Mansoureh Behkish and Javid Rahman UN Rep. on human rights in Iran 

A report of the meeting with Javed Rahman about the systematic violation of human rights in the Khavaran!

On Sunday, 12th June, 2022, I travelled to Dublin to meet with Dr. Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation of human rights in Iran in the Trinity University Summer School program. This program was held from Monday morning to Friday evening every day in June 13 -17 2022, and officials and researchers of Human Rights from different countries spoked in this event by English language.

Dr. Roja Fazaeli, the manager of this summer school, arranged my name for participating in this event and meeting with Javaid Rehman. Most of the speeches have focused on freedom of religion and belief on the one hand, and hatred, discrimination, and racism on the other. These issues are very important because we are involving every day in Iran, Afghanistan, and many other countries with dictatorial and religious regimes, with the most brutal forms of repression, violence, crime, discrimination, and blatant injustice. I also tried to be active in all the sections of this event and talk about the catastrophic situation in Iran, and I hope one day to be able to write a report from those speeches and dialogues that we conducted.

Javaid Rehman supposed to stay in Dublin one day and he had two speeches on Monday in this events. His first presentation was before noon on “From Rhetoric to Reality, Opening Religious Ethics: Muslim Constitutional-ism and Legal Reform” and his second presentation was at afternoon about “The Human Rights Situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran”. During lunchtime, I talked in privately with him about executions of 1980s and the massacre of 1988 and concerns about destroy of the [۹]Khavaran cemetery in Tehran and other unmarked cemeteries all over Iran. Also, from the resistances and struggles of the [۱۰]“Mothers and Families of Khavaran” during the last forty years, whose despite the continuous repressions of the government, are standing and steadfast for preserving of Khavaran as an important and historical place to record the government’s crimes and to discover the truth of the 1980s massacres. I also handed over to Javaid Rehman the recent [۱۱]Petition of “Dadkhahan Khavaran”[۱۲] about “Stop the destruction and any manipulation in the Khavaran cemetery”.

It should be noted that I am not very fluently in talking English, but I tried to talk about this important issue in public session also for more attention of Javaid Rehman and have raised our voices to other researchers of human rights who Participated from many different countries. I have taken the conversations exchanged between Javaid Rehman and me in the plenary session from recorded’ file in English and translated it to Persian, and I share it with you in following report. In writing of my talks from tape I tried do not change its, but I have corrected and completed my sentences. I have also written some points for more information in the footnote and the end of report. I hope, I was able to send our voices to them that they would pay attention more to these important issue in Iran and write in their articles and books in the future.

I believe that every small steps of us are effective and hopefully we can preserve all the evidence and unmarked graves like Khavaran, which are proof of the crimes of the Iranian government and our historical memory, and we do not let them that families of Khavaran and other families over Iran be tortured any more. And by this means, maybe we could prevent the repetition of the crime in Iran.

Mansoureh Behkish

۵th July 2022

The following is a conversation between Mansoureh Behkish and Javaid Rehman[۱۳] after his speech on human rights violations in Iran in Dublin at the Trinity College Summer School on Monday, 13th June, 2022.

Mansoureh: Thank you for your presentation. I spoke to you at lunchtime about the situation of Khavaran Cemetery, its history, the struggles and resistances of Mothers and Families of Khavaran and their demands. My main question is why in your recent report in January 2022 you did not mention even a word about the situation of Khavaran Cemetery and Mothers and Families of Khavaran, while they have not yet handed over the bodies and bones of our loved ones to us, and they have not told the truth about those crimes, and we still do not know why they have killed our loved ones? Why they buried our loved ones in the individual and mass graves of Khavaran and other cemeteries secretly? Why they repeatedly bulldozed and destructed Khavaran Cemetery and other unmarked graves all over Iran? Why they are constantly and  violently harassing  the families who are seeking truth and justice? And why this important issue is not in your report, when it still is a current issue and a clear example of systematic violation of human rights in Iran. (This questions are not on the tape recorded in the plenary session and is part of my private conversation with Javaid Rehman).

