Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎190v] (380/644)

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contrived to feather his own nest, but that he had in general done a very good job
of work at the Ministry of Communications. The turn of the smaller fry came
last. Twenty-three were finally put on trial, of whom eighteen w^ere j:ound guilty
and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from two months to three years.
246. Almost the chief interest of these trials was the highly organised
publicity which accompanied them. The press filled many columns with detailed
reports of the proceedings, making numerous references to the acuteness of the
judge’s comments and to the able arguments of counsel on either side. Photo
graphs were published of the public prosecutor addressing the court, the judges
in their magnificent new robes, even of the public streaming out at the close of
the day’s proceedings. All this elaborate staging was apparently designed to
show the world how far the administration of justice had advanced in Iran.
Nevertheless, it was announced shortly after the conclusion of the first trial that
the Minister of Justice had resigned, and that Nayyer-ul-Mulk, the President of
the High Court of Appeal which tried Mansour, had been dismissed. It was
strongly rumoured that the judges had accepted bribes from some of the accused.
247. From these trials it is interesting to pass to the fate of the two classes
of persons who during the year were unostentatiously removed from positions of
authority, the Bahais and the Jews. Early in the year it was learned that all
officers who were Bahais were being dismissed from the army on the direct orders
of the Shah. No official explanation was ever given, but it was rumoured that
His Majesty desired to make some pro-Islamic gesture in order to counteract the
suggestion that the campaign for the unveiling of women had been dictated by
motives of anti-Islamism. The purge of Jews was in a sense less drastic since
Judaism remained one of the permissible religions for an army officer, but Jews
were systematically removed during the year from the Customs Administration
and other Government offices. Possibly the motive here also was a desire to show
that the policy of the Government was not anti-Islamic.
248. But if these dismissals were a sop to Islam, the real urge behind the
Shah's policy remained the desire to show that Islam need not lag behind the
west in material progress. Western dress, western factories, even justice clothed
in the trappings of the west, all these were the visible signs of the same policy.
An outstanding and praiseworthy manifestation of it was in the field of education.
At the top the university of Tehran continued to take shape, at the bottom night-
schools were opened for adults where classes were held in reading and writing.
The schools proved extremely popular and with better educational facilities for
children there is no doubt that the problem of illiteracy was being seriously
tackled. Unfortunately, however, it is but seldom that the adjective “ popular ”
can be used to describe the Shah’s reforms. It is true that he has so broken all
opposition that he can virtually push through anything, it is true also that if
some of his schemes seem unnecessary or extravagant, the majority of them are
undoubtedly for the ultimate good of the country. But it is no less true that in
spite of, or even perhaps because of, the introduction of many progressive
measures and in spite of the pride which many Persians take in the outward
manifestations of progress, the power of the Shah’s regime is still based on fear.
It is generally recognised that, while he retains the full vigour of his powers, no
serious threat to the regime is to be expected; but if one question that was
insistently asked in 1936 was “ How long can this lavish expenditure continue?”
the return of the Valiahd focussed attention almost as insistently on another one :
“ What chance has the boy when the father dies?”
(B) The Shah.
249. The Shah made three journeys away from Tehran during the course
of the year. In April he visited his properties in Mazanderan and went on from
there to Pahlevi where he met the Valiahd on his return from Switzerland at
the beginning of May. Accompanied by the Valiahd he left Tehran again at the
end of September on a tour of rather over three weeks’ duration, during the course
of which he visited Tabriz, Senneh, Kermanshah and Hamadan. Though in an
affable mood at Tabriz he was his old alarming self at Senneh, Kermanshah and
Hamadan and there is no doubt that his periodical inspections fill the local
officials wherever he goes with what may be regarded as wholesome alarm. After
a brief stay in Tehran the Shah and the Valiahd departed again for the