France: Rally for victims of repression in Iran in 1988

AFP

July 31 - About 150 people gathered Saturday in Paris to honor victims of repression in Iran in 1988 and those of clashes in Camp Ashraf in Iraq

in 2009, a member of the Iranian opposition in exile

told an AFP journalist over the telephone.

The protesters waved Iranian flags and banners in violet, as well as portraits of Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), whose main component is the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). In a message read by a participant, Maryam Rajavi urged the international community "to establish a special tribunal under UN auspices, in order not to leave unpunished those responsible for the massacre of 1988, one of the biggest political crimes since the Second World War.

The former bishop of Evreux, Bishop Jacques Gaillot, also claimed that "justice is done," speaking in front of pictures of dozens of victims of executions.

From August 1988 to February 1989, Iranian authorities conducted mass executions of political prisoners. Nearly 5,000 prisoners were killed, according to Amnesty International. The NCRI evokes the figure of 30,000 deaths.

Demonstrators also paid tribute to victims of clashes in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, which left 11 dead and hundreds injured in July 2009, according to the NCRI. Camp Ashraf, located 80 km north of Baghdad, was built in 1980s and accommodates 3,500 opponents of the Iranian regime