HERE IS KHAVARAN FLOWER GARDEN!
Author: Hasse-Nima Golkar
Years of silence about the brutal massacre of Iran’s political-religious prisoners in the 1980s, especially in the summers of 1981 and 1988, have been broken — partly due to the persistent and tireless struggles of the victims’ families and their participation in annual ceremonies at “Khavaran Cemetery.”
Throughout the 1980s, Iran’s prisons were full of political-religious prisoners of all ages, genders, political-ideological views, and religions. Many of those executed had already received verdicts of imprisonment issued in short “trials” lasting only a few minutes, in which they were asked one or more political-religious questions.
From the very first day it seized power on February 11, 1979, the Shia Islamic regime, with a secret agreement with the world’s capitalist superpowers, misusing the name of the “revolution,” used the military and security apparatus inherited from the dictatorial regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to establish a reign of terror against dissident intellectuals and opposition groups — ushering in a period far darker and more ruthless than the absolute monarchy of the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979). Iran thus entered one of the most tragic eras of its contemporary history.
At the end of August 1988, shortly after the ceasefire in the “Iran–Iraq War” was accepted between Ayatollah Khomeini and Saddam Hussein (according to UN Resolution 598) — when Khomeini himself admitted to “drinking the cup of poison” (surrender) — he issued a written fascist decree ordering the annihilation of all opponents across the country by any means necessary. His main goal was to “save and protect” Islam and the capitalist system ruling Iran.
To carry out such a fatwa (Islamic decree), by Khomeini’s direct order, a secret group called the “Death Committee” was formed in the notorious Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj (west of Tehran) and in several provincial centers. Its main members included: Ebrahim Raisi (Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran / former President), Hossein-Ali Nayyeri (Sharia judge), Morteza Eshraghi (Attorney General), Mostafa Pourmohammadi (Ministry of Intelligence and Security), Alireza Avaei (Minister of Justice), and many others.
It is said that during this time, several thousand political-religious prisoners were executed and disappeared without a trace, and their bodies were buried collectively in several mass graves across the country. One of these mass graves, identified and located 12 km southeast of Tehran, is called “KHAVARAN FLOWER GARDEN” by the people.
From that time until today, the families and loved ones of the victims have not been able to hold mourning ceremonies freely and without harassment by security forces. They have constantly faced arrests, beatings, and interrogations.
All ruling governments of Iran, of every political color and form — whether fundamentalist or reformist — have remained silent about this criminal massacre and have denied its occurrence in Iran’s dreaded prisons. The “United Nations” (essentially: the Organization of United Governments), too, in line with the rulers of Iran and due to political-economic-social interests, has remained silent about this human tragedy, which is truly a kind of political holocaust.
The arrest of one of the active perpetrators associated with the “Death Committee,” named Hamid Noury (November 9, 2019), at Arlanda International Airport north of Stockholm, Sweden, under the “principle of universal jurisdiction,” largely exposed this horrific crime to the public opinion of Iran and the world.
In the course of this long and historic trial in the “Stockholm District Court,” which was held over 92 sessions and with the participation of 34 plaintiffs and 26 eyewitnesses from around the world, he — as a judiciary assistant prosecutor in prison — was charged with “participation in murder” and “crime against humanity” and was sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden by the “Court of Appeals” (December 19, 2023).
However, following a disgraceful (political-economic) deal between the governments of Iran and Sweden, Hamid Noury was released on June 15, 2024, in exchange for two Swedish prisoners and returned to Iran.

The struggles of the people will continue until the complete overthrow of the Shia-Islamic Caliphate State ruling Iran, from top to bottom.
DOWN WITH THE SHIA-ISLAMIC STATE RULING IRAN!
WE NEITHER FORGIVE NOR FORGET!