In recent weeks, the clerical regime ruling Iran has once again revealed its true nature: a system that survives only through executions, repression, and the destruction of evidence of its own crimes. From the gallows of Ghezel Hesar prison to the bulldozers desecrating Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, the mullahs are engaged in a desperate campaign to silence the past and terrorize the present. But these very crimes expose the regime’s deepest fear: the resilience of the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
A Machinery of Death
The statistics are staggering. In July alone, at least 114 people were executed. During just the first year of Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidency—presented as a “moderate” by the regime—over 1,630 executions were carried out. Only weeks ago, two members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, were executed. Fourteen other political prisoners face the same fate, condemned solely for their affiliation with the PMOI.
This is not law; it is murder disguised as justice. It is also a continuation of the darkest chapters of the regime’s history. In the 1980s, tens of thousands were executed. The 1988 massacre, in which Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa, a religious decree by the regime’s then-Supreme Leader, unleashed the slaughter of 30,000 political prisoners—most of them PMOI members—was recognized by UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman in 2024 as genocide and a crime against humanity. Yet those who orchestrated it remain in power, emboldened by impunity.
11) Mass Graves in 36 Cities
From the beginning, Khomeini and his subordinates implemented a systematic plan to bury the bodies of the martyrs in secret mass graves. The long term goal was to so annihilate the #MEK as to leave no sign of them whatsoeverhttps://t.co/Rvo0FLW34K pic.twitter.com/JO2vCBxtLy— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 28, 2020
Erasing the Evidence of Genocide
In August, the regime announced its plan to turn Section 41 of Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery—the resting place of many massacred PMOI members—into a parking lot. Bulldozers tore through the graves of martyrs whose only crime was defiance of tyranny. This is not an isolated act; graves have been destroyed in Tabriz, Ahvaz, Mashhad, and elsewhere. Under international law, such destruction of evidence constitutes a continuation of the crime itself.
The message is unmistakable: the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his circle know that their crimes are indictable. Their aim is to erase the physical memory of genocide before the day of reckoning arrives. Yet memory cannot be obliterated. The Resistance has documented secret grave sites across 36 counties. Each desecrated grave strengthens the collective will to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Rebellious youth respond with fire after Iranian regime destroys graves of political prisoners https://t.co/SmYqZrJpgF
— People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 22, 2025
Why Now? The Regime’s Fear of Overthrow
The intensification of executions and desecration reflects not strength, but weakness. Iran today is a society on the brink. Millions face electricity blackouts, lack of clean water, soaring prices, and empty tables. Protests erupt daily, from Shiraz to Kazerun, with cries of “Freedom!” met only with bullets.
For the clerical regime, the only way to stave off uprisings and delay its downfall is through ruthless repression at home and exporting crises abroad. Isolated more than ever regionally and internationally, it has escalated executions and intensified its machinery of fear to block the tide of revolt. At the same time, it fixates on the PMOI, seeking to prevent Iran’s restless youth from joining their ranks and to spread terror across society. Yet these very measures expose its weakness: a fragile system whose real war is not with foreign powers but with the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
Every execution, every destroyed grave, and every silenced voice reveals not strength but the regime’s decline. From “No to Execution Tuesdays” hunger strikes to nationwide protests, the will of the Iranian people remains unbroken. The mullahs may try to erase history, but they cannot escape justice. The time has come for the world to stand with the Iranian people and their Resistance.
