Navvab Safavi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Navvab Safavi (born Mojtaba Mir-Lowhi) (1924 – 1955) was a cleric responsible for founding of the Fadayan-e Islam group and with them the assassination of several leading Iranians, primarily politicians.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Tehran, Safavi studied in Najaf, Iraq and worked in Abadan's petroleum installations in the province of Khuzestan for a while. He is said to have known for his striking looks and his "mesmerizing" speaking ability.[1]
[edit] Career
He founded the Fadayan-e Islam organization in 1946, and began recruiting like-minded individuals. Like the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood), Nawab-Safavi believed that Islamic society needed to be purified. To do this he organized carefully planned assassinations to rid Islam of `corrupting individuals,` often prime ministers of Iran's government.
He is said to be "the man who introduced Ayatollah Khomeini to the Muslim Brotherhood and their ideas," who "spend long hours together" with Khomeini in discussion, and visited him "in Qom on a number of occasions during 1943 and 1944."[2]
He and his organization were responsible for the assassinations, or attempted assassinations of politicians Abdolhosein Hazhir, Hossein Ala (he survived the attempt), Prime Minister Haj Ali Razmara, historian Ahmad Kasravi, and Major General Bakhtiar.
Safavi supported the National Front, a minority political party which gained political control after Razmara's assassination.[citation needed] When the Shah appointed National Front leader Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh to the post of Prime Minister, Safavi expected his objectives would be furthered.[citation needed] He demanded the government drive the British out, and that it release "with honor and respect" the assassin of Razmara. When that didn't happen, Safavi announced "We have broken away irrevocably from Kashani's National Front. They promised to set up an Islamic country according to the precepts of the Koran. Instead they have imprisoned our brothers." He later warned "There are others who must be pushed down the incline to hell."[citation needed]
Mossadegh took the threat seriously. He shut himself up in the Parliament building, and ordered the police to hunt down Safavi.[citation needed]
[edit] Arrest and execution
On June 3, 1951, two plainclothes detectives, watching the crowds on the sidewalks of Shah Reza Avenue, saw a veiled figure dressed as a woman, but who seemed to walk too heavily. Safavi was stopped and arrested. Despite mobs of supporters demanding his release, he was condemned, and executed by firing squad in 1955.
[edit] Legacy
The Islamic Republic of Iran considers him an Islamic hero and martyr, and an expressway and metro stop are named after him in Tehran.
[edit] See also
- Fadayan-e Islam
- Pahlavi Dynasty
- List of Prime Ministers of Iran
- History of fundamentalist Islam in Iran
[edit] References
- Avsati, Alireza, Iran in the last 3 Centuries, Published Tehran, 2003. Vol1 ISBN 964-93406-6-1 Vol2 ISBN 964-93406-5-3.
- Mazandi, Yousof (United Press Iranian correspondent) and Edwin Muller, Government by Assassination, Reader's Digest, September 1951.
- Taheri, Amir. The Spirit of Allah Khomeini and the Islamic revolution, Bethesda, Md. : Adler & Adler, c1985
