DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A new report alleges Iran is destroying or redeveloping the sites of mass graves holding those executed in a 1988 purge that killed thousands.

The joint report was released Monday by the London-based group Justice for Iran and Amnesty International.

It focuses on seven mass graves demolished, covered in garbage or redeveloped to hide evidence of the killings. Justice for Iran alleges it has identified over 120 locations in Iran that were used as mass graves then.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

International rights groups estimate as many as 5,000 people were executed by Iran near the end of its war with Iraq. Those killed include Communists, Kurdish separatists and members of an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.</s>Iran is deliberately destroying or concealing mass graves of victims from a 1988 spate of extrajudicial executions of political detainees, according to a new report by the nongovernmental watchdog Amnesty International and the London-based Justice For Iran.

The April 30 report alleges Tehran is erecting buildings or constructing roads over at least seven locations where some of the estimated 5,000 victims of the political purge are believed to have been buried.

Amnesty International experts based their assessment on satellite imagery and testimony of eyewitnesses at the sites in Iran's Gilan, East Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Khorasan Razavi, and Tehran provinces.

"The actions include: bulldozing; hiding the mass graves beneath new, individual burial plots; constructing concrete slabs, buildings, or roads over the mass graves; and turning the mass grave sites into rubbish dumps," the report states. "In at least three cases, the authorities appear to be planning actions that would further damage the mass graves."

The executions came at the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, which left more than 1 million people dead. When Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a UN-brokered cease-fire in July 1988, members of an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedeen-e Khalq, which was based in Iraq and armed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, launched a surprise attack against Iran.

The attack was used as a pretext to round up political opponents who were sent to be executed by "death commissions." International rights monitors estimate a total of 5,000 people were killed, while the Mujahedeen-e Khalq says the real figure was 30,000.

Tehran has never openly acknowledged the executions, which are believed to have been ordered by Khomeini.

"It has not become a part of history yet," Justice For Iran Executive Director Shadi Sadr told the Associated Press. "As long as those responsible for the crimes are still in power…it's not something that belongs to the past."

With reporting by AP</s>Report: Iran destroys mass graves of those executed in 1988

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A new report alleges Iran is destroying or redeveloping the sites of mass graves holding those executed in a 1988 purge that killed thousands.

The joint report was released Monday by the London-based group Justice for Iran and Amnesty International.

It focuses on seven mass graves demolished, covered in garbage or redeveloped to hide evidence of the killings. Justice for Iran alleges it has identified over 120 locations in Iran that were used as mass graves then.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

International rights groups estimate as many as 5,000 people were executed by Iran near the end of its war with Iraq. Those killed include Communists, Kurdish separatists and members of an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.</s>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Iran is destroying or redeveloping the sites of mass graves holding those executed in a 1988 wartime purge that killed as many as 5,000 people, a report released Monday alleges.

The joint report by the London-based group Justice for Iran and Amnesty International calls new attention to the mass executions carried out nearly 30 years ago, which came at the end of Iran's bloody war with Iraq.

While largely not talked about publicly since then, the executions roiled Iran anew in 2016 with the release of a recording of a top official at the time condemning the killings as "the biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic."

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

"It has not become a part of history yet," Shadi Sadr, executive director of Justice for Iran, told The Associated Press. "As long as those responsible for the crimes are still in power ... it's not something that belongs to the past."

Justice for Iran alleges in the report that it has identified over 120 locations in the country it believes were used as mass graves then. The report focuses on seven sites for which the group says it has reliable testimony, photo and video evidence and satellite imagery.

It says Iranian authorities targeted the sites in areas including Iran's Gilan, East Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Khuzestan, Khorasan Razavi and Tehran provinces in different ways.

"The actions include: bulldozing; hiding the mass graves beneath new, individual burial plots; constructing concrete slabs, buildings or roads over the mass graves; and turning the mass grave sites into rubbish dumps," the report says. "In at least three cases, the authorities appear to be planning actions that would further damage the mass graves."

The graves hold those killed in executions that came at the end of Iran's long war with Iraq, which began when Saddam Hussein invaded in 1980. By 1988, 1 million people had been killed in a conflict that featured trench warfare, Iranian human-wave attacks and chemical weapons assaults launched by Iraq.

In July 1988, Iran's then-ailing supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reluctantly accepted a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that he called "more deadly to me than poison." But within days, members of an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, then based in Iraq and heavily armed by Saddam, launched a surprise attack.

Iran repelled the assault, but the attack set the stage for sham trials of Communists, Kurdish separatists, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq members, political prisoners and others that would become known as "death commissions."

Some who appeared were asked to identify themselves. Those who responded "mujahedeen" were sent to their deaths, while others were questioned about their willingness to "clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic," according to a 1990 Amnesty report.

International rights groups estimate as many as 5,000 people were executed, while the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq puts the number at 30,000.

Iran has never fully acknowledged the executions, apparently carried out on Khomeini's orders, though some argue that other top officials were effectively in charge in the months before his 1989 death.

Sadr said evidence that has since come to light, including a posthumously released recording by Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, shows Iran had plans to execute prisoners years in advance and merely used the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq attack as an excuse.

"It's very important for the families to see some sort of truth and justice after three decades," she said.

Jon Gambrell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz.</s>Iran's top leader: US pushing Saudis toward war with Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's top leader said Monday the United States is pushing Saudi Arabia into a war against Iran.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on his website that the "Americans are trying to put Saudis and some other regional countries before Iran. If they are wise, they should not be deceived by the U.S."

Khamenei also claimed the U.S. wants to put the financial burden of confronting Iran on the shoulders of other Mideast countries, but warned "they will be hit and defeated if they confront Iran."

He urged the U.S. to leave the Middle East, saying its military presence causes insecurity and conflict.

His remarks came amid a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who expressed support for Israel and Saudi Arabia and said Iran "destabilizes this entire region."

Saudi Arabia and Iran are longtime regional rivals, and back opposing sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Iran has expanded its footprint across the region in recent years by backing Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and an array of armed groups.

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia view Iran as a regional menace, and have long called for the United States to adopt a more aggressive stance toward it.
Amnesty International and Justice for Iran accuse Iran of building over at least seven mass graves in six provinces containing thousands of bodies from executions of suspected Mujahedeen-e Khalq towards the end of the 1980-88 war.