Aadel Collection
Translation of report from Dr. Hussein Naji beginning Thursday, 7 February 1980
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Translation of report from Dr. Hussein Naj beginning Thursday,
7 February 1980
1. I telephoned my colleague, Dr. Ma's m , heart specialIst, who is at present
treating Imam Khomeini. He became very sad when I explained what happened to
me and my wife. He was particularly astounded over the gravity of the situation
which culminated in the kidnapping of Dr. Davüd and Mr. Rowsh nI. He said he
would speak to Ayatollah Khoemini s son, Haj Abmad, whose telephone number he
also gave to me.
2. t phoned Haj Ahmad and told him I was prepared to be executed as a Bah 'f
in front of the hospital where his father was being treated and I was not ready
to turn myself in to unknown groups. I added that, according to my religious
beliefs, I was obedient to my government and therefore he should name an auth—
ority to whom I could hand myself over. He very kindly replied that he had
heard from Dr. Ma's m about me and my high qualifications and said I should not
give myself up to anyone until he investigated the matter. He said he would get
in touch with the Central Komiteh In Teheran and that I should telephone him
again In one—half hour.
It was proven later that his contact with the Central Komiteh produced a
very unfavourable effect because that Komiteh is composed of our main enemies.
3. It was fortunate that inthe unit where Khomeini was under treatthent, the
head nurse who had worked with me for many years had duty. With great sincerity,
she helped me on many occasions during my ordeal.
4. After one—half hour I telephoned Haj Ahmad, but this time one of KhomeIni's
aides, Mr. Kaffáshz dih, replied and gave ice the same advice as Haj Abmad had
given. I learned from reliable sources that subsequent to these telephone calls,
up to two o t clock in the afternoon, the atmosphere among those surrounding the
Imam, was favourable. But later, because of the influence of the Central Korniteh,
everyone was against me ai d said I was the head of the National Spiritual As—
sembly and had collaborated with the previous regime and that I was a colleague of Dr
Ayãd . It was also stated that my wife should remain in prison.
5. I phoned Mrs. Ma's m , wife of my colleague, and she was very moved when she
heard our story and greatly sympathized with us
BPOOO5i9
6. I called the hospital where I work and while asking them to take care of my
patients, I told them what had happened to me and my wife and the difficulties
I was going through.
7. In the evening I sent a cable to Ayatollah Khomeini with copies to the
Attorney—General of the Revolutionary Council, the Minister of Health, and
the Director of the Medical Association of Iran. I also sent a separate cable
to the President. In the cable to Khomeini, I introduced myself and stated that
bec.ause I was a Bah ' I was attacked several times. I also mentioned a pre-
vious occasion when I was called in f or interrogation. However, the recent
kidnappings of Dr. Dav dI and the others made me doubt the authority of the
groups who were responsible for these acts, and I requested that the name of the
proper authority be given to me so I could surrender myself. This cable, accord-
ing to information I received, was not delivered to Khomeini, but was given instead
to his entourage. In the cable to the Medical Association, I added that it was
their duty to protect a physician who is being harassed by unknown groups.
8. The next day, Friday (8 February 1980), I made numerous telephone calls to
my colleagues and to various hospitals and told them about the atrocities which
unknown assailants, in the name of Islam, are inflicting on the Bahg'i community.
.9. On Saturday, I sent the same type of cable to the Attorney—General and added
that I was searching for a legitimate refuge to which I could surrender myself.
10. I contacted one of my patients, .a member of the daily newspaper Etela'ãt,
who also was indebted.to me. He sent the news editor of the paper •to interview
me. For some reason, we could not get together but I wrote in detail what had
happened. An open letter had also been given, to him for publication. He contacted
my house and also went to the homes.of Dr. Davi d and Mr. Rowsh n! for investiga-
tion, but nothing was published about these visits.
Dr. Naji added in his report that shortly after his wife was taken away, the
guardsmen returned to the house and took all of his wife's jewelry and cash, their
personal documents and picture albums. . . . . . .
When Dr. Mat si mI first heard of the attack on the home of Dr. Naj!, he took
four guardsmen with him and went to thehouse in order to protect it, but unfortunate—
ly, it was too late. . . .
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11. From Saturday <9 February) on there were onstant telephone calls to my hbme
and clinic. We had posted sou eone at both places to inform the callers in detail
about the Bahg'f Faith and about the atrocities that were being inflicted on the
Bah 'is.
12. My non—Bah 'f family tried to help me and went to the Central Komiteh of
Teheran where they met with A. Tehr nf, a member of. that Komiteh. They found
out that he was quite aware of the events and told them that besides everything
else, I had been the writer of the National Spiritual Assembly circular letters
and there was no way out for me.
13. At this time, the National Assemblymet twice to decide whether or not I
should give myself up. 1 did not participate in the meetings lest their emotions
affect their decision They unanimously decided I should not turn myself in Mr
and Mr. ManiThir Q .'im—Maq m were also in the same situation as my-
self, except that I had a wife taken as hostage.
