; Whereas, according to Amnesty International, the majority of those killed were supporters of the MEK/PMOI ; Whereas the 1988 massacre victims, many of them women, had been imprisoned merely for participating in peaceful street protests and for possessing political reading material, many of whom had already served or were currently serving prison sentences; Whereas, according to Amnesty International, hundreds of members and supporters of other political groups … were also among the execution victims ; Whereas later waves of executions targeted religious minorities, such as members of the Baha’i faith, many of whom were often subjected to brutal torture before they were killed; Whereas, in a disclosed audiotape, the late Hussein Ali Montazeri, a grand ayatollah who served as Khomeini’s chief deputy, noted the regime’s efforts to target the MEK and said that the 1988 mass killings were the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us ; Whereas the families of the executed were denied information about their loved ones and were prohibited from mourning them in public; Whereas the November 2, 2007, report from Amnesty International concluded that there should be no impunity for human rights violations, no matter where or when they took place. The 1988 executions should be subject to an independent, impartial investigation, and all those responsible should be brought to justice and receive appropriate penalties ; Whereas, beginning in 2017 and continuing for several months after protests erupted in more than 100 cities, the Iranian regime suppressed such protests with repressive forces that resulted in at least 25 deaths and 4,000 arrests, including decorated wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was later executed in September 2020 amidst international outrage