Khatami's staunch defense of Butcher of Evin and notorious criminal against humanity reveals his own nature
Mullahs' President shows hollowness of "rule of law" and "civil society" rhetoric

While reports from inside Iran indicate that the punishment of Evin's chief executioner has been met with a wave of joy and enthusiasm by the Iranian people across the country, mullahs' President Khatami brazenly defended this infamous executioner who played a direct role in torturing and executing tens of thousands of political prisoners. He described the bloodthirsty Lajevardi as "a servant of the people." In becomes clear, therefore, that for Khatami such killers as Lajevardi embody "rule of law" and "civil society."

In so doing, Khatami displayed the extent of the blow the clerical regime has received, as well as his inhuman nature and complicity in the massacre of political prisoners, when as the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, he was assigned by Khomeini to the task of justifying and whitewashing these crimes.

Khatami called on the Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry agents to "quickly identify the perpetrators of this crime so that they are punished for their heinous conduct."

Lajevardi, carried out tens of thousands of political executions and more than 170 forms of physical and psychological tortures during the mullahs' rule and was among the most infamous criminals against humanity in the second half of the 20th century. Not only in Iran, but for all human rights activists and advocates across the world, Lajevardi's name has been synonymous with savage tortures, executions and human rights violations.

Other clerical leaders, including Hashemi Rafsanjani and Majlis Speaker Ali-Akbar Nateq-Nouri, described Lajevardi's death as "a major calamity" and "a great loss" for the regime, acknowledging the severity of the blow to the mullahs' regime.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 24, 1998

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