I want to tell about this issue briefly to other participants that maybe don’t know about this and also introduce myself. My name is Mansoureh Behkish[۱۴], I am one of the families of Kavaran in Iran. Seven of my siblings and close relatives; My sister, my four brothers, a brother in law, a brother of sister in law were killed in 1980s massacre by the government of Iran. They were members of leftist groups. In 1981 the government decided to bury non-muslim executed, including leftist activists in an isolated peace of land. They killed many of leftist political activists and buried in the individual and mass graves of Khavaran From June 1981 till massacre 1988. “Mothers and Families of Khavaran” every week, every two week, monthly, but constantly have gone to the Khavaran. From the beginning the government and security forces have attacked, harassed and arrested us. We are struggling for very very long times until now. In this long period the government of Iran frequently destroyed all of the signs and stones we put in Khavaran Cemetery and they don’t let us put any stones with the name of our loved ones on the known graves. Khavarn is like a desert. But we still go there and put many flowers and security forces destroy all of our flowers and every things.

On the second week of January 2009; the government destructed Khavaran Cemetery with bulldozer and we don’t know if they removed all bones and remaining of our loved ones, especially those buried in mass graves, or not. The deceased[۱۵] of the Bahai’s community are also have buried in the beside of the Khavaran Cemetery. the government forced Bahai’s to bury their deceased on the mass graves of Khavaran for couple of times. But Bahai’s did not agree with this and protested about this. Also the Families of Khavaran strongly protested about this. Last year, the security forces pushed them again to do this with digging 10 graves on mass graves of khavaran, but we, families and Bahai’s community have protested. We were able to stop them again. One months ago again they demolished the [۱۶]old short wall with a meter of fence on top nd installed a long concrete wall which completely isolated the cemeteries from outside world like prison. In addition they instilled several big cameras like highways camera inside and outside of Khavaran and for  Bahai’s cemetery. We know that they intend to impose more control to do  more intimidation, harassment, threatening, suppression, violence to silent us, but resistance and struggle of families of khavaran for seeking truth and  justice never stop.

Mr. Javaid Rehman, I want you please, to pay attention to the Cemetery of Khavaran, because it is very important issue and it is in very very bad situation. Khavaran is not the only one cemetery in this situation in Iran. All around Iran we have many cemeteries of the same situation. But Khavaran Cemetery is the special one, because a strong movement was born there. The Mothers and Families of Khavaran have struggled with the government and security forces for long time to protect the khavaran and to seek truth and justice. The government knows that selecting separate burial place for leftists was a big mistake . Many of mothers and families of executed leftist are gathering and struggling for forty years till now. I want to tell you, please pay attention to this issue more and more and issue  a statement about this or mention that situation of the Mothers  and Families of Khavaran that despite many suffering and harassment by the government, they have not been silent and are at risk. in your next report in September.

Another important thing I want to tell you is about condition  of political prisoners in Iran that is very bad and they are very much  at risk and situation of many of them are very very dangerous , for example Reza Shahabi is a worker. He was a bus driver who was fired and he is worker’s right activist. At the moment he is in prison and is in a hunger strike. many of workers, especially teachers protest and struggle for many years to achieve their rights and a large number of them who are in the prisons all over Iran are in very bad situation. I want you to  pay more attention to them and push the Islamic Republic of  Iran to release all them and stop violence. I hope we can end this catastrophic situation.  Thank you very much.         

Javaid Rehman: If you look at my last report I have called for an independent inquiry into the 1988 massacre and enforced disappearances. I just mentioned in this presentation as well that I see this independent inquiry. for now are we can do we can campaign more. we can ask our states, our individual states to put pressure on Iran to conduct an inquiry that what happened in 1988 there are thousands of people were extra judiciary executed and there were enforced disappearances so an inquiry must be conducted for people like yourself who have lost loved ones and there is no closure, there is no ending to the pain and suffering that you were going through. So, that is why I have been campaigning in every communication, in every discussion that I have with Iranians. I seek  accountability for the historic injustices, because these crimes need justices, matter is not closed until and unless we know what exactly happened. And until and unless those who committed these crimes, they are put to trial and justice is done the matter will be open that was my first point.  

The second one is that, I have done a lot of communication between correspondent with state in which we have mentioned this particular graveyard for example where we have expressed our concerns.

