Mr ATA Allah Mowafaghi was born in Mahabad on 20/06/1342.
He went to school in the same city.
He was a successful student at vocational high school.
On the 28. November 1981 he was arrested without any charges and he was put in prison in Mahabad.
He was never a member of any political organisation or parties. After suffering two months of torture he and 14 other lads were summary executed on 18. January 1982. It took only 40 days from his arrest until he was murdered.
Itelaat News paper on 20. January 1982 published a statement from Revolutionary court regarding their execution.
This is the transcript from the news paper:
In the name of Allah – the punishment upon anyone fighting against God and his messenger, and whom are promoting corruption is death. “Quran”.
15 members of KDP an outlawed organisation who have been participating in armed struggle and demonstrations against Islamic republic, who they have burned revolutionary guard and military personnel in Darelek, Kosekerez, Enderwash, Tepkey Sefayy, Berdereshan. Furthermore they have participated in armed skirmishes in Mahabad in districts of Meydan Ardi, Chwarray Azadi, Meydani Askan, and against police station.
According to Islamic law they were infidels and they were sentenced to death by firing squad.
Their sentence was carried out on 18. January 1982.
The names of the felons are as follows:
1. Sharif Yousefi son of Ahmad
2. Rahman Ali Rast son of Ali
3. Jafeer Lale Abbasi son of Qadir
4. Rahman Soware son of Qheder
5. Mohammad Hussein Poor son of Aziz
6. Ali Bloury son of Mostafa
7. Khosrow Khawerian son of Ibrahim
8. Aziz Haj Abdollah son of Abdoullah
9. Kamal Mogami son of Mohammad
10. Aziz Sabonchi son of Mostafa
11. ATA Allah Mowafaqi son of Mohammad Khalil
12. Rasool Hassan Zadeh son of Mohammad
13. Sayed Hamid Husseini son of Sayed Ibrahim
14. Hassan Bamdad son of Motalib
15. Rezgar Khatemi son of Yousef
16 years old Ata Allah Mowafaghi wrote a last testament from jail to his family.
A transcript of his will is as follows:
My dearest parents. I am writing to you in the last moments of my life. I just wanted to say that I have always loved you and I will love you for ever.
I hope you forgive me and give me your blessing.
Best wishes to my sisters Nasrin and Nashmil, I hope they forgive me. I am asking for forgiveness from families and neighbours.
I am praying for them and I hope they will live a prosperous life.
I pray for the safety of my sisters to God and I hope they will have a wonderful life ahead of them.
Glory to our lord I am humble and blessed at his presence.
I bear no grudges against anyone and I forgive them all.
I ask our employees to forgive me if I have ever sayed or done anything wrong to them.
My watch, money, cloths, ID card and my pen are at revolutionary guards custody.
Yours for ever
ATA Allah Mowafaghi
18. January 1982
Unfortunately shortly after his execution his heart broken mother died from heart failure. The events were unfolding so quickly that families were unable to start any legal process to prevent the faith of their loved ones. Mr Khalil Mowafaghi was an educated and respectful man. He was familiar with criminal justice and laws and he immediately started correspondence with authorities in hope to receive any answers about his son. He got a letter from his school where it was confirmed that ATA Allah was a very quiet and harmless boy. He then gets a petition from the inhabitants of Mahabad confirming that ATA was indeed innocent and he was wrongly executed.
Later he contacted the office of Ayatollah Montezeri and Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Shirazi complaining about revolutionary guards action in relation to his son.
The office of Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Shirazi referred him to Hojat Islam Sayed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad who was public prosecutor at department of control and constitution.
His office gave Mr Mowafaghi a letter to take with him to present at the control and constitution department. Here is a transcript of the letter:
In the name of God.
Dear Hojat Islam Sayed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad!
Peace be upon you.
The bearer of this letter has an issue who is going to tell upon arrival.
We know you are quiet busy but the problem for the gentleman is of such a nature that has created enormous difficulties in their lives.
We hope you can assist them in their endeavour and resolve it to the best of your ability.
Best regards from Mr Shirazi.
Signature
Mohsen Sanei
Secretary
At the time there were two mainstream of thinking within the regime.
Ayatollah Motezeri believed the revolution was meant to stop injustice and was against the methods of the previous regime. But Ayatollah Khomeini believed in order to prevail and establish true Islam you should eliminate anyone standing in your way and by doing so you would inevitably have some collateral damage. Those two mainstream ideologies had many disagreements on various issue.
It seems Mr Mohaghegh Damad was able to send a letter to the revolutionary court and asked for the fate of the victims and for the release of their bodies to their families.
At the time Mr Mowafaghi was lucky that his complain was accepted, since Ayatollah Montezeri was a moderate cleric it was possible to make such a complain. Nowadays you may get into troubles if you challenge your fate with authorities.
