Word: savak
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...next day, Khomeini forces attacked the Lavizan barracks in northeastern Tehran, home of the crack Javidan guards, killing the commander and many of his troops. Using acetylene torches, the attackers cut their way through electrically locked doors to free prisoners at Evin, a jail run by the hated SAVAK secret police. There the liberators found electric whips, torture beds and other interrogation devices that justified many of the atrocity charges long leveled at SAVAK. Also attacked was the Shah's principal residence in north Tehran, Niavaran Palace. Dispirited Imperial Guards on duty there capitulated without a fight...
Meanwhile, the new revolutionary government was acting in an arbitrary manner that seemed at variance with the Ayatullah's previously expressed democratic ideals. After hasty−and private−trials, four officials of the former regime, including the head of the Shah's hated SAVAK secret police and three generals, were executed by firing squad on charges of "torture, massacre of people, treason and earthly corruption...
...charges against SAVAK: We do admit there have been some mistakes in the past. But they have been distorted. It is said that SAVAK has been brutal. If SAVAK receives information about a terrorist group, and we go to arrest this group, do you think they will not resist? Of course they will. Resistance brings violence, and you should expect a similar response from our side. We're like the CIA. If we have ten activities and nine of them are successful, only the failure gets worldwide attention. You never hear the good things we do. Some people think...
...political prisoners: In January, demonstrators paraded a man who was blind and had lost his arms. They said SAVAK did this to him, and they called him a hero. In fact, he was a terrorist who lost his sight and was maimed when a bomb he was making exploded. If SAVAK had been responsible for his injuries, we could easily have got rid of him. We would not have let him live as a document of torture...
...SAVAK's future: Those of us who have reached retirement age will be retired. Those who are not needed or who have bad records will be let go. Others will be transferred to other organizations or to the Prime Minister's office. Some will go to the new National Intelligence Center. It will be worse for the younger agents. They have not been working long enough to prove themselves; yet they are blamed in all the bad publicity, and they can do nothing about it. Now they will lose their salaries. Many of us will have problems making...