خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎١‎١‎١] (٢٤٨/٢٢١)

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THIS DOCUMENT B PRaPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
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PERSIA.
CONFID
AL.
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August 27, 1942.
Section 2.
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Copy
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—(Received A ugust 27.)
— <i r '' I J t a,. J
No.
No. 267.) Tkii E lyJZtf/yfcf
i r > Tehran, August 12, 1942. k. k L j# /-
THE trial of the former Chief of Police, General Rukn-ud-Din Mukhtari, on~ ^
various charges, including complicity in murder, has caused a considerable ta. eAte**!* ffi.
sensation at Tehran during the past few weeks. Although the sentence has not * •
yet been pronounced, I have the honour to forward in this despatch a short report*/ ^
on the trial up to the moment of writing. I hope to submit a further report when u/\dju\
the sentence of the court is pronounced. ^ v ^
2. Mukhtari, who became acting head of police on tihe departure of
Muhammad Hussein Ay rum in 1936, held that post from that date until the
abdication of Reza Shah in September 1941. During the last few days of Reza
Shah’s reign, Mukhtari fled to Kerman and was popularly supposed to have been
entrusted by the late Shah with the Crown Jewels, which were to be sent abroad.
However, when it became apparent that the Russian troops were not to occupy
Tehran to the exclusion of British troops. Mukhtari returned to the capital. It
appears that the story of the jewels was false. Mukhtari’s own story is that he
was told by the Shah to make his escape from the Russians while he could.
Mukhtari always maintained that he had had to carry out so many of the Shah’s
orders against Soviet nationals or suspected Soviet agents in this country that
he felt his life would be in grave danger if he found himself at the mercy of the
Soviet authorities.
3. Towards the end of 1941 it was decided to arrest him, and he has been
a prisoner in Tehran ever since. News of the progress of his trial has been
published in the press from time to time, and articles, mostly of an abusive nature,
have appeared in various papers, describing with gradually increasing severity
the charges which were being made against him. The general impression which
these articles sought to create was that Mukhtari had been responsible for the
oppression, the imprisonments and the various acts of tyranny against persons
which had been committed during his tenure of office.
4. The indictment against Mukhtari. prepared by the Public Prosecutor,
is an extremely long document and deals in detail with a great number of different
charges. The principal accusations are of complicity in the execution, or murder,
of the following well-known persons : Seyyid Hassan Mudarris, Prince Firouz
(Nusrat ed Douleh), Abdul Hussein Diba* and Sheikh Khazal, the Sheikh of
Muhammerah. Other charges included the detention in prison of several
prisoners after the expiry of their proper term of imprisonment, and irregu
larities in the trial of certain persons suspected of spying for tihe Soviet Govern
ment. In several places the indictment contained the statement that “ in this
matter Mukhtari misled the Shah ” (i.e., the ex-Shah Reza), and also the argument
that Mukhtari’s defence that he was acting under orders of the late Shah
was inadmissible, usually because the Shah had not given written orders. A
number of other prisoners were cited in the indictment, all of whom appear to
have been police officers or persons employed by the police, the most important
of them being Captain Abdullah Miqdadi of the Tehran “ Police de SJirete.”
It appeared to many readers of the indictment that it was drawn up with the
object of visiting on Mukhtari the sms of the ex-Shah—in fact, with the
suggestion that the late Shah was a benevolent ruler deceived by unworthy and
evil subordinates. Such a complete perversion of the truth ought not to have
deceived even the most simple-minded persons; but it is clear that a great deal
of popular indignation had been worked up against Mukhtari before the trial
started. It must be remembered that the relatives of Mudarris, of Nusrat ed
Douleh, of Diba, and of the considerable number of landowners and suspects who
had suffered under the Pahlevi were all longing for revenge, and it was not
unnatural that their hatred and thirst for revenge should be concentrated on
the executive head of police under Reza Shah. It is easy to forget, in these days
■of f*ee speech, the iron discipline of Reza’s reign. The ex-Shah took a close
RECd. F OL. [ 83 --^] . .
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INDIA OFFICE !