Iran: 131 PMOI political prisoners: SAVAK’s Parviz Sabeti, a Brutal Torturer

On the anniversary of the Iranian people’s anti-royalty revolution, February 11, a shocking incident took place at a demonstration in Los Angeles. After an absence of 44 years, Parviz Sabeti, the notorious head of the Third Directorate of the Shah’s secret police (SAVAK), suddenly appeared in public to voice his support for the Shah’s son.  Sabeti had fled Iran in the final months of the Shah’s rule in late 1978 and had not been seen since. His Directorate at SAVAK was responsible for internal security, and he directly oversaw hundreds of interrogators and torturers. The sudden emergence of such a criminal figure has sent shockwaves through Iranian society, both inside and outside the country.

A group of political prisoners affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) who were themselves victims of the Shah’s regime, have issued a statement in response to this alarming development.

The reemergence of a figure who oversaw such egregious human rights abuses highlights the need for continued vigilance and the importance of ensuring that the perpetrators of such crimes are held accountable. The brave individuals who have spoken out against this heinous act serve as a reminder that the struggle for justice and human rights is ongoing, and that the Iranian people remain determined to resist any attempts to undermine their hard-won freedoms.

Below is the text of the statement:

Testimony of 131 PMOI political prisoners in Shah’s torture chambers regarding the brutality of SAVAK’s Parviz Sabeti. Rather than facing justice and punishment, these criminals, along with the Shah’s son, are now acting as if they are owed something.

We, the political prisoners of the Shah’s dictatorship, remember the brutal torture and killing of dissidents by SAVAK, including the heroes who were martyred under torture. We recall the criminal executions of People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and Fedai guerrillas, as well as the heinous killing of political prisoners in Evin hills on the pretext that they were trying to escape while they were handcuffed and blindfolded.

We condemn the efforts and actions of the remnants of the Monarchic dictatorship and reactionary and foreign circles to exonerate the head torturer, Parviz Sabeti, and whitewash SAVAK. Sabeti was the despised “security official” who defended the Shah’s crimes on state television during the height of oppression and repression in the 1970s. As the head of the Third Directorate of SAVAK, he directed the daily torture and slaughter of dissidents in Evin, the joint “anti-sabotage” committee, and other prisons throughout the country.

Like Eichmann, Sabeti trained and directed a group of criminals, including Reza Atapour Mojarad, (Hosseinzadeh), Houshang Azghandi (Manochehri), Mohammad Hassan Nasseri (Azodi), Nasser Nowzari (Rassouli), Manoucher Vazifehkhah (Manochehri), and hundreds of other torturers in Tehran and other cities. He belongs to a group of the most heinous perpetrators of crimes against humanity, including Ali Fallahian, the infamous Intelligence Minister of the 1990s who was responsible for the assassination of numerous dissidents abroad, and Assadollah Lajevardi, the notorious Tehran Prosecutor who was known as the henchman of Evin Prison and directly oversaw the execution of thousands of prisoners in the 1980s. Yet, the propagandists now heap praise on him, attempting to portray him as a man of “wisdom” who served his country, just like Lajevardi.

This abominable propaganda, and efforts to portray the remnants of the former dictatorship and the son of a deposed and buried Shah as democrats, are a travesty. They seek to exploit the countless crimes of Khomeini and Khamenei and to taint and steal the new democratic revolution of the Iranian people through the ploy of giving representation and relying on the State Security Force, the IRGC, and the defectors from the so-called reformers. Their goal is to serve the survival of the mullahs’ regime and sow discord and obstruct the path of the people’s uprising.

The political prisoners of the Shah’s time stand ready to testify in any court and prove the fact that Sabeti and his accomplices are the officials and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. They must face justice and be punished. The officials working with Hitler and his Gestapo were arrested and tried, even at the age of 90, in America and Europe. Yet, silence against the executioner who has recently appeared in public and the attempt to whitewash his crimes by the son of the Shah and the remnants of his regime, trample upon the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran

February 15, 2023