Qom in Silence
The Islamic Seminary of Qom was experiencing a forced silence due to the aftermath of June 5, and also due to the traditional holidays of Muharram and Safar and also the coming of summer and the suppression of the movement which its peak was the arresting of Imam Khomeyni and his transfer to Tehran. The source of all the news was in Tehran; the place where the great scholars of cities had come to protest the arresting of Imam and some clerics.
The suppression of the regime organizations required that the defiant clerics keep their activities hidden from the security forces. Underground activities were shaping. It’s so natural for the SAVAK documents to be quiet for those days of Qom. Meanwhile, Sayyed Mostafa Khomeyni who was doing the daily jobs of his prisoned father was under control; he was summoned to gendarmerie and SAVAK twice.
The classes of the Islamic seminary of Qom started on October 12, 1963. The scholars and sources of emulation had left Tehran and went to their hometown cities. Sayyed Ali Khamenei witnessed a completely different Qom compared to what he saw when he left the city. “A hideous silence dominated the city of Qom. The reason was that after the incidents of June 5, there was no one in Qom to break the fear of the clerics and give them hope… but the happiness of the energetic clerics covered up everything.”
The Organization
He called up his like-minded friends very soon, consulted and suggested organizing meetings, to gather around, say, listen and do something so that the movement they had started won’t be forgotten. The organizers of one of the meetings, which were held with many guests, were Sayyed Khamenei, Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Ali-Asghar Morvarid and Mahdi Rabbani-Amlashi. This was the first organizational tasks of Sayyed Khamenei and his like-minded friends.
The number of the members of the meeting were eleven. It was known as the eleven-member meeting. Its members were Hoseyn-Ali Montazeri, Abdorrahim Rabbani-Shirazi, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Sayyed Mohammad Khamenei, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Ebrahim Amini-Najafabadi, Ahmad Azari-Qommi, Ali Qoddusi, Mahdi Haeri-Tehrani and Ali Meshkini.
The members of the meeting paid the membership fee. The reports of the greater meeting were announced in this meeting, but none of the news of this meeting was reported to the other meeting. The news of the meetings was later leaked when SAVAK found the statute of the meeting in the inspection of Azari-Qommi’s house; they learned about its importance from its details. There was also a third meeting along with these two meetings which later made the foundation of today’s Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom. These meetings, and especially the decisions made in the greater meeting and was put into practice, changed the environment of the Islamic Seminary. These struggles opened the close-minded and sorrowful environment of Qom.
Now what was important was finding an organization for the struggles; how to keep the noble nature of the seminary alive. Publishing the magazine “Bi’that” was among the actions done to show the light of struggles. The first issue of the magazine was published on December 14, 1963, coinciding with the Bi’that [beginning of the mission of the Prophet Muhammad]. Sayyed Khamenei wasn’t involved in the printing of the magazine. He wasn’t even aware of its preparations, but by time, he learned that its writers and publishers are Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Sayyed Hadi Khosroshahi, Ali Hojjati-Kermani, Sayyed Mahmoud Do’aei and...
The Second Prison
Before the month of Ramadan
The month of Ramadan 1964, starting on January 17 was coming. SAVAK had warned all provinces to be ready to prevent probable incidents this month. But in one of the more public meetings, the participants decided to go to other cities and tell people what had happened in the first part of the year to commemorate June 5 and the struggles that Imam Khomeyni had started. “I said in that meeting that I’m ready to go wherever you wish. One said Zahedan. I said, no problem; I’ll go to Zahedan.”
Sayyed Khamenei had not travelled to Zahedan until then; it was an unknown far place in his mind. He didn’t have any knowledge of the city neither anything heard about it from anyone.
Very soon in continuation of the letters that he wrote to Ayatollah Milani, he wrote a letter to him and informed him of his decision. He wrote to him asking for his opinion and if possible, to write a letter to Mohammad Kaf’ami informing him of the trip, in order to be a help for him in Zahedan.
The SAVAK of Khorasan who had put filters on the letters received by Ayatollah Milani got informed of the letter of Sayyed Ali Khamenei to him. General Bahrami, the new head of SAVAK in Khorasan informed the SAVAK in Zahedan of the content of the letter and told him that “Mr. Ali Hoseyni-Khamenei, a lecturer who is one of the fans of Ayatollah Milani, is going to be in Zahedan during the holy month of Ramadan… please take his actions under control.”
Towards Zahedan
It was the January 11. The bus had thirty passengers among whom there were 15 clerics; they were all heading for propagation. Their goal was on this road. They stayed the night in Esfahan. The next station of Sayyed Khamenei was Yazd. With the suggestion of one of those who accompanied them, they went to visit Ayatollah Mohammad Sadouqi. Along the way, the bus stopped in Ardakan. When he realized that the bus has two to three hours of stop in Ardakan, he searched for Mr. Khatami’s house and went there. This time the visit was in winter.
