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August 19, 2003
Today, August 19
[28 Mordad], is the 50th anniversary of the worst day in
modern history. On that horrible day, which shall live in
infamy for the rest of history, the forces of darkness colluded
to destroy Iranian independence, freedom, democracy and
constitution.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, under the direction of CIA and MI6, and
with the help of high-ranking clerics (Ayatollah Kashani,
Ayatollah Uzma Brujerdi, Ayatollah Behbahani, and then-
Hojatolislam Ruhollah Khomeini), anti-democratic military
officers, paid mercenary mob composed of prostitutes and thugs [chaghoo-kesh,
arazel o obash] from Shahr-e Nou (Tehran's red light district)
attacked their democratic government and replaced it with a
brutal tyranny.
Iranians lost their political and economic independence on this
day fifty years ago. Their most precious natural resource,
which was nationalized and put under Iranian control, was given
to a consortium of American and British oil companies.
Iranians lost their freedom on this day fifty years ago.
The very first decree Dr. Mossadegh issued when he took office
in April 1951 was to the Tehran Police Chief ordering him to
stop harassing and harming any journalist or newspaper that
criticized his government. Under Dr. Mossadegh, we had
full freedom of the press. Papers from diverse ideologies
were published freely and they openly criticized the Iran
National Front [Jebhe Melli Iran] and Dr. Mossadegh. Some
opportunists even took advantage of these freedoms and kept
insulting Dr. Mossadegh and other leaders and members of the
National Front. The monarchist and Tudeh papers kept
viciously attacking, insulting and making false and ugly
accusations. Despite all their cruel lies, the wonderful
and intelligent people of Iran continued their support of the
only government in memory which had bravely protected their
interests from attacks from cruel kings and colonial masters.
Iranians lost their democracy on this day fifty years ago.
After fifty dreadful years, still the Iranian people can not
have free elections in which they, the PEOPLE, can choose their
representatives. In the past fifty despotic years, either
SAVAK and the royal court [darbar] during the monarchy era has
screened and chosen the members of the Majles, or Shoray
Negahban during the fundamentalist era has done the same
pre-selection.
Iranians lost their constitution on this day fifty years ago.
After the coup, Mohammad Reza Shah replaced the rule of law with
personal tyranny. Tyranny, although in a collective form,
continues today.
Iranians lost their only legitimate and democratic government on
this day fifty years ago. The National Front government
was the only government that Iran has had which was the result
of the free vote of the people. INF members of the Majles
were among the very few among Majles deputies who were elected
despite the rigging and corruption in elections orchestrated by
the royal court [darbar].
Initially, the coup on 25 Mordad failed. The Shah fled to
Baghdad, and then to Rome. Col. Nasiri following the
CIA-MI6 plan, went to the home of Dr. Mossadegh after mid-night.
On the way, he stopped and arrested several INF cabinet members
including Dr. Hossein Fatemi. However, Dr. Mossadegh found
out about the coup and arrested Nasiri who had arrived to arrest
him. Dr. Fatemi and other INF leaders were freed from
Nasiri's henchmen.
The people were so happy that they went to the streets and
celebrated when they heard of the news the following day.
The Shah fled Iran, but the CIA agents on the ground continued
their activities to overthrow Iran's only democratic leader.
The CIA had infiltrated the Tudeh Party and used these agents as
agents provocateurs to go to the streets and create disturbances
including setting places on fire.
Dr. Mossadegh called upon the troops to clear the streets.
The CIA had its elements in the armed forces to instead go
towards Dr. Mossadegh's home. A three-hour tank battle
ensued between the troops defending their only democratic Prime
Minister and the troops send by the CIA. Several weeks
earlier, the monarchists (Baghaii) had kidnaped, tortured and
murdered General Afshartoos, the head of Tehran Police and a
loyal supporter of INF and Dr. Mossadegh.
The coup regime arrested, imprisoned and murdered many of the
heroes and the best children of their land such as Foreign
Minister Dr. Fatemi and journalist Karimpour Shirazi. From
August 19, 1953, a hellish nightmare was imposed on the Iranian
people and the voices of democrats were brutally suffocated.
Kangaroo courts tried pro-democracy leaders. Their hero,
Dr. Mossadegh was imprisoned for three years, and then placed
under house arrest for the rest of his life, and deprived of
contact with pro-democracy activists. The
monarchists raped Dr. Fatemi's wife in front of his eyes, then
made an assassination attempt while being taken to the kangaroo
court, and finally executed the brave democratic Foreign
Minister. Karimpour Shirazi was severely tortured and then
burned alive in prison to an agonizing death. In the
Shah's kangaroo courts, brave INF leaders such as Dr. Ali
Shaygan, and Dr. Gholam-Hossein Seddighi put the illegitimate
regime of the Shah on the court of public opinion.
The notorious SAVAK was created to imprison, torture and
assassinate pro-democracy activists. Thousands upon
thousands of Iran's pro-democracy activists were subjected to
sever torture under the Shah's brutal savage rule. Torture
by monarchists included rape of daughters of political prisoners
in front of their eyes: the most infamous case being the rape of
the daughter of Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani, the respected
liberal cleric, a leader in the resistence to the coup regime
since August 1953 coup and a member of INF until 1961. The
monarchists, like the fundamentalists after them, used rape as a
form of torture of female political prisoners. Human
rights violations were so severe that Amnesty International
declared the Shah's regime as "the worst violator of human
rights in 1975."
The coup regime is the main cause for fifty years of misery
[bad-bakhti] of the tortured and oppressed nation, that is the
Iran. The coup regime so disarticulated Iran's civil
society and so terribly suppressed the democratic activists,
that Khomeini could deceive the people and present himself as a
liberator.
In the past fifty horrific years, brave pro-democracy activists
have fought against two brutal regimes. The victims of the
1953 coup, Iranian democrats, are being oppressed and harassed
by the current tyrannical regime as they were by the monarchist
tyranny.
On this day, the fiftieth anniversary of the death of democracy
in Iran, we remember the pro- democracy heroes who have carried
the torch of freedom. Their resistance against brutal
dictatorships of monarchists and fundamentalists have been
inspiration to thousands upon thousands of young men and women
who fight for democracy today and will fight for democracy
tomorrow. On this day, freedom loving Iranians renew their
solemn oath to continue this struggle until they establish the
century-long demands of independence, democracy, liberty, rule
of law, human rights, modernity, progress, and social justice.
Masoud Kazemzadeh, Ph.D.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights
Organizations of Iran National Front (US Branch)
http://www.jebhemelli.net
Copyright
March 2003 Masoud Kazemzadeh all rights reserved.
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