Shadows in the Desert - Ancient Persia at War

Dr Kaveh Farrokh is a great Iranian patriot who has published invaluable works on pre-Islamic Iranian history. I strongly recommend that all Iranians whose genuinely care for Iran buy and read about their history and culture by distinguished scholars like Dr Farrokh and others including the Great Iranologist Dr Richard Nelson Frye.

Without knowing our roots we won't be able to build a solid future. Knowing our roots is especially important in light of efforts by Islamists and the current Islamic occupational government to eradicate our roots and replace them with foreign ideologies and an anti-Iranian/un-Iranian culture.


Dr Farrokh's book "Shadows in the Desert - Ancient Persia at War":

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Desert.../dp/1846031087


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Shadows in the Desert
Ancient Persia at War
(General Military)

By: Dr. Kaveh Farrokh
http://www.rozanehmagazine.com/MayJu...DrFarrokh.html

Two extracts from Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War




Chapter 3
Darius the Great

Darius (Old Persian: Darayavahush) (521-486 BC) was originally an arshti-bara (lit. spear-bearer) in Kambujiya's army in Egypt. It is likely that Darius held a position of high office, as he was a member of the Achaemenid royal family. Darius' family, however, was of the Ariaramnes branch of the Achaemenid line.
Darius and six other conspirators had plotted to seize the throne of Persia; however, there remained the question of who would be king. According to Herodotus, the seven conspirators agreed to meet at a designated spot with their horses at the break of dawn. He whose horse neighed first would become emperor of the Persian Empire. Darius' horse was reputedly the first to neigh, settling the issue. This “ascension” was, of course, a formality at best, as Darius now faced a truly daunting task. The Empire was being ripped asunder by royal pretenders, rebels, and breakaway movements that Darius had to confront before assuming the mantle of imperial government.

Darius defeats the rebels

The rebellion that the late Kambujiya had been informed of just before his death was allegedly being led by his brother Bardiya. Bardiya had announced his claim to the throne on March 11, 522 BC to the Persians and the Medes who generally supported him. Babylon officially accepted him on April 14, and by July 1 Bardiya was the recognized leader of the Empire. He was immensely popular especially after his suspension of state taxes and military service for three years. While such policies endeared Bardiya to the common population, he was not on entirely good terms with the magi or the Aryan feudal lords. The magi were apparently unhappy with Bardiya's policies with respect to the Aryan cults, while the ruling oligarchy may have seen the new taxation and war-levy policies as a direct challenge to their absolute authority, wealth and power.

There are serious questions as to the identity of the rebel Bardiya. One version of events states that the real Bardiya had already been killed before the “Bardiya” rebellion. Herodotus, who identifies the real Bardiya as “Smerdis,” notes that he had been killed by Prexaspes, Kambujiya's chief advisor, and that the murder had been kept secret from the Empire's populace. If true, then who was the rebel claiming to be Bardiya? Darius is certainly clear that the real Bardiya had already been slain by his brother Kambujiya before the Egyptian campaign in 525 BC. The rebel claiming his name was the imposter Gaumâta, a member of the magi, who managed to convince the Medes and Persians that he was the real Bardiya. Olmstead, however, disagrees with this version of events and suggests that Darius simply usurped the throne from the real Bardiya and falsified the truth to legitimize his own rule.5 Whatever the actual truth, historians unanimously agree that Darius defeated and killed Bardiya/Gaumâta on September 29, 522 BC at the Sikayauvatish fortress in Media.

Darius' termination of the eight-month reign of Bardiya/Gaumâta was only the first step to power. The Bardiya/Gaumâta coup d'etat had acted as a catalyst for major rebellions throughout the Empire. Sources report on the appearance of a “king” in Elam as well as a “Nebuchadnezzar III” in Babylon by early October 522 BC. Darius' army was reportedly small, yet, it was a well trained and professional force composed of those Mede and Persian warriors who had served in the Egyptian campaigns.

Darius first moved into Elam in 522 BC where the weak rebellion quickly collapsed and order was temporarily restored. By December 522 BC, Darius and his forces crossed the Tigris into Babylon. After fighting two battles, the rebels of Babylon were subdued and Nebuchadnezzar III was executed. Meanwhile, yet more rebellions in Elam had to be suppressed by 519 BC, and Assyria also remained to be subdued. However, the most serious challenges came from Darius' Iranian opponents. The Behistun inscription is clear that there were anti-Darius revolts in Persis and Media. Persis had produced a certain Vahyazdata making claims to the Achaemenid throne. The Medes, who were led by Fravartish, endeavored to reestablish the authority of the House of Cyaxares. Meanwhile, serious anti-Achaemenid rebellions had broken out in Armenia.

Eastern Iran also broke into open revolt. In Margiana a certain Frada led a rebel movement of his own. To defeat these threats, Darius dispatched his army to fight in Persis, Parthia, Margiana, and Armenia. The leaders of Darius' armies were from his closely trusted inner circle as evidenced by his father leading the battles in Parthia, and Vidarna, one of the original conspirators, leading the campaign in the Zagros Mountains. Darius spearheaded the drive into northern Media where he crossed into Rhagae (Rayy), near modern-day Tehran. From there he wheeled northwest across Media Atropatene (Iranian Azerbaijan). It was probably sometime during this operation that the battle of Kundurush was fought. The securing of Media Atropatene allowed for the pro-Darius forces to swing northwards into Armenia in the Caucasus. The subjugation of Media, Persis, and Armenia allowed Darius to concentrate his entire might against the Parthian rebellion, finally bringing their stubborn resistance to an end. These battles were especially fierce, partly attested to in the Behistun inscription. The Parthian, Armenian, and Persian campaigns resulted in around 36,000 rebels being taken prisoner or killed, while in Media alone casualties were at least 20,000.

Interestingly, the satrapies of Asia Minor had remained neutral in the fighting, perhaps waiting to see who would seize the throne in Persia. The only act of retribution in Anatolia after the rebellions was the killing of a certain satrap of Lydia, Oriontes, who had taken advantage of the fighting in Persia to seize control of much of Achaemenid Asia Minor. A rebellion had broken out in Egypt, however this was most likely a local “Egyptian” revolt, which was suppressed by Darius by 518 BC.

By August 521 BC, Darius had completed the Herculean task of stabilizing the Empire, and was firmly in control. In the northeast, Bactria and Margiania had also been bought under Darius' authority, but the Saka Tigrakhauda and Massagetae had yet to be subdued. The Saka, who were outside the Empire at the time, had militarily intervened on the side of the rebels. The potential danger of future attacks by these Sakas ensured that Darius would have to fight them in the near future.

Darius reestablishes the oligarchy

The inscriptions at Behistun in western Iran state that Darius “restored to the people” what Bardiya/Gaumâta had confiscated, namely land, pastures, slaves, and herds. The sanctuaries which Bardiya/Gaumâta had destroyed were also restored. The “people” that the Behistun inscription describes can only be the ruling oligarchy who had lost property. The rebellion was certainly as much about political leadership as it was between the prosperous few and the large “have-not” segment of the population. This would explain why Persian peasants as well as Medes joined Bardiya/Gaumâta. Darius' victories certainly benefited the social status and power of the Aryan feudal lords who were now more strongly bound to the Achaemenid royal house. There may have been a theological aspect to the rebellion suggesting that certain Aryan cults were siding with Bardiya/Gaumâta while others were with Darius and his supporters. There may be merit to suggestions that Bardiya/Gaumâta may have offended the followers of the cult of Mithra. Bardiya/Gaumâta also destroyed the non-Aryan temples of the Elamites, a process which Darius reversed.

Darius owed his success to his well-organized entourage, the disgruntled nobility, and the loyalty of the Medo-Persian professional core of the army. Another factor in Darius' success was the inability of his enemies to unite against him, resulting in all of them being isolated and crushed separately. Darius had demonstrated his genius at leadership and war: in the course of one year Darius had defeated numerous enemies, restored the authority of the Empire, and installed himself as emperor. He would also prove to be one of history's greatest statesmen.

