General Nematollah Naseri, the head of SAVAK, was born in 1910 in Sangsar, Semnan. His father, Adib al-Mamalek, represented the National Assembly for many years during Reza Shah’s time. Naseri completed his primary education in Semnan and his secondary education in Nezam School in Tehran. In 1932, he entered officer’s college and was a classmate of Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, the Crown Prince of Iran. In 1943, he graduated with the rank of second lieutenant. Until 1951, Naseri quickly completed his military ranks and took the following jobs.
Squadron Commander, Heavy Machine Gun Brigade Command, Graduate School Deputy, Kerman 18th Regiment 2nd Regiment Command, Sirjan Independent Battalion Command, Officer College Infantry Battalion, Graduate Course Commander, Officer College Infantry Division, Graduate Course Commander, Officer College Deputy Commander, Head of Dejban centre headquarters, Command of the Infantry College, Command of the Training Regime.
Naseri was appointed commander of the Eternal Guard in 1951 on the advice of Hoseyn Fardoust to the Shah. In this position, on August 16, 1953, he announced the Shah’s decree to appoint General Fazlollah Zahedi as Prime Minister and dismiss Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq in front of Mosaddeq’s house; but he was arrested and imprisoned on Mosaddeq’s orders. With the victory of the coup d’état on August 19, Naseri was released from prison and became a brigadier general. He was strongly supported by the Shah and was appointed to the rank of major general in 1958 and in October 1960, retaining his position as the Shah’s assistant deputy. He amassed a legendary fortune in this position. Naseri became the head of the entire police force on December 5, 1960, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on August 19, 1962, on the occasion of the coup d’état on August 19, 1953, which the Shah called the National Uprising. During the uprising on June 6, 1963, in addition to being the head of the police, he was also the military governor of Tehran and its suburbs, and he played a key role in the repression and killing of the people.
On 21 January 1965, following the assassination of Hasan-Ali Mansour, the Prime Minister, and the removal of General Hasan Pakravan from the post of SAVAK; Nematollah Naseri succeeded him. The reason for this appointment was the record that Naseri had left during his tenure as police chief. The prevalence of violence in the police force, the prevalence of torture during the interrogation of the accused, the appointment of repressive individuals, criminals in the sources of public affairs were the most important features of Naseri’s performance in the police department.
Naseri reached the rank of general on October 5, 1971, coinciding with the celebrations of the 2500th anniversary of the empire. During his presidency of SAVAK, the organization’s role in suppressing popular discontent and opposition intensified, and the wave of arrests, torture, and killings of dissidents intensified.
During this period, a great atmosphere of fear and anxiety was created in the society that it was thought that SAVAK was monitoring all the affairs of the Iranian people. During his visits to the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee, he was briefed on the smallest details of the interrogations and acts of torture.
According to General Hoseyn Fardoust, the removal of Hasan Pakravan from the post of head of SAVAK and the replacement of General Nematollah Naseri was the result of Naseri’s absolute loyalty to the Shah. Rapidly expanding SAVAK, increasing its operational staff, and with the help of a fixed prosthesis, SAVAK’s most prominent security element and Maj. Gen. Ali Motazedeh, SAVAK’s deputy, the organization became, in Hoseyn Fardoust’s words, “The pinnacle of power and the centre of all political restraints.”
During all these years, the Shah was completely satisfied with him. During Naseri’s presidency over SAVAK, the organization dominated all government organs, ministries and departments, and all levels of society.
Naseri strengthened SAVAK’s ties with Mossad and the CIA and involved SAVAK in the organizations’ regional plans. Among these interventions was the activation of SAVAK in identifying and influencing Palestinian groups opposed to the Zionist regime and identifying and influencing leftist and Marxist parties and organizations in the Middle East. The “Crystal Project,” which was implemented in 1966, the second year of Naseri’s presidency over SAVAK with the cooperation of Mossad, and activated the two organizations within the framework of the Zionist regime’s policies in the Arab countries opposed to Israel, is an example of this cooperation.
During his leadership of SAVAK, Naseri sent the organization’s agents to Israel for training and opened the door for Israeli advisers and trainers to enter Iran. He transferred the most modern technical equipment to suppress the fighters to Iran. A document from the American spy nest on Naseri’s performance in the Shah’s security apparatus states: “Naseri is a conservative individual on security issues and prefers to understand their goals and methods, rather than infiltrate opposition groups and suppress and destroy them all at once.”
During his years in the police and SAVAK, Naseri did not consult with anyone and was not accountable to anyone but the Shah himself. He was also involved in severe administrative and financial corruption in these two organizations.
Naseri’s office in SAVAK had become one of the centres of major economic transactions. He was involved in buying and selling real estate, construction and macroeconomic transactions. During these years, he received more than forty domestic and foreign medals.
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During these years, he received more than forty medals from both inside and outside the country. Naseri was removed from his position as the head of SAVAK during the Islamic Revolution on June 5, 1978, and left for Pakistan as ambassador to Jamshid Amouzgar’s cabinet. His dismissal was part of a plan to oust and apparently detain bad men, to deceive public opinion and quell popular anger. In this regard, General Ali Motazed, the deputy head of SAVAK, was fired and left for Syria as Iran’s ambassador. With these two dismissals, which were carried out to suppress the popular protests, the leadership of SAVAK was handed over to General Naser Moqaddam.
Naseri was summoned to Tehran when General Gholamreza Azhari became prime minister and, along with a number of other activists during the Pahlavi regime, was arrested and imprisoned in a political and demagogic show.
Naseri spent time in Jamshidieh prison, located in Jamshidieh barracks, then, by opening the prisons, he intended to escape from the country, but was identified by the people and accompanied by a number of elements of the previous regime, including Gholamreza Nikpai, General Jafar Gholi-Sadri, Mansour Rouhani, Dr. Shojaoddin Sheykholeslamzadeh, Dr. Manouchehr Azmoun, Salarjaf and several others were arrested.
Naseri was tried in the Revolutionary Court and sentenced to death. The sentence issued against him and several other leaders of the Pahlavi government was carried out on the evening of February 15, 1979.
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