14. From the third day on, Dr. Ma!s mf regretfully eported that his numerbus
approaches to the high authorities had not been effective, and he was told very
strongly that he should stop defending me.
15. In the company of Mr. we met President Banfsadr. Immediately he
told us that on the previous night they had discussed Dr. Naj!'s case for two
hours at a meeting of the Revolutionary Council, and it was decided:
a — to leave Dr. Najf alone H
b — to telephone the Attorney General, Mr. Qudt sf, about the prisoners.
c — to instruct government authorities that Bah 'fs should not have sensitive
posts.
The President added that, tt at this time when Imam Khomeini. has a heart ailment
you Bah 'fs have made up the story of the heart specialist and his wife in order to
exploit it for your own interests, and they say that the wife attacked the guards-
men with boilingwater.” I replied that I was that heart specialist and that lady
was my wife I also said, ‘ t How can anyone accept the fact that six armed men at-
tacked a defenseless woman at our homeand sent her as a hostage to Evin prison?” I
told him that the story about the boiling water was made up only as an excuse for
her arrest He was surprised and looked at my fa ce for a long time before saying
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anything and then changed the subject..
From this meeting, we came to the conclusion that the method used by the
official government in dealing with the Bah 'Is is quite different than that
of the enemies, namely abl gMt—i --Isl m ch dominates the Central Komiteh of
Teheran. This organization has acquired blank paper signed by the Attorney—
General of the Revolutionary Council and has used this stationery whenever it
wishes to attack the Bah 'fs. The documents produced, therefore, were not
actually issued by the proper authorities.
16. Through the influence of my non—Bah 'i friends, arecoinniendation was taken
o the Attorney— General, A. Qudilsf. The first obvious result of these conne-
ctions was that •he asked for my wife's file and signed an order for her release.
He even expressed his astonishment over her arrest. It is interesting to note
that on the order he signed, i bth n. was mentioned about my surrendering
myself to the authorities, and this is categorically opposed to what the offi-
cials of the Central Komiteh were demanding. Because of this contradiction, it
took a few days more before the order was effected and my wife was released. I
am sure that the President's telephone call to Mr. Qud sfhad its desired effect.
17. Since Mowlavi ‘Abdu'l— zi , the religious leader of the Sunni Moslems in
Baluchistan, was being treated in the same hospital as Khomeini, I wrote the latter a
long letter telling him about the atrocities inflicted on the Bah ' s, as well as
on my wife and me, and requested him to be in instrument to convey this petition
to Khomeini since I had no access to him.
After two days when the head nurse met Mr. Kaff shzâdih, Imain Khomeini's
aide, (this was one—half hOur after Mowlavi met with the Imata) coming out of
Khomeini's room, he showed her my letter on the corner of which, apparently made
on the instruction of the Imam himself, Haj Ahniad had written a few lines Mr
Kaff shz dih assured the nurse that the necessary instruction has been issued
18. The members of the family of Behb h ni are my patients and one of them,
Siyyid Jafar Behbâh ni, is a religious dignitary and a good friend of Ayatollah
Kanf, heed of the Central Komiteh of Teheran. I wrote a letter to Kani quoting
from my various cables, etc,, and expressed my confidenthe that these atrocities
had not been carried out with his approvaL
19. I should have mentioned earlier that on the third day of this whole epi—
sode,I sent a long cable to Ayatollah Montazeri in the Holy City of Qum and
while giving information about my case, I requested him to name a place to which
I could surrender myself.
20. After the meeting with the President, petitions on behalf of the three
kidnapped friends and the six new prisoners, as well as those presently under attack,
namely , Q 'im'— Maq mi and myself, were written to the Attorney—General of
the Revolutional Council. The petition about the nine prison rs was an appeal
for the application of justice, and our three letters were a challenge to the
Attorney—General stating that if he wished us to surrender ourselves to him, he
was welcome to summon us. We gave him the telephone numbers and addresses where
we could be contacted.
21. Two weeks had el psed since my wife was taken to the prison when I telephoned
Dr. Ma s m and. complained that Khomeini's son, who had shown so much kindness on
first day, had now changed his attitude because of the accusations made by our
enemies. Dr. Ma's mI replied that Haj Abmad, more that I realized, had been help-
ful to our community. He added that my wife wOuld soon be released.
The National Spiritual Assembly. feels that because the supreme Revolutionary
Council had discussed the case about our community and had decided to protect the
Bah ' s, they must have been greatly influenced by Haj A1 mad.
22. On 11 February, I met the chairman and secretary .of the Medical Association
of.Irari and explained in detail what had happened to us. This was very effective
and even the deputy chairman of the Association and his wife could not prevent
their tears from flowing.
With Bah 'f greetings,
(signed) . Dr. Hussein Naj
