Amnesty International accused Iranian authorities on Friday of “destroying vital evidence” of crimes against humanity by converting a section of Tehran’s main cemetery containing graves of executed dissidents into a parking lot.
“This is another grim reminder of systemic impunity for the mass executions of the 1980s,” Amnesty Iran said on X, adding that the graves in Lot 41 of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery were being bulldozed with official permission.
“By destroying them, authorities are concealing evidence of their crimes and hampering the rights to truth, justice and reparations.”
Tehran’s deputy mayor Davoud Goudarzi admitted last week that the plot had been cleared to provide parking for visitors to nearby graves, saying permission was granted by provincial authorities.
Lot 41 contains the remains of members of opposition groups, including the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), as well as Baha’is and others executed in the early years after the 1979 revolution.
Rights groups and families of the victims say the site is a crime scene that requires forensic preservation.
“Destruction of these graves is a serious human rights violation as it hinders future investigations into the mass executions carried out by the Islamic Republic,” Shahin Milani of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center told Iran International this week.
Lot 41, long known as the “section of the executed” or “curse-land,” has been under tight surveillance for decades.
Authorities have previously destroyed or desecrated headstones of victims from the 1980s and of more recent unrest, including the 2022 protests.
Amnesty renewed its call for Iran to “stop the destruction and desecration of graves” and to respect families’ rights to bury their loved ones with dignity.