Evidence is being deliberately destroyed which is just mentioned. So I am seeking more information, more evidence. So I can go directly to the Iranian authority to stop the destruction of this evidences and I can also talk to other states to say that they put pressure on Iran to stop destroying evidence, because we are investigating, what exactly happened and as you know there are individual who are who hold high political office and who against whom there are very serious allegation of having ordered unlawful killing, extra judiciary killing of individual during 1980s and in particular the 1988 Massacre.

So the mater still very much with us and please be assured that we are aware of that but I think we need on our part on a par with international  community to put pressure on Iran actually provided accountability for historic as well as contemporary instances of killing and of people disappearing and violating their rights and those people who have committed those crimes  must be held accountable.

Mansoureh: Yes thank you, but I want to emphasize about this issue as I told above, that Khavaran is not only about massacre 1988, IRI has buried our loved ones there secretly  from 1981 without handing over their bodies to their families.

Massacre of 1988 is very special issue, because all of those prisoners were convicted to imprisonment and They were serving their prison sentences, but immediately after end of war between Iran – Iraq and accepted of 598 resolution, based on a Khomeinie’s decree (Fatwa), they closed all of prisons and in less than two months they isolated all of prisons without telling to prisoners and their families what is going on. They killed every one who insisted on their belief and buried them secretly. All of them were buried in the individual and mass graves in the Cemetery of Khavaran and many other Cemeteries around the Iran without delivering their bodies to the families. for forty years we ask the government why did you kill them? where did you bury them? how did you kill them? Hamid noury in the Stockholm Court has persecuted for this reason, because he was involved in 1988 massacre, we, families in Khavaran inside and outside Iran are campaigning about that. That petition that I have delivered to you is for families of Khavaran outside of Iran under the name of ”Dadkhahan Khavaran” who are seeking truth and Justice. 

Javaid Rehman: I agree with you, what I am saying is that we shouldcollectively and individually put pressure on International Community including of own states to force the Islamic Republic of Iran to have independent, investigation in the … they should have allowed me to go to Khavarn and investigated, but in the absence of that I am asking the Iranian authorities to stop interfering with the evidence. We should talk to the Irish or to the British, to talk to the Iranians to stop destroying of evidence. Because we want to know what happened? To all those individuals who were extra judiciary and unlawfully killed in 1988. Each one of us should want whatever way we have to put pressure on the Iranians to stop destroying evidence and to hold individual accountable.

Mansoureh: Yes, We expect you please to do every action necessary, even more, because it is very important. All of them are disappeared, and all their families are involving about this and they are in very dangerous situation at the moment in Iran and we are very worry about them.

Javaid Rehman: likewise, I have a lot of concern, I can assure you if I was given access to the country, I definitely my first point of investigation, but I am waiting Iranian authorities to allow me to getting the country, I hope.

Mansoureh: Many thanks

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Further Information about other Special Rapporteurs of the UN on the situation of human rights in the IRI:

Andres Aguilar was the first Special Representative of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to investigate human rights abuses in Iran. (April 1986) resigned.

After Andres Aguilar, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl was succeeded by from 1986 to 1994. He visited Iran two or three times between 1990 and 1992 (1368- 1370) by the Human Rights Commission and reported on human rights abuses in Iran. “He came to Iran In July 1990, the families gathered in front of the United Nations office in Tehran and were going to meet him, but they were attacked and beaten by the security forces, and they were prevented from meeting with the special representative. During Galindo Pohl’s second trip in November 1990, several families were able to meet him.”.[۱۷]. After his last visit, he was prevented from re-entering to Iran and he resigned.

After Galindo Pohl, Maurice Denby Capitorn represented the UN Commission on Human Rights in Iran from August 1995 to April 2002, and travelled to Iran to present reports.

From April 2002 to June 2011, the UN Commission on Human Rights did not nominate a representative to investigate human rights abuses in Iran for nine years. On March 24, 2011, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution re-establishing the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The previous mission, set up by the Human Rights Commission, ended in 2002.

Ahmed Shahid was in charge from June 2011 (June 2011) to September 2016 (September 2016), after which he became the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Belief and Religion.

After Ahmed Shahid, Asmeh Jahangir was the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran from November 2016 until her sudden death in February 2018. Officials in the Islamic Republic of Iran did not allow Ahmed Shahid and Asmeh Jahangir to travel to Iran to investigate human rights 

violations.

