The Great Massacre of 1988: Causes and Consequences, Nasser Mohajer, March 7, 2021

Berkeley Lectures Series Presents:

A Lecture by
Nasser Mohajer

Topic:

The Great Massacre of 1988: Causes and Consequences

Date: Sunday, March 7, 2021
Time: 11am (PST), 10:30pm (Tehran); 7pm (UK)

Place: BLS Virtual Conference Room

This talk is on the Great Massacre of summer 1988, when thousands of political prisoners affiliated to the People’s Mojahedin Khalq, other non- orthodox Shi’ite forces and leftist political groups were summarily executed inside prisons throughout Iran. The Great Massacre was the second act of the violent repression against non-Khomeinist forces that started right after the June 20 1981 peaceful demonstration called by the Mojahedin and attended by political formations of all stripes which was ruthlessly crushed by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). In the following weeks, the arrest, imprisonment and execution of thousands of opponents and adversaries of the Islamic Republic who did not yield under torture and extreme pressure continued.
This pattern of systematic destruction of remaining opposition forces within society and prisons took place in two acts with an interval of roughly 3 years. It culminated in the Great Massacre of summer 1988, which marks a clear case of a crime against Humanity. This talk will focus on the background to the Massacre and its legacy to the present day.

Nasser Mohajer is an independent scholar of modern Iranian history. He has authored many books and written numerous articles on contemporary Iran, including on the prison systems of both the Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic Republic, women’s movements for equal rights and histories of the Iranian left.
He works with Noghteh Resources on Iran. He has written or co-written widely in both English and Persian, and is the author of several articles and books. His articles have appeared in English, French and Persian academic Journals: Voices of a Massacre: Untold Stories of Life and Death in Iran, 1988; The Road Not Taken (Narrative on the Life & Times of Iranian Feda’i Guerrillas), (2 volumes); In the Name of Law (Bijan Jazani & Hassan Zia Zarifi in Military Court); Being Known and Yet Unknown; Bagher Momeni (A Political and Intellectual Life), (2 volumes); The Inescapable Escape (Book 1 & 2); Crime & Punishment (On the Assassination of Dissidents in Iran); Iranian Women’s Uprising (March 8th 1979) in two volumes, (2013) with Mahnaz Matin; Islamic Republic of Iran (Paradoxes of Reform and Prospects of Rebellion); The Book of Prison (An Anthology of Prison Life in the Islamic Republic of Iran) in two volumes; Noghteh Review (No 1-9).

Lecture in Persian

Category: Current Events, History