Knowing Mohammad Mofidi[1] was one of the greatest achievements for me during my military service. He was martyred later. The story of knowing him is a nice one. In Karaj Garrison I was in the 6th battalion. Once when they were calling the names of the soldiers, I heard the name of Ladjevardi in the 3rd battalion. I guessed he may be a relative of Assadullah Ladjevardi. I went to see him and asked the matter. He said that he was his relative. We became friends. Gradually I noted that he had a relation with a tall young man. I monitored him and saw that he would Koran so well and without mistake. At that time considering reading Koran was a key element for knowing religious individuals. I became friend with him and gradually I know him better. He knew me only with my military name ‘Soldier Ahmad Ahmad’.
After some time, I presented some religious and political subjects with him. Mohammad’s reaction was so mature and deliberate. I found him a completely religiously political person. From that time on, most of the time we were talking about political and religious affairs. Later I found he was a brother of Mustafa Mofidi[2] and Dr Abbas Sheybani[3] war his brother-in-law and he had good political knowledge.
After three months we knew and could trust each other so well. He informed me about some of his political activities. And I introduced him to Abbas Agha Zamani in order to join him to Hezbullah. Mohammad had some sessions with Abbass and then he became a member of central cadre of Hezbullah. In the middle of military training course, Mohammad decided to leave the military service. He believed that military service was wasting time and fighting against the regime was something that had to be done.
I made contacts with Dr. Kazem Sami[4] via his brother-in-law (Dr. Seybani). He was a psychologist and had guided him what to do. Dr. Sami had told him that the only way for coming out of military service was showing to be stupid. Using the consultations of Dr. Sami Mohammad played the role of a stupid man very carefully. He would stare at one point for hours. He would play unnatural and unusual behaviors so perfectly that nobody would have any doubt that he was stupid. All the psychological tests were positive. After some time, the commanders felt that having a stupid inside the garrison was dangerous and he became absolved.
After being absolved he joined revolutionary activities and increased his activities in Hezbullah. He was so talented in making contacts with different groups and was able to bring good amount of news for us from other groups. Mohammad’s later activities and his role in assassinating General Taheri, his arrest and tortures, are part of a story that cannot be presented in short.[5]
[1] Mohammad Mofidi was born in Tehran in 1948. He studied Nature in Dar-ul-fonoon High School. Because of family relations he was known to Nahzat-e Azadi (Liberty Movement). When he was young Ahmad Ahmad invited him to Hezbullah. He followed his activities along with Saeed Saffar Avval and Ali Reza Sepaassi Ashtiani and later joined MKO via these two. During the years of fight against the regime he had fake names such as Mohammad Lotfi and Mohammad Amini. In 1971 once the police agents suspected him and arrested him but he was freed when the suspicion turned out to be baseless. He was called “wanted” by the regime after the expansive strike of SAVAK against MKO in September 1971. In August 1972 Mohammad Baqer Abbassi and Ali Reza Sepassi Ashtiani made an unsuccessful assassination attempt to kill Genaral Taheri. In late August 1972 Mofidi and Abbassi were arrested and after a long range of tortures, they were executed on December 26th 1972. Mohammad Mofidi defended himself with these sentences: “… Taheri, the killer, was executed in order to show all the betrayers and oppressors that if they flee the destiny for few days, however, some day God and people would punish them for their black deeds. We had many reasons for killing Taheri. During the rise of June 5th 1963, as the commander of Tehran police he ordered to shoot defenseless people and suppress them. Did not he deserve to be punished…?”
[2] Mustafa Mofidi was an old member of Nahzat-e Azadi who ideologically changed to Marxism in 1971. After the Islamic Revolution he was arrested because his activities in Tudeh Party and imprisoned for some time. However, he was freed after recantation.
[3] Dr. Abbas Sheybani was born in 1931. He began his activities before entering university in National Front (Jebhe-ye Melli). When he entered university to study medicine he increased his political activities. After 1953 coup he was one of the Iranian national resistance movements’ leaders. In 1954 he was expelled from university because taking part in a rally against the attack of Israel, UK and France against Egypt. He was arrested by military commandment and exiled to Mashhad. There, he continued his activities along with Mohammad Taqi Shari’ati. He had a great role in constituting the 2nd National Front in 1960 and is a pioneer of Nahzat-e Azadi. In 1971 he was arrested and imprisoned because of cooperation with Mohammad Mofidi, his brother-in-law.
