[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 217 (Sunday, December 20, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





  EXCERPTS FROM IRANIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS WHO WERE WITNESSES TO THE 
                         1988 MASSACRE IN IRAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Sunday, December 20, 2020

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following 
release which includes excerpts from the statement of former Iranian 
political prisoners, witnesses to the 1988 massacre in Iran.
  The Amnesty International report, ``Blood-Soaked Secrets: Why Iran's 
1988 Prison Massacres are Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity,'' on the 
30th anniversary of the massacre was an important step in accelerating 
the justice movement and holding the regime's officials to account as 
those responsible for committing this great crime. The following are 
the excerpts from the former Iranian political prisoners, witnesses to 
the 1988 massacre in Iran:

       We, political prisoners who personally witnessed the 1988 
     massacre, as part of the large family of the Mujahedin-e 
     Khalq (MEK), have made a solemn promise to the 30,000 proud 
     martyrs of this massacre that we will spare no effort to shed 
     light on the scope of the horrific and inhumane 1988 massacre 
     and to ensure its perpetrators face justice.
       Amnesty International can rely on the support of political 
     prisoners, families of the martyrs, and the Iranian people as 
     it continues to speak the truth and expose this great crime 
     against humanity. The regime's leaders must face the fact 
     that four decades of crime and murder, which continued into 
     the November 2019 massacre and the executions of Mostafa 
     Salehi and Navid Afkari will not go unanswered.
       We stress in this regard that insulting and attacking 
     Amnesty International and its researchers and reporters is 
     deplorable and amount to aligning with and accompanying the 
     murderous rulers of Iran. As stated in the statement issued 
     by 1,404 political prisoners, We consider it to be the urgent 
     obligation of all political prisoners and any dignified human 
     being to expose anyone, whether a former prisoner or 
     otherwise, with any political claim, who serves the interests 
     of the clerical regime, and we condemn any silence with 
     respect to such abhorrent actions. Political prisoners, 
     witnesses to the 1988 massacre. October 2020
       Three decades after the 1988 massacre of political 
     prisoners in Iran, we are witnessing Amnesty International's 
     efforts to expose the details of this great crime. This is a 
     crime that the former designated heir to Khomeini described 
     at the time as the greatest crime committed by the clical 
     regime in its history and called its perpetrators criminals:

  This statement was distributed by the Iranian American Community of 
Texas, member of the Organization of Iranian American Communities-US 
(OIAC)

                          ____________________