In an event which took place at the Amnesty International Human Rights Center in London on 13 September 2017, Iran Tribunal Foundation honored Mothers of Khavaran for their irresistible demands for justice.
Mothers of Khavaran are a group of mothers mourning the loss of their children in the 1980s mass-executions. By their struggle and resistance, they cherished and preserved Khavaran Cemetery and did not let the Islamic Republic of Iran to destroy mass graves, where their children are buried in.
In this event, mother Esmat who has lost nine members of her close relatives including two daughters and three brothers in 1980s, Dr Hedyat Matin Daftary and Mr Hamid Sabi, members of steering committee of the Iran Tribunal, Mersedeh Ghaedi, member of executive committee of Foundation of Iran Tribunal, Nazli Partovi, Roya Jahromi, Shahnaz Madani and Shahnaz Kaydepour whose brothers were executed in 1980s and their mothers are members of Mothers of Khavaran, addressed the meeting.
Background
Between August and September 1988, the Islamic regime carried out a massive wave of executions of political prisoners. There are no numbers of the exact amount of victims, as a result of harsh censorship and a harsh political climate in Iran. But, to this day, there are around 5,000 known names of victims. These prisoners had survived the mass executions of the early years of 1980s and were in the process of serving their long sentences. It is estimated that over 20000 political prisoners were killed in Iran between 1981 and 1988. The Iran Tribunal campaign has provided some sixteen thousands names.