Word: safavi
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Tahmassebi's next call was on Navab Safavi, hard-working boss of the terrorist Fadayan Islam (Crusaders of Islam), which plotted Razmara's killing. Safavi was himself in jail on suspicion of murdering other moderates, but in present-day Iran that is a mark of distinction. The two wept at the reunion, and Tahmassebi said: "Thanks to God we succeeded in our task." Over fruits and sweets served in his cozy cell, Safavi boasted: "I am such a powerful man that if I decide at any time, the gates of this prison will be opened...
...assailant made no attempt to escape: he tossed the pistol away, crying "Allah akbar!" (Allah is great), and then started to faint. Police seized him. Pasted on the revolver was a message demanding freedom for Navab Safavi, imprisoned leader of Iran's most feared terror group-Fadayan Islam. The terrorists had picked young Mohammed Mehdi Mojtahedi to kill Fatemi because capital punishment does not apply to teen-age killers in Iran. The boy told cops that the next victim on Fadayan's schedule was Premier Mossadegh, because he flirted with foreigners...
There was need for haste. Fadayan Islam was acting ominously. Day before, its young (27), wild-eyed leader, Seyed Safavi, secretly met a United Pressman in a mud hut in Teheran's outskirts, there proudly announced that he personally was responsible for the assassination of Premier Razmara (TIME, March 19). Asked, "Has Your Eminence other persons on your list?" Safavi replied: "There are quite a few who must be pushed down the incline to hell." Added Safavi: "There are 5,000 people who would immediately give their lives at my command...
Later, Mossadeq announced that not only Safavi but Anglo-Iranian was out to get him, too. Said he: "I cannot go home or return to my office." The Premier settled down in the Majlis building; two rooms were hastily prepared, and a truck brought a bed from Mossadeq's home...