Akbar Ganji was a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the establishment of this religious guard in 1979. This guard has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of arrests, torture and killings of Iranian political activists since 1979. Ganji does not talk about the bloody period of 1979 to 1988 and his involvement in it. He suddenly emerges as a “dissident journalist” after 1998. He is silent about the crimes committed by the government during the first 10 years of its establishment. He also praises ayatollah Khomeini who was directly in charge of ordering many of these criminal acts. It is important to note that the Islamic Republic of Iran was able to establish itself after massacring more than 120,000 workers, students and other activists who struggled for freedom, equality and social justice from 1979 to 1988. During this period, Ganji was a commander of IRGC. IRGC was in charge of arresting, torturing and executing thousands of political activists. He also served in Western Iran, Kurdistan, where IRGC massacred thousands of Kurds. Ganji is silent about his involvement in this period of history.
In late 1980’s Ganji was appointed as the cultural attaché of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy in Turkey. At that time this embassy was actively terrorizing Iranian exiles abroad. Gangi’s wife, Masoumeh Shafii, reports that when ayatollah Khomeini died, Ganji was actively in charge of his funeral ceremonies organized by the Embassy in Turkey. This is the same ayatollah who had ordered the massacres of thousands of political prisoners a short while before his death.
Ganji is connected to part of the Islamic regime who wants a fair election for factions within this criminal establishment. The majority of people in Iran on the other hand are waging a struggle that condemns the entirety of this establishment’s 30 years of cruel ruling. As families of political prisoners executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979, we encourage all the agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran to come forward and tell the whole truth. We want a world free from torture and capital punishment and will do our best to provide a safe place for any criminal agent who tells the truth.
Agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran should first release all the information about their involvement in the crimes committed against Iranian people. Then people will judge if they can be trusted.
Families of Executed Political Prisoners in 1980’s in Iran
August 14, 2009
