Dear friends, Ladies and gentlemen,
Why are we gathered here today, and what do we want? Before I attempt to answer this question, let me briefly mention a few “things” so that it is better understood what we, the Justice Seekers, want:
1- Hojjat al-Islam Sadeq Khalkhali, the president of the Revolutionary Courts, known as the hanging judge, said the following regarding the methods of revolutionary Muslim struggle against dissidents: “One day, I was returning from the Imam Khomeini’s place… We came to the alley of Aman, and I saw two 15- and 16-year-old children secretly exchanging something. I took a Mojahedin newspaper from the boy’s bag, shot him right there, and told my companions that this is how these animals should be dealt with…” (Heftenameh Safar, 2008). This method and character of arbitrariness in killing dissidents have always dominated Iran during the entire period of 45 years of religious rule.
2- Shahriar Shafiq, the first victim of the Islamic Republic’s assassinations abroad, was an officer in the Iranian Navy. He was killed by two bullets in Paris on December 7, 1979. Khalkhali wrote in his memoirs, published in the ‘Islam’ newspaper that Shafiq had been found a ‘corrupter on earth’ and was sentenced to death by the verdict of the Islamic Revolution Court in absentia.
3- Ali Akbar Tabatabai was murdered on July 22, 1980, in Washington, USA. The killer, Davood Salahuddin/David Belfield, now lives in Tehran and is an advisor to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He says: “9 days after Tabatabai’s assassination, I entered Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, and a group of IRGC members welcomed me. They then took me out through the diplomatic hall, put me in a Cadillac, and drove me straight to a meeting with the then-foreign minister, Sadegh Qutbzadeh… It was 3 a.m., and we talked for a while. Then, the IRGC took me to a safe house, gave me a gun, and I was under their constant protection for nine months. Everyone was talking about my revolutionary action. At the end of 1980, I was taken to meet Ayatollah Khomeini at his home in Qom. In this 35-minute meeting, Khomeini told me: ‘The subject of that gentleman in Bethesda’ (Bethesda, Tabatabai’s residence) was for the pride of Islam and Muslims.”
4- On August 6, 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar and his secretary,, Soroush Katibah were murdered in Bakhtiar’s house. After the discovery of the crime, the French Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest and prosecution warrants for nine people, who were then sentenced in court:
• Fereydoun Boyerahmadi, agent of the Ministry of Information and Security
• Mohammad Azadi, a high-ranking officer of the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
• Ali Vakili Rad, agent of the Ministry of Information and Security
• Masoud Adeeb Sui, charged with preparing a passport and planning terror
• Hossein Sheikh Attar for participating in murder preparations. For ten years, he was the director of the satellites department in the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
• Masoud Hendi was charged with preparing visas for murderers and participating in terror preparations. From 1980 to 1984, he was the director of the JAM TV office in Paris.
• Zain al-Abidin Sarhadhi, charged with procurement
• Nasser Ghaseminejad, charged with procurement
• Gholam Hossein Shourideh Shirazi was charged with procurement.
5- On July 13, 1989, Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and two of his associates were killed during negotiations with agents of the Islamic regime of Iran. Two people were immediately arrested: Mohammad Jafari Sahraroudi and Haj Ghafoor Darjezi, alias Amir Mansour. After the assassination, Mr. Akbar Shirazi, the then ambassador of J.A., began working for their release and threatened the Austrian government. Subsequently, the murderers were released and sent to Tehran, and then an international arrest warrant was issued for them. Upon returning to Iran, Sahraroudi became the head of ceremonies of the Islamic Council, and Haj Ghafoor Darjezi, under the alias Mustafa Modbar, became the head of the Broadcasting Protection Organization of the IRI and manager of Saipa Club.
6- Mykonos Restaurant Assassination in Berlin: Four people were killed. Five people were arrested, and five others escaped. Arrested:
• Kazem Darabi, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Information and Security, stated that after returning to Iran, he was offered governorships and ministries but declined and went to Lebanon.
• Abbas Rayel and Youssef Amin, members of the Lebanese Hezbollah, were trained for terrorist attacks in Iran for six months in 1984/85.
• And two others, one a member of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the other from the Shia Amal organization.
• Some people managed to escape, including Abdul Rahman Bani Hashemi, who was the murderer of the Talebi pilot in Switzerland in 1990. After returning to Iran, he received a Mercedes Benz as a reward and shares in the profits of companies covered by Vawak.
• An arrest warrant was issued for Ali Fallahian in the Berlin court.
7- Regarding serial murders inside Iran, including the brutal murders of Parvaneh and Dariush Forouhar, as well as Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad-Ja’far Pouyandeh: One of the people responsible for these killings, Mehrdad Alikhani, states in his interrogation sheets the names and personal and organizational characteristics, along with nicknames, of all those who participated in the murders, all of whom are employees of the Ministry of Information and Security of IRI. Alikhani says: “Mr. Dari Najafabadi, head of the Ministry of Information and Security of IRI, told me that the security department was not functioning properly… Insiders and non-insiders had turned against the regime… It was agreed that a group of secular individuals would be assassinated within the country. We were under the direct supervision of Mr. Dari Najafabadi, and based on the framework he set, a group of secular political activists were publicly assassinated, and we were to report to him at the end of each operation. During these murders, about 30 people were briefed on these assassinations, 26 of whom were ministers, and 4 were sources and colleagues of the ministry.”
8- To the above list, thousands or even tens of thousands of other examples of murder and assassination of dissidents can be added:
- The killing and execution of hundreds of Iran’s army officers and rank-and-file after the Islamic Revolution without due process of law or the right to defend themselves.
