To date, according to the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, "it appears that there is a tendency to extend the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Courts to all offenses which in the opinion of the authorities are not punished severely enough.
The general goal of the court is thought to have been to seek vengeance against officials of Shah's regime (particularly SAVAK) – as many revolutionaries had lost friends and family members at the hands of the government – and to eliminate military and civilian leaders who might foment a counter-revolution against Islamic rule.
The first four death sentences were issued by Hojjat al-Islam Sadegh Khalkhali, approved by Khomeini, and carried out in the early hours of February 16, 1979.
But the court's swift and harsh sentences also had strong support from both Islamists and leftist groups such as the Tudeh party and People's Mujahedin of Iran.
[2] According to political scientist and historian Ervand Abrahamian, the Revolutionary Courts participated in the secret mass killings of thousands of imprisoned members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran and other leftist organizations in 1988.