Then They Came for Me_ A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival - Maziar Bahari [148]
Youssef Sanei (b. 1937): one of the highest-ranking critics of the regime among Shia clerics; former chair of the Council of Guardians (1980–88).
Saeed Shariati (b. 1973): a reformist activist and spokesman for the Islamic Iran Participation Front (2003–09).
Hossein Taeb (b. 1943): head of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit and a member of the Revolutionary Guards since 1981; commander of the Basij (2007–09).
Kian Tajbakhsh (b. 1962): an Iranian-American scholar. He worked as a consultant for a number of international organizations and is the author of two books and numerous articles on Iranian state institutions and the policy-making process in Iran.
Time Line
This time line is not meant to be a history of Iran. Rather, it is designed to provide background information on some of the events in the book while highlighting Iranians’ ongoing struggle for self-determination since 1906.
IRAN
The home of one of the most ancient civilizations in the world has been called Iran by the natives since A.D. 200. The country was known to the West as Persia until 1935.
1906: PERSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTION
Persia is ruled by the corrupt, religious, and reactionary kings of the Qajar dynasty, who came to power in the late eighteenth century. Persia in the time of the Qajars is a collection of fiefdoms run by local strongmen and princes. Meanwhile in the capital, Tehran, the shahs, or kings, support their lavish lifestyles by acting as puppets to the British and Russian Empires, which bribe the shahs and treat Iran as part of their territories.
After centuries of tyrannical rule under the shahs and foreign interference in their country, Persian merchants, clerics, and secular intellectuals rebel and, in the first revolution of its kind in Asia, force the shah to accept the establishment of the Majlis, or parliament, and the passage of a constitution. The king at the time, Mozaffaredin Shah, reluctantly signs a decree, according to which the crown becomes “a divine gift given to the shah by the people.” This is the first time that a monarch in Asia accepts the idea that his actions should be supervised by representatives of the people.
A year later, the new king, Mohammad Ali Shah, attacks the parliament building with cannons and tries to abolish the Majlis. For many years, the country is engulfed in chaos. Persians look for a government to provide them with security and rule of law, as well as the freedom promised to them in the Constitution.
1908: DISCOVERY OF OIL
Under the supervision of British engineers and scientists, oil is discovered in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. A British entrepreneur named William Knox D’Arcy had already obtained exclusive rights to pump oil in many parts of the country. The company that inherits D’Arcy’s rights is called the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later known as BP, British Petroleum. Even though Iran has not been a British colony, the British Empire has treated it as one for many years. After the discovery of oil, the situation becomes worse. Corrupt and weak central and local officials are bribed or coerced into helping the British exploit Persian oil freely. The taxes paid by the oil company to the British government are more than the percentage paid to Iran for the oil itself.
1921: THE REIGN OF REZA SHAH
Reza Khan, a commander of the Persian army, and several other disgruntled prominent Iranians stage a coup to rid Iran of corruption and insecurity and establish a strong central government. Reza Khan, who eventually becomes the head of the army, wants to abolish the monarchy in Iran and establish a republic. But the mullahs, or Shia clerics, object to this decision. The mullahs believe that Persia needs a strong king who can protect Islam in the country.
Reza Khan becomes the new king in 1925, and is subsequently known as Reza Shah. He changes the country’s international name to Iran in 1935. Reza Shah tries to resurrect the glory of the Persian