- The extrajudicial killings in the 1980s and the fatwa ordering the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 amount to crimes against humanity.
- The blinding of more than 200 men and women who took to the streets for freedom and citizenship rights in the last two years.
- The execution of more than 700 opponents in the last two years.
- And dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other major and minor crimes that time is insufficient to describe. These atrocities and killings are still ongoing.
9- The question is, who was and still is responsible for these crimes? What do Mykonos court documents and judgments say? The court verdict states: “… while Khomeini was alive, he issued all the orders to kill dissidents inside or outside of Iran. After Seyyed Ali Khamenei became the Supreme Leader of the Islamic regime in 1989, a council called the “Council of Special Affairs (VAVAK)” was established, which is above the government. The council must make decisions regarding the assassination of dissidents inside and outside… The council has fixed and variable members. When the issue of murder is brought up in the council, the Supreme Leader must approve the decision without exception, and no one is allowed to act without his order. The permanent members of the Special Affairs Council are:
• The Supreme Leader of the system or his representative, Hijazi
• President Rafsanjani or his son Mohsen (Hashemi Rafsanjani) as his representative
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, namely Ali Akbar Velayati
• Minister of Information and Security Ali Fallahian
• The first minister of Vavak, Mohammad Reyshahri, is now in charge of the leader’s intelligence apparatus. He is one of his confidants who performs intelligence and counter-intelligence activities for the leader’s office.
• Mohsen Rezaei, commander of the Revolutionary Guards
• Lieutenant General Reza Saifullahi, head of police forces
• Ayatollah Khazali, member of the Guardian Council and responsible for the religious affairs of the Council…”
All the documents show that IRI is a “criminal system.”
What do we, Justice Seekers gathered here today, want from Princeton University and the official authorities of the United States of America? We say: Seyed Hossein Mousavian, as the ambassador of the IRI, was the official representative of this criminal system and remains a follower of this ideology. Furthermore, according to documents and testimony from one of the witnesses at the Mykonos court, Mousavian was actively involved in the killing of dissidents and political activists in Western Europe. Our question is: Can Princeton University employ such a person to educate young people? Should America allow such a person to stay in the country? We, the Justice Seekers, demand Mousavian’s expulsion from the university and his removal from the United States of America.
Dear friends and residents,
In Berlin, in memory of the victims of Nazism, small bronze paving stones are placed in front of some houses. These stones are engraved with the name, surname, date of birth, and date of execution of the person or people who lived in that house. On one of these larger plaques, it is written: “This house was one of the secret prisons of the Nazi Ministry of Intelligence, where they killed some people. We placed this plaque here so you can read it and understand how heavy the price of your freedom has been.”
Thirty-four years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader and founder of Iran’s Islamic fundamentalist government, issued a written order to massacre Iran’s political prisoners. Our history will never forget the role of Khomeini and other Islamic fundamentalists in this crime against humanity, and Seyed Hossein Mousavian is one of them.
The pillars of the Islamic government are rooted in intolerance, ignorance, and centuries-old orders that don’t belong in the modern era. The IRI’s machine of terror and repression has crossed all political and moral boundaries. We will never forget the massacre of political prisoners, the murder of dissidents and transgender individuals, the so-called political-chain murders, or the cross-border assassinations. Our Justice-Seeking Campaign will continue because, without justice, no society can stand. The expulsion of Mousavian from the university and America is a small but essential step in the right direction for our petition, ensuring that the oppressor is punished.
Today, here, we remember all the victims of the IRI’s regime of idiocy and violence. We have gathered to expose the IRI, one of the foremost leaders in history and the world in terms of cruelty and crimes against humanity. Mousavian is one of the architects of this gender-apartheid regime. We gather in memory of all the Iranian martyrs for freedom and democracy, including the teenagers and young people who were executed for possessing a pamphlet, the girls who were brutally raped before their execution, the children who mourned their father or mother, and the parents whose grief over the loss of their children never allowed them to straighten their backs again.
With our activism, we keep alive the memory of those who were killed for having a different religion, belief, or political opinion than the rulers. They were handed over to death squads without any due process of law. Seyyed Hossein Mousavian is the official representative of such a government.
The question is how to prevent the repetition of such crimes. We know that without remembering, commemorating, and recognizing the victims, without punishing the perpetrators of these crimes and atrocities—that is, without justice—it will not be possible to prevent them in the future. Mousavian must understand that he is responsible and must accept the consequences of his behavior. His expulsion from the university and the country is a rightful punishment in the right direction and a step toward establishing a modicum of justice.
From our perspective, Justice Seekers, one should neither forget nor forgive nor seek blind and personal revenge. Instead, we should sit down to think and recognize the perpetrators, demand the execution of justice, and ensure that criminal cases against people committing crimes against humanity remain open. Not only should the officials of the IRI be tried, but the victims and their survivors should also have their dignity restored.
The crimes of the regime and their leaders and perpetrators, both inside and outside, must be remembered in our hearts so that history may not repeat itself. Our campaign here is to assert the rights of the oppressed of a nation and against oppressors and criminals.
Our demand is a national cry against cruelty, brutality, and crimes against humanity, which must be loudly and clearly condemned. We want Princeton University to stand with the victims and the oppressed and not with the followers of a system of ignorance and violence whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands of Iranians.
We shout and ask you: Stop cooperating with Mousavian. Expel Mousavian from the university. Mousavian’s residence permit in America should be canceled.
Sincerely,
Parviz Dastmalchi
April 26, 2024
