Word: ebtehaj
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...Please tell Mr. Ebtehaj to leave prison so as to make our job easy," said the magistrate to a clerk. Thus, on the same absurd note with which it began seven months ago, the case of Iran's most celebrated prisoner ended last week...
Abol Hassan Ebtehaj, 62, is a brilliant but irascible banker and economic planner whose frequent forceful criticism of Iranian corruption and autocracy outraged Cabinet ministers and even members of the Shah's entourage. With equal bluntness he attacked the U.S. for "spoiling us little children" with massive military aid, accused Washington of doling out economic assistance without sufficient planning. For years, Iranian officialdom tolerated him simply because Ebtehaj was essential to the country's economy. As chief of Iran's Plan Organization from 1954 to 1959, he initiated the country's ambitious land and industrial development...
...argues that the project was a bad one; indeed, his successor in the Plan Organization had promptly renewed the contract with Lilienthal when Ebtehaj resigned after an argument with the Cabinet. Moreover, at the time of Ebtehaj's arrest, no high official seemed prepared to admit responsibility for it; the Minister of Justice was ill and away from his office; the public prosecutor was nowhere to be found; Premier Ali Amini claimed he knew nothing of the case...
There was little doubt that the case had more to do with what Ebtehaj had been saying than what he had been doing. In speeches and to visitors, he had openly criticized the corruption, graft, and suppression of freedom on the highest levels of the Iranian government, even within the Shah's court. Word of his criticism reached Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi himself, leading some to suggest that Ebtehaj's real offense was lese majest...
Last week police were still holding Abol Hassan Ebtehaj "for investigation" without bail. Even Premier Amini was saying, "He is an honest man, and I hope he soon will be released." Commented the New York Times: "American friends of Iran can only feel distress...