Darius' reinstitution of ancien regime elements was to contribute to the later corruption and nepotism of the court, which in turn adversely affected imperial administration and military performance. This was accompanied by a steady rise in the fossilization and rigidity of Aryan codes of conduct, especially in the court. In contrast to Cyrus, the Achaemenid kings were to become increasingly aloof and distant from the people. Even the king's closest advisors were constrained in the way they could communicate with him. All of these factors resulted in many negative outcomes such as treachery and the pursuit of short-term interests. Another outcome was sycophancy as shown by court counselors providing inaccurate updates of military affairs to Xerxes during his invasions of Greece in 490 BC.


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Chapter 13
Shapur II: a new revival of Sassanian Persia

Shapur II was perhaps one of the most enigmatic rulers of ancient Persia. Ruling literally from the cradle to the grave, Shapur's 70-year reign (r. 309-379 AD) spanned the passage of ten Roman emperors and witnessed desperate battles with the Arabs, Chionites, and Romans. The latter, under the leadership of Julian the Apostate, came very close to destroying the Sassanian Empire. Shapur steered Persia through these crises, and also laid the foundations of a powerful learning tradition. That legacy was to profoundly influence the later Islamic, and European, traditions of learning and medicine.

The Arab incursions

The first serious attacks by the Arabs occurred when Shapur II was an infant. The Arabs successfully launched deep raids into Persia from islands in the Persian Gulf. Their primary targets were the southern territories of the Sassanian Empire. The Bundahishn notes that “in the reign of Shapur son of Hormuz, the Arabs came and seized the banks of the River Karun (Ulay) and remained there for many years pillaging and attacking…”1 Geographical factors may have also encouraged the Arab assault, notably the lowering of the water levels to the east of Arabia.2 Many of Iran's border towns and villages were looted and destroyed, and their inhabitants killed or taken as slaves. Emboldened by these raids, the Arabs even began making thrusts into the interior of Mesopotamia, with hopes of reaching Ctesiphon. The Arab successes were mainly due to the absence of any meaningful Sassanian military response. The boy-emperor Shapur II was surrounded by a large number of indecisive and mediocre andarzbad (lit. advisors), who proved incompetent at stopping the Arabs. The Sassanian military machine was certainly capable of at least containing the Arab raids. It is a mystery as to why the advisors of the boy-king failed to mobilize the armed forces to confront the threats.

The Arabs, however, may have erroneously concluded that their successes had been due to military prowess. Rather than vacate the Sassanian territories they had recently raided, the Arabs decided to forcefully settle in southwestern Iran and the Sassanian Persian Gulf coastline. It was in these circumstances that the young Shapur formally ascended the throne in Ctesiphon. The advisors were pushed aside and Shapur immediately ordered the Savaran to crush the Arab invaders and expel them back across the border. The Bundahishn notes that “Shapur became of age and drove away those Arabs and took the land from them. He killed many rulers of the Arabs and scattered many of them.”


Mounted Arab troops on camel and horse lacked the ability to stand up to the armored knights, especially in close-quarter fighting. Horse and foot archery must have taken a terrible toll on the Arabs, and the Sassanians also fielded a regular force of armored infantry that was trained for close-quarter combat. The Savaran had little difficulty when they entered the Arab-occupied southwest in the vicinity of modern Persis and Khuzistan. Shapur's Savaran were overwhelmingly successful: all occupied lands were liberated, including the entire Persian Gulf coastline. Shortly after the liberation of the southern territories, the Savaran boarded ships and sailed across the Persian Gulf. Shapur was determined to greet the Arab raiders on their own soil: the Savaran landed in Bahrain, Ghateef, and Yamama, and once again the Arabs were overpowered and defeated, as corroborated by Islamic sources.

Judging from historical accounts, Shapur was especially ruthless in the treatment of his defeated Arab foes. One clearly embellished account incredibly states that Shapur had his Arab prisoners led to captivity across the desert on a rope threaded through their pierced shoulders. The Arabs of Arabia's interior, Bahrain, and Yamama, were to remember their humiliating defeats and nurse a multi-generational grievance against the Sassanians, brutally expressed in the Arab invasions of the 7th century AD.

The seriousness of the Arab raids prompted the Sassanian high command to take military measures to protect the southern regions against future assaults. Defensive walls began to be constructed along the western regions of modern-day southern Iraq in an attempt to contain future Bedouin raids. The model for these walls was at least partly derived from the Roman system along the Romano-Syrian borders further west. Shapur's defenses facing Arabia became known as the “Khandaq-e-Shapur” (Shapur's ditch). The Sassanians also cultivated friendly relations with those Arab tribes who had earlier entered the Mesopotamian plains near Syria. Of these, the Bani Lakhm or Lakhmids proved to be excellent warriors who maintained the peace along the southern frontiers. The Sassanians soon trained and equipped the Lakhmids to fight like the Savaran. The settling of warrior peoples along the Empire's borders may have been inspired by the Roman limitanei system.

Shapur II prepares for war


Soon after the conclusion of hostilities in the south, the Sassanians were faced with challenging developments in Armenia. In 312, Emperor Constantine (r. AD 306-337) recognized Christianity as one of the religions of Rome. Constantine rebuilt the ancient city of Byzantium on the Bosphorus, which became Constantinople, the capital of the eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium. The Byzantines, however, were referred to as Romans or “Rum” by their contemporaries and chief rivals, the Sassanians. Tirdad (Tiridates), the King of Armenia, followed Constantine in accepting Christianity. This development was viewed with trepidation by the magi and Sassanian nobility. The fear was that the Romans could potentially use religion to drive a wedge between the Armenians and the Iranians. The magi, acting in concert with the nobles, pressured Shapur to force the removal of Tirdad from the Armenian throne in favor of Arshak, who maintained his ties to the Aryan cults and Zoroastrianism. Having achieved this coup in the Caucasus, the magi now initiated a vigorous anti-Christian campaign in Persia and Armenia. The stage was set for a bitter confrontation between Rome and Persia, resulting in the division of Armenia and the Caucasus between the two powers. Nevertheless, Armenia's adoption of a “Roman” religion never severed her profound cultural and historical ties to Persia. Armenian knights were in fact welcomed into the highest ranks of the elite Savaran cavalry up to the last days of the Sassanian dynasty.

The three sons of Constantine shared the throne on his death in 337. The Christian Constantius (r. AD 337-361), who initially ruled just the east of the empire, was hostile to Persia from the outset. From the perspective of war planners in Ctesiphon, a major Roman assault was inevitable. Rome would immensely benefit from the restoration of a Christian monarch in Armenia, as this could diminish Sassanian influence. Fear of a Roman invasion led Shapur to plan for a preemptive strike. He commissioned his military commanders to make thorough military preparations, especially in the introduction of military innovations.

Preparation of Shapur's army

Experimentation with the “super-heavy” cavalry concept could have evolved as a countermeasure against constantly improving Roman military performance. The Sassanian army may have concluded that a heavily armored force of Savaran could succeed in breaking through the Roman lines. The notion of having these troops specializing in archery warfare appears to have been abandoned in favor of a more powerful lance charge and close-quarter fighting. The new heavily armored Savaran were armed with a plethora of hand-to-hand weapons, such as swords, daggers, darts, maces, etc. These troops were trained and armed to break through Roman lines, and maintain close-quarter combat against Roman troops. Missile support was provided by the armored horse archers.

Sassanian doctrine placed the “super-heavy” Savaran knights in the van, followed closely behind and in the flanks by the regularly armored Savaran and armored horse archers. While the new “armored fist” certainly came as a surprise to the Romans at first, by the time of Julian's invasion of Persia they had learnt to exploit their weaknesses. These were limited battlefield vision due to helmet design, and heavy armor, which drastically limited endurance and combat time on the battlefield. In practice, the battlefield merits of the new super-heavy cavalry proved at best mixed against Julian. It also proved to be a total failure against the Hephthalite Huns.

