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What did the SAVAK do in Iran?

revolution of 1978–79 in Iran, SAVAK (Organization of National Security and Information), the Iranian secret police and intelligence service, protected the regime of the shah by arresting, torturing, and executing many dissidents.

Did the CIA train SAVAK?

From 1956-1957, ten CIA advisers travelled to Iran and trained the nascent SAVAK. Working alongside Bakhtiar, the Americans helped sharpen and direct SAVAK's first operations, which often targeted the Shah's detractors in the communist Tudeh Party.

Who was the head of SAVAK?

Nematollah Nassiri (Persian: نعمت‌الله نصیری; 4 August 1910 – 15 February 1979) was the director of SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency during the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and later the Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan.

Does the CIA have a black ops unit?

The Special Activities Division (SAD) is the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) covert paramilitary operations unit. They are one of America's most secretive and lowest profile special ops organizations.

What shady things has the CIA done?

Domestic wiretapping.Extraordinary rendition.Security failures.Counterintelligence failures.Human rights concerns.External investigations and document releases.Influencing public opinion and law enforcement.CIA's recruitment of Nazis.More items...

How many people were killed by SAVAK?

Abrahamian estimates that SAVAK (and other police and military) killed 368 guerrillas including the leadership of the major urban guerrilla organizations (Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas, People's Mujahedin of Iran) such as Hamid Ashraf between 1971–1977 and executed up to 100 political prisoners ...

What does SHA mean in Persian?

Šāh, or Šāhanšāh (King of Kings) to use the full-length term, was the title of the Persian emperors.

What was Iran called before 1979?

In the Western world, Persia (or one of its cognates) was historically the common name used for Iran. On the Nowruz of 1935, Reza Shah officially asked foreign delegates to use the Persian term Iran (meaning the land of Aryans in Persian), the endonym of the country, in formal correspondence.

What did the CIA do to Iran in 1953?

The CIA sent Major General Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. to persuade the exiled Shah to return to rule Iran. Schwarzkopf trained the security forces that would become known as SAVAK to secure the shah's hold on power. The coup was carried out by the US administration of Dwight D.

Does the SAVAK still exist?

'"Intelligence and Security Organization of the Country"') was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar ordered its dissolution during the climax of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

What is the CIA equivalent in Iran?

The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: وزارت اطّلاعات جمهوری اسلامی ایران, romanized: Vezarat-e Ettela'at Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran) is the primary intelligence agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a member of the Iran Intelligence Community.

Did the CIA operate in Vietnam?

CIA activities in Vietnam were operations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency in Vietnam from the 1950s to the late 1960s, before and during the Vietnam War. After the 1954 Geneva Conference, North Vietnam was controlled by communist forces under Ho Chi Minh's leadership.

What did Vadei say?

Vadei said listening, keeping a slight smile, amused in back of his keen eyes.

What is the Savak?

It is the shah and the chief security agencies under his personal direction that determine exactly what the public interest is. SAVAK is only one of those agencies. Others include the Special Intelligence Bureau or the J-2 branch of the Imperial Iranian Armed forces. SAVAK is the best known, but its own view of its role has been hardest to get on record.

What is Savak's greatest triumph?

SAVAK's greatest triumph has perhaps been psychological. The SAVAK are spoken of as people who know everything, hold everything in their hands and have friends and helpers everywhere.

Where is Savak headquarters?

SAVAK headquarters is in the east of the city of Tehran.To enter, one must pass through a very severe-looking low concrete gate. One then passes a glass booth and enters a brickwalled compound of about 25 acres housing 1,500 men.

How many edicts were passed during the White Revolution?

We have had to treat them very badly, very harshly. The White Revolution is the label given to 12 edicts the shah promulgated providing for the nationalization of forests, land reform, suffrage for women, and other public health and literacy problems.

How far is the prison from the Hilton?

Although it stands within two miles of the Royal Tehran Hilton, if one did not know where the prison were one would not find it.

What did the interpreter wear in the prison?

The interpreter wore a tailored brown tweed suit with a large flowery tie that flowed down below his belt buckle.

What was the purpose of the Savak unit?

With training focused on domestic security and interrogation, the primary purpose of the intelligence unit, headed by General Teymur Bakhtiar, was to eliminate threats to Shah. SAVAK (Sazeman-i Ettelaat va Amniyat-i Keshvar) was the National Organization for Intelligence and Security.

How many Iranian students were infiltrated by Shah Savak?

At the peak its influence under the Shah SAVAK had at least 13 full-time case officers running a network of informers and infiltration covering 30,000 Iranian students on United States college campuses. The head of the SAVAK agents in the United States operated under the cover of an attache at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, with the FBI, CIA, and State Department fully aware of these activities.

How many informants did Savak have?

A flurry of pamphlets issued by the revolutionary regime after 1979 indicated that SAVAK had been a full-scale intelligence agency with more than 15,000 full-time personnel and thousands of part-time informants. SAVAK was attached to the Office of the Prime Minister, and its director assumed the title of deputy to the prime minister ...

When did the Shah leave Iran?

