Key Iranian Judge Proud of Executions

          
          ICer fl -a n it , n Ja c4ççe rro a ii of tree a tion s
          Blocked due to copyright.
          See full page image or
          microfilm.
          By Jonathan C. Randal
          Washington Post Foreign Service
          QOM, Iran., Dec 15 —His friends
          call him “The Wrath of God,” his ene-
          mies “The Cat Ciller,” but all Irani-
          ans regard Sactegh Ichalkhali as a
          man to be reckoned with.
          The chief of Iran's revolutionary
          court system, known for his death sen-
          tences, Khalkhali is a short, squat
          man, convinced that vengeance is a
          religious duty and determined to seek
          revenge among the “corrupt on
          earth,” both in Iran and abroad.
          His sometimes outwardly vainglori-
          ous boasts about assassinating shah
          iviohammad Reza Pahlavi, his family
          and chief lieutenants are being taken
          seriously since the recent assassina-
          tion in Paris of a Son of the deposed
          monarch's twin sister, Princess Ash-
          raf.
          “I don't think I have made any mis-
          takes,” he said today when asked if it
          was true he had erred in some of his
          execution orders.
          A perhaps apocryphal story re-
          counts that when told he had ordered
          the execution of a man whose identity
          had been mistaken for that of a genu-
          ine suspect he replied: “No matter, in
          any case he will go straight to
          heaven.”
          Khalkhali's detractors recount a leg-
          end that Khalkhali's lifelong pénch ant
          for torturing and killing cats reached
          such proportions that he had to be in-
          terned for treatment in a mental insti-
          tution in years past.
          As the 53-year-old Moslem cleric
          tells it, his life under the shah was an
          unending persecution: first in prison
          for siding with his exiled teacher and
          hero, Ayatollah Ruhollah iChomeini,
          then in banishment in a variety of un-
          attractive provincial towns.
          He has no doubts about his present
          calling. He recounted today that when
          he told Khomeini he was being asked
          to accept a “heavy responsibility” in
          running Iran's ir lutionary courts,
          flevenge
          Khomeini replied, “I think you are
          not afraid.” -
          Armed guards patrol outside his
          modest house near the railroad tracks
          in this holy city and visitors are
          frisked before they are admitted into
          the courtyard where the washing
          hangs on the line. —
          . Inside, stony-eyed ac olytes sitting
          on rugs follow an exuberant Khalkha-
          a's every utterance as their leader in-
          terrupts his interview to deal with fa-
          vor seekers and stamp proffered docu-
          ments with a copper chop.
          He appears proud of his controver-
          sial reputation and boasts of “anony-
          mous letters and telephone calls”
          threatening his life
          “I was also threatened by the gov-
          ernment and revolutionary council,”
          he said cryptically.
          Nor is IChalkhali bashful in conced-
          ing such opposition within the govern-
          ment to his penchant for executions.
          “I've ordered more than 200 execu-
          tions,” he said laughingly, “more than
          the Nuremberg trialS” of Nazi war
          criminals after World War II. Other
          sources put the number of executions
          since the February revolution at more
          than 600, although some no doubt
          Were not condoned or ordered by him.
          He specifically mentioned then-
          prime minister Mehdi Bazargan's op-
          position to the executions last spring
          of the shah's longtime prime minister,
          Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the former di-
          rector of the SAVAK secret police,
          Nematollah Nassiri, and an earlier
          SAVAK boss. -
          Bazargan argued that Hoveyda and
          Nassiri were entitled to a fair trial
          during which the shah's alleged
          crimes could be exposed—a view that
          Khomeini has adopted in the present
          hostage crisis with the United States
          by calling for a show trial to establish
          U.S. guilt.
          IChalkhali defended his decisions,
          arguing that with their connections
          and money “they'd be freed by now”
          had he not had them shot.
          Blocked due to copyright.
          See full page image or
          microfilm.
          “If Nassiri came back to life,” he
          said, “I'd kill him again.'
          Perhaps oddly for a man with such
          decidedly rigid views, he said be
          hoped for the freedo m of the 50
          Americans held hostage at the U.S.
          mbassy, whom he referred to as “our
          guests.”
          However, he said he hopes “none
          will be executed,” although that might
          be possible “if some are found guilty
          of ordering shooting of people.”
          E mi l s r i 1 rcsa rnternattona-t
          atleg la flaI iciaaii says.
          But he seemed as interested i ii a
          trial of “all presidents from Carter
          back to Roosevelt,” the ëurrent gov-
          ernment approach, which insists that
          the United States has been respohsi
          ble for all Iran's woes under the sháh.
          “The shah called his book ‘Mission
          For My Country',” Khalkhali slid,
          “and I want to know who was respon-
          sible for that mission.”
          Carefully calculating his effect oh a
          See EXECUflOIMflR, ASi, Col. 1
          Convinced Vengeance Is a Religions Iflnty,
          ECIhaLkhaIi Is fletermined to E arsne
          - - - - - - - - - associated rresa
          ‘rhree alie a sttala sn orters facing a revolntlonary tiring sqnacl last Sr fll..
          ‘It iaave orEierea more titan ZOO ey ecntion s”
        

          
          Iran's Judge
          Has Penchant
          For Execution
          EXECUTIONER, From A17
          roomful of admTrers, he took issue
          with Carter's decision not to light all
          the White House Christmas tree lights
          until all the hostages were freed.
          “How come he didn't do the same
          thing during the Vietnam war when
          so many people were killed or last
          year when so many Iranians died
          fighting the shah,” he asked.” If Car-
          ter wants to deceive people, the hos-
          tages will not be freed for 10 years.”
          Slurping tea from a saucer, crack-
          ing his pudgey knuckles and raising
          his voice, he refused to say how many
          killer squads were abroad tracking
          down the revolution's quarry.
          “They're trained by the Palestini-
          ans,” he said. “And in Europe and
          even America, they ai e fluent in Eng-
          lish and French. And if they find any
          of the past regime's officials they will
          kill them.”
          In addition to the imperial family,
          he. listed as potential victims former
          prime ministers Shahpour Bakhtiar,
          Jamshid Amouzegar, Jaafar Sharif
          Emami. former generals Gholam Au
          Oveissi and Gholam Reza Azhari and
          Hushang Ansary, former head of the
          National Iranian Oil Company.
          Was it not time to stop the revenge,
          he was asked. “No,” he replied,” not
          yet. I'll give a reward to anyone who
          shoots someone on the list.”
          He insisted on his determination to
          “take my revenge in the name of all
          the oppressed who suffered during
          the shah.”
          Khalkbali seemed ifi at ease only
          when questioned about his controver-
          sial role in the revolutiopary govern-
          ment's unsuccessful efforts to sup-
          press an uprising by the Kurds in fa-
          vor of autonomy.
          The Kurds accuse him of the whole-
          sale ‘slaughter last summer of civilian
          innocents at Paveh, Saqqez and Maba-
          bad,, including cases such as the exec-
          utions of a Kurdish doctor and a mer-
          chant who refused to abandon his
          faith and convert to Islam.
          These very excesses and errors have
          branded Khalkhali to such a point
          that Kurdistan Democratic Party lead-
          er Abdurahman Qassemlu recently
          joked when asked why he had not or-
          dered his assassination.
          “Politically,” then Kurdish leader
          asked,” do you think Khalkhali really
          hurts us?”