| August
19, 1953
Today,
August 19 [28 Mordad], is the 50th anniversary of the worst day in our
modern history. On that horrible day, which shall live in infamy
for the rest of our history, the forces of darkness colluded to destroy
our 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 our democratic government and
replaced it with a brutal tyranny.
We lost our political and economic independence on this day fifty years
ago. Our most precious natural resource, which was nationalized
and put under Iranian control, was given to a consortium of American and
British oil companies.
We lost our 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.
We lost our democracy on this day fifty years ago. After fifty
dreadful years, still our 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.
We lost our 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.
We lost our 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 our 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 our heros and
the best children of our 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. Our 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 our 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 our
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 our tortured and oppressed nation. 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, our 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 our pro- democracy heros who have carried the torch of
freedom. Their resistence 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, we renew our solemn
oath to continue this struggle until we establish our 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
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