Iranian general is killed; leftists, Kurds suspected
The Ssa ( 1837 -i 985); Apr 24, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Baltimore Sass, The (1837-1986)
pg. A2
Iranian general is killed;
leftists, Kurds suspected
Tehran, Trail (lteuter)—Gen. Moham-
mad Vail Gbarani, Iran's first armed
forces chief of staff alter the revolution,
was shot by unknown gunmen in his home
yesterday and died later in a hospital.
There was immediate speculation that
General Gharani, in his late 60's, was the
victim of leftists who considered him pro.
American or of Kurds who resented his
tough line against a Kurdish uprising in
the northwestern town of Sanandaj last
month ,
The general was appointed February
12, the chaotic last day of the revolution
against the shah, by Premier Mehdi Ba-
zargan. His appointment had the blessing
of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the reli-
gious revolutionary leader.
But he was fired March 27 after severe
criticism of his handling of the Sanandaj
uprising,
The general airlifted crack eommnn
dos of the shah's former brigade of per-
sonal bodyguards, the Immortals, to I i
Kurds who were seeking greater self-ru ].
He was alleged to have ordered hellcopt' ;
gunships to machine-gun ICurdish civilian
areas.
By the time of his dismissal, rumors al-
so had spread that he tortured prisoners
during the shah's regime.
General Gharani was head of Army in-
telligence when Premier Mohammad
Mossadegh, who forced the shah into a
three-day exile In 1953, was in power.
When the shah returned and Mr. Mos-
sadegh was ousted, the general survived in
office, but was dismissed in 1957. He was
in retirement before his appointment at
the end of the revolution.
Nine more persons linked with the
shah's regime, Including a police general
and a mullah, or Muslim clergyman, were
executed yesterday by revolutionary
courts in the eastem town of Mashhad and
Bandar Abbas on tbe Persian Gulf coast.
Repraduced with permissian of the coppdght owner. Farther repradactian prohibited withaat permissioe.