When he got off the bus in Kerman, there were no clerics with him anymore; they got off in the small and big cities that they had passed. He knew that his close friend, Mohammad-Javad Hojjati-Kermani is in his hometown, Kerman. He went to the Islamic Seminary, Salehieh. He found out that Hojjati-Kermani is the centre of all struggles of the youth in Kerman. He got familiar with Mr. Mortaza Fahim-Kermani; he got the book “Tadhkirah al-Motaqin” as a gift from Sayyed Kamal Shirazi.
In Zahedan
He arrived in Zahedan in the morning of Thursday, January 16, coinciding with the 30th of Sha’ban. He asked for Masjid Jame’. A passerby informed him of the place. They had built rooms in the yard of the Masjid for the non-indigenous preachers. He left his luggage in one of the rooms and headed for the cleric of the city; Mr. Kaf’ami was waiting for him. Ayatollah Milani had sent a letter for Mr. Kaf’ami, including a letter for him as well. He settled in Kaf’ami’s house due to his request. He had scheduled his lectures in a way that the days before the 19th of Ramadan be less political and to mention the fundamental issues on the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Ali, peace be upon him.
The Last Lecture in Masjid Jame’
On February 4, coinciding with the 15th of Ramadan, the birth anniversary of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) Sayyed Khamenei started his lecture at 14:10. Even though he kept his important words for the 19th and 21st of Ramadan, but what he uttered was very frank and malicious[GS1] .
Sayyed Khamenei by mentioning the fact that anti-religionism was not evident at the time of Haroun al-Rashid and that they secretly confronted Islam but apparently didn’t manifest anything, introduced the current regime as secretly and apparently anti-Islam. “He prayed for Ayatollah Khomeyni and Ayatollah Shahroudi after a short musibah [discussion of the tragedy of Imam al-Husayn] and asked God to cut off the evildoings of the oppressors from the people of Islam.” It was 15:15 when he came down from the Minbar. Sayyed Khamenei went towards one of the rooms in the yard of Masjid Jame’ [Grand Mosque]. He used to go there after his lectures to take a rest.
Getting Arrested
The head of the gendarmerie of Sistan va Baluchestan, after getting the report of his agent, wrote a letter to Mohammad-Ali Arsham, the head of SAVAK in Sistan va Baluchestan, giving a summary of the words of Sayyed Khamenei in Masjid Jame’ of Zahedan; he suggested to arrest him “Since it can be predicted that if we don’t prohibit him from giving lectures, he will continue his words in the next sessions until the days of Martyrdom, which is against the security of the region, the white revolution and the six reformatory principles which will result in disorders.”
They came to the same room of the Masjid. He was sitting with seven or eight other clerics when they came to summon him; they called him. When he opened the door, he saw a handsome young man saying that he should go with him to meet the head of the gendarmerie. This was his second political petition.
Arsham who was from “The Head of Independent Army of Zahedan” intended to keep Sayyed Khamenei for one night in the garrison and then hand him over to SAVAK at 8 in the morning of the next day. He got hungry when he was there. Reception in SAVAK had a different meaning. When he had arrived in Zahedan, he had only five tomans in his pocket. They got eight rials and gave him a piece of bread and two eggs. They prisoned him in a room in the garrison of Zahedan. He had spent the first prison in spring; but the winter of 1964 was cold, even in Zahedan.
Transfer to Tehran
They handed Sayyed Khamenei back to the SAVAK in Zahedan in the morning of the next day. Last night, the security committee had decided to send him to Tehran. Arsham, the head of SAVAK of the Province informed Tehran that “Sayyed Ali Hoseyni-Khamenei” is heading for Tehran in the afternoon with Irantour Airline along with two guards. “Get a car ready at the airport to take the criminal to the prison,” They took him to Zahedan Airport with a Land Cruiser. The airplane took off at 17:45. It was his first time flying with an airplane. The agents of the third office of the SAVAK in Tehran were waiting for him at the airport.
The file that the agents of SAVAK received from the escorts of Sayyed Khamenei had contained only eight pages. He sat in the back seat of the car. The smoky window didn’t let him recognize the streets and districts. After a while, the car was stopped with a stop call. He learned that they’ve got to a military garrison. It was a wide empty place. He thought for a second that they might kill him. One of the agents got off the car. He handed in a paper to the one who had stopped the car. The door opened. The car entered Saltanatabad Garrison.