A commission was dispatched to Oromiye and it asked for the release of the bodies of the victims to their families. Under the supervision of the commission the body of the victims were after 7 months exhumed in a location close to the Oromyie Lake and later put to the rest at the Rezwan cemetery park. In a rare occasion we have a letter from the revolutionary court where it confirms the fate of the 15 young men whom were executed by direct order of the court.
The revolutionary court gives an order on 03. 08. 1982 ref. 2976-6 to the administrator of the Rezwan cemetery to release the documents regarding the burial of the victims.
Below are names of the victims:
In the name of God
Revolutionary court of west Azerbaijan
To Rezwan cemetery administration.
Please release the documents related to the burial of the below mentioned victims to their families in order to register them as deceased at national registry.
1. Rahman Ali Rast son of Ali
2. Jafeer Lale Abbasi son of Qadir
3. Rahman Sisewari son of Khedir
4. Mohammad Hussein Poor son of Aziz
5. Ali Bloury son of Mostafa
6. Khosrow Khawerian son of Ibrahim
7. Aziz Haji Abdoullah son of Abdollah
8. Kamal Mogami son of Mohammad
9. Aziz Sabonchi son of Mostafa
10. ATA Allah Mowafaghi son of Mohammad Khalil
11. Rasool Hassan Zadeh son of Mohammad
12. Sayed Hamid Husseini son of Ibrahim
13. Hassan Bamdad son of Motalib
14. Rezgar Khatemi son of Yousef
15. Sharif Yousefi son of Ahmed
Signed by revolutionary court on 03.08.1982
We at Nemiran foundation have received a letter which is handwritten by Mr Mohammad Khalil Mowafaghi . In the letter he bravely attacks the Islamic regime and telling them that the killing of his son was not in accordance with Islamic law and values. This is in spite of the claims of the Islamic republic in which they accuse them of being infidels and against God and his messenger. In another part of the letter Mr Mowafaghi is calling his son a martyr and is asking for bringing to justice people who have falsely brought accusations upon his son. He insists on the innocence of his son and requests justice for him.
Her is a transcript of the letter which was given to the commission at West Azerbaijan:
In the name of God, the gracious and merciful
Dear commission in West Azerbaijan
Following the unlawful execution of my innocent son ATA Allah Mowafaghi , who went to second class at vocational high school together with 14 other youngsters on 18 of January 1982, 15 families went to Teheran and visited the office of Ayatollah Montezeri and Ayatollah Shirazi and Hojat Islam Mohaghegh Damad and delivered our complain.
The civil court in Oromyie received our complain and sent it back to concerned authorities.
After seven months of investigation the judge ordered the exhumation of 15 bodies from an undisclosed location and the burial of them at Rezwan cemetery at location 6. The government investigator found no evidence of any crimes committed by those youngsters and could affirm that the allegations were false. It was decided that the investigator would come to Mahabad and speak to the families of the victims and those victims should be recognised as martyrs. Unfortunately some people did prevent that decision. It is now established beyond any doubt that my son was wrongfully arrested, falsely accused and later the court which ordered his execution did never investigate the case properly prior to his execution. The list of documents that have been provided to authorities:
1. The witness of the clerics and our neighbours regarding his character
2. The request for the return of his case dated: 19.12.1981 ref: 385916
3. His diploma for the 1979/80/81 from his school, and his last exam on November 1981.
4. The book preyer and God’s will with his picture, in which both questions and answers are written by ATA Allah
5. Letter from his school no. 1845 on 19.12.1981 in response to letter no. 385676 dated 19.12.1982 from the ministry of education
6. Copy of his national ID in which there is confirmation of his Islamic good standing
7. His last will is a testimony of his Islamic faith in God where he forgives everyone and preys for people. In spite of his will we have never received his belongings as his last wish.
8. A copy of my national ID which shows I am taking my Islamic responsibilities seriously
9. letters from Molla Abdol Karim Sharikendi and other religious clerics who participated in the unification week.
10. Letter from Ayatollah Montezeri to the revolutionary court in Oromiye
11. Letter from Ayatollah Shirazi to the Hojat Islam Mohaghegh Damad, the public prosecutor from the department of control and constitution.
12. Letter no. 297661 dated 03.08.1982 from revolutionary court to the Rezwan cemetery.
13. Letter from Rezwan cemetery no. 629 dated 26. 08.1982 regarding the burial of the victims.
14. The copy of national ID of his mother Haji Sayedzadeh Fateme Seidi.
A mother who has lost her greatest love in her life to false accusations and who wants to clear the name of her son from those allegations and demands justice to be fulfilled.
She insists that no Islamic law was applied in the case of her son and demands retribution of the perpetrators and demands compensation for punitive damages.
Signed by
Haji Mohammad Khalil the father of ATA Allah Mowafaghi and his mother Haji Fateme Seidi
They have used Islamic calendar of 1403 of Rebie Awal 28.
