1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners
A series of mass executions of political prisoners ordered by Ayatollah Khomeini and carried out by Iranian officials took place across Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and continuing for approximately five months. The killings took place in at least 32 cities across the country, and estimates of the number killed range from 2,500 to 30,000, many of whom were also subject to torture.
Ebrahim Raisi (right) and Mostafa Pourmohammadi (left), two members of "Judges of Death" committee.
Deputy Supreme Leader Hussein Ali-Montazeri condemned the executions. He was dismissed by Khomeini and later placed under house arrest
Campaigners for justice for the executed, London, 2018.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian Islamic revolutionary, politician, and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and ended the Iranian monarchy.
Official portrait, 1981
Ruhollah Khomeini's birthplace at Khomeyn
Khomeini as a student with his friends (second from right)
Khomeini in 1938