During his fighting years against the regime, he was arrested 9 nine times and imprisoned for 13 years totally. After the Islamic Revolution he served in different posts such as: member of Revolutionary Council, representative of Constitutional Elites, Ministry of Agriculture, dean of Tehran University, president of Medical Association, membership in Central Council of Islamic Republic Party, representative of Majlis, and representative of Tehran Islamic Council for two turns.
[4] Dr. Kazem Sami Kermani, son of Gholam Reza was born in 1934 in Mashhad. He was a schoolmate of Dr. Ali Shari’ati and joined oil nationalization movement and political activities. From 1951 on, he was one of constituting committee of counties in the Community of Iranian Nation’s Liberty (Jam’iyat-e Azadi-ye Mardom-e Iran) and later joined Iranian Nation Party (Hezb-e Mardom-e Iran) in Khorassan. He was arrested for the first time in 1951. He took part in June 5th 1963 and since he wanted by the regime’s security forces, he lived secretly for a long time. Later he continued his studies and could achieve PhD in psychology. He also got his MA in sociology. In continuing his political activities, he established JAMA (Jonbesh-e Enghelabi-ye Mardom-e Mosalman-e Iran; Revolutionary Movement of Iranian Muslim Nation) to fight against the regime. Once more he was arrested in 1965 and became imprisoned beside Ayatollah Taleghani. He was barred from leaving the country for 20 years (1959-1979).
After the Islamic Revolution, Dr. Kazem Sami was appointed as the first Public Health Minister. Helal Ahmar Supervision and being a representative of Majlis were other responsibilities that he took. He was finally killed in two days after being attacked by an unknown person who had come to his office as an inmate in 1988.
[5] Mr. Mas’ud Haghgoo narrated about Mohammad Mofidi as follow:
“Mofidi was a member of Hezbullah. He was arrested along with Mohammad Baqer Abbassi after assassinating General Taheri. Mohammad Mofidi was an interesting and competent person. In 1971 he was in the cell just beside me in the prison. He narrated for me how he had assassinated him with Arabic accent (he would put “al” at the beginning of each Farsi word and pronounce it with Arabic accent). The guards would think that he was speaking Arabic…. He said: “We wore fake clothes of painting workers and went to General Taheri’s house by a Honda motorcycle. When we entered, Taheri saw the gun in my hand. He was frightened. I pulled the trigger but it did not work. Taheri was frightened despite being armed and could not move. Baqer Abbassi saw this and shot him in the abdomen. He fell down and began begging for mercy and said that he was so sorry, he would resign, and …. The next shoots hit his forehead and one in his palm. I took his hat and ran away….” After being arrested he was so much tortured because of this hat; SAVAK agents knew it as symbol of the authority of the regime. After this assassination SAVAK got panic and Shah ordered to kill the assassinators in any possible way… [SAVAK] strengthened the patrols and guards very strictly. Finally one day when Mohammad and Baqer were walking side by side in Ab-Mangul Street, police would become suspected to them and would chase and order them not to move. Mohammad said: “I raised my hands and said: ‘ok, what’s up?!’” (Mohammad was a strong man with big body), “he checked me and found my gun. He got panic. I did not let him move and hit in his head by gun [and shoot]. The bullet went through his forehead but did not reach his brain. A guy named Hussein Tooti, a very dirty and corrupted person who had misled many young people, heard the sound of the bullet. He followed us. We ran so fast till we faced Hussein Darvish with a tin can in hand in the same street (Ab-Mangul). I asked him to get away, but he attacked us. I knocked him down. Thus, some people led by Hussein Tooti and a demon lumberman who had a shop near there, chased us. At the corner of Adib Street we separated our ways. Most of them followed Baqer Abbassi. After running a long way he lost his breath and they could catch him. So he was trapped. I fired my gun several times and finally could stop a motorcycle and run away with that gas cycle. People unaware of what has really happened, chased me with motors and cars. I turned to the next alley in Khavaran Street and reached to a blind alley. I put the motorcycle beside a wall and jumped to the other side of it. There was a night school. The students became frightened and began escaping from the school gate while shouting loudly. Finally I reached an alley and could run away.” [SAVAK] would find a picture of Mohammad after torturing Baqer Abbassi. Mohammad had a birthmark on one of his eyelids that would make him easily identifiable. Finally after one or two weeks, he was identified in Eshrat-Abad (Sepah) Square by SAVAK and arrested. He was an interesting and brave person. He did not show any weakness and stood bravely in front of interrogators. They would respect him so much. I remember when he was going to be executed his feet were swelled about 10 centimeters because of hard tortures. They were quite purulent. He lanced his feet to let the pus out and it fill something about one big bowl.
(Oral History Unit Archive; The Bureau for the Islamic Revolution Literature)
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