The Sassanians appear to have adopted the war elephant from their Kushan contacts. Shapur II's battle elephants are reported by the Romans:
With them, making a lofty show, slowly marched the lines of elephants, frightful with their wrinkled bodies and loaded with armed men, a hideous spectacle, dreadful beyond every form of horror, as I have often declared.

Elephants were also used to combat Emperor Julian during his invasion of Persia in 363. These operated closely with regular and experimental super-heavy Savaran in strike packages against Roman troops. The elephant's key advantage in those battles would have been its high platform, allowing for accurate and devastating archery. Later reports by Arabs describe Sassanian elephants entering battle in elaborate regalia and decorations.

Western historians have often derided the quality of Persia's infantry, basing their conclusions on Greek experience against the Achaemenids. The Roman impression of Sassanian infantry is also negative. Nevertheless, Ammianus Marcellianus does provide descriptions of a heavy professional Sassanian infantry force. While these certainly stood and fought at Ctesiphon, they were defeated by the forces of Julian and were forced to retreat. The Sassanians were cognizant of the merits of a heavy infantry force and made efforts to raise such units to the last days of their dynasty. These, however, could never match their Byzantine counterparts, obliging the Sassanians to rely on their Savaran cavalry as their primary strike force. The most effective infantry to come from Sassanian Persia were the Dailamites, who began to noticeably appear in the armies of Khosrow I.

By the time of Shapur II, the Sassanians were successfully applying their engineering skills towards the use of water in siege warfare. This was vividly demonstrated by the forces of Shapur II in the siege of Nisibis and the Antioch campaign of 540. The Sassanians were not only highly capable hydrodynamic engineers, but were equally adept at bridge building. In addition to military techniques, the Sassanians employed a variety of other methods to facilitate the capture of an enemy fortress. One technique was to attach false and alarmist messages to arrows and then shoot these into the enemy fortress. Spies and sympathizers were also used to collect information, sow confusion and discord, and to undermine the morale of the defenders. After the defeat of Julian the Apostate in 363, Sassanian engineers were able to closely examine the excellently constructed Roman defenses. Shapur ordered his engineers to develop similar defenses along the Romano-Sassanian borders. The Sassanians soon developed an impressive array of forts, walls, ditches, and observations posts all along the Roman frontier, stretching to southern Mesopotamia and Arabia.

Iran Banou Madare Man

The Spirit of Man: Tehran University students

The Spirit of Man: Tehran University students, at faculty of arts, voice their discontent

Iranian pro-democracy activists intensifying efforts as Islamists intensify their repression

Students at Amir Kabir University in Tehran chant "Death to the Dictators" and try to break through the sealed university gates. (date unknown).



A recent clip (May, 2007) of Amir Kabir students chanting "Death to Basiji's" (Basij are the savage Islamists who brutally enforce Islamic law). More and more pro-democracy rallies are being held across Iran and growing numbers of people are becoming even more determined in working towards the complete destruction of the Islamic Republic, prosecution of its criminals who have held Iran hostage for 28 years and the adoption of a democratic, secular, and nationalistic government.



Marg Bar Jomhoriye Eslamee!

Iranian Leftist Organizations pre-1979

The Bloodstained Hands of Iran’s Leftist Intellectuals and Fedayeen Guerrillas

By Manuchehr Yazdi (Pan-Iranist Party)
Nimrooz.com
April 16, 2004
Source Link

Previously in our journal, People’s Government (Pan-Iranist Party), we gave a brief account of the Tudeh Party (Communist) and the communist movement in Iran, noting their crimes and treason during Iran’s occupation by the Allies, and the perilous years when the people of Iran grappled with the pressures exerted by foreign states. We related how the educated and intellectual members of the Tudeh Party and of the Left added to the suffering of the people of Iran, and how they managed to push the nation to the brink of annexation and breakup.

To continue, from 1970 on, with the beginning of the Shah’s struggle against the oil consortiums, as the onslaught of British and Russian policies, along with those of certain Arab states such as Egypt and Iraq, targeted Iran’s interests and resources, beating the drums for the annexation of Khuzestan, Bahrain and the Arvand River…political opposition in Iran transformed into terrorism and urban warfare. The first political organization that under such dangerous conditions resorted to appealing to a foreign state, namely to Egypt’s Jamal Abdel-Nasser, to provide its dissatisfied members with military and terrorist training was the “Nehzate Azadi” Organization, which we shall discuss later. It was at this time that two terrorist movements simultaneously made their appearance. One emerged from the belly of the Tudeh Party and was named “The Iranian People’s Fadayee Guerrillas”; the other emerged from Nehzate Azadi and was named “The Iranian People’s Mujahedin”.

The founder of Fadayeen (literally meaning those sacrificing themselves) was Bijan Jazani. He was the son of Rahmatullah Jazani, a famous communist and Tudeh Party member who had escaped to the Soviet Union. Bijan’s mother was a Jew who had abandoned his son and gone to live in Israel. Bijan felt this abandonment by his parents in every cell of his body. He married Mahin Ghoreishi, a Marxist militant, transforming her into a capable intelligence operative.

Bijan Jazani was a well-read, educated young man whose psychological frustrations veered him away from national loyalty towards an illusion. He owned an advertising agency called “Tabli Film” from which he profited greatly, owned a modern home and enjoyed a comfortable life. Eventually, after years of secret activity, the educated, intellectual and charming Bijan founded the organization with the help of three of his friends: Hassan Zia Zarifi, Jalili-Afshar and Kalantari (brother of Manuchehr Kalantari, one of the leaders of the “Confederation of Iranian Students” in London). But Iran’s counterintelligence and security service, cognizant of activities of anti-Iranian organizations and in control of the internal situation, infiltrated two of their cells, putting two of their safe-houses, one serving as a weapons depot, under surveillance. Under watch in a meeting on Malek Street to pick up weapons, he was surrounded and arrested as he drove away in his Volkswagen, in which several firearms were found. Two of Bijan’s collaborators mentioned above were also later arrested and the three were charged with armed activities and forming a Marxist organization. Although according to existing laws and based on their own confessions they threatened Iran’s national security, in the “fascist regime” (according to certain intellectuals) of the time they were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

They were transferred from Tehran’s prison to the city of Rasht, where they met with Hamid Ashraf, Hamid Sadeghinezhad and Amir Parviz Pooyan, and planned a new strategy to continue their war. During these meetings the organization became active once more, this time operating as two teams: One based in the city and another operating in the jungles. The latter, under the command of Ali Akbar Safa’i Farahani, stockpiled equipment and supplies in the jungles of Siah-kal. The city-based team had the task of finding new safe houses and recruiting new members, looking particularly for those coming to Iran with terrorist training in Palestine or elsewhere.

Soon a member of the jungle-based team by the name of Iraj Neyri came under the suspicion of the local villagers, seized and turned over to the Gendarmerie. To rescue their comrade the jungle team resorted to an armed attack on the Gendarmerie post where Neyri was held. The operation was led by Safa’i Farahani, a secretary of Tehran’s Art Institute, trained in terrorist operations and guerrilla warfare under Yasir Arafat, holding the rank of a “captain” and generally known as “Abu Abbass”. This young, educated teacher had trained in an Arab terrorist camp to open fire on Iranians, to the benefit of oil companies, foreign powers and international communists. One communist and a number of Gendarmes were killed in the attack, the rest of the guerrillas took flight but the assailants failed to rescue Neyri.

With the arrest of Iraj Neyri the urban cell was soon discovered and disbanded, and many of its members were put under arrest. Although the organization was thus virtually destroyed, nevertheless with the help of Amir Parviz Pooyan, Mohammad Ali Partowi, Mohammad Saffari Ashtiani and Eskandar Sadeghinezhad a year later it became active once more, once more setting in motion more terrorist acts, explosions and murders.

