August 19, 1979 (28 Mordad 1358 in the Iranian calendar), is a dark day in the modern history of Iran and Rojhelat. On this day, Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the newly established Islamic Republic, issued a “fatwa of jihad” against the Kurdish people. This religious-military decree met the legitimate demands of Kurds for democracy, freedom, and self-rule with brutal repression.
Following the fatwa, the army and the Revolutionary Guards launched massive assaults on towns and villages in Rojhelat. Sadeq Khalkhali, Khomeini’s infamous “hanging judge”, traveled across Kurdistan, setting up makeshift courts that lasted only a few minutes. In these sham trials, hundreds of young activists, teachers, doctors, nurses, and Peshmerga fighters were condemned to death and executed by firing squad without due process.
From Kirmaşan and Pawe to Merîwan, Sine, and Seqz, Kurdistan was drenched in the blood of its people. Men, women, and children were targeted simply for standing against religious despotism and defending human dignity.
Today, on the 45th anniversary of the fatwa and massacre, we honor the memory of those executed and reaffirm the legitimacy of the Kurdish people’s resistance. Khomeini and his regime sought to silence the Kurdish call for freedom. However, their struggle endured and became a vanguard of the wider democratic and freedom-seeking movements across Iran.
The fatwa branded the Kurds as “infidels” and “rebels”, paving the way for systematic military assaults by the army and the Revolutionary Guard. Sadeq Khalkhali, whom Khomeini appointed as chief Sharia judge, was tasked with carrying out this order. He held summary trials in various Kurdish cities, sentencing hundreds to death without legal representation or a fair trial.
This campaign of executions was part of a systematic policy to crush the Kurdish people’s aspirations for democracy and self-rule. Below is a record of some of the mass executions documented from that period:
- Kirmaşan (Dizelabad Prison): August 20 and 21, 1979
Only one day after the fatwa was issued, 20 people were executed in Dizelabad Prison.
On August 20, 1979, 11 people were executed.
Abdullah Nouri, Houshang Azizi, Mohammad Mahmoudi, Yadollah Mahmoudi, Hossein Sheibani, Hormoz Gorji-Bayani, Mozaffar Fattahi, Mohammad Azati, Mohammad Jafar Azizi, Azarnoush Mahdavian, and Asghar Behboud.
August 21, 1979 – Seven executed:
On August 21, 1979, seven more people were executed:
Haji Afrasiab Ravaei, Abdolvahab Malek-Shahi, Emadeddin Naseri, Abdolkarim Karimi, Mohammad Naqshbandi, Aziz Morad, and Morad Zolfaghari.
- Merîwan – August 25, 1979:
Nine people were executed in a field court in Merîwan:
Hossein Mostafa Soltani, Amin Mostafa Soltani, Ahmad Pir-Khozri (hospital employee), Hossein Pir-Khozri (teacher), Fayeq Azizi (city council member), Ali Dastan (Peshmerga), Bahman Akhzari (doctor and filmmaker), Jalal Nasimi, and Ahmad Qaderzadeh (from Dare-Tafi village).
- Sine – August 27, 1979:
Eleven people were condemned in a thirty-minute trial at Sine Airport and executed the same day:
Ahsan Nahid (polytechnic student, injured and brought in on a stretcher), Shahriar Nahid (medical student), Jamil Yakhchali, Naser Salimi (health department employee), Abdollah Fouladi, Mozaffar Niyazmand, Siros Manouchehri, Asghar Mobsari, Mozaffar Rahimi, Isa Pirouli (sandwich seller with no political affiliation), and Ata Zandi.
- Seqz — August 28, 1979:
The largest mass execution of this period occurred in Seqz. Twenty individuals, including military officers and civilians, were shot by a firing squad.
Those executed were Ahmad Saeedi (second lieutenant), Qader Bahador (second lieutenant), Qader Khatibi (second lieutenant), Mohammad Babamiri (sergeant first class), Naser Hadadi (sergeant), Rasoul Amini (sergeant first class), Mohammad Ghafari (sergeant), Naji Khorshidi (gendarmerie sergeant), Karim Rezaei (second sergeant, gendarmerie), Anwar Ardalan (civilian), and Seyfollah Feyzi (civilian). Ali Fakhrayi, Abdollah Bahrami, Seyed Hassan Ahadi, Mohammad Darvish Naqre’i, Karim Shirini, Abubakr Hamidi, and Ahmad Moghadam.
The mass executions of August–September 1979, launched under Khomeini’s fatwa and carried out by Sadeq Khalkhali, constitute clear crimes against humanity. These so-called trials were devoid of legal standards. Prisoners had no lawyers or right to defence, and many were not combatants. Teachers, doctors, nurses, and ordinary civilians were executed—some merely for treating the wounded or refusing to cooperate with military forces.
These atrocities were not isolated acts of violence but rather part of a systematic campaign by the Islamic Republic to break Kurdish resistance and suppress demands for democracy. Today, the memory of those executed serves as historical evidence and a moral obligation for future generations to seek truth, remembrance, and justice.