When Mr. Khamenei began interpreting the Quran at the Imam Hasan Mosque SAVAK decided to detain him. Therefore, it was looking for a piece of evidence that would increase his sentence so that he will be imprisoned for several years. They did not achieve anything in this regard. Until Parviz Sabeti reported to Sheykhan, the head of the Khorasan office of the SAVAK. In his report, the SAVAK agent described Mr. Khamenei’s interpretations of the Quran and Nahj al-Balaghah as begin promoting unity, the struggle against exploitation and the formation of an ideal system of governance, emphasizing that his activities are “misleading students and religious fanatics.” The result of the report was that he should be arrested and handed over to the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee [so that arresting him could compensate for the fruitlessness of the interrogations of the Khorasan office of SAVAK.]
This report, which should be called the work report of the Third General Office, was one of the reasons for Mr. Khamenei’s arrest.
On Friday evening, January 10, 1975, the doorbell rang. It was 4:30 p.m. When he opened the door, and the usual faces, the tormentors, were standing behind the door. They put him aside and entered the house. They knew where the library is. They went straight there. They took whatever seemed to be a document or anything that might be considered the evidence against him. The time of maghrib prayer reached and he should have been in the mosque at that time.
They drove to the SAVAK Detention Centre. They did not take his turban and clothes. They put him in one of the dark cells and closed the door. He had already passed the months of September and November 1971 in these cells and had witnessed torture.
The next day, an officer came and told him to pack up. He thought he will be released. What could the packing up mean on the first day of detention? They took him and put him in a car. A few minutes later, they stopped at the railway station. It didn’t take long for him to realize that this second-class train is going to Tehran.
The officers who were with him had a letter prepared by the Khorasan office of SAVAK. In this letter, Sheykhan had pointed to the leniency showed by SAVAK concerning his release in 1971, 1967 which, of course, was a lie. In the end, he had asked the head of SAVAK to treat Khamenei in a manner that he will be imprisoned for a long time. On Sunday morning, January 22, they arrived at the Tehran Railway Station.
Several SAVAK agents came to the Railway Station and put him in a car. The last time the car stopped, they took him off the car. Then, they took a few meters forward and removed the blindfold. He found himself in a room where several officers, including the two who have been accompanying him from Mashhad, were in that room. One of them said take off your clothes. He only took off his turban, robe, and cloak. They gave him the prison uniform and, in another room, he changed his shirt and pants and wore the prison uniform.
The prison officer ordered him to take off his prison shirt and put it on his head. They left the room. He didn’t know where he is going. Hearing the sound of the opening of a door and a chain, he realized that a big door is opening. He entered a hallway and they held him behind a door. When the door opened, they pushed him in. He took the shirt off his head. He found himself in a semi-dark cell. A dim light lamp, covered with a metal net, was the only lamp in that place. It was cell No. 20 of the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee.
The interrogations began. They took him in the morning, but he did not return until night. All the cellmates were worried about him. They thought he was killed because of the torture. His beard was shaved. But that was one of the signs of his anonymity among the cellmates. The torture of that day had changed his face.
One month later, on 23rd of Bahman, the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee informed the Army Prosecutor’s Office that it has such a prisoner. The next day, the investigator of Branch 12 of the Army Prosecutor’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest.
Reactions to the Sixth Arrest
Arresting and moving Mr. Khamenei to Tehran caused reactions. Among them was a declaration signed by the students of Khorasan, which addressed the “maraja’ (sources of emulation) and grand scholars.” Pointing to the authoritarian regime in Iran, the students called on the clerics to protest against Mr. Khamenei’s arrest and work for his release. Mr. Khamenei’s supporters, while informing people about this issue, asked the prominent figures, especially those associated with Ayatollah Milani to help them release Mr. Khamenei from prison.
Less than a week after his arrest, a public declaration was provided which, while criticizing the actions of the Pahlavi regime and informing people about the arrest of Mr. Khamenei, called on all classes to “take a step in to set Mr. Sayyed Ali Khamenei and other political prisoners free, and not fear any force or power.”
Also, on the 27th of Bahman, the Voice of the Clergy Radio announced that “Mr. Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the combatant cleric, has been again arrested on Friday, December 11, 1974.
The Professional Interrogator
When a prisoner showed little resistance, many interrogators and torturers would come. They gathered to break the prisoner’s morale and put him under more pressure. They would surround him and insult him as much as they could. There was only one main interrogator, and the others entered the room with an excuse and then they would together continue the interrogation. Mr. Khamenei has experienced such an atmosphere several times. “I did not remain their questions unanswered and was trying to say something that they cannot use against me.”
In one of these interrogations, Ahmad Masoumi-Kuchesfahani, an expert interrogator of the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee, began questioning.
In another round of interrogations, he came across Manouchehri; Manouchehr Vazifehkhah, known as Manouchehri, with an unshaven face; open collar, thick moustache, long hair falling over his shoulder, and a thick neck with a chain hanging from it.
The Last Interrogation
He was sitting in the interrogation room waiting for Moshiri, the interrogator, when suddenly Kaveh, the head of the interrogators while laughing entered the room. He seemed friendly and had a kind tone. He greeted Mr. Khamenei and talked about the unseriousness of the allegations. He was right. Sheykhan, the head of the SAVAK office of Khorasan, had arrested Mr. Khamenei and sent him to Tehran in the hope of finding a strong link between him and the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization. He might not be in Mashhad for some years, but the interrogators of the Anti-Sabotage Joint Committee stated that: “He is one of Khomeini’s supporters... some young people have misunderstood his lectures and interpretations of the Quran.” This sentence was written by Moshiri, the interrogator in Mr. Khamenei’s case, on June 10, 1975, after about six months of imprisonment and torture; it means, there was no evidence, no document, and no official confession.
The Day of Freedom
The last month of the summer of 1975 had arrived. That day, when he was sitting in the cell with two other prisoners, they opened the door. The officer asked, as usual, “Who is Ali?” He said: I am Ali. He asked: what is your surname? He said: “Ali Khamenei.” He said: “Cover your head and follow me.” He took me to Kaveh’s room. When he saw me, he said: “You are free!” I was very surprised. I left the room while still, I could not believe that they have released me from prison. For the first time, I walked down the halls with my head uncovered and I was allowed to leave the interrogator’s room with my eyes open.”
He passed a narrow alley and reached Topkhaneh Square. He had a small amount of money in his pocket so much so that he could buy the cheap pants and food. He called Mr. Beheshti’s house from the clothes shop. Mr. Beheshti did not believe that Sayyed Ali Khamenei is on the phone. “Where are you? I am waiting for you.”
When he reached Mr. Beheshti’s house, he also saw Habibollah Shafiq there. When Mr. Khamenei had called Shafiq was going to leave the house. He sat for an hour. He took some money and went to the house of his brother Sayyed Mohammad. From there, he called Mashhad and all his relatives found out about his freedom.
Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
leave your comments