In following this anti-people path, the interests of the people of Iran were never taken into consideration. The militants would commit any crime to set Iran aflame. One such barbaric act, which fortunately did not succeed, was the plan to blow up a one hundred thousand-seat stadium during the Asian Games in Tehran. In a show of unity, and in order to embarrass the Iranian government, terrorist groups had decided to use this opportunity of brandishing Iran a disorderly state to the fullest extent. This is how the plan was foiled:

The counterintelligence unit of Imperial Iranian Air Force, having become suspicious of an officer by the name of Mohammad Baradaran Khosroshahi, reports him to Iran’s counterintelligence and internal security service (Savak) for surveillance. The pursuit and observation of this officer proves rewarding and he along with six others is arrested in a safe house in Salsabil. The confessions obtained from these individuals revealed the names of some 70 members of the Fedayeen, all of whom were soon arrested. One of these worked in the office of Mehdi Bazargan (the republic’s, and Ayatullah Khomeini’s, first Islamic Prime Minister), but it was another, Iraj Khalaf-Beigi, who informed on the horrendous plot to blow up the stadium, revealing the name of Habib Baradaran Khosroshahi as the brain behind the operation.

Habib Baradaran Khosroshahi was a high level employee of the Department of Physical Education and personally responsible for the management of sports stadiums. He told of the plan to place numerous bombs under the seats of spectators and even revealed their exact location. The watchfulness of authorities, day and night, prevented the massacre of at least 5000 people in this terrorist operation and revealed the real nature, an the true color, of these educated, intellectual militant gentlemen, the lovers of the oppressed and the exploited “worker”.

But Habib Khosroshahi, whose 400 page testimony had effectively demolished the organization, announced to have a meeting with Hamid Ashraf and asked the authorities to take him to the appointed place. Hamid Ashraf, who until then had murdered 13 people and was sought by the police, was considered a top priority and so Khosroshahi’s proposal was met with approval. They took him to the place of meeting, near an intersection, and had no choice but to distance themselves from the scene. Taking advantage of the opportunity Hamid threw himself under the wheels of a bus and committed suicide. His incriminating confession had rendered him a worthless agent. No longer able to play the role of the militant intellectual, he chose to play the martyr. In fact, his decision proved advantageous and the “The Iranian People’s Fadayee Guerrillas” later claimed that Habib Khosroshahi had been “martyred under torture!”

Another difficulty connected with the Asian Games in Tehran was the presence of Israeli athletes who had to be specially protected to prevent a repetition of the Munich massacre. And so their arrival time was first announced to be 5 p.m., followed by “10 o’clock at night”, to be followed by yet another announcement that they would arrive the following day! Actually, Israeli athletes had entered Tehran 24 hours prior to the first announcement and were resting peacefully as these announcements were broadcasted!

During the period when Hamid Ashraf was the leader of the Fedayeen, 14 safe houses had been set up and Ms. Nastaran Alagha had the responsibility of managing them. These houses were full of educated, worldly, well-trained, dedicated young men and women who believed that in order to serve oppressed people one must carry grenades in one’s pocket, a machine gun in one’s hand and a cyanide capsule in one’s mouth. These militants did not realize they were merely tools in paving the way for the destruction of Iran. Iran’s Savak soon discovered these houses and laid the necessary plans to raid them. The safe house in which Hamid Ashraf lived was located in the capital’s New Tehran district. After surrounding the house, security agents used loud speakers to tell those inside of their situation. Moments later heavy smoke was seen coming out of the house, a sign that documents were being burned. This was followed by the sound of two shots and Hamid Ashraf, under the protection of his friends’ fire, managed to get away with an injured leg. The rest of the team was killed in the battle.

After the gunfight, upon entering the house the agents observed the corpses of two children. They were the nine-year-old Naser Shaygan Shamasbi and the twelve-year-old Arzhang Shaygan Shamasbi. They had been shot in the head and executed. It was later revealed that Hamid Ashraf had executed the two children before taking flight to prevent them from describing what they had witnessed.

Having escaped at 5-6 o’clock in the morning, Hamid Ashraf went to another safe house in Ghasem Abad, but finding the place insecure he left the place at 9 in the morning. By accident he was approached by a police car, carrying an officer, two intelligence agents and the driver. As they were not on the case, the passengers did not recognize Ashraf. Ashraf opened fire on the passengers, killing all four, and took off with the police car killing a colonel on Mohseni Square on the way. Thus during only a few hours, the leader of intellectual militants “of Iranian people” had murdered six innocent people. On June 29, 1976, during a meeting in a safe house in yet another part of Tehran, Iran’s security agents surrounded Ashraf and ten highest-ranking members of the organization. The “rebels” opened fire and in the bloody battle which pursued all met their deaths. Hamid Ashraf, the leader of the organization, had managed to get away from the scene as before but was killed, while running on a roof, with a bullet to the head.

With the death of its leader, highest-ranking members, plus those killed in these battles and the arrest of everyone else, the organization was effectively destroyed. Only six or so members remained who, no sooner having been released under the administrations of Sharif-Emami and Shahpour Bakhtiar, each became the leader of a new group and added fuel to the ferocious flames of the Islamic Revolution.


The information here was compiled from newspapers published during the first years of the revolution, particularly from notices and inserts in Keyhan and Etela’at. During those honeymoon days of the revolution, proclamations by the organization itself (for it was launched once more), letters by the parents of the killed militants and the confessions of surviving militants are all authentic documents testifying to the deeds of those educated and intellectual individuals who played an important role in the downfall of the Iranian government, and the bringing to power of the Islamic regime…for which they received their due pay.


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The groups mentioned above remain active to this date and are considered, by some naive Iranians who have not understood the nature of these organizations, as part of the opposition. This article has been posted here mainly for their benefit.

The websites of these organizations:

---Nehzate Azadi ("Freedom Movement")

http://www.nehzateazadi.org/english/history.htm

---The Organisation of Iranian People's Fedayeen

http://siahkal.com/home.htm

http://www.fadai.org/

http://www.geocities.com/~fedaian/

Harassment of Iranian women by Islamists

For 28 years Iranian men and women have had to suffer under a brutal anti-Iranian Islamist regime which has tried to replace their national and cultural identity with a foreign backward Islamic one. I would not be exaggerating when I say that Iranian men have not even experienced a fraction of what Iranian women have had to endure under this savage regime.

Thanks to technological advancements we are today able to document and instantly spread the atrocities of this inhumane regime across the world through the internet. In light of the previous photos that I have posted on here in the past few weeks, here is yet another photo where you can see an Iranian woman that is being harrassed by the occupying Islamist regime's security forces; if you are acquainted with the politics of this backwards Islamist regime you would not be surprised if the girl is charged with acting against national security for having taken off her imposed Islamic scarf! The plainclothes Islamist agent is arguing with the mother of this Iranian girl whilst you can see the other Islamist animal (Revolutionary Guard/"Pasdar") who with a club and a disgusted face is approaching the Iranian girl who is visibly upset and trying to walk away.

All we can do in free societies is to highlight and support these innocent victims of Islamic tyranny by all means available to us.

Iran: Carter's Habitat For Inhumanity

Iran: Carter's Habitat For Inhumanity
By Investor's Business Daily
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Source Link

Leadership: In the name of human rights, Jimmy Carter gave rise to one of the worst rights violators in history — the Ayatollah Khomeini. And now Khomeini's successor is preparing for nuclear war with Israel and the West.

When President Carter took office in 1977, the Iran of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a staunch American ally, a bulwark in our standoff with the Soviet Union, thwarting the dream held since the time of the czars of pushing south toward the warm waters of the appropriately named Persian Gulf.

