Sadegh Khalkhali
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Ayatollah Sadeq Ahmadi Givi aka Sadegh Khalkhali (Persian: صادق خلخالی Ṣādeq Khalkhalī) 1927- November 26, 2003) was a much maligned, hardline Shia cleric of the early years of the Islamic Republic of Iran who became notorious for his cavalier attitude in passing on death sentences, and became known as Iran's "hanging judge".[1]
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[edit] Government career
On February 24, 1979, Khalkhali was chosen by Ayatollah Khomeini to be the Sharia ruler (حاکم شرع in Persian) to overlook the courts and make Islamic rulings, some of which were death sentences[citation needed].
Khalkhali is infamous for ordering the executions of many prominent Iranian officials of the Pahlavi era[citation needed], especially Amir Abbas Hoveida,[2] the Shah's long time prime minister, and Nematollah Nassiri, a former head of SAVAK. By trying Hoveida, Khalkhali effectively undermined the ambitions of Mehdi Bazargan, the provisional prime minister following the Islamic Revolution, who disapproved of the Islamic Revolutionary Court and sought to establish the revolutions reputation for justice and moderation. Most of the condemned did not have access to a lawyer or a jury. His controversial style of justice resulted in people giving him the nickname "Kholkholi" (crazy).
At the height of the Iran hostage crisis in 1980, Khalkhali appeared on television poking the charred bodies of the crews of U.S. helicopters which crashed in the desert on the botched rescue mission Operation Eagle Claw.[1]
He later investigated and ordered the execution of many activists for federalism in Kurdistan and Turkmen Sahra[citation needed], and then drug traffickers. In an interview, he personally confirmed ordering more than 100 executions[citation needed], although many sources believe that by the time of his death he had sent 8,000 men and women to their deaths. In some cases he was the executioner[citation needed], where he executed his victims using machine guns[citation needed].
Khalkhali was elected as representative of Qom in Islamic Consultative Assembly for two terms, and was removed from power upon Khomeini's death in 1989[citation needed].
Khalkhali had a keen devotion to Islam and the Arab culture. In fact, he longed to bulldoze Ferdowsi's tomb.[3]
[edit] Qom seminary
Khalkhali retired to Qom, where he taught Islamic seminarians.
He died in 2003, at the age of 76, of cancer and heart disease.
[edit] Mental Instability
In his early life, Khalkhali was committed to a mental asylum, where he would strangle cats in his prison cell. It is said that torturing cats remained his favourite pastime and earned him the nickname 'Gorbeh' ('cat' in Farsi).
Khalkhali is viewed by many as the apotheosis of the depravities of the Islamic Revolution, which gave him free reign to indulge in savage acts of brutality and murder. His alleged mental instability is made apparent in his use of inappropriate jokes and comments. Asked by a reporter how he felt regarding the decrease in the executions being carried out in Iran he commented, 'I feel hungry'.
Upon being told that a fourteen-year old boy that he had condemned to death was in actual fact, innocent, Khalkhali expressed no remorse, adding that he 'had sent the boy to heaven' suggesting that he had in fact provided a service to the boy.
[edit] See also
[edit] References and notes
[edit] Further reading
V. S. Naipaul interviews Khalkhali in two of his well known books
- Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981) ISBN 978-0394711959
- Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples (1998) [part II, chapter 7] ISBN 978-0316643610
[edit] External links
- Obituary from The Economist
- Obituary from telegraph.co.uk
- Obituary from Guardian Unlimited (gives his full name as Mohammed Sadeq Givi Khalkhali)
- Qaddafi Meets an Ayatollah January 2, 1992