Recognizing that even this level of violence had failed to crush the rebellion, the Shah abdicated the Peacock Throne and departed Iran on 16 January 1979. Despite decades of pervasive surveillance by SAVAK, working closely with CIA, the extent of public opposition to the Shah, and his sudden departure, came as a considerable suprise to the US intelligence community and national leadership. As late as September 28, 1978 the US Defense Intelligence Agency reported that the shah "is expected to remain actively in power over the next ten years."

What was the Shah's rule?

SAVAK increasingly to symbolized the Shah's rule from 1963-79, a period of corruption in the royal family, one-party rule, the torture and execution of thousands of political prisoners, suppression of dissent, and alienation of the religious masses.

When did Savak get dissolved?

The organization was officially dissolved by Khomeini shortly after he came to power in 1979.

Where was Savak prison?

SAVAK operated its own prisons in Tehran (the Komiteh and Evin facilities) and, many suspected, throughout the country as well. SAVAK's torture methods included electric shock, whipping, beating, inserting brokon glass and pouring boiling water into the rectum, tying weights to the testicles, and the extraction of teeth and nails.

What does Savak mean?

SAVAK is the Roman abbreviation of "Sazman-e Etelaat Va Amniat Keshvar" (Organization of Intelligence and Security of the Country) in Persian (Farsi) letters. According to Ervand Abrahamian, the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad), the CIA and the FBI assisted the Shah's regime in establishing SAVAK in 1957 ( Iran Between Two Revolutions 1982, ...

What did Savak destroy?

Tahmoores Sarraf claims that SAVAK destroyed most of the opposition groups in the 1960s and the 1970s as a result of which there was no strong organized political alternative to Khomeini during the Islamic Revolution ( Cry of a Nation: The Saga of the Iranian Revolution 1990, 40).

What did Savak focus on in the 1960s?

Milani claims that in the 1960s and 1970s, SAVAK focused on the suppression of leftist organizations which led to the arrest of a large number of prominent activists including the ideological founders of the future the "Fadayean Khalq Organization" ( The Making of Iran's Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic 1988, 137).

How many agents did Savak have?

By 1977, SAVAK had 5,300 full-time agents and a large number of part-time informers (Ibid., 436). It had the power to "censor the media, screen applicants for government jobs, ... and use all means necessary, including torture, to hunt down dissidents" (Ibid.).

Which party was one of the major targets of Savak even in the 1970s?

Abrahamian holds that the Tudeh Party was one of the major targets of SAVAK even in the 1970s when the party was no longer a serious threat to the Iranian regime ( Iran Between Two Revolutions 1982, 451).

When was Savak created?

According to Mohsen M. Milani, SAVAK was created through the assistance of the Mossad and the CIA in 1957 ( The Making of Iran's Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic 1988, 8)

Who harassed the Shah's supporters?

Gholam R. Afkhami claims that, in addition to the suppression of political opponents, SAVAK even harassed the Shah's supporters by creating an intentional sentiment of intimidation within different governmental and non-governmental institutions ( The Iranian Revolution: Thanatos on a National Scale 1985, 186).

How old was Tehrani when he described the torture of a fedayeen?

His powerfully built frame shaking, the 34‐year‐old Tehrani described the torture of a fedayeen, or Marxist guerrilla, leader.

What did Tehrani say after a clash with guerrillas?

Sometimes, after a clash with guerrillas, Tehrani said, he and his colleagues would decide to kill their prisoners.

Why did Tebrani and Savak have no attorneys?

They had no attorneys because, according to one of the prosecutor‐judges, no one would come forward to defend them.

How many people did Batman Naderipour torture?

Batman Naderipour, alias Tehrani, should know what he is talking about. He admitted torturing hundreds of people and murdering dozens in 16 years as key interrogator for the secret police, or Savak. About 300 people, many with records like Tehrani's, have been tried and executed by revolutionary courts since the Islamic upheaval in Iran began.

What did the widow of one of the victims of the Tehrani murder say?

The widow of one of Tehrani's victims turned to her neighbor and said, “He is trying to cry but it is only an act.”

Where was the trial of the Shah held?

The trial was in the mosque of Qasr Prison where political suspects were jailed during the Shah's reign. Several thousand people gathered at the entrance, a huge iron door guarded by heavily armed revolutionaries, some in battle fatigues, others in jeans.

Who was the former interrogator for the Shah's secret police?

TEHERAN, Iran, June 17 — “Nobody knows how terrible torture is and how painful it is to talk about it,” sobbed Tehrani, a former interrogator for the Shah's secret police as he faced a revolutionary court today.

What is the grisly truth of Iran's torture prisons?

Grisly truth of Iran’s torture prisons revealed in new museum recreating brutal techniques with dummies. The gruesome displays reveal the horrors suffered by prisoners of the brutal security service SAVAK. THE harrowing realities of Iran's torture prisons have been revealed in a new museum that uses dummies to recreate brutal interrogation ...

What is the name of the torture device that prisoners are placed in?

A prisoner is placed in a torture device known as the 'hot cell'Credit: Barcroft Media

What are the gruesome displays in the Savak?

