In recent days, the remnants of Shah’s regime living abroad have been promoting and defending Parviz Sabeti, the notorious torturer of the SAVAK secret police, in rallies supporting protests inside Iran. Sabeti, who had primarily been in hiding after fleeing Iran before the overthrow of Shah’s regime, showed up at a rally in Los Angeles on February 11, marking the 44th anniversary of the 1979 revolution. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Shah, who now proclaims to represent the regime’s opposition, was also present at that rally.
After a picture of Sabeti attending the rally surfaced on social media, causing debate about his role and the role of SAVAK in the torture and murder of opposition members during the Shah era. The remnants of Shah’s regime have been trying to whitewash Sabeti’s crimes and portray him as noble. But there is overwhelming evidence proving that Sabeti was directly involved in many heinous crimes.
In this regard, 131 MEK members who were political prisoners under Shah’s rule published an open letter in which they described Sabeti as a “despised ‘security official’ who defended Shah’s crimes on state television during the height of oppression and repression in the 1970s.”
The signatories said that as the head of the Third Directorate of SAVAK, Sabeti directed the daily torture and slaughter of dissidents in Evin, the joint “anti-sabotage” committee, and other prisons throughout the country.
Some of these former prisoners gave personal accounts of torture by SAVAK and the Shah security apparatus and the direct role of Sabeti in these crimes.
Accounts of horrific torture
In an interview with Iran National Television (INTV), MEK member Mohammad Hayati, a political prisoner under the Shah dictatorship, said, “The chief of Evin prison was Colonel Vaziri. He came in the ward and threatened us by saying, ‘If you make one mistake, if you do anything, your fate will be the same as those nine people on the hills of Evin.’”
Vaziri was referring to nine political prisoners murdered by prison authorities in Evin prison. The regime later claimed that the nine prisoners had attempted an escape. But later, one of the prison’s authorities, Bahman Naderipour, confirmed that there was no escape attempt and a deliberate murder plot planned and ordered by Sabeti.
In his remarks, Hayati said that Sabeti’s torturers burned prisoners with a hot iron, pulled out their nails, flogged them with wires, and carried out all sorts of tortures. “These were the normal procedures of the Savak and the Police,” he said.
“The operatives of the SAVAK and Police Intelligence Unit used the most ruthless torture against regime opponents,” Hayati said. “This was against their laws, article 103, which stated they didn’t have the right to torture. According to their rules, the torturer had to be prosecuted if a prisoner died under torture. Now they’re talking about human rights and democracy?
Hayati was arrested in 1971 along with Mohammad Hanifnejad, one of the founders of the MEK. After their arrest, both were pushed into an ambulance, where several security officers were waiting.
“Hosseini, one of the savage torturers, was there with several other torturers,” Hayati said. “Hosseini started beating Mohammad with the end of his pistol, breaking his nose and splattering blood all over his face. This was even before we were taken to Evin. Inside Evin prison, I endured and witnessed even more torture.”
Hayati also witnessed torture against Ali Asghar Badizadegan, another co-founder of the MEK. Badizadegan was arrested a few months before Hanifnejad. The SAVAK brutally tortured him to force him to reveal the location of Hanifnejad and other MEK leaders.
“They tortured him for one month, and he didn’t give them any information. They burned him so badly that his skin and flesh were disfigured. He had to undergo surgery three times before he could walk again. And he couldn’t even stand anymore,” Hayati said. “When they brought Badizadegan to our cell, he couldn’t stand. It was typical savagery of the Savak.”
Badizadegan, Hanifnejad, and Saeid Mohsen, the third co-founder of the MEK, were executed in 1972.
Hayati also witnessed the torture of Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi by the SAVAK.
“In 1974, I was in Qasr prison; they took Massoud Rajavi for torture. They tortured him so much that we couldn’t even recognize him when they brought him back,” Hayati said. “This is the Savak. Without torturing the MEK and Fedayees, they couldn’t maintain their hold on power.”
Another former prisoner who spoke about the torture of SAVAK under Parviz Sabeti was Abolghassem Rezai. Three of Rezai’s brothers were murdered by Shah’s regime, including Mehdi, who was 19 years old at the time of his execution. Mehdi was brutally tortured during his imprisonment.
“Parviz Sabeti was the chief torturer. All the torture teams of the police and the SAVAK were under his control. They all carried out his commands,” Rezai said. “He personally oversaw the torture of all the important persons. My father shared a cell with Mehdi [Rezai] for some time. After his interrogation was finished, he said that [Sabeti] directly intervened in the interrogation and at his order, the guards did some very ruthless things and tortured him to break his spirit and to force him to repent in court. My father saw him in the cell and saw the signs of torture on his body, and he saw that they had burned him with an electric iron.”
Pahlavi supporters continue to promote Sabeti and Savak
While many human rights activists have clearly stated that the crimes of the SAVAK and Parviz Sabeti cannot go unheeded in light of the brutality of the mullahs’ regime, the remnants of Shah’s regime continue to glorify him.
At a recent rally in Munich, the supporters of Reza Pahlavi held a poster of Parviz Sabeti. The title above the sign read: “The nightmare of future terrorist,” alluding that they plan to murder their opponents in the future just as Pahlavi’s father had done before his downfall. The rally was held when Reza Pahlavi was invited to the Munich Security Conference to advocate for freedom and democracy in Iran supposedly.
The thugs of Pahlavi revealed their true nature again on Monday, February 20, in Brussels, during a rally of thousands of Iranians who had gathered in front of the European Union headquarters to demand the terrorist designation of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). At the rally, the thugs of Pahlavi attacked a MEK supporter simply for chanting the slogan, “No to the mullahs, no to the Shah! No to the crown, no to the turban!”
Mr. Hassan Habibi, a supporter of the MEK and NCRI, was attacked at around 1 pm on Monday in Brussels’ Schuman Square outside the EU headquarters during a rally calling for the terrorist designation of Iran’s IRGC. He was left unconscious and then transferred to a hospital.
1/8 pic.twitter.com/cA0ImRi8Oy
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 20, 2023
While the people of Iran relentlessly continue their protests to overthrow the mullahs’ regime and establish a secular, democratic republic, they use every tool to detract the revolution from its main course. In this regard, the mullahs are the primary beneficiaries and benefactors of any promotion of the ousted Shah, his remnants, and his torturers.