Being an ally of the U.S. in the Cold War, Iran was a target for Soviet subversion and espionage. Like the U.S. in today's war on terror, Iran arrested and incarcerated many who threatened its sovereignty and existence, mainly Soviet agents and their collaborators.

This did not sit well with the former peanut farmer, who, on taking office, declared that advancing "human rights" was among his highest priorities. The shah was one of his first targets. As he's done with our terror-war detainees in Guantanamo, Carter accused the Shah of torturing some 3,000 "political" prisoners. He chastised the shah for his human rights record and engineered the withdrawal of American support.

The irony here is that when Khomeini, a former Muslim exile in Paris, overthrew the shah in February 1979, many of the 3,000 were executed by the ayatollah's firing squads along with 20,000 pro-Western Iranians.

According to "The Real Jimmy Carter," a book by Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute: "Kho-meini's regime executed more people in its first year in power than the Shah's Savak had allegedly killed in the previous 25 years."

The mullahs hated the shah not because he was an oppressive dictator. They hated him because he was a secular, pro-Western leader who, in addition to other initiatives, was expanding the rights and roles of women in Iran society. Under Khomeini, women returned to their second-class role, and citizens were arrested for merely owning satellite dishes that could pick up Western television.

Khomeini established the first modern Islamic regime, a role model for the Taliban and jihadists to follow. And when the U.S. Embassy was stormed that November and 52 Americans taken hostage for 444 days, America's lack of resolve was confirmed in the jihadist mind.

On Nov. 4, 1979, some 400 Khomeini followers broke down the door of the embassy in Tehran, seizing the compound and the Americans inside. The hostage takers posed for the cameras next to a poster with a caricature of Carter and the slogan: "America cannot do a damn thing."

Indeed, America under Carter wouldn't do much. At least not until the 154th day of the crisis, when Carter, finally awakening to the seizure of U.S. diplomats and citizens on what was legally American soil, broke off diplomatic relations and began planning economic sanctions.

When Carter got around to hinting about the use of military force, Khomeini offered this mocking response: "He is beating on an empty drum. Neither does Carter have the guts for military action nor would anyone listen to him."

Carter did actually try a military response of sorts. But like every other major policy action of his, he bungled it. The incompetence of his administration would be seen in the wreckage in the Iranian desert, where a plan to rescue the hostages resulted in the loss of eight aircraft, five airmen and three Marines.

Among the core group of hostage takers and planners of the attack on our embassy was 23-year-old Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who learned firsthand the weakness and incompetence of Carter's foreign policy, one that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid are now attempting to resurrect.

According to then-Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, Ahmadinejad was among the hostage takers and the liaison between them and prominent Tehran preacher Ali Khameini, later to become supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.

The shah was forced into exile and on the run from Morocco to Egypt, the Bahamas, Mexico and finally Panama. In July 1979, Vice President Walter Mondale and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told Carter they had changed their minds about offering the shah permanent asylum. Carter's response was: "F*** the shah. I'm not going to welcome him here when he has other places to go where he'll be safe."

In October 1979, the shah, gravely ill with cancer, was granted a limited visa for treatment at the Cornell Medical Center in New York. He would die in Cairo in July 1980, an abandoned American friend. Our enemies took notes.

If the shah remained in power, it isn't likely the Iraq-Iran War, with upward of a million casualties on both sides, a war that saw Saddam Hussein first use mass-murder weapons, would have taken place.

Nor is it likely there would have been a Desert Storm, fought after Hussein invaded Kuwait to strengthen his strategic position. That led to bases in Saudi Arabia that fueled Islamofascist resentment, one of the reasons given by Osama bin Laden for striking at America, the Great Satan.

Khomeini introduced the idea of suicide bombers to the Palestine Liberation Organization and paid $35,000 to PLO families who would offer up their children as human bombs to kill as many Israelis as possible.

It was Khomeini who would give the world Hezbollah to make war on Israel and destroy the multicultural democracy that was Lebanon. And perhaps Jimmy has forgotten that Hezbollah, which he helped make possible, killed 241 U.S. troops in their Beirut barracks in 1982.

The Soviet Union, seeing us so willingly abandon a staunch ally, invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, just six months after Carter and Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev embraced after signing a new arms-control treaty.

And it was the resistance to the Soviet invasion that helped give birth to the Taliban. As Hayward observes, the fall of Iran, hastened by Jimmy Carter, "set in motion the advance of radical Islam and the rise of terrorism that culminated in Sept. 11."

Writer Christopher Hitchens recalls a discussion he had with Eugene McCarthy. A Democrat and former candidate for that party's presidential nomination, McCarthy voted for Ronald Reagan instead of Carter in 1980.

The reason? Carter had "quite simply abdicated the whole responsibility of the presidency while in office. He left the nation at the mercy of its enemies at home and abroad. He was quite simply the worst president we ever had."

Quite simply, we concur.

***

Thanks to Plateau of Iran for bringing this article to my attention.

UPDATE 1: Pound Nails, Not the President

Liberation of Khorramshahr

Today marks the liberation of the Iranian town of Khorramshahr which was occupied by Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq war. The liberation of Khorramshahr led to the retreat of Iraqi forces from Iranian territory - however the Islamist regime decided to prolong the war to continue for 8 more years which led to hundreds of thousands of Iranian deaths. The Islamist regime also sent hundreds of young brainwashed Iranian children between the ages of 9-16, equipped with "keys to heaven", onto mine-fields with the promise that they would be going to heaven!

Despite Iran's top military General's having been executed by firing-squads of the newly created terrorist Islamic Republic, leaving the Armed Forces without any kind of competent supervision and leadership, Iranians from all walks of life were able to unite in an ultimate bid to save their country from Saddam's forces. Let us not forget though that the only reason that the dictator Saddam Hussein even started contemplating invading Iran was because the powerful Imperial Iranian Armed Forces had been disbanded and its leadership executed by the Islamists. Previously Saddam had not dared to utter a threatening comment towards Iran let alone contemplate an invasion! Thanks to the Islamic Republic this wet-dream of Saddam was made possible and hundreds of thousands of Iranians gave their lives defending their country in a war that need not have happened.

The Islamist regime seized on the war-opportunity in continuing to kill any opposition to its illegal rule while hundreds of thousands of Iranians were dying on the battle fields to protect their country. Tens of thousands of Iranian anti-regime opponents where swiftly executed by the Islamist regime at the same time that the Supreme terrorist Leader of the Islamic Republic (Ayatollah Khomeini) prolonged the war for 8 long years in order to solidify his power and divert attention from the mass-killings taking place within the country.

It is noteworthy to mention here that Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, a trained fighter jet pilot, had expressed his desire to serve in his nation's air force but had been rejected by the Islamists.

May our martyred Generals and soldiers rest in peace. And may the terrorist Islamic Republic soon face justice for the misery that it has brought upon the Iranian people.

Fellow blogger Potkin pays tribute to the war-dead.

"Iran Politics Club"

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Iran Politics Club website and forum has been flagged as an attack/hacking website. The warning that has been issued on this website states:

"Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners."


This entry in general has to do with websites on the net which claim to be against the Islamic Republic but when looked into closer seem to have much more in common with the Islamic Republic than the genuine Iranian opposition. Unfortunately I mistook one of these sites to be genuine due to my own naivety but thankfully matured to realize what was going on. I'd like to document the nature of one of these sites here and then the blog will resume concentrating on more important issues. Many of you will think that this kind of irrelevant issues should be kept out of the blog but having experienced and seen how easily one can fall for this kind of propaganda myself I deemed it necessary to have this entry.

"IranPoliticsClub" (IPC) is a website whose creator is a certain anonymous individual who goes under the name "AhreemanX" (translates into: "SatanX"). The web site also has an IPC Forum where people can post articles and conduct discussions; you'll notice that there aren't many active members on the forum and only a handful of people actually post material on the forum.

