Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Hamid Shabani

About

Age: 24
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Non-Believer
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: November 3, 1981
Location of Killing: Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting

About this Case

The information about Mr. Hamid Shabani, son of Hossein, has been collected from interviews with two of his school friends, one of whom was also a political activist working along with him. Mr. Shabani is also one of the 12028 individuals listed in an addendum to the Mojahed magazine (No 261), published by Mojahedin Khalq Organization in 1985. The list includes individuals, affiliated with various opposition groups, who were executed or killed during clashes with the Islamic Republic security forces from June 1981 to the publication date of the magazine.

Mr. Shabani was born in 1957 in Firuzabad, a city in Fars province. He went to school in Shiraz. In 1976 he went to Tehran to enroll in Tehran University and study social sciences. He started his political activism as a student against the monarchy. In November 1978, Tehran University was closed due to mass protests. Therefore, Mr. Shabani returned to Shiraz with a friend (who is one of the sources of the information). In Shiraz, they formed a cell of the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization. After the 1979 Revolution, he kept in touch with the Organization, and joined the Majority branch when the organization split in 1980.

With the “cultural revolution” of spring 1980 and the closure of all universities, Mr. Shabani could no longer go back to Tehran to continue his education. He then started his activities as “duty officer” in the “military section of the Fadaiyan Khalq Organization – Majority Branch” in Shiraz. This was what they called their group, despite the fact that Mr. Shabani was neither armed nor a duty officer. In this cell, they mostly read books and newspapers. One of the activists of this group worked at the prosecution office and he brought some rather unimportant documents and gave them to the organization. When this activity was discovered, three members of the group, including Mr. Shabani were arrested.

A friend of his remembers Mr. Shabani as a tall young man with body of an athlete. One of characteristics was his kindness. He loved hiking and attended school hiking trips. In mid-August 1981, he got married. Unfortunately, he was arrested 3 weeks later.

The Cultural Revolution began after Ayatollah Khomeini gave a speech in March 1980 and ordered that universities be purged of all those who opposed his regime and be transformed into “learning environments” [as opposed to political forums] where “an all-Islamic curriculum” would be taught. The first wave of violence began on April 15, 1980 during a speech by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [a member of the Council of the Islamic Revolution and Minister of Interior] at the University of Tabriz. Following the speech, students supporting the regime took control of the University’s central building and demanded that the “university be purged” from “pro-Shah elements and other sellouts.”

On April 18, the Council of the Islamic Revolution issued a communiqué accusing political groups of converting higher education institutions into “headquarters of discordant political activities” and naming them as obstacles to the radical transformation of the universities. The communiqué gave these groups three days (Saturday April 19 to Monday April 21) to shut down their activities in the universities. The Council stressed that the decision included libraries along with activities related to arts and sports. Political groups, which recruited members and had strong support in the universities, refused to evacuate.

Before the Council’s deadline, serious clashes took place between leftist groups and Islamist Associations, which were at times supported by security forces and paramilitary groups. These clashes, which peaked at the end of the three-day deadline, resulted in the death of several people and the wounding of hundreds of others on university campuses around the country.

On April 21, the Islamic Republic authorities announced the victory of the Cultural Revolution and the closure of all universities in order to Islamicize the curricula. The universities remained closed for two years. One of the outcomes of the Cultural Revolution was the purging of many university professors and students based on their political beliefs.

The Fadaiyan Khalq Organization, a Marxist Leninist group, inspired by the Cuban Revolution and the urban guerilla movements of Latin America, was founded in 1971 by two communist groups opposed to the Pahlavi regime. After the 1979 Revolution, the organization, which renounced armed struggle, split over their support of the Islamic Republic and of the Soviet Union. The Fadaiyan Khalq Majority supported and considered the Islamic Republic as a revolutionary and anti-imperialist regime. After the spring of 1983, however, the Islamic Republic targeted its members solely because of their political beliefs.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Shabani was arrested in Shiraz in September 1981 along with two other men. They were taken to the Shiraz detention center, where political prisoners were interrogated. Mr. Shabani was denied visitors; he was not even allowed to see his family members before execution.

Trial

No information is available on the defendant’s trial.

Charges

The charge brought against the defendant is not known.

Evidence of guilt

The report of this execution does not contain information regarding the evidence provided against the defendant.

Defense

No information is available on Mr. Shabani’s defense.

Judgment

The court sentenced Mr. Shabani and the two other men arrested with him to execution. He was executed in October in Shiraz along with the other two, Abdolvahhab Falsafian and Mohammad Reza Golshan. They were buried in a section of the Shiraz cemetery assigned to non-Muslims. This section, which includes the Bahai cemetery was reportedly later destroyed by state agents.

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