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[۹]– In IRI, Non- Muslim or  Dissidents, including leftists and bahai’s, have deprived of right to be buried  in Muslim or other official cemeteries in IRAN. On early 1981, authorities of the IRI were decided to allocate a piece of land in the south-east vicinity of Tehran, on the Khavaran Road, for the burial of leftists executed. The Islamic State of Iran says their bodies are also impure.  They named this cemetery La’nat Abaad (doom-and Land), but the families named it “Golzar Khavaran” (Khavaran Garden) or  Khavaran Cemetery. The first buried secretly in the Khavaran Cemetery were leftists executed on July 1981. Khavaran cemetery with individual and mass graves and successive destructions and continuous suppression of families is a clear symbol of the brutality of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The bodies of none of those buried in this cemetery have not been handed over to their families.

[۱۰]– Mothers and families of Khavaran is not an organisation in Iran but is a community inclusive of mothers, fathers, husbands, sisters, brothers and children of who are seeking truth and justice about their loved ones for 4 decade from 1981 in the Khavaran Cemetery of Tehran. These community that often are families of the killed leftist political activists by the IRI, became a movement after Massacre of 1988. IRI authorities used every possible means to stop the families from holding commemoration services to cemeteries. The mothers and families of Khavaran were assaulted, beaten, insulted and even arrested by the authorities to prevent these commemorations many times. However the families, have not yield to the pressure and continue to hold public memorial and commemorations of their loved ones in Khavaran Cemetery.

[۱۱]– https://www.daadkhast.org/petition/235665

[۱۲]– Dadkhahan Khavaran are a number of families of khavaran whose loved ones were killed by IRI between 1981 to 1988 and buried secretly in the individual and mass graves of khavaran and other unmarked cemeteries all over Iran. Dadkhahan Khavaran are seeking truth and justice and began their collective activity on the 25th of April 2021 abroad. The reason of starting their collective activity is the concern for the destruction of Khavaran by the government and preventing harassment to families of khavaran in Iran, because Last year, the security forces pushed Bahai’s community to bury their deceased on the mass graves of Khavaran. They did this by digging 10 graves on mass graves of khavaran, but the Bahai’s community and mothers and families of khavaran inside and Dadkhahan Khavaran protested outside of Iran and they succeeded in stopping them.

[۱۳]– Javaid Rehman; Is a Pakistani British. He is Professor of Law at Brunel University, London. Mr. Rahman was selected by the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 7, 2018 as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. From 2019 to 2021, he served as a member of the Coordinating Committee of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Rights. The UN Human Rights Council extended the mandate of Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, for another year in April 2022. Despite repeated requests from the UN Human Rights Council to the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Galindo Pohl has not been allowed to travel to Iran to investigate human rights violations in the IRI.

[۱۴]– Mansoureh Behkish is an activist of the women’s movement and the seeking Justice movement in Iran. She has struggled for many years in Iran against discrimination and seeking truth and justice, and has written numerous articles and reports. She constantly was harassed, interrogated, arrested, travel banned by IRI and lost her job for her activities. She was manager of a bank. She has convicted to prison in two separate cases related to her activities in Iran. On July 2012, She was convicted to 6 months in prison and 3.5 years suspended imprisonment. On January 2018, She was convicted also to 7.5 years imprisonment in absentia, while she was in traveling as legal. She do not returned to Iran despite her desire after this unjust sentence at the age of 60 years old, and she lives in south Ireland from September 2017.

She is an example of violences of regime of Iran to the Mothers and families of khavaran and other families whose their loved ones were killed by the Regime and they are struggling to seek truth and justice in Iran. 

[۱۵]– From January 1982 Baha’is in Tehran were forced to bury their deceased in a piece of land adjacent to the Khavaran Cemetery.

[۱۶]– Two important points about old wall with fences on it: The only signs of place of burial of who executed in the early years on 1980s that buried as secretly in individual graves of Khavaran Cemetery  were that numbers on this wall.  Second, before destruction of this old wall the people who passed there can see inside of Khavaran Cemetery and old Baha’is cemetery, also the families can see the outside around Khavaran Cemetery. 

[۱۷]– Taken from the book “Never again” – Jafar Bekhish – in Persian