Maryam Rajavi began by saluting those in attendance who were also seeking justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre, including Sid-Ahmad Ghozali, Joan Garcés, Tahar Boumedra, Peter Murphy, Father Brian, the defense lawyers of Ashrafis, and the over 900 former Iranian political prisoners.

She said that the 30,000 political prisoners, mostly the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran [PMOI/MEK-Iran]’s members, and supporters, were massacred as a result of regime founder Khomeini’s fatwa because they would not deny their support for the Iranian Resistance or the freedom of Iran

Maryam Rajavi said:  “The victims of the 1988 massacre are the valiant conscience of Iran’s history. They are the gem of honesty, sacrifice and loyalty kept dear in the heart of our nation whose true existence is indebted to it.”

She cited the story of Sakineh Delfi, 26, who was asked by two mullahs Jazayeri and Abdollahi in Ahvaz Prison to choose between Khomeini and the Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi. Delfi is said to have shouted “Long live Massoud, down with Khomeini” before being brutally attacked by the Revolutionary Guards. All but one of the 350 inmates in her ward was hanged the following day.

Maryam Rajavi said: “This is how the gem of honesty and sacrifice came into being, was enriched, and turned into a moral treasure for Iran’s nation, for her freedom and her future.”

This massacre was a fight between the Middle Ages, the mullahs, and the future, the people who fought for the 1979 revolution to free them from the Shah. The Iranian people tried to escape a dictatorship, but when they were exhausted from ousting the tyrannical Shah, they were usurped by the tyrannical Ayatollah.

Maryam Rajavi wrote: “The massacre in 1988 was the horrifying scene of such historic confrontation. But it was not the end. Despite its excruciating pain and agony, it was the beginning of a new confrontation which continues and will ultimately write the fate of the Iranian nation with the word freedom.”

This massacre was a foundation of the regime, showing how the mullahs would treat the Iranian people from then on, especially those who fight for freedom and call out the failed Western policy of appeasement.

Maryam Rajavi said: “Time and again, we have heard in the witness testimonies that the imprisoned heroes hailed Massoud when they faced their torturers and executioners. They whispered together the sentences they had memorized from his speeches, and during their visitations, they used their sign language to get updated news about him… Their message to their succeeding generations and the youth who hear their unfinished stories, is this: Follow the path and the ideal of Massoud Rajavi, a path that leads to a society devoid of all abuse and oppression, devoid of repression and tyranny, devoid of ignorance and deception; the path and ideal that is summarized in the sacred word, freedom.”

We will continue next time about Khomeini’s intention behind the 1988 massacre.