A series of mass executions of political prisoners ordered by Ayatollah Khomeini and carried out by Iranian officials, took place across Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and continuing for approximately five months.
3 August – Ali Khamenei left as the president of Iran. 3 June – Ruhollah Khomeini passes away and Ali Khamenei succeeds him the next day.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in July 1988 ordering the execution of imprisoned opponents, including those who had already been tried and were serving their prison terms. This was the beginning of what turned out to be the biggest massacre of political prisoners since World War II.
Previously, as deputy prosecutor general of Tehran, Raisi participated in a so-called 'death commission' that ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.
They were Mehdi Rahimi, the military commander of Tehran, Reza Naji, the military governor of Isfahan, Nematollah Nassiri, the head of SAVAK, and Manuchehr Khosrodad, an air force general. All four generals were executed by firing squad on the roof of the then Ayatollah Khomeini's headquarters on 15 February.
Its causes continue to be the subject of historical debate and are believed to have stemmed partly from a conservative backlash opposing the westernization and secularization efforts of the Western-backed Shah, as well as from a more popular reaction to social injustice and other shortcomings of the ancien régime.
The revolution also led to the replacement of the Imperial State of Iran by the present-day Islamic Republic of Iran, as the monarchical government of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was superseded by the theocratic government of Ruhollah Khomeini, a religious cleric who had headed one of the rebel factions.
Hanging is the only common method of execution in 21st-century Iran, usually carried out in prison. Compared to other countries that use hanging (such as Japan or Malaysia) with a complex gallows designed to drop the condemned and break the neck, Iran's gallows are very simple and inexpensive.
In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa condemning Salman Rushdie to death for alleged blasphemy in his novel “The Satanic Verses.” Salman Rushdie's “The Satanic Verses,” which was published in September 1988, was banned in several Muslim countries and eventually triggered violent protests.
In Sunni Islam, fatwas are strictly advisory; in Shiite Islam, practitioners are obligated to follow the fatwas of the religious leader of their choosing.
The Arabic word fatwa can mean “explanation” or “clarification.” It refers, in simple terms, to an edict or ruling by a recognized religious authority on a point of Islamic law.
Khomeini reign. Ayatollah Khomeini was the ruler of (or at least dominant figure in) Iran for a decade, from the founding of the Islamic Republic in April 1979 until his death in mid-1989.
Operation Praying Mantis was an attack on 18 April 1988 by the United States Armed Forces within Iranian territorial waters in retaliation for the Iranian naval mining of international waters in the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War and the subsequent damage to an American warship.
Iran-Iraq War, (1980–88), prolonged military conflict between Iran and Iraq during the 1980s.
He abrogated what Satan had cast upon his tongue in referring to their gods: 'They are the high-flying cranes whose intercession is accepted [sic]'. [Replacing those words with] the words of God when Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other are mentioned: 'Should you have males and He females [as offspring]!
Controversial elements of The Satanic Verses
The title The Satanic Verses immediately sparked vehement protest against Rushdie's book. The title refers to a legend of the Prophet Muhammad; a few verses were supposedly spoken by him as part of the Qur'an which praised the pagan goddesses of Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat.
Muhammad Mashuq ibn Ally wrote that "The Satanic Verses is about identity, alienation, rootlessness, brutality, compromise, and conformity. These concepts confront all migrants, disillusioned with both cultures: the one they are in and the one they join.
Death sentences for drug-related crimes, efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth), moharabeh (waging war against god), and other non-lethal offenses violate international human rights law that limits the use of capital punishment to the “most serious crimes.” Amidst a high number of executions for drug-related charges in ...
Adultery and sex outside out of marriage are illegal under Iranian law and carry the death penalty. Relationships between non-Muslim men and Muslim women are illegal, although few Westerners have been prosecuted. If a Muslim woman is found in a relationship with a non-Muslim man, she may be sentenced to be whipped.
This year, the authorities have also significantly increased the number of overall executions for all crimes, with at least 282 people executed in total so far in 2023 – this is nearly double the number of executions that were recorded at the beginning of June last year.
Sunni and Shi'i are the two largest branches of Islam, with the overwhelming majority of Iranians practicing Shi'i Islam. About 90 percent of Iranians practice Shi'ism, the official religion of Iran. [i] By contrast, most Arab states in the Middle East are predominantly Sunni.
Islam was brought to Iran via Arab-Islamic conquest in 650 AD and has played a shifting, anomalous role in this nation-state ever since.
In 1935 the Iranian government requested those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia "Iran," which is the name of the country in Persian. The suggestion for the change is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of the Nazis.
In other words, the Iranian Revolution turned out to be successfully nonviolent because, unlike previous revolutions, it was a global affair in which the revolutionaries intentionally and strategically sought to bring the world into their struggle against the state.