Vigil Union Square NYC 2/20/2010 against executions & support of democracy in Iran

The event was organized by the Solidarity Committee for Advancement of Democracy in Iran (SCADI) in New York city, a members supported group dedicated to support the secular democratic movement and human rights in Iran.
After the 1979 revolution in Iran, Khomeini and his supporters executed thousands of Iranian patriots and supporters of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi government, politicians, businessmen, members of minority religions, artists, military officers and commenders, and members of other political parties. Most of them within hours of their arrest and without any trials.
1988 executions of political prisoners in Iran (Persian: ۱۳۶۷ اعدام زندانیان سیاسی در تابستان) refers to the systematic execution of "thousands" of political prisoners across Iran by the government of Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and lasting about five months. The majority of the prisoners killed were supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, although thousands of supporters of other groups, including the Fedaian and the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were also executed.
The killings have been called "an act of violence unprecedented in Iranian history — unprecedented in form, content, and intensity."The exact number of prisoners executed remains unclear. Amnesty International recorded the names of over 2,000 political prisoners reportedly killed during this time,[4] but Iranian opposition groups suggest that the number of prisoners executed was far higher, and as many as 30,000 prisoners may have been executed.
Great care was taken to keep the killings secret, and the government of Iran denies their having taken place, but with the large scale of the operation word leaked out from survivors. Explanations offered for why the prisoners were killed vary. Perhaps the most common is that it was in retaliation for the 1988 attack on the western borders of Iran by the PMOI Mujahedin, although this happened months after the executions had begun and does not explain the executions of members of other leftists groups who opposed the Mujahedin invasion

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