The gruesome displays reveal the horrors suffered by prisoners of the brutal security service SAVAK

What was the name of the security service that tortured and killed thousands of the Shah's opponents before the 1979 revolution?

The grisly displays reveal the horrors suffered by prisoners of the brutal security service SAVAK, which tortured and killed thousands of the Shah's opponents before the 1979 revolution.

Where are dummies sat?

Many of the dummies are sat in dark cells in solitary confinementCredit: Barcroft Media

How long do suspected dissidents spend in jail?

Suspected dissidents could spend anything from a few months to a couple of years awaiting trial at the centre.

How many agents were in the Savak?

SAVAK, created with the assistance of the CIA, had as many as 60,000 agents in its ranks and some 8,500 prisoners passed through its "House of Detention".

How did Shah destroy the country?

The Shah systematically dismantled the judicial system of Iran and the country's guarantees of personal and social liberties. His regime consistently violated the codes of law and justice, destroying the dignity of our people by treating them like backward savages to be pulled with an iron hand out of the middle ages into the light of the modern era. Nearly every source of creative, artistic and intellectual endeavor in our culture was suppressed.

Why is Shah's presence in the US a disgrace?

The Shah's presence in the U.S. is a disgrace and an insult to the integrity of the American people, regardless of their view on the hostage issue. The conflict is not between our nations. Our anger is not directed at Americans because they are Americans. We have no genes for anti-Americanism in us. Our anger is directed at those in power who installed and maintained the Shah for 25 years, as they still do for dictators in Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay, the Philippines and around the world.

Why did the military guards station on universities?

A special military guard was stationed on most large university campuses to mute student opposition. The number of students tortured, lost or murdered is unkown. Yet the universities remained a bulwark of opposition to the Shah and his cultural agression. The national minorities in Iran have fared even worse.

What minorities were deprived of the right to learn in their mother tongues?

The national minorities in Iran have fared even worse. Millions of Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Baloochis and Turkamans were deprived of the right to learn in their mother tongues, and no cultural expression or publication was allowed in their languages. Our people have experienced enormous physical and spiritual suffering under the Shah.

What did the press complain about the execution of the Shah's military chiefs and ex-cronies in Iran?

They complained bitterly about the violation of due process of law.

Was the Shah of Iran a private citizen?

Life Under The Shah. It was indeed a strange episode when the Shah of Iran, former head of one of the world's most brutal and repressive states, managed to land in the U.S. as a "private citizen.". For several days leading newspapers published first page stories detailing the treatment of the Shah's cancer, creating a mood conducive ...

Who conducted most of the torture?

Little was heard about the royal family's financial scandals and their heroin smuggling on a global scale. SAVAK conducted most of the torture, under the friendly guidance of the CIA. which set up SAVAK in 1957 and taught them how to interrogate suspects.

What happened to the Shah of Iran?

Bolstered by slander in the Western press, these forces, along with Soviet-inspired communist insurgents, and mullahs opposing the Shah’s progressiveness, combined to face him with overwhelming opposition. In three years he went from vibrant monarch to exile (on January 16, 1979), and ultimately death, while Iran fell to Ayatollah Khomeini’s terror.

How many nuclear power plants did Shah build?

Although Iran was the world’s second largest oil exporter, the Shah planned construction of 18 nuclear power plants. He built an Olympic sports complex and applied to host the 1988 Olympics (an honor eventually assigned Seoul), an achievement unthinkable for other Middle East nations.

How did Shah change the world?

Primarily by using oil-generated wealth, he modernized the nation. He built rural roads, postal services, libraries, and electrical installations. He constructed dams to irrigate Iran’s arid land, making the country 90-percent self-sufficient in food production.

What did Shah do for the Middle East?

A voice for stability within the Middle East itself, he favored peace with Israel and supplied the beleaguered state with oil. On the home front, the Shah protected minorities and permitted non-Muslims to practice their faiths. “All faith,” he wrote, “imposes respect upon the beholder.”.

Why was Khomeini exiled?

Because his incendiary remarks had contributed to violence and rioting then, he was exiled, living mostly in Iraq, where Iranians largely forgot him until 1978. A shadowy past followed Khomeini. The 1960s rioting linked to him was financed, in part, by Eastern Bloc intelligence services.

Was Shah a pro-Western?

Long regarded as a U.S. ally, the Shah was pro-Western and anti-communist, and he was aware that he posed the main barrier to Soviet ambitions in the Middle East. As distinguished foreign-affairs analyst Hilaire du Berrier noted: “He determined to make Iran … capable of blocking a Russian advance until the West should realize to what extent her own interests were threatened and come to his aid…. It necessitated an army of 250,000 men.” The Shah’s air force ranked among the world’s five best. A voice for stability within the Middle East itself, he favored peace with Israel and supplied the beleaguered state with oil.

Where did George Ball visit?

George Ball — that guru of American diplomacy and prominento of certain think-tanks and pressure groups — once paid a long visit to Teheran, where, interestingly, the National Broadcasting Authority placed an office at his disposal.