This group has been functioning for several years and gained a following because of its comical articles on Islam which are actually based on real hard work done by respected and accredited historians and Islam-experts; in this way it seeks to discredit these author's works. Many of AX's articles in regards to Islam are based on some kind of factual information which he has taken from respected scholars and then put his particular twist to, with the aim of discrediting the original author's academic work. In fact what AX has pursued on his website is to pursue a propaganda tactic that the old Soviet intellegence machinery used to implement - that is having 70% truth 30% lies in their propaganda (i'm unsure about the figures but its somewhere around the ones i stated) in hope that the 70% truth will convince people that the other 30% lies are actually true as well. Both parts though are written in his usual immature, slanderous, and revisionist style.

Other articles written by AX, in particular his political articles, are usually full of profanities, slander, immature spins, and revisionist history which eliminates any credibility being attributed to them. Upon me questioning this individual for references to his outlandish accusations this delusional individual replies that the only encyclopedia that people need to know is the "Ahreemanic Encyclopedia" (translates into: "Satanic Encyclopedia) which is ingrained in his brain excusing him to do any referencing - this is quite astonishing taking into mind that he claims he is a College Professor!

IPC also publishes many articles targeting the Iranian opposition and tries ridicule and defame them by writing slanderous, deceitful, revisionist and outright lies against the genuine Iranian opposition.

I started visiting this website as a teenager 4-5 years ago and found their articles on Islam rather amusing. The author (AX) has a unique way of writing which I presume gains the attention of a younger crowd.

However having followed this site under a longer period I have matured intellectually allowing me to see through what this website/individual is really about.

So to understand this individual better it would be important to set a foundation by listing some information on "AX" which he have claimed himself - you shall see how ridiculous these claims are.

"AX":

1. Claims he is a Qajar descendant who only seems himself as the worthy one amongst "worthless Qajar Earls" - so he tries to build a persona connecting him with royalty by doing so; in fact the bigger picture as you will come to see is that he wants to defame and discredit anything having to do with monarchy or Iranian monarchists through a propaganda war filled with slander, bigotry, lies, and deceits.
2. Claims he is a major opposition figure whose true identity he again claims is well known by notables such as Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi etc who all visit his wonderfully "enlightening" and "intellectual" website, which people of that calibre certainly would visit (!?). It's particularly interesting why this "major opposition figure" would be so well known by such notables as Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi but not by anyone else. The truth is that "AX" is a nobody that has created a fake persona for himself to pursue an agenda which is very clear > discrediting the Iranian opposition.
3. Claims that he and his virtual group (IPC) has an established opposition network in Iran! Furthermore he claims that his "network", or "IPC Operations" as he likes to call it, distributes his articles on university campuses across Iran! To be honest I don't think Iranian students are that immature and idiotic to read the nonsense that "AX" publishes but they would rather stick to material by respected academics in various fields pertaining to history, culture, religion, and politics.
4. Claims he is a college professor in California! Indeed his "academic references" are very well portrayed in his writings. No more comments on this ridiculous claim.
   
5. Claims he is an expert web designer yet his official IPC Webpage looks like what an amateur would be able to create with the least amount of effort.
6. Claims he is a hardcore Republican supporter of George W. Bush and comes across as a war-mongering person. This is suspect because it's so easy for the Islamic Republic to take this and the try to associate it with the legitimate Iranian opposition which does NOT favour military action against Iran. Afterall the Islamic Republic sees the USA as the "Great Satan" and indoctrinates its minions to hate everything about it - therefore it wouldn't be a surprise if they created a website like IPC and try to associate it with the Iranian opposition in order to discredit it.
7. Claims he is a supporter of democracy yet he has made his dictatorial tendencies clear on numerous occasions by saying that Iranian monarchists are "dead" and they "will not be allowed to have a future in Iran". This individual has made many such contradictory statements but it takes some time to spot them and get acquainted with the overall picture.
   
8. It's also quite interesting to note the name which this individual has chosen to write under "AhreemanX" which as I wrote earlier translates into "SatanX" - now even if the majority of Iranian population want secularism they still have a strong belief in God, and having a name like that would surely only be adopted again to discredit the legitimate opposition.
   
9. Lastly this individual ask respected Iranian historians to publish their articles on his website which he can then associate with all these slanderous, degradings, revisionist material and to top it off even has a pornographic section on his first page under what has been named "IPC Models Section". What Iranian opposition website has a pornographic section? You might want to ask yourselves that. Why would a legitimate Iranian opposition website have a pornographic section? What do you think people will think of these respected and genuine authors who do not know what is going on but who have been lured into being associated to IPC? It discredits and defames them. I personally decided to contact one of these authors to see if he is aware of what kind of material "AX" writes and as I suspected the author was not aware at all about the nature of "AX" and his "club" and promised to follow it up.
   

So to sum it up what "AX" seems to be doing on his site (IPC) is:

• Trying to attribute some sort of credibility to his immature, slanderous, revisionist propaganda articles full of lies which is mostly geared towards a younger more naive crowd
  
• Trying to associate respected Iranian scholars to his immature, slanderous, and revisionist website
• Trying to discredit the Iranian opposition and opposition figures by claiming he is part of the opposition and then the whole association with his website whose material has been examined earlier
  

So to my fellow Iranians i'd just like to caution them to be on their guard after these kind of deceitful individual who are willing to do just about anything to further their slander and lies against the Iranian opposition and prolong the Islamists rule. Even a website that might seem anti-Islamic, upon further investigation, can in fact be the other side of the same coin! Don't let your naivety make you fall for these kind tactics by the Islamic Republic.

We want freedom! We don't want veils!

The above clip is taken on the same scene which you saw pictures of in my post entitled: Iranian woman beaten by Islamist thugs.

An Iranian woman takes off the imposed Islamic veil and shouts: "We want freedom, We want freedom, We don't want veils, We want freedom". The Iranian woman whose face is covered in blood in the pictures, which I had posted earlier, is in the taxi after people intervened and saved her from the hands of the Islamic Republic's security forces. You can see this woman in the last seconds of the clip - enraged about the situation in her country that is occupied by anti-Iranian Islamists that treat women in such a savage way.

UPDATE 1: Kamangir who's persian is much better than mine has a full transcript of what can be heard on the tape:

[What is] this country? [A woman to the Police] You filthy people! [A man] She is beaten up by the Police. [Woman to people] You have no honor [that let the Police beat women like this]! [A woman takes off her veil shouting] We want freedom! [A man] Take pictures! [The woman continues] We want freedom! We do not want the veil! [A woman] Take pictures! [Another woman] Maryam! [a girl’s name] Capture it on tape! [The injured woman to the Police] You are not human!

More clashes between Iranian students and Islamist thugs

In this clip which I can only at this time presume been recorded on a university campus in Iran (date unknown) you can hear students chanting: "UNITY! UNITY! FREEDOM! FREEDOM! SUPPORT US! SUPPORT US!", you can see that the atmosphere is very tense and a fight erupts between Iranian students and Islamist thugs - the body of an individual is seen being carried away by a group of people.



As soon as I get more information regarding this clip I'll post it on here. Again please give exposure to these documents and evidence that testify to the growing and intensifying democracy-movement in Iran which is becoming more and more determined in its aim to remove this occupational Islamist dictatorship and bringing freedom to Iran.

As human beings we all need to support these students who are standing up against Islamic tyranny, whether we are Iranian or not!

Efsha

Knowledge can lead to enlightenment...

http://www.efsha.co.uk/indexfa.htm (persian)

http://www.efsha.co.uk/indexen.htm (english)

Hunger Strike by Amir Kabir University Students

City Boy reports that Amir Kabir University students have gone on a hunger strike in protest against the illegal and savage Islamic occupational regime's detention of seven Iranian students and against the increased repressive atmosphere that is prevalent on Iranian campuses across the country. For the full story click HERE.

