Prisoners of War Administration Commission

From Azadegan Encyclopedia

After the increase in the number of Iraqi prisoners and the message of Imam Khomeini (RIP) on January 12, 1982, the Supreme Defense Council on January 13, 1982 confirmed the formation of the Iraqi Prisoners Administration Commission, which was initially assigned to the prime minister. And after some time, it was given to the Secretariat of the Supreme Defense Council, and the  Secretary of the Supreme Defense Council at the time, Haj Agha Mohammad Ali Nazaran, undertook its responsibility. , publicity and public relations, the special court of prisoners and the exchange committee with the presence of the appointed members of the Joint Staff of the Islamic Republic Army, the Prime Minister, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Information, the War Propaganda Headquarters and the representative of Ayatollah Hakim's office and with the formation of 38 camps in 23 cities It took care of the prisoners until the return of all the Iraqi prisoners and even after that.

The families of Iraqi prisoners

The important action of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the detention of Iraqi prisoners, and the meeting of the prisoners with their families, which was beyond the rules of the Geneva Conventions, should be recorded. This action has not happened before in any war in the world. The commission of Iraqi prisoners announced that it is ready to accept the families of Iraqi prisoners and asked the Iraqi prisoners to write in their letters to their families that it is possible to meet them. The total number of times the Iraqi prisoners had been allowed to meet their families in the camps within the period of 1982-2002 amounted to 11838 and on 322 occasions, prisoners had been permitted to see their wives in person.

Commission for the Protection of Iranian Prisoners and Missing Persons

From the beginning of the Holy Defense until the end of 1981, only the Department of Search for Prisoners and the Missing  in the Red Crescent Society was active in keeping track of of prisoners , missing persons and their  status. Due to the increase in the number of prisoners and missing persons, according to the proposal of the Red Crescent Society to the Supreme Council of Defense according to which the establishment of an authority to deal with the affairs of prisoners and missing persons was requested, the aforementioned council approved the formation of a commission for the protection of Iranian prisoners and missing persons in the meeting dated October 9,1983. The commission was formed in October 1985. The responsibility of this commission was given to Mr. Seyyed Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, and subsequently, in the meeting dated September 30th, 1987, the Supreme Defense Council approved that the commission should be placed under the supervision of the current secretary of the Supreme Defense Council, Haj Agha Mohammad Ali Nazaran, with the supervision of Mr. Seyyed Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri as before.

Duties of the Commission for the Protection of Iranian Prisoners and Missing Persons

- Making policies, determination of strategies, returning the Iranian prisoners and the corpses of the martyred prisoners, elucidating the status of the missing, elucidating the latest status of the refugees (refugee) and official announcement of the ratified proposals to the commission members for necessary action and monitoring and follow-up.

- Preparation and standardization of various lists of prisoners and missing persons with the cooperation of commission members and relevant authorities.

- Preparation of the negotiation agenda and active participation in the negotiations with the Iraqi authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations in the capitals of two countries (Tehran, Baghdad and Khosravi-Manzariyeh border), and in Switzerland, Geneva and New York.

- Carrying out the actions pertaining to exchange of  Iranian prisoners (the LCs) with Iraqi prisoners from June 26, 1981 to May 15, 2023, when the last group of Iraqi prisoners returned to their country.

Organizations and institutions that are members of the Commission for the Protection of Iranian Prisoners and Missing Persons, which were included or excluded at different times:

Red Crescent Society (Department of Search for Missing Persons), Prime Minister, 1st and 2nd Departments of the Joint Staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Martyr Foundation of the Islamic Revolution, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information, War Propaganda Headquarters, Organization of Veterans of the Islamic Revolution armed forces (army, air force, navy law enforcement and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Information Protection Organization, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ghods Force and the headquarters of Shohada Meraj.

After the dissolution of the Supreme Council of Defense in 1989, the two commissions for the administration of Iraqi prisoners and the commission for the protection of Iranian prisoners and missing persons were placed under the supervision of the General Office of Information Protection of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and since 1996, these two commissions have been in the form of a group under the title of POW Commissions. And in 2012, the commissions in question were transferred to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Publications and Values ​​of the Holy Defense , and the Organization of the Documents and Records of the Holy Defense [1].

Letter writing

The number of   exchanged letters between Iranian prisoners and their families should be recorded in the form of a photo.

  • The number of letters sent by Iranian prisoners in Iraqi camps to their families in Iran, amounted  to 2,189,600 letters.
  • The number of letters sent by families to Iranian prisoners in Iraqi camps amounted to 3,434,554 letters.
  • In total 5,624,154  letters were exchanged.

See also

Bibliography

  1. Shah Hosseini, Majid (1402). Main member of team of negotiation and exchange  of prisoners and missing persons commissions.

Majid Shah Hosseini