MEMORANDUM TO(Sanitized) FROM DCI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01554R003300310040-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2004
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: December 11, 1978
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2005/01/13: CIA-RDP80BO1554RQW300310040-2
Tape 36
Side A, 1/8 - 1/4
STAT MEMORANDUM FOR:
0
When I am gone on leave and the trip, the stewards will pick up our
mail that is delivered to the Naval Observatory post box on a regular basis.
Would you periodically have someone pick it up from the Quarters and ask Gary
or someone here to screen it.Because our address in the Washington "Green Book"
is at the Observatory, we frequently get invitations at home and some on short
notice. I'd appreciate your having someone make sure nothing falls between
the cracks.
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP80BO1554R003300310040-2
 Approved For Release 2005/01/1
.: The Shiites have played a role in Iranian
politics since the latter half of the 19th centu-
ry, coming to the fore in the tobacco rebel-
lion of 1895. They were important in the con!"
stitutional? movement. of 1904-5;" which rt-:
sulted in the adoption of an Iranian constitu`
lion. Perhaps: most interesting was their part
in. the Mossadegh coalition. They supported
'Mossadegh' evenafter he had nationalized the
Iranian oil industry, though broke-with him"
by ,the. time of the CIA coup. Their opposi
tion to the Shah is nothing
in suni the Shi'ites have several important
characteristics: they are. strongly anti-imperi,
alist,. whether against the United States,
Great Britain, or the Soviet Union: They are
firm constitutionalists and flatly; against the.
monarchy. They are reformist in the social.
democratic sense. They believe reformiso
long as it does not disturb the merchantso1'
the cities and the middle peasantclass. That
is why they can be referred to. iii the Ameri-
can sense as populists. t . i
This background was entitek.ipisuna%-
most poi the American' press. from
Viewed
tthis perspective, it is possible to see
why op.
position to the Shah cated as it is preemi.
nently among.;the.Shi'ite- Muslims-is not
likely to, abate or be deflected by last minute
political manipulation.:
expressed in the most traditional way: a de
cline in the housing. market.: Real-` estate
prices in'the richer parts of town have fallen
.by.as much as`76 percent. Many affluent Ira
mans are moving into somewhat poorer areas
in the hope.that they will thus escape the rio-
tous populace. stampeding on errands of ar=,
son and pil
lagt::., , ='
Formerintimates of the Shah continue to
flee : On the most-wanted-back list in Tehran
are two important' refugees. One of these fu-
gitives is Parviz 5abeti,. formerly the effective
head of Savak-and also in chargeoLthe einteii
rogation center in.Tehran ;. He hijackeda Si%
vak 'plane and is-now in' hiding"in_Fiance:
The other is Hushang Ansai, former minister
of finance and reputed to be the niostcarrupt
official :outside'the Royal Family itself. The.
renal `heat rient in fhe'U.S:'This`is but widely
believed. Both. have-. been: threatened; with.
'confiscation of theig roperty.unless they re
CIA-RDP80BO1554R003300310040-2
Those who:. might be inclined:.to: take; At j
face value' the Shah's announcement' of anew
era for human:'rights in Tehran; release of po-
litical prisoners, and diminution of torture, ,t
should :study the account of ? a recently. re-
leased British prisoner, as reported iu the In-
teinational Herald Tribune for last weekend..
ftichard':Savin;-:a licensed .British- armS
salesman.: arrested i ,,1976 for:?smuggling
hashish (a charge he says`wasAIrame-up),
spent two and a half years a Vakilabadpris
on in eastern Iran. His, descriptions defy be=
lief.. All newly arrived prisoners.were housed.
automatically iii, the block reserved .for-the
.err ninally,_ insane ; Those.;lucky-.enough,:to
Survive ,usually..sOent Some of ;their.sentenC s
in isolation Celts+fieasnring one meter sguaiaf.
Political prisoners, of *whom there ?were 50,i
were subjected to daily beatings and tortures,
including electric shocks to the temples, red;`
hot needles under the fingernails) and a fa
vorite at. the. jail,,"the hot egg 'tango,". so.
called."because it makes you thrash about
guile a. bi ;"FT1ie treatment consists in fore,
ing scalding, hard-boiled egg up the rectum;
of. the ,prisoner.;: "It . slowly cooks your in-
sides,". Mr. Savtn. saidt -"Also popular was
anal rape with riot sticks:; Jtivepile prisoners;'
were routinely raped by. prison officials' and. .
then sold to the
? '; Any'Afghan prisoner. complaining about .
treatment would, have. his .mouth sewn up
kith. thread fora copple of days. Sasays.
he saw:,Afghani "being'made to walk'on all-, fours, licking' the ground..-ii they-went and
being'forced to,;clean out toilet-bowls with:
-
? He says that international teams investigat
ing treatment of prisoners. were` often shown
Iranian ~ army' ;troopers: rounded up ? and
dressed for the occasion.; Savin; after an end-,4
less litany, of such horrorsabout which he is;
writing a ' book-concludes:.."The ,Shah's
claims that. no tortures. o' beatings go on W
,his jails are Somplete ntbbish. It is also total-
ly untrue that thousands of political prisoneral
have been pardoned. Maybe oneor two were
let free at Vakilabad, but no more." .:;;
r. Barbara Walters;.recently observed on 0
date with Ardeshii?'Zahedi, Iran's ambassa=w
dor to the U.S.; might care to interview, Say-,
inon?ABC.News, if possible bef'or'e a-st'udio'
audience: of New-York's cafe-society support-
era of the' Shah-=ranging from, Marion Javita
through Andy Warhol and his Factory work -~;
ers to liberal party goers'at the home of Fery=';
doun Hoveyda such as Shirley MacLaine and
others. Many of them still maintain that the
,Sahah is.pneof the` great reformers of the 20
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP80BO1554R003300310040-2