Mohammad-Hosein Airom

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Mohammad Hosein Ayrom was known for his brutal methods.
Mohammad Hosein Ayrom was known for his brutal methods.

Sar-lashgar Mohammad Hosein Ayrom (سرلشگر محمدحسین آیرم) was a senior military leader of the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran.

Born in 1882 in Baku, Ayrom began studies in Russia and soon began military training.

He climbed his way up the ranks swiftly, becoming a colonel of Iran's cossack brigade as early as in 1901.

After the 1921 coup d'etat, Reza Shah Pahlavi replaced the popular Amir Abdollah Tahmasebi with Major General Ayrom in Azerbaijan, who unlike Major General Tahmasebi, was infamous for his ironfisted tactics. He thus quickly became unpopular in the region, and aides had to be dispatched to support him against popular dissent.

In 1930, he was sent to Europe, and on his return was appointed Chief of Iran's Central Police (Shahrbāni), wielding absolute power second to none but Reza Shah himself.

During the early 1930s, Ayrom made efforts to model Iran's Security Police after the German Nazi Gestapo, as Reza Shah's administration began exhibiting pro-German tendencies.

He is notorious for creating a central interrogation unit widely believed to be culpable in torturing and murder of several well known political figures, among them Abdolhossein Teymourtash.

In 1936, Ayrom went to Germany under the pretext of need for medical treatment, as numerous scandals were surfacing about his fearsome organization. He never returned to Iran.

Mohammad Hosein Ayrom had successfully fled the country before the trials of individuals responsible for atrocities during the early Pahlavi dynasty were to occur after Reza Shah's abidication from the throne in 1941. He never returned to Iran and spent the rest of his life in hiding in a village near the border of Austria. 1941, he became a member of Adolf Hitler's SS organization.

After her success in securing the extradition of Ahmad Ahmadi from Iraq, Iran Teymourtash took it upon herself to travel to Austria to arrange Ayrom's extradition as well. Although, she did succeed in finding him, and even visited him at his home, she failed arrange to his extradition to Iran.

He remained in a region near the German-Austrian border until his very last days, as Hitler's regime crumbled.

He died on March 31, 1948 in Liechtenstein

[edit] References used

  • Een Se Zan ("These Three Women"): Ashraf Pahlavi, Mariam Firouz, Iran Teymourtash, by Masoud Benoud.

[edit] See also

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