Defending the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners, as president and later as Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei, Iran's president in 1988, was quoted defending the execution of imprisoned opposition members during secret mass executions that Amnesty International estimates killed at least 5,000 prisoners. As Supreme Leader he later dismissed calls for accountability, and a UN expert reported in 2024 that the killings amounted to crimes against humanity.
Editorial timeline of public reporting, not a legal finding.
- Then-president says prisoners linked to 'monafeqin' deserve death - Amnesty International reported that Khamenei, then Iran's president, was quoted in an official newspaper asking whether a prisoner involved from inside prison with the activities of the 'monafeqin' (the authorities' term for the PMOI) should be handed sweets, and saying such a person 'is punishable by the death penalty and we would certainly execute him'. The remarks came months after the secret executions of summer 1988. Iran: Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity
- Responds to the Montazeri tape by condemning efforts to 'clear' the 'monafeqin' - In August 2016 the family of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri released an audio recording of his 1988 meeting with officials responsible for the executions, in which he called them the biggest crime of the Islamic Republic, The Guardian and BBC Persian reported. According to the UN Special Rapporteur's findings, Khamenei told President Hassan Rouhani's cabinet on 25 August 2016 that the release reflected 'attempts for clearing disgraced monafeqin'. Audio file of Hossein Ali Montazeri prompts calls for inquiry into 1988 massacre
- Says 'the roles of the martyr and the murderer should not be reversed' - Amnesty International and Al Arabiya reported that in a speech marking the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death, after the 1988 executions had been raised during the presidential campaign, Khamenei said 'the roles of the martyr and the murderer should not be reversed' and described the 1980s as 'the decade of major honours'. Iran: Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity
- Amnesty calls the 1988 killings ongoing crimes against humanity - In its report 'Blood-soaked secrets', Amnesty International said at least 5,000 political prisoners were secretly executed between late July and early September 1988 and that the continuing concealment of their fate and burial places amounted to ongoing crimes against humanity. The report cited Khamenei's public statements from the period. Iran: Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran's 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity
- UN expert says the 1980s killings amount to crimes against humanity and genocide - Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, reported that the executions of 1981-1982 and 1988 amounted to the crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, as well as genocide. His findings said Khamenei 'is alleged to have been involved in crimes against humanity during the 1980s' and that those responsible remained in power. Iran: Atrocity crimes must be investigated and perpetrators prosecuted, says UN expert