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Iran
The Reign of Terror
The dismissal of Bani Sadr on June 21, 1981, brought to a head
the underlying conflicts within the political elite and between
its members and other groups contesting for power. In the final
three months of Bani Sadr's presidency, political violence had
intensified as organized gangs of hezbollahis (see Glossary)
attacked individuals and organizations considered to be enemies
of the Revolution. One of the main opposition parties, the Mojahedin
(Mojahedin-e Khalq, or People's Struggle), rose up in a nationwide
armed rebellion (see Opposition Political Parties in Exile , this
ch.). Although the Mojahedin's uprising was quickly contained,
during the following eighteen months the country was in a virtual
state of siege as the government used extraordinary measures to
suppress not only the Mojahedin but also other opposition movements.
The government's fears of the opposition's capabilities were exacerbated
by several sensational acts of terrorism directed at regime officials.
These included the bombing of the IRP headquarters on June 28,
1981, which killed at least seventy top leaders of the party,
including Beheshti, the secretary general of the party, and the
chief justice of the Supreme Court; the bombing at the prime minister's
office on August 30, which killed several more leaders including
former prime minister Rajai, who had replaced Bani Sadr as president,
and the cleric Mohammad Javad Bahonar, who was Rajai's prime minister;
and the assassinations of several key officials in Tehran and
important provincial cities. The government responded to the Mojahedin
challenge by carrying out mass arrests and executions. At the
height of the confrontation, an average of 50 persons per day
were executed; on several days during September 1981, the total
number executed throughout the country exceeded 100. Although
the government dramatized its resolve to crush the uprising by
conducting many of these mass executions in public, officials
showed little interest in recording the names and numbers of the
condemned. Thus, no statistics exist for the total number executed.
Nevertheless, by the end of 1982 an estimated 7,500 persons had
been executed or killed in street battles with the Pasdaran. Approximately
90 percent of the deaths had been associated with the Mojahedin,
and the rest with smaller political groups that had joined the
Mojahedin in the attempt to overthrow the government by armed
force.
The efforts to root out the Mojahedin were accompanied by a general
assault on procedural rights. The Pasdaran and specially recruited
gangs of hezbollahis patrolled urban neighborhoods, ostensibly
looking for the safe houses in which supporters of the Mojahedin
and other opposition groups were suspected of hiding. They invaded
such homes and arrested occupants without warrants. Persons suspected
of insufficient loyalty to the regime were harassed and often
subjected to arbitrary arrest and expropriation of their property.
Extensive purges were initiated within all government ministries,
and thousands of employees who failed loyalty tests were dismissed.
Complaints were voiced that government agents eavesdropped on
telephone conversations and opened private mail to collect information
to use against citizens. The courts generally failed to protect
individuals against violations of due process during this period.
The reign of terror officially ended in December 1982 when Khomeini
issued an eight-point decree that effectively instructed the courts
to ensure that the civil and due process rights of citizens be
safeguarded. The decree forbade forcible entry of homes and businesses,
arrest and detention without judges' orders, property expropriation
without court authorization, and all forms of government spying
on private persons. Special councils were to be established to
investigate all complaints about court violations of individual
rights.
Data as of December 1987
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