Forty Years with the Man of a Thousand Faces; "Captain Professor Ebrahim Mirzaei"

The founder of the Toa Kung Fu style, a presidential candidate, army captain, leader of the Iranian People's Salvation Organization, committee commander, hospital director, commander of the Nohed Brigade, writer, PhD in philosophy, shepherd, PhD in physics, 7th dan in karate and 4th dan in taekwondo, bachelor's in psychology, the awaited one, professor of physiology, and more—all these titles and epithets belong to one person: Ebrahim Mirzaei, who would be 76 years old if alive today. A special forces commando in the 1960s, a newsworthy figure whose fortune waned in the 1980s but never extinguished. In recent years, Mirzaei's name has emerged as the leader of an opposition group to the Islamic Republic called the "Science of Right and Justice," which promotes the claim of Mirzaei's emergence to save humanity. During the Pahlavi regime, he underwent numerous training courses from the USA to Israel, Europe, and East Asia, and received a pistol as a reward from the Shah. Before the revolution, he built a temple in Tehran to teach his martial arts style, which he claims has 73,000 techniques. His remarkable fame began in 1974 with a report in the popular magazine "World of Sports" titled "This is the Temple of Kung Fu in Iran." The author refers to this martial art as a new world for youths deprived of any opportunity for heroic action. Mirzaei established the "Institute of Body and Mind" before the revolution, which was closed by the previous regime. The Islamic Republic's Kung Fu Federation confirms that in 1977, Shahpour Gholamreza closed the institute and its clubs. The federation states that some current commanders of the Revolutionary Guards were students of these closed clubs. According to some media from the early revolution, the day after the Islamic Revolution's victory, he, along with some of his students, armed themselves after seizing the Baghshahr barracks and attacked the central Taj organization. Ali Jabari, one of the best players in the history of Iranian football, told Khabar Online: "Mirzaei and his gang stormed the club. They took the trophies we had in the museum. They sat with guns on the wall and wouldn’t let anyone approach." Players went to Shah Hosseini, the head of sports in the provisional government, asking for a meeting with the Prime Minister. However, the government was powerless against the committees. Hossein Fekri, the deputy of the organization, said: "Mirzaei has orders from the committee, and we cannot speak against the committee." Players stated: "We have contracts, and this is our home. But Mirzaei said we all have to pay tuition to get membership cards; otherwise, we will be prevented from entering the club!" The newspaper Ayandegan confirmed the players' protests, stating: "Captain Mirzaei benefited for years from the Bruce Lee craze among teenagers. He opened stalls here and there, and now, with his connections to the Revolutionary Committee, he has turned the Taj club into a place for teaching shooting and training guerrillas." According to Ayandegan, eventually, with the renaming of the Taj club to Esteghlal, Mirzaei was forced to hand it over, having suffered significant losses, shortly after which he registered to run for the presidency! On January 13, 1979, Kayhan newspaper reported on its front page: "One of the presidential candidates will be imprisoned today on charges of collaborating with the corrupt Pahlavi regime and SAVAK." The next day, the same newspaper published Mirzaei's photo and reported his arrest. The Revolutionary Court confirmed that Mirzaei was injured during his arrest. Six days later, a group of Mirzaei's supporters protested by performing martial arts in front of the Kayhan newspaper! Kayhan published their statements and Mirzaei's declaration: "Mr. Khoyiniha, [Seyyed Mousavi Khoyiniha, head of the state radio and television at the time] the Iranian nation does not need a puppet or predetermined president. Let everyone have the right to live and think." According to the Asr-e Now website, he was imprisoned for five months after the first election and was released without interrogation. After the events of June 1981, Kung Fu was banned in Iran, but he continued to teach secretly. In 1984, he was arrested again and imprisoned for six months. After his release, he went to Gorgan and worked as a shepherd for two years, considering shepherding one of the jobs of prophets, citing Moses as an example. In 1987, he established the "Energy and Psychopathology Hospital for the Treatment of Rare Diseases" in Malard, which was quickly shut down. The Tabnak website reported that "after that, Mirzaei went to Turkey through the mountains, spent some time in Germany, and apparently passed away." However, relatively recent videos of Mirzaei have been published on YouTube. He has astonishing patience, appearing on various Los Angeles-based programs, speaking for hours, and posting all these videos on YouTube. From Zia Atabay's program to Shahram Homayoun, Alireza Noorizadeh, and even Kamran Atabaki, who was a topic of social media before the 2009 elections. Interestingly, Atabaki did not cut Mirzaei's voice, giving him a long opportunity to speak. Until very recently and during the 2013 presidential elections, Mirzaei tried to send his voice back to Iran, claiming to have obtained two PhDs in philosophy and physics from the University of Maryland and to have become a professor in "Human Energy Physiology in Psychological Dimensions." One of the notable news channels at that time was the Rangarang channel, hosted by an individual named Davar, known for using vulgar expressions. Mirzaei also appeared on this program, discussing "the savior of the Iranian people, Ebrahim Mirzaei." His Facebook page, Telegram channel, and YouTube account remain active but without much engagement. His followers on Telegram number less than 230. He denied accusations of wealth accumulation and in a nine-hour audio file posted on YouTube, he stated: "You remember I had no money. [Audience confirmation]... Even the money for my Camaro was given to me by Hormoz Sabati, and I owe him 430,000 tomans. That same engineer Sabati, who is very pure and has never exposed his body to a woman." The Toa Kung Fu style, founded by Mirzaei, has ranks that include Rahedan, Rahban, Jahaanban, and Rahbar. However, the title Rahbar is exclusively attributed to Mirzaei himself. According to some websites, Mirzaei's latest claim is his emergence and the title of Hazrat Sahib al-Amr. He or his followers claimed in the Telegram channel "Ava-e Amr" that six of their members, whose names were also mentioned, were arrested in Shahr-e Yaran in April 1993 after being beaten by intelligence agents.