"YOUR HOUSE WILL BE BURNT ... YOU WILL DIE HERE ...
On September 10th and I1th, a leading militant of the Confederation of Iranian Students (National Union), Ahmed Ghotbi, received four anonymous threatening letters at his Notting Hill address. Ghotbi, who has been translating into English a book on SAVAK, the Persian Gestapo, was somewhat disturbed. One of the letters warned him against going to the bourgeois press or The Red Mole. The other was even more explicit:
"Dear Mr. Ghotbi: Do not publish your book about SAVAK. If you make such an attempt, you will be killed and your house will be burnt. Before you reach Iran. You will die here."
A few days after these letters were received, the senders kept one of their promises. Ghotbi had just left his room to post letters to constituency Labour Parties asking them to protest against the barbarities being inflicted on students and intellectuals by the Shah's regime. When he returned he found that his room had been burnt, and if the landlady had not seen the blaze and with her son had tried to put out the fire after informing the Fire Brigade, the whole house might have been burnt completely. Detectives from the local olice station and pecialists from Scotland Yard investigated the matter and told Ghotbi that the fire had been deliberate and that paraffin had been used. The Hand of "Savak" Is Clearly Involved ne brusn ponce nave nor been able to appr end the "arsonist" and would-be killer. This i hardly surprising as he is almost undoubtedly a member of SAVAK assigned to kill, kidnap or maim, left-wing Persian students abroad.
The existence and role of SAVAK was highlighted when the Shah paid a state visit to West Germany in 1967. Owing to the brilliant propaganda and agitational work of the Iranian Students Confederation, there were demonstrations by the German SDS (then at its zenith) in every city which the despot visited. In West Berlin a German student was shot dead by the police. The Shah was so shattered that at a semipublic meeting he screamed hysterically at the SAVAK General who had been sent to Germany in advance to prepare the trip: "Son of a bitch: you knew this was going to happen. Why didn't you tell me to cancel this trip?
Several weeks later a SAVAK agent in Germany visited Dr. Bahman Nirumand, a leading Persian intellectual and author of Iran: The New Imperialism in Action (Monthly Review Press). The SAVAK agent had with him a knife with a large black handle (the trademark of these killers), but could not bring himself to murder Nirumand because of some internal faction fight inside SAVAK. Instead he confessed the details of the plot. Nirumand reported the matter to the press and the authorities. The West German police took no action. The Role of "Savak"
After the overthrow of Massadek by the CIA in August 1953, the suppression and terrorism of the regime knew no bounds. As a result hundreds of students and left-wing intellectuals left the ounty and sougnt asylum me yestern Durope Turkey and the United States. By 1960-61 the began to organise themselves outside Iran in solidarity with the new wave of struggle inside Iran itself. The first Congress was held in London in January 1961. The effective propaganda waged by the Persian students necessitated that SAVAK extend its operations abroad. These were based on a four-point plan of action: 1. Putting pressure on students (stopping foreign exchange, cutting scholarships, refusing to renew passports, putting pressure on their relatives back in Iran...) 2. By creating yellow societies and reactionary groups, who were encouraged to use physical. violence against the leftists. 3. Recruitment to SAVAK by paying large amounts of money. • 4. Collaborating and cooperation with the police of other countries.
This was only the beginning and this activity was carried out by SAVAK agents attached to Persian Embassies. Later when this proved ineffective, two SAVAK leaders were sent to establish residence in Europe: the well-known torturer, Colonel Ziba'ey, and Major-General Hassan Alavikeya. Upon them fell the responsibility of creating SAVAK branches abroad under their direct control. These agents have operated in Italy, West Germany and Austria. They are also operating in Britain.
Why Does Scotland Yard Remain Silent? We can deduce that the only reason Scotland Yard remains silent is because it is aware of SAVAK's presence and has been instructed to collaborate with it by the Foreign Office. Ahmed Ghotbi has been threatened with murder and SAVAK has shown that they mean to implement these threats. If he is murdered the responsibility will lie with Scotland Yard for not apprehending these killers. We have heard that one of the SAVAK coordinators in Britain is Mr. A. M. Shapurian, Press Attache (i.e. chief apologist for the Shah) to the Iranian Embassy. It is essential that the British Government warn this man and his bosses that they will not tolerate political murders: if they do not, we can assure them that any further attacks on Ahmed Ghotbi will be answered by militant action. The bourgeois state can imprison Cambridge students for demonstrating against a fascist dictatorship in Greece, but when a similar dictatorship attempts to murder via its secret police, nothing is done.
The Regime in Iran The Persian Government is a government of torturers and one of the most servile of-American puppets. Following massive demonstrations of over 200,000 people in Teheran against the war in Indo-China, the regime arrested over 1,000 militants, who were later brutally tortured.
Iran has not only recognised the Zionist state of Israel, but supplied oil to it and continued to do so during the June war. It provides facilities for Israeli pilots to be trained on Iranian territory. It supports the American war in IndoChina.
When this regime sends handpicked thugs to terrorise Persian students abroad, we must raise our voice in protest and defend these students. All British socialists must support the Iranian students in their activities against the regime of the Shah.
A Red Mole Reporter AHMED GHOTBI