Iranian woman beaten by Islamist thugs

More pictures of Iranian women beaten by Islamist hooligans of the Islamic Republic occupying Iran, for not adhering to the imposed Islamic dresscode. The smallest favour you who are reading this blog can do for these women and victims of the Islamic Republic is to spread these pictures and videos to as many news-stations as possible and make sure that they receive the publicity they deserve! Instead of watching smiling deceitful mullah's like Khatami on CNN let us pay some more attention to the people who suffer under these barbaric mullah's!

UPDATE 1: More in depth info on the incident

Shahanshah's eternal flight

May God bless the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, for his humanity, brotherhood, and loyalty to Iran.
At a time when Iranians where committing treachery, killing brothers (baradar-koshi), and disgracing Iran's name through their actions against our nation, culture, and King, we can at least find some solitude in what this Great man did to honor the late Shahanshah of Iran; his noble actions will not be forgotten.

Dorood Bar Ravaneh Paakash. Rahash Javdan.

A Question of Numbers

Many European/American liberals/leftists and Iranian leftists/Islamists shamelessly continue to this day to propagate and justify their actions that brought the Islamic Republic to power on the horrendously exaggerated propaganda claims which the below article exposes so well. The figures in this article were the result of a comprehensive study by a former Islamist who was commissioned by the Islamic Republic to document the numbers that were executed or killed in street clashes with government forces under the late Shah - not only will those of you who read this article be shocked about the numbers (compared to grossly exaggerated propaganda) that were executed/killed but also the nature of these "innocent freedom activists" who were waging a civil war against the Iranian government and threatening the national integrity of Iran - particularly the Communists who were successful in establish two short-lived Soviet puppet Republics in northern Iran which were swiftly crushed by the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces. These were NOT un-armed civilians that you will find in Iran today, such as the women's movement, student's movement and workers movement who demand that their human rights be respected! I have two more excellent articles that deal with these "innocent freedom activists" which will be posted in the next few days. After reading these articles you should be able to understand the realities and atmosphere of that era much better.


A Question of Numbers

August 08, 2003
Rouzegar-Now
Cyrus Kadivar

Source: Emad Baghi , Iran Emrooz (Persian)

Rumours, exaggerated claims by the leaders of the Islamic revolution and a disinformation campaign against the fallen monarchy, not to mention Western media reports that the imperial regime was guilty of "mass murders", has finally been challenged by a former researcher at the Martyrs Foundation (Bonyad Shahid). The findings by Emad al-Din Baghi, now a respected historian, has caused a stir in the Islamic republic for it boldly questions the true number of casualties suffered by the anti-Shah movement between 1963 and 1979.

In the aftermath of the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution, ordered the creation of the Martyrs Foundation with the sole purpose of identifying the names of the so-called "martyrs" and provide financial support for their families as well as those who had sustained injuries in the fierce street battles with royalist troops. The necessary funds were immediately raised from the assets seized from the high officials in the Shah's regime, many of whom had been executed after summary trials.

For many years the Martyrs Foundation collected the names of the victims of the anti-Shah revolution classifying them by age, sex, education, profession and address. The files were kept secret until 1996/7 when a decision was made to make public the figures on the anniversary of the revolution. At about this time, Emad al-Dib Baghi, was hired as a researcher and editor of the bonyad's magazine "Yad Yaran" (Remembering our Comrades) to make sense of the data. By the time his work had finished he was told that the names were not to be made public. The reason given was that to pursue the matter would run contrary to the statements made by the late Ayatollah Khomeini and his successors who claimed that "60,000 men, women and children were martyred by the Shah's regime."

Emad al-Din Baghi who left the Martyrs Foundation to write two books on the subject claims that the authorities felt that releasing the true statistics would simply confuse the public. So, officials continued to stick to the exaggerated numbers. During a debate in the Majlis at the height of the US hostage crisis, an Islamic deputy claimed that giving in to America would be an insult to the memory of "70,000 martyrs and 100,000 wounded who fought to destroy the rotten monarchy." In fact, by continuing the myth that so many people had been killed, the regime was able to buy a certain legitimacy for its "noble revolution" and excesses.

"Sooner or later the truth was bound to come out," Baghi argued. In his opinion history should be based on objective findings and not baseless rumours which was the root of the anti-Shah hysteria and street demonstrations in 1978 and 1979. The true numbers are fascinating because contrary to the official view they are quite low and highly disproportionate to the hundreds of thousands murdered in the last 24 years in the Islamic republic.

The statistical breakdown of victims covering the period from 1963 to 1979 adds up to a figure of 3,164. Of this figure 2,781 were killed in nation wide disturbances in 1978/79 following clashes between demonstrators and the Shah's army and security forces. Baghi has no reason to doubt these figures and believes that it is probably the most comprehensive number available with the possible exception of a few names that were not traced.

During the years separating the arrest of Khomeini on 5th June 1963 for instigating the riots against the Shah's White Revolution and his return from exile on 1st February 1979, most of the 3,164 victims were in Tehran, Rey and Shemiran and 731 were killed in riots in the provinces which constitutes 14% of the country. Most of the casualties were in central Tehran and the poorer southern areas. Of this number 32 "martyrs" belong to the 1963 riots who were killed in 19 different parts of the Iranian capital. All were male and from southern Tehran.

Despite this revelation all officially sanctioned books in Iran dealing with the history of the Islamic revolution write of "15,000 dead and wounded". Such wild figures have found its way in Western accounts.

Another myth is the number of those killed on Friday, 8th September 1978 in the infamous Jaleh Square massacre. On that day the Iranian government imposed martial law in Tehran after troops had fired at several thousand anti-government demonstrators in the capital. The opposition and Western journalists claimed that the massacre left between 95 and 3,000 dead, depending on widely varying estimates. Historians agree that the bloody incident was to be a crucial turning point in the revolution. Baghi refutes those numbers as "grossly inflated."

The figures published by Baghi speaks of 64 killed among them two females – one woman and a young girl. On the same day in other parts of the capital a total of 24 people died in clashes with martial law forces among them one female. Therefore, according to Baghi, the number of people "martyred" on Black Friday is 88 of which 64 were gunned down in Jaleh Square. These statistics are closer to the figures announced by Dr Ameli Tehrani (executed by the revolutionaries) who served in Prime Minister Sharif Emami's government. The Shah's officials repeatedly spoke of 86 people dead and 205 wounded in clashes.

But at the time nobody in Iran was prepared to believe the government version, says Baghi, himself an ardent revolutionary in those troubled days. Instead rumours turned into facts and made headlines further weakening the Shah's crumbling regime. Opposition leaders quoted figures as high as "tens of thousands" and agitators spread stories that soldiers had fired on the people from helicopters piloted by Israelis. Michel Focault, a leading French journalist, who covered the Jaleh Square wrote of "2,000 to 3,000 victims" and later increased the figures to "4,000 people killed" adding that the demonstrators had no fear of death.

The number of non-Muslims who died for the revolution was deemed by the Martyrs Foundation as "too insignificant" to be included in the list. Many of them were die-hard Marxist guerrillas who had fought running battles with the Shah's secret police known as Savak. In the 1970s the Shah's regime faced many threats from so-called Islamic-Marxist terrorists who carried out assassinations of top officials, kidnappings, bank thefts and bomb attacks on cinemas. Savak was given special powers to deal with this "terrorist" threat and appeared successfully ruthless in its "dirty war." Savak's crude brutality received a lot of criticism in the West. Amnesty International reported cases of illegal detention and torture.

But how many were killed? Baghi is methodical in the way he states numbers. Firstly, he claims that the total number of guerrillas killed between the 1971 Siahkal incident during which armed Marxists attacked a police station in a Caspian village and the February 1979 insurrection is 341.

