Revisiting a Crime

On Monday, August 8, 1991, a warm summer day just past noon, news broke like a bomb in international media. Shapour Bakhtiar, the last Prime Minister of the Iranian monarchy, was assassinated at his home in Suresnes, located in the western suburbs of Paris, along with his young secretary, Soroush Katibeh. Subsequent police investigations revealed the extensive dimensions of the assassination operation, which had connections to several countries. From Tehran to Paris and Geneva, with operational headquarters in Istanbul, numerous individuals and complex communications were involved. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of this assassination, I aim to remind the main aspects and outlines of this incident, as addressing all its dimensions is beyond our limited time. The news of the murder of Shapour Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh was shocking for those familiar with the entry and exit procedures to Dr. Bakhtiar's home. After an unsuccessful assassination attempt in 1980 by representatives of the Islamic Republic led by Anis Naqash, Shapour Bakhtiar was under 24-hour police protection at his home in Suresnes. Four riot police officers were permanently stationed at Bakhtiar's residence, and the outside was also under police protection. The names of individuals scheduled to meet Dr. Bakhtiar were provided daily to the police by his son, Kiyu Bakhtiar. Kiyu Bakhtiar himself was a police intelligence officer responsible for his father's safety. When a visitor arrived at Bakhtiar's home, the guard police at the door would inform the officers inside of their name. With the green light from inside, the person would enter the house and undergo a thorough inspection by the officers in the basement under the reception hall. They would hand over their identification documents and all accompanying items to the officers, a photocopy of their ID would be taken, their entry time noted, and at the end of the meeting with Shapour Bakhtiar, they had to exit in the same manner, retrieving their identification documents and items left at the house. With such strict and precise security measures, how could individuals have entered the house and killed Shapour Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh and easily exited? Subsequent police investigations revealed that Fereydoun Bouyrahmadi, a young member of the National Resistance Movement of Iran and a close associate of Dr. Bakhtiar, had brought two individuals named Mohammad Azadi and Ali Vakili Rad to meet Dr. Bakhtiar and carried out the murder. A senior French police officer, who was present at the crime scene and responsible for the investigation, stated in an interview that Bouyrahmadi was one of the few who could visit Dr. Bakhtiar at any hour he wished. He had come to France a few years earlier and had sought asylum, becoming Dr. Bakhtiar's right-hand man. Bouyrahmadi told Dr. Bakhtiar that two supporters from Iran wanted to meet him to discuss plans to blow up the Shiraz oil refinery. Since they were coming from Iran and going back, they did not want anyone to see them. Dr. Bakhtiar, having complete trust in Bouyrahmadi, agreed. That day, he told everyone to leave, even telling his son that he did not want to see anyone and cut off the phone. It often happened that when he wanted to meet people, he would send everyone out and only be alone, cutting off the phone and holding his meetings. That day, at 3 PM, Bouyrahmadi was supposed to meet Vakili Rad and Mohammad Azadi. But how had Bouyrahmadi managed to gain Dr. Bakhtiar's trust to such an extent, and what kind of personality did he have? Hamid Zolnoor, a close associate of Dr. Bakhtiar and a member of the executive committee of the National Resistance Movement of Iran, said that individuals with a so-called 'rebellious' personality were favored by Bakhtiar. Bouyrahmadi was seen as an active young man, and unfortunately, he was trusted by Bakhtiar. He was sometimes a rough person, and I kicked him out of the office two or three times because he was pushy and rude. However, sometimes people with such rebellious personalities... this was apparently the case with him, and in his conversations, he would speak badly and inappropriately about everyone and would also try to create a sense of distrust within the organization by feeding Dr. Bakhtiar fabricated news. He was someone who cared for nothing but money. Until Wednesday, August 8, no one was aware of the occurrence of this crime. The bodies of Shapour Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh were discovered 36 hours after the crime, and Shabab, the Iranian-French police officer, arrived at the crime scene a few hours later. Shabab: On Wednesday, August 8, around 12:15 PM, Dr. Bakhtiar's son, who was also a French police officer responsible for his security, came home with the body of Soroush Katibeh, who was Dr. Bakhtiar's secretary, and they encountered Dr. Bakhtiar's body in the living room. They immediately called the police. I personally arrived there around 1:45 PM. When we entered Dr. Bakhtiar's yard, there were a few steps leading up, and then we entered a small hallway. Turning left, there was another small hallway, and to the right was the kitchen. At the end of this small hallway was a hall whose window opened to the yard. As we arrived, the first body we saw was that of Soroush Katibeh, who had fallen on his chest and had several stab wounds from behind. When I moved closer, I saw a sofa in front of the window of this hall, and Dr. Bakhtiar's body was on this sofa. When I looked, of course, my colleagues had arrived earlier; the murderers had also taken Dr. Bakhtiar's gold Rolex watch. In the indictment of the assassination of Dr. Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh, in addition to Bouyrahmadi, Vakili Rad, and Mohammad Azadi, six others were charged with complicity in murder and participation in a terrorist criminal group. I saw that his throat had been cut and his wrist veins had been severed. In front of this sofa, a piece of a bread knife had fallen under the sofa. Later, during the interrogation of Vakili Rad, we asked him, and he said that the first knife he brought from the kitchen was given to Mohammad Azadi, a bread knife that he wanted to use to cut his throat, but this knife broke. Then he told me to go get another knife, and I went and brought a larger knife from the kitchen. Given that the names of those who visited Dr. Bakhtiar were recorded, it quickly became clear who his last visitors were. Shabab: When we conducted further investigations, we found that the last people to see Dr. Bakhtiar were Fereydoun Bouyrahmadi, along with two others, on Monday at 3 PM. Immediately, the photos of these three individuals were broadcast on television and in the press. We were searching for them because they were the last people to have seen Dr. Bakhtiar alive. How did this trio manage to leave Dr. Bakhtiar's home without obstruction and easily, despite the police being in the basement? The killers had also taken Dr. Bakhtiar's gold Rolex watch. In the indictment of the assassination of Dr. Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh, in addition to Bouyrahmadi, Vakili Rad, and Mohammad Azadi, six others were charged with complicity in murder and participation in a terrorist criminal group. Investigations continued for over three years, and finally, the trial of the defendants began on November 2, 1994, and continued until December 6 of the same year. Abdolkarim Lahiji, who was present as an observer from the International Federation of Human Rights at all trial sessions of this case, stated that the court heard the testimonies of many witnesses. The forensic report was so horrific that when it was read, at the request of Bakhtiar's children’s lawyers, even Bakhtiar's eldest son, who was a senior police officer, left the courtroom. I want to say that these two, Bakhtiar and Katibeh, had been butchered. Their encounter was with two professional assassins. Others were also accused in this case: Masoud Hindi, who was a well-known businessman in France and represented a company that worked with France called Fifax, and he was the one who could obtain visas for them, meaning for Mohammad Azadi and Ali Vakili Rad. This was done with real fake passports. Therefore, two passports were obtained in the names of Nasser Nourian for Mohammad Azadi and Amir Kamal Hosseini for Ali Vakili Rad, and through an invitation that Bouyrahmadi sent from France, with the intervention of Masoud Hindi, the French embassy in Iran granted them visas. Thus, Masoud Hindi was accused of complicity in the crime due to his role in obtaining the visa and preparing for the crime. Another person was named Zainal Abedin Sarhadi, an official of the Islamic Republic embassy in Switzerland, who had just arrived for his mission and was ultimately acquitted in court because it was not determined whether he was a victim of a conspiracy, as it is clear that a person named Sarhadi entered Geneva airport a week after the crime. Whether this was the same Sarhadi or someone else who entered Switzerland with Sarhadi's passport was never clarified, and considering that the results of investigations and interrogations during the trial did not provide evidence for the accusations against Zainal Abedin Sarhadi, he was acquitted. In this trial, several defendants were absent. Two of those involved in the murder, namely Fereydoun Bouyrahmadi and Mohammad Azadi, and those who participated in preparing the means and tools for the crime: Hossein Sheikh Attar, who was one of the officials at the level of general directors in the Ministry of Post and Telegraph in Iran, and a Turk named Masoud Adib Suyi, who was active in Istanbul, were supposed to facilitate their return to Iran after they went from Geneva to Turkey. Two others named Nasser Ghasemi Nejad and Gholam Hossein Shourideh Nejad Shirazi were never pursued by the Islamic Republic; they were involved in preparing this crime in Iran, whether for issuing passports or sending them to France and contacting Fereydoun Bouyrahmadi. Ultimately, what were the results of more than a month of trial? Abdolkarim Lahiji: Ali Vakili Rad was sentenced to life imprisonment, and a minimum period was set according to French law, meaning that when they say life imprisonment, they also determine a period before which the defendant cannot be pardoned, which was set at 18 years. Masoud Hindi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for complicity in murder through obtaining visas, with a minimum of two-thirds of this ten years to be served in France, and Sarhadi was acquitted. This was executed accordingly. Masoud Hindi was released after serving seven years of his sentence and left France. Ali Vakili Rad was treated similarly. When the Islamic Republic, meaning the voices of the Islamic Republic, speaks of innocence, it means that killing Shapour Bakhtiar and all those who are considered anti-revolutionary elements is a religious duty. You remember that from the early months of the revolution, Sheikh Sadegh Khalkhali issued a death sentence for Bakhtiar and others. Therefore, when they say innocent, it is in that context. Abdolkarim Lahiji: One result of the assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar was the cancellation of the planned visit of François Mitterrand, the then President of France, to Iran. A visit that, if it had taken place, would have been the first visit by the president of an important Western country to Iran. Ali Akbar Velayati, the then Iranian Foreign Minister and current advisor on international affairs to Ayatollah Khamenei, implicitly acknowledged in a recent presidential election debate that Mitterrand's visit was disrupted due to the assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar. Ali Vakili Rad returned to Tehran on Tuesday, May 28, 2010, after serving 18 years in prison based on a court ruling for his release and expulsion from France. Two days earlier, Claude Heitras, a French student citizen who had been arrested on charges of espionage after the events of 2009, was released and returned to France. Some media outlets interpreted the release of these two as indicative of a behind-the-scenes agreement between Iran and France, a matter both countries denied. At Tehran airport, Ali Vakili Rad was welcomed like a hero with a wreath. You can hear the voice of Iranian state television: Ali Vakili Rad was welcomed at the airport by Qashqavi, the Deputy Foreign Minister for Iranian expatriates, and Jalali, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and head of the Iranian expatriates faction. Vakili Rad said at Tehran airport that he had endured hell and had now reached paradise. Iranian officials, upon welcoming Vakili Rad at Tehran airport, deemed him an innocent person who had been treated horrifically.