Saeed Masouri Warns of a Repetition of the 1988 Massacre: “A Crime in Progress”
19-July-2025
Category: Prisoners
19 July 2025
News category: Prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement – Following a violent attempt by security forces on Wednesday, 16 July, to forcibly transfer Saeed Masouri—the longest-held political prisoner of the Islamic Republic—which was thwarted by his and other political prisoners’ resistance, concerns persist over continued and escalating repressive actions.
In a statement titled “A Crime in Progress,” Saeed Masouri warned of the risk of a renewed wave of atrocities similar to the mass executions of political prisoners in the summer of 1988. He called on the international community and the Iranian people to remain vigilant and responsible toward the plight of political prisoners in Iran.
In this letter, Masouri underscores the need to resist repression, describing the intensification of executions and state violence as an act of vengeance against the people and political prisoners, and an attempt to conceal deep structural crises and the regime’s failures.
Below is the full text of the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Breathing in Confinement:
⸻
A Crime in Progress
By political prisoner Saeed Masouri – 17 July 2025
Since morning, they have tried—with countless threats, bribes, and solemn oaths—to transfer me. It is abundantly clear that this method of kidnapping within prison under the guise of transfer is not limited to me alone. It is fundamentally designed to control, isolate, and silence prisoners.
The issue at hand is not the transfer itself; it is solely and entirely about repression, repression, and yet more repression—an insistence on more killings and executions! Just like what happened in 1988, there is now a real fear that the same path may be repeated, though with different language and methods. Back then it was called the “Death Committee”; today it’s labelled “fire at will.” But this intensifying crackdown and wave of executions are not signs of power—they are confessions of the regime’s helplessness in the face of truth and the people’s will. This so-called “fire at will” is nothing but an effort to cover up the regime’s deeply rooted decay and structural collapse—an attempt to take revenge on the Iranian people and their imprisoned loved ones.
My refusal to accept the “transfer” from the exile-prison of Ghezel Hesar to another place of exile is not out of fear of relocation, nor the illusion that a few of us prisoners can stop these unlawful actions. It is solely to ensure that, unlike 1988, any massacre does not happen in silence and obscurity, but rather in full view of history and every awakened conscience! Yes—let the world hear it this time: “A crime is in progress.” And alongside it, resistance is alive! Even if all this amounts to nothing more than a warning to the people of Iran and the world that “a crime is in progress.” Sabran Bani Al-Karam! (Patience, O noble ones!)
As for me—as a political prisoner and supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)—particularly during the sacred month of Muharram and in light of the eternal message of Imam Hussein, I declare that the blood shed from his son still drips upon us, the Iranians, the Shi’a, and his followers. And woe to us if prison, exile, and executions cause us to retreat even one step in the path of freedom and dignity.
Even if our massacre is reduced to nothing more than a single news headline about that day—let it at least ensure that the crime is not buried in silence!
What an honour and privilege it would be, if all we could offer this country and our people is a state of alertness—a single warning—even at the cost of our lives! Iran and Iranians, through their legends—Siyavash, Ariobarzan—and the epics of Ferdowsi, have learned nothing but perseverance and steadfastness. And what a matchless source of pride that we have been inspired and instructed by them, as well as by the liberating Islam, the Prophet of mercy, and his companions who “though mountains may move, they remain steadfast.”
“Praise be to God, who has guided us to this. We would not have been guided had God not guided us.”
— Saeed Masouri
July 2025