Political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared in a letter to Mousavi Tabrizi, wrote: “The answer to my complaint against the perpetrators of the 1988 executions was threats, banishment, and imprisonment.”
Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, the regime’s prosecutor general in the 1980s, recently said, “The families of those executed (in the 1988 massacre) could have complained, but they did not do so!”
Tabrizi’s remarks were one of the rare admissions of the clerical regime’s officials to the 1988 massacre, which they had concealed and denied until recent years. Mousavi Tabrizi commented in the wake of the Swedish Judiciary upholding a life sentence for Hamid Noury, one of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj.
Political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared, who was banished to Semnan Prison in March 2021, responded to the criminal mullah in an open letter from behind bars.
In her letter to Mousavi Tabrizi, Maryam Akbari Monfared wrote, “I did file a complaint after three decades. What did you do to me except make threats, banishment, and continued illegal imprisonment?”
Maryam Akbari Monfared sought justice for her siblings, Abdolreza (Abdi) and Roghieh Akbari Monfared, executed during the 1988 massacre, and two other brothers in 1981 and 1984.
In another part of her letter to Mousavi Tabrizi, she wrote: “Perhaps you have forgotten! Let me remind you that the families did not even have the right to hold a (funeral) ceremony. In the same family mourning ceremonies, you would arrest them and all the guests and send them to prison. You didn’t give the bodies of their loved ones to the families; you didn’t tell them where they were buried, and not even an address! And now, three decades after the massacre, are you talking about filing complaints?”
Maryam Akbari Monfared, sentenced to 15 years in prison, is spending the 13th year of her sentence in Semnan prison, far from her hometown, Tehran. She is the mother of three girls. Yet, she did not have a day of leave during these 13 years.
Excerpts of the letter to Mousavi Tabrizi
I hear in the news that the children of Hamid Noury have complained that our father is being tortured!!! What a strange time.
On these very days, he lined up our loved ones and took them to the execution room. He is one of those people who may have seen Abdi’s last moments, and of course, he might have become mad at his bravery and resistance. Maybe he was the one who pulled the stool from under Abdi’s feet with all his hatred. He is happy and proud of the execution of thousands of people like Abdi. He made the prison hell for political prisoners to break their resistance.
Now he is in one of the best prisons. His words have been heard with justice, yet he claims to be tortured! If this is torture, then what was what our families, mothers, and my mother, Gorgi, endured?!
Letter to Mousavi Tabrizi – Remembering the grief of the 1988 massacre
In the corner of my cell in the feverish heat, I surrender myself to the dreams of distant years when I was the same age as my children. I remember when I used to accompany my mother on her way to Evin and Gohardasht prisons.
I remember the last visit to Abdi. Then after months of staying in the dark, we were given a bag with his clothes bloodied under torture.
I remember when my mother went to a room full of (my siblings’) photos. She would close the door to be alone with her children, who were always young in those frames. She did not want me to see her tears.
I remember the day when this grief took her from us forever at the age of 40.
Are there any words to describe those tortures?
We have lived through the terrible 1980s decade, which is why we think of justice and seek justice so that Iran’s future generations would not go through such a horrible experience.
Justice is more valuable than love, even my motherly love for my children. I have risen to seek justice because I love my children.
The failure to bring the Shah and SAVAK to justice opened the way for this regime to repeat (what the Shah did). But we are determined to bring justice to Iran forever, and the conviction of Hamid Nouri is a step, although small but qualitative, in this direction.
We are happy to break the deadlock we were denied for three decades. Everyone wanted to discredit us and deny our pain from the government to other claimants! But we shouldered our pains all these years just for this moment—the sweet, promising moments of justice.
Letter to Mousavi Tabrizi – No escape from justice
I heard Mousavi Tabrizi declare that “the families could have complained, but they didn’t!”
Perhaps you have forgotten; let me remind you that the families did not even have the right to hold a (funeral) ceremony. In the same family mourning ceremonies, you would arrest them and all the guests and send them to prison. You didn’t give the bodies of their loved ones to the families; you didn’t tell them where they were buried, and not even an address! And now, three decades after the massacre, are you talking about filing complaints? I did file a complaint after three decades. What did you do to me except make threats, banishment, and continued illegal imprisonment?”
No one can escape justice. I made a vow not to give up until every one of the masterminds and perpetrators of the massacre of our loved ones faced justice.
We have fresh wounds. Not three decades, not even three days have passed since what happened to us! As if it happened just today.
The heat of August still burns our hearts, and all these years, we suffered pain. But the day our calls for justice succeed, there will be some healing to our wounds.
The massacre is still going on. The execution and killing of innocent people continue. The slaughter of protesters in 2009, 2017-2018, and 2019 are the continuation of the massacre in 1988.
Our persistence in seeking justice for the 1988 massacre is the same as our struggle for freedom.
We persist in seeking justice so that no family will suffer anymore.
These days, I think of my loved ones, Roghieh, Abdi (Abdolreza), Alireza, and Gholam-Reza, who are alive in me. And I always remember them with a smile as if they are my guardians in this dungeon.
The dawn of justice will break through the dark and stormy clouds. On that day, we will feel the love with all our hearts.
Victory is ours
Maryam Akbari Monfared – The hellish Semnan Prison – August 6, 2022
Letter to Mousavi Tabrizi
