Amnesty  International's  Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East Diana Eltahawy told Iran International in exclusive comments that the controversy whether Iranian officials at the time knew about the massacre of thousands of Iranian political prisoners in 1988 "seems to be intended to detract attention from Amnesty International’s findings regarding the commission of ongoing crimes against humanity."

The controversy started after a member of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Regional Office (MENARO), reiterated on social media and in a TV program that -- then Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi was aware of the prison killings and a video surfaced on social media suggesting that he evaded a question by an Austrian TV regarding the massacre.

A Pro-Mousavi website, Zeitoun, questioned the integrity of the video and said that Mousavi was responding to a question about an attack on the Iranian borders by Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) militia in 1988. Later, a more complete version of the video appeared on social media which showed Mousavi was in fact asked about the prison killing but his answer was about the attack.  

Mousavi, a leading figure in the regime, became an opposition leader in 2009 when his bid for presidency was scuffled by a dubious vote count that declared the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner. Mousavi led protests against the results but in 2011 he was eventually put under house arrest, where he is now.

Some regard him as the main, genuine opposition leader, while others say he does not oppose the essence of the theocracy ruling Iran and ultimately would not stand for complete change.

According to Elthahawy, Zeitoun on August 31 carried an extract of a private email written by an Amnesty International staff member, Ann Harrison, then Senior Advocate in the International Advocacy Programme, dating back to March 2019, adding that "the email was written in Harrison's personal capacity and was not intended for publication. The extract presents a view on the video clip by former prime minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi, … but is in no way communicating the organization's position."

Eltahawy further reiterated in an email interview with Iran International’s Shahid Alavi that Amnesty's position on the video clip and other issues related to the 1988 prison killings can be found on its official website in these two documents : Iran: Blood-soaked secrets: Why Iran’s 1988 prison massacres are ongoing crimes against humanity , issued on 4 December 2018, and press release Iran: Top government officials distorted the truth about 1988 prison massacres, issued on 12 December 2018.

The AI revealed in 2018 that it had sent letters to all Iranian officials including Mousavi telling them about the massacre and called on them to do whatever they can to stop it.

According to Eltahawy, these two documents represent Amnesty’s official and only position in relation to the 1988 prison killings, and are the result of the organization’s rigorous research, policy and legal analysis and review processes in line with the organization’s Quality Assurance Framework.

Meanwhile, she stressed that there is no separate "Iran desk" at Amnesty International. "The Iran team is part of the Middle East and North Africa Regional Office (MENARO) at Amnesty International," she said.

In the Summer of 1988, a year before Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini died, he set up a committee of four that later became known as the "death team," and ordered them to kill all leftist and Mojahedin members in Iranian prisons who insisted on their political positions.

Most of those prisoners had already served the unfair jail sentences handed to them by revolutionary courts.

As members of all factions in the regime were involved in the killings, the government never allowed reports about the massacre to be published by local media. However, as a few of those involved in the prison killing including former Intelligence Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi later came out and said they take pride in having been involved in the massacre, the issue gradually came into public view.

Before the new revelations, Mousavi had always said he did not know about the massacre. However, in 2010 he said that the massacre was an "ugly criminal act." When it was revealed that former President Rafsanjani had said he and Mousavi were the members of a group who knew about the matter, Mousavi said: "At that time, I was committed to defend the totality of the regime as its Prime Minister."

Former Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri had said that he warned Khomeini and the death team that they would be remembered as criminals, but Khomeini removed Montazeri from his post. Iran's current leader Ali Khamenei has said in an interview with Resalat newspaper in 1988 that political prisoners "deserved" execution.

According to survivors' reports and documents that have been published in recent years, at least 5,000 members and sympathizers of Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, leftist prisoners and members of other parties were killed during the massacre in Iranian prisons in 1988.