The figure 341 is made up of 177 persons killed in shoot-outs with the Shah's security forces; 91 were executed for "anti-state activities"; 42 died under torture; 15 were arrested and "disappeared", 7 committed suicide rather than be captured, and 9 were shot while escaping. From among the guerrilla groups who died fighting the imperial regime the Marxist Fedayeen Khalq organisation suffered the highest losses. From the total figure of 341 killed, 172 were Fedayeens (50%); 73 Mujaheddin Khalq (21%); 38 fringe communists (11%); 30 Mujaheddin marxists before changing their ideology to Islamic (9%) and 28 Islamists (8%).

For completion sake, Baghi has added 5 other names to his long list. Four of them (Sadeq Amani, Reza Safar Herandi, Mohammad Bokharaie and Morteza Niknejad) were executed by firing squad after a military tribunal found them guilty of assassinating Prime Minister Mansour in 1965. The fifth name belonged to Reza Shams Abadi, a member of the Imperial Guard, who opened fire on the Shah as he came out of his limousine at the Marble Palace. The assassin was shot down by the king's bodyguards. By adding these five names to the 341 we get the figure of 346 non-demonstrators killed between 1963 and 1979.

In addition to the 32 demonstrators killed in the June 1963 pro-Khomeini riots two other persons were shot dead in the following weeks in an undisclosed part of Tehran. On 2nd November 1963 a certain Mohammad Ismail Rezaie was murdered in jail and on the same day Haj Mohammad Reza Teyb was shot by firing squad at the Heshmatiyeh army barracks.

The mysterious death of the famous wrestler Gholam Reza Takhti in 1967 was attributed to Savak but Baghi has established that Takhti committed suicide. Unfortunately, Baghi makes no mention of the Islamic philosopher Ali Shariati and the Imam's eldest son, Mustapha Khomeini. Both died of heart attacks in London and Najaf respectively. At the time of their deaths there were many rumours that they had been eliminated by Savak agents but subsequent evidence proves the opposite. Nevertheless, the negative effect on public opinion was tremendous and played a major role in eroding support for the Shah's regime.

In any case, by adding Takhti's name the total of those killed for underground action against the Shah's regime comes to 383 which added to the 2,781 "martyrs" would mean that 3,164 Iranians lost their lives in the revolution against the monarchy and not 60,000 as the Imam had stated. In time, other historians may take up the task of finding the truth about the countless people executed or eliminated during the brutal 24 years rule of the mullahs. But that will only be possible in a free Iran and the findings may prove to be a greater shock.

Tribute to Imperial Armed Forces of Iran

Came across this excellent clip in tribute of our Imperial Armed Forces. God bless our martyred General's and servicemen who were massacred at the hands of these Islamists occupying our beloved motherland Iran for 28 years!

Mullah Khatami condemned during Norwegian visit

On his recent visit to Norway the former terrorist President of the Islamic Republic, Mullah Mohammad Khatami, received a strong condemnation for his regime's human rights violations. Another Mullah, which was part of Khatami's terrorist lobby-delegation, was grilled by a Norwegian journalist on human rights and democracy in Iran to which the Mullah replied "we have Islamic democracy and human rights in Iran which is different to the western kind" with a smirk on his face; when further probed on the issue the mullah excuses himself and leaves not to further loose face.

Revamped Banner - Credits

A quick note of thanks to CityBoy for revamping my old blurry amateurishly created banner (!) to a much clearer and professional looking one! Cheers buddy!

Islamist police shoot to kill in Tabriz!

I'd like to bring yet another heinous crime of the terrorist Islamic Republic occupying Iran to your attention and underscore that these atrocities occur on a daily bases, yet nothing is ever mentioned by the main-stream-media who prefer a game of deception in trying to portray "moderate/reformist elements" in a regime which knows nothing about being moderate. This anti-Iranian Islamist regime cannot even hold a civilized dialouge with the people it (illegitimately) rules over yet pursues a "Dialouge amongst Civilizations" through the United Nations with European countries who are more than happy to pursue such farcical processes which only end up in lucrative trade agreements in their favour!!!!

A few days ago, in the north-western city of Tabriz, two Iranian boys were confronted by an Islamic morality security guard of the Islamic regime over "un-Islamic" music that the boys were listening to in their car. In pure Taliban fashion the Islamic morality police ends up shooting one of the boys and arresting the other - the wounded boy who lost a lot of blood, sustained from his wounds, is in critical condition and hospitalized. These are some very disturbing pictures especially knowing the bizarre situation which led to these Islamist animals shooting an Iranian boy! Please give international coverage to this horrific event!

Click to read story in persian.

My fellow blogger friend City Boy has an entry regarding this as well which is worth reading.

Also yesterday I watched a VOA program in which a certain Mr Pourzal from an IRI lobbyist group called CASMII (Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran) appeared as a panel member on the daily roundtable programme. This shameless person proceeded in questioning the moderator (Mr Farhoodi) why VOA does not cover police brutality in Turkey as a means of justifying the recent intensified repression in Iran by the Islamic Republic when asked about that topic!! This shameless individual proceeded to condemn the late modern and progressive government of the late Shah of Iran and claimed that the terrorist Islamic Republic is a much more democratic and better place than the former!! The lies of this terrorist lobbyist are too numerous and outrageous to be listed in one entry but I simply want to highlight that such individuals and "anti-war groups" are trying hard to influence public opinion and white wash the Mullah's savage atrocities!



A female rap on oppression in Iran by the Arabo-Muslim occupational government!

Association for Democracy in Iran condemns Swedish Deputy PM meeting w/ terrorist

Yesterday the Association for Democracy in Iran (ADI) - a Sweden based political group founded by politically active youth in Sweden - mailed a plastic hand to the Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Energy and Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson. The reason for this symbolic gesture is Maud Olofsson's not so well-thought gesture towards the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister - Manochehr Mottaki - to shake the latter's hand despite knowing that he would not agree to shake the hand of a woman because of his Muslim ideology - particularly not an "infidel woman's" hand!

Alongside the 79 SEK (8.5 EUR) worth plastic hand, ADI is also sending a critical letter to the Deputy Prime Minister. In the letter, which is signed by the association's chairman - Ardavan Khoshnood - it is written amongst other things:

"That you through your gesture, keep the critique on such an elementary level, is either a very sly move by yourself as Minister for Enterprise and Energy not to hurt trade between the Islamic Republic in Iran and Sweden, or you really believe that diplomats should converse like kindergarten children?"

The Chairman finishes the letter by writing:

"In order for you not to feel offended/upset that Mottaki did not shake your hand, and so that you in the future will not come up with such ridiculous excuses and hopefully deal with real and serious problems, instead of teaching murderers "how it is done in Sweden", I am sending you on behalf of the Association for Democracy in Iran a hand which you can shake whenever you please."

The Association for Democracy in Iran views dialouge with the terrorist Islamic Republic as futile and demands that the Swedish government seize all diplomatic relations with the Islamic Regime in Iran, and for them to support the democratic opposition.

It's noteworthy to state that Ardavan Khoshnood clarifies in the letter that the practice of not shaking a woman's hand is not an Iranian practice but is an Islamic practice.

You can read more on this story (Swedish) on the following links:


http://ardi.rastakhiz.org/blog/
Ardavan Khoshnood - Chairman of ADI

http://www.iranframforallt.blogspot.com/
Arvin Khosnood - ADI Officer

http://www.setiz.se/sv/prs/brev/vicesm.pdf
Copy of letter sent to the Vice Prime Minister

http://www.setiz.se/sv/prs/prsm/14052007.pdf
ADI Press Statement

http://www.setiz.se/
ADI Official Homepage

http://www.nurikino.com/?perma=824
Acclaimed Swedish-Assyrian Freelance Reporter and Documentary Filmmaker

http://www.metro.se/se/article/2007/...9-42/index.xml
Metro Newspaper

http://www.stockholmian.com/news/per...31_encrypt.htm
Stockholmian - Scandinavia's largest Iranian online newspaper

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