Vincent Asselineau, the ECBA Chair, joined hundreds of prominent jurists, former U.N. judges and investigators calling on U.N. human rights boss Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 "massacre" of political prisoners in Iran, including the alleged role of its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, at that time.

The open letter, released at a press conference in London on 27 January 2022 by Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI), was signed by 467 people and organisations, including a former president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Sang-Hyun Song, and Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador for global criminal justice.

In the summer of 1988 based on a fatwa by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as many as 30,000 political prisoners were extra-judicially executed or forcibly disappeared. Victims were from various political groups. The majority were activists of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI or MEK). The letter names Iran’s current President Ebrahim Raisi and the head of judiciary Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei among the alleged perpetrators, who “continue to enjoy impunity.”

“The appeal to the Human Rights Council and High Commissioner for Human Rights represents the largest international call on the UN in history by the international expert and human rights community to hold Iranian officials accountable over the 1988 massacre,” JVMI Director Tahar Boumedra said at the press conference in London.

JVMI Press Conference: Baroness Verma - former UK government minister and life peer, Tahar Boumedra - JVMI Director, Struan Stevenson - former Member of the European Parliament

27 January 2022