At Saltanatabad Garrison
When he got off, they inspected him and handed him over to the officer in charge. They brought some food; he ate it. He prayed and rested in one of the beds there. When he got up in the morning, he prayed. His room was next to the prison of the garrison. When they called him, he got on a car along with the agents who had come with him from Zahedan and got out of the garrison. The car ended up in the old road to Shemiran and stopped at a building that was one of the secret buildings of the Security Forces.
At Qezel Qaleh Prison
They guided him to a small room in the building. In the time that he was there, they frequently opened the door and looked at him. After an hour, he was taken to a car along with two agents; he didn’t know where their destination was. The car passed Abkaraj Street (which was later called Elizabeth and Keshavarz after the revolution) to the end and headed towards Amirabad. They stopped at a checkpoint. There was a big square covered with snow all white next to the checkpoint. He found out that he’s next to the famous prison, Qezel Qaleh (the red castle). He looked at the red castle whose walls were ten meters high.
When he entered, he saw another big wall in front of him which was five meters away from the main wall. When the second door of the prison opened, he saw a big square with a castle in the centre of it. They entered the castle and took him to a narrow corridor that had prison cells on both sides. He entered one of the cells; they closed the door behind him. It was February 2, 1964.
He experienced disturbing loneliness. He took refuge in the Quran and started reciting. He was the neighbour of some people from the Jebheh Tahrir group of Khuzestan province. They got to know each other when Sayyed Khamenei got the right to get out of his prison cell and take a walk in the corridor of that section or to get out of the castle to breathe some fresh air.
The month of Ramadan was not finished. The Khuzestanis spread out their blankets in the corridor to set the Iftar table. In the first days, he watched them from the window at the top of the prison cell, but later on, he sat next to them on the blankets. They asked him to speak for them every night. He accepted. After his words, Sayyed Kazem Mousavi used to recite eulogies.
Sayyed Khamenei wasn’t the only cleric in Qezel Qaleh prison; some of his friends were there too. The Ramadan lectures had sent political clerics into prison. Mohammad-Javad Bahonar was one of the imprisoned in the right prison cells. Ayatollah Bahonar was arrested after his lectures on March 8 & 9 in Masjid Jame’ of Tehran on the first anniversary of the bloody Incidents of Feyziyeh School.
One of the other people who was going to Qezel Qaleh prison drew the attention of others was General Mohammad Vali Qarani. They didn’t take him to the normal cells of the prison. Another prisoner whom he got familiar with, was Gagik Avansian. Avansian was an old member of the Tudeh Party of Iran who had entered the Iranian Youth Party in 1945 and got in its intelligence section in 1951.
Sergeants of Qezel Qaleh
Five sergeants were the main guards of Qezel Qaleh; their head was called Saqi. Eskandani and Teymouri were among the five military guards who were “very rude, strict and impolite,” but the other two, Zamani and Qabeli were kind and good-hearted.
Meeting the Imam
On March 4, 1964, the Army Prosecutor Office sent a letter to the Head of SAVAK that the detention of Sayyed Khamenei has changed to ‘Commitment to not quitting the jurisdiction area of Tehran.’ He was released from Qezel Qaleh prison on the same day. They had released all the lecturers just before him. The only person who had been kept in prison as the last arrested sheikh in the month of Ramadan was Mohammad-Javad Bahonar who stayed in prison for four months; he was released on July 16, 1964.
He had many friends and relatives in Tehran who were all worried. He heard from the same friends that the clerics who were arrested in the month of Ramadan and were all released just before he had gone to visit Ayatollah Khomeyni. The number of visitors of the Imam had increased so much that it was impossible for the security forces to take care and supervise. It was only three days past his stay in Davoudieh when they moved him to a house in Qeytarieh.
They said that you’re allowed to visit the Imam, but no more than ten minutes. He looked at his watch and ran. He ran to get to the door in the shortest time. He knocked on the door. A few seconds later Sayyed Mostafa opened the door. When he saw Sayyed Khamenei, he opened his arms and hugged him. It was five years that they knew each other; they had become friends over time. He knew Sayyed Mostafa very well; he knew that this pious man, who is now living with his imprisoned father, is stepping in the footsteps of his father, away from blue-bloodedness. He asked for HajAgha (Imam Khomeyni). He was guided to a room; he sat down. “I saw HajAgha coming in. I cried. I couldn’t talk. I intended to talk but I couldn’t. After all with so much difficulty, I talked. He was quiet, watching me. He asked about my wellbeing. The only thing I said was that it was a pity that our Ramadan was ruined due to your absence. Please plan the next Ramadan in a way that it won’t be ruined; it’s a pity… I don’t remember what he said; if he Encouraged or not…” He got up and said goodbye. “I will never forget the kindness and blessings that were in the meeting with him.”
Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
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