The World : Killed All Dissidents: Iran

In an admission that appeared to dash any chance for the survival of thousands of political prisoners believed held in Iranian jails, Tehran’s interior minister said that all dissidents known to the government have been executed. In an interview with an Arabic weekly published in Paris, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi said that Iran had put to death all prisoners belonging to the Iraqi-based Moujahedeen, Iran’s main opposition group. The group invaded Iran last July, shortly after Tehran accepted a cease-fire in its war with Iraq. “They declared war on the people. Because they killed, they were killed,” Mohtashemi said. The Moujahedeen asserts that 12,000 of its members have been taken prisoner and executed since August. U.N. and Amnesty International reports have put the number of executions in the last six months at more than 1,000.