parvaneh Madanchi
Ms. Parvaneh Madanchi is a former political prisoner from the 1980s and among the witnesses seeking justice for the 1988 massacre. In her speech to a gathering in Stockholm, she said, “From June 14, 1981, till December 12, 1987, I was imprisoned in the following prisons: Jahanbani Stable, Ghezel Hesar, a residential unit, Evin, and Gohardasht Prison.”
“One of my cellmates, Tahmineh Sotoudeh, who was the only daughter of the Sotoudeh family and meant everything to her mother, was arrested on September 27, 1981. At the time of her arrest, she was 16 years old. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison. She was hanged in the 1988 massacre.”
“Those days, I witnessed many prisoners being tortured, including three of my cellmates, Shekar Mohammadzadeh, Mojgan Sorabi, and Mahtab Khalkhali. But as a part of the campaign seeking justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre, I will not give up and will continue to seek justice for those loved ones.”
Speech of another political prisoner
On August 19, at the gathering of protesters seeking justice for victims of the massacre, Zohreh Rastegar, a former political prisoner said, “My brother Abbas Rastegar was a political prisoner during the Shah’s reign. He and his wife, Maryam Zibar, who was 5 months pregnant, were both executed during the time of Khomeini’s dictatorship. Maryam was executed on the same day as her only brother, Mohammad Ali Zibar. They were the only two children of their family. Two of my 17-year-old cousins were also executed by Khomeini’s executioners. The name of one of them was Jalil Rezaei.”
Sister of two martyrs Fahimeh Moaveni
Fahimeh Moaveni, a family member of one of the PMOI’s martyrs, was another speaker at the gathering in Stockholm. She said,” My brother, Alireza Moaveni, was arrested in Tehran at the age of 18 on September 5,1981, and was imprisoned in Evin Prison. He was martyred on September 27, 1981 – only 14 days after his arrest. According to his cellmates, he was a very responsible and caring person who helped other prisoners while he was in prison.”
“Also, my 25-year-old sister, Maliheh Moaveni, was arrested in Tehran in 1983. She was the mother of two children aged 4 and 6. On November 11, 1984, she was martyred under torture after 14 months of imprisonment. I remember that my parents were able to visit her for the first tine 6 months after her arrest. My parents went to Evin to see Maliheh with her children. The 4-year-old didn’t recognize her and shouted, “That is not my mother!” My father said Maliheh looked 30 years older than her age. My mother asked her, “what happened?” and she said, “If a child can ever tell what it was like in her mother’s womb before being born, then I can tell you what is happening here!”
“They never give us their bodies and till this day we do not know exactly where they are buried.”
In her speech, Fahimeh also mentioned that in addition to her sister and brother, two of her relatives named Mohsen and Hossein Seyed Ahmadi were also executed. Mohsen was arrested in 1979 while selling newspapers published by the Resistance. After 9 years in prison, he and his brother, Hossein, were executed in the 1988 massacre. Mohsen’s father had asked him several times, “Why don’t they release you? You weren’t in the 1981 protests.” Mohsen replied, “I was asked to do an interview and I refused.”
In concluding her speech, Fahimeh highlighted: “We tell these perpetrators that neither hiding the crime, nor hiding the martyrs’ graves, nor making the victims unidentifiable will be able to stop the Iranian people’s movement for justice.”
