(July 1, 2014) – This witness statement compilation serves as a companion package to Haunted Memories: The Islamic Republic’s Executions of Kurds in 1979, a detailed account of the unlawful summary trials and executions that took place in the Kurdish regions of Iran in August and September 1979.
These witness accounts of executions of juveniles, health workers and others demonstrate that no one was beyond the reach of the orders of Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali, who served as the head of the newly-formed Islamic Revolutionary Court at the time. Also known as “The Hanging Judge”, Khalkhali is reported to have ordered the executions of hundreds, and possibly thousands, of individuals during his judicial career, often following “trials” of a summary nature lacking due process safeguards and in violation of fair trial rights.
