One of Lajevardi's bodyguards was also killed and several other armed agents were wounded. After an intense clash, the Resistance units overcame the heavily armed bodyguards who opened fire on them from several directions and left the scene.
The operation coincided with the tenth anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in which more than 30,000 political prisoners mainly from the Mojahedin were summarily executed on Khomeini's direct orders.
Some of Lajevardi's crimes against humanity are as follows:
1. As the Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran and the governor of Evin prison, and acting on Khomeini's personal orders, Lajevardi was directly responsible for the execution of tens of thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s, mainly from the Mojahedin. On February 8, 1982, Lajevardi commanded the attack on the Mojahedin's central base in Tehran. He appeared on the state television that evening holding in his arms the infant son of Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi and his wife, Ashraf, over the dead bodies of Ashraf and Moussa Khiabani, Mr. Rajavi's deputy in Iran.
2. In prison, Lajevardi raped or executed hundreds of women, who included teenage girls and elderly mothers.
3. He personally tortured political prisoners and fired coup de grace at executed prisoners.
4. Lajevardi personally tortured and executed Mrs. Sakineh Mohammadi Ardehali (Mother Zakeri), 60, Mrs. Akram Islami, 70, Mrs. Malek-Taj Hakamian, 50, Mrs. Arasteh Qolivand (Mother Shayesteh), 57, Mrs. Rezvan Rafipour (Mother Rezvan), and Mrs. Massoumeh Shadmani (Mother Kabiri), Mrs. Massoumeh Azodanlou (younger sister of Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi), Mrs. Zohreh Tabrizi, Mrs. Qodsi Mohammadi and Mrs. Shahla Hariri-Motlaq.
5. He was among the main planners of Gorhardasht Prison and expanded solitary cells in order to intensifty the torture of political prisoners and break their resistance.
6. Lajevardi formed criminal gangs and death squads consisting of Revolutionary Guards and criminal agents in order to assault and assassinate Mojahedin activists and political prisoners after their release from jail.
7. He made it a common practice in prisons to torture prisoners in front of their parents, husbands or wives and children.
8. Lajevardi devised a plan to set up forced labor camps for political prisoners on a nation-wide scale.
Following today's operation, the clerical regime immediately sent in large contingents of Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry agents to the area to seal off the Bazaar and search cars and passers-by. Several people have been arrested. Stringent security measures were put in place throughout the capital.
The news of Lajevardi's death in one of the most crowded Tehran districts spread rapidly throughout the capital, compelling the regime to announce the news in the midday radio and television news broadcast. He was described as "a selfless soldier of the Imam and the Revolution and an aide to the Leader [Khamenei], who fought on many fronts and headed the State Prisons Organization and was responsible for prisoners' reeducation."
Lajevardi continued his crimes under various covers and one of them was located in Tehran's Bazaar.
Mojahedin Command Headquarters inside Iran
August 23, 1998
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