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 About
Age 76 Nationality Iran Religion Islam (Shi'a) Civil status Married Education university diploma Occupation high ranking government official Rank/Position Mr. Shapur Bakhtiar was a lawyer and served as Iran's Prime Minister during the last 37 days of the Monarchy. Institution executive, former regime Institution pro-democracy
Case Date of execution August 6, 1991 Location Suresne, France Mode of execution extrajudicial-stabbing Charges Plotting to overthrow the Islamic Republic; Treason Background information
The feud between Dr. Shapur (Chapour) Bakhtiar and the Islamic Republic's authorities can be traced back to the early days of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A lawyer and pro-democracy advocate with social democratic leanings, Dr. Shapur (Chapour) Bakhtiar had been one of the leaders of the liberal, pro-Mosadeq, opposition to the late Shah's dictatorship. During the revolutionary turmoil of 1978, the Shah called, among other moderate opposition figures, upon Dr. Bakhtiar to accept the post of Prime Minister. Bakhtiar accepted the Shah's nomination, because he believed that to be successful the transition to democracy required the restoration of the rule of law and democratic rights. While in office (January 3 to February 11, 1979), he dissolved the political police (SَAVAK), freed all political prisoners, granted freedom of the press, and abolished censorship. He warned the nation against the rise of a new dictatorship and conjured the Iranians to form political parties and trade unions and prepare for elections.
Ayatollah Khomeini, the revolutionary leader of Iran's popular movement, who advocated a theocracy, dismissed Bakhtiar's effort to establish democratic rule and called upon the people to rebel against his government. On February 11th, 1979, Bakhtiar's government was toppled by a popular insurrection.
Bakhtiar went into hiding in Iran for six months and then fled to France (July 1979), where he declared his opposition to the newly established Islamic regime and began to advocate for the establishment of a democratic regime. During the same period, in Iran, a group of civilians and active army officers organized into a group named Neghab . They declared their concern about the consolidation of a new dictatorship in Iran, and pledged allegiance to Bakhtiar as the true follower of Mossadeq's path and a pro-democracy leader. On July 7th, 1980, the Iranian authorities claimed to have dismantled a civil and military network of Bakhtiar's supporters, who were accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime. During the following months, over one hundred people were executed for their alleged membership of Neghab and pro-Bakhtiar sympathy.
The assassination documented below was the second attempt on Bakhtiar's life. In 1980, the Islamic Republic dispatched a commando unit led by a Lebanese national, Anis Naccache, to plan and carry out the assassination of Bakhtiar in his apartment in a suburban neighborhood of Paris. However; the assassination attempt failed and Bakhtiar escaped death. The commando unit, which carried out the attack on July 18, shot to death a policeman and a female neighbor. A second policeman was paralyzed for life. The members of the commando unit were arrested, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment (March 10 1982). In 1986, a wave of deadly bombings took place in Paris (department stores, post office, police station, etc.). Communiqués claiming responsibility for the bombings, sent to a news agency in Lebanon, demanded the release of Naccache and his accomplices. Eventually Naccache and his accomplices were pardoned by President Francois Mitterand (July 27, 1990), and they left for Iran.
About this Case
The information about the extrajudicial killing of Dr. Shapur (Chapour) Bakhtiar was drawn from the report of Jean Louis Bruguière, the French investigative Judge in charge of the case, the French State Attorney's requisitoire (indictment), and the French and international media reports (Le Monde, Liberation, l'Express, Le Firgaro, Yediote Aharonoth, and US News and World Report)
On August 6 1991, more than 10 years after the failed attempt by the Naccache Commando unit, Shapur Bakhtiar was assassinated, along with his personal secretary, Sorush (Sorouche) Katibeh, in a house located in Suresne (a small town in the outskirts of Paris) and heavily guarded by French security forces. That day, Bakhtiar had a scheduled meeting with three men, including a member of his own organization. The latter (Fereidun Boyer Ahmadi), recruited by Iran's intelligence services, was accompanied by two men, Ali Vakili Rad and Mohammad Azadi, reported to be members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps. The terrorist commando unit was able to leave the house and eventually the country. Though the police was present on the site, before, during, and after the crime was committed, French authorities announced having discovered the victims' slain bodies 36 hours after their murder. On August 21st, 1991, one of the assassins, Ali Vakili Rad, was arrested in Geneva. His accomplices fled in unclear circumstances.
The Iranian regime denied any involvement it the assassinations; however, the investigation led by the French investigative judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, documented the Iranian authorities' involvement. According to Judge Bruguière's report, in August 1991, the American and British Governments intercepted and decoded messages sent by the Iranian Ministry of Information to Europe. On Wednesday August 7, twenty-four hours before Bakhtiar's and Katibeh's bodies were discovered, this ministry was asking for confirmation of their death (L'Express, August 22 1991). This information was substantiated by persisting rumors concerning Mr. Bakhtiar's death, circulating in Shiraz before his body was discovered in France.
Furthermore, the investigation led to the indictment of a number of people linked to the Iranian government, including Mas'ud Hendi, a relative of Ayatollah Khomeini, and a former representative for Iranian State Television in Paris. Together with a member of the Ministry of Telecommunications, he had assisted in obtaining entry visas to France for the killers under the cover of electronic technicians. The name of Mas'ud Hendi had appeared previously in the investigations concerning the murder of another Iranian exile in Paris, General Oveissi. The analysis of phone calls made by Vakili and Azadi led to an Iranian-born Turk, Edipsoy, who falsified Turkish passports for the killers. Before and after the murder of Bakhtiar, two Iranians involved in the plot made several phone calls to Iran's Telecommunications Ministry from Edipsoy's apartment. The above-mentioned Tehran phone number is known to have been used by the Iranian Secret Service and by members of the assassins' support team in Geneva (Liberation, September 20, 1991).
The other person charged, Fereshteh Djahanbani, had rented an apartment in which Boyerahmadi, one of the killers, found refuge after the crime. She admitted to collaborating with Iran's Intelligence Agency VEVAK. The police found codes, a special pen, and invisible ink in her apartment. She identified Amirolah Teimoury, chief of security at Iran Air in the Orly Airport (Paris), as her superior. Teimoury was prosecuted for intelligence activities for a foreign power (Liberation, October 25, 1991). Another individual charged and extradited to France, Zia Sarhadi, had made hotel reservations in Switzerland for the killers. Sarhadi arrived in Switzerland on August 13, 1991, allegedly, to work as an archivist in the Iranian embassy in Bern. According to Judge Bruguière, his mission was to help Bakhtiar's murderers escape. Sarhadi's order of mission was issued on July 16, 1991, on the authority of Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian Foreign Minister (Le Monde, February 26, 1992). Two other Iranians, arrested in Istanbul for having provided forged identity papers to the killers, were also said to belong to the Iranian Special Services (Liberation, October 4, 1991).
On October 22, 1991, Judge Bruguière launched an international arrest warrant for Hossein Sheikh'atar for “collusion in murder, conspiracy, and violation of the law in relation with a terrorist action.” (Le Monde, October 26, 1991) Sheikh'atar was the technical adviser for the Satellite Communication Program to the Iranian Ministry of Telecommunications. This Ministry is known for its close connections to Iranian Special Services. Bruguière launched two other arrest warrants on April 21, 1993 against two other Iranian officials. The first, Gholam Hossein Shurideh Chirazi Nejad, already known in business circles, had asked Comatra, a Swiss firm, to invite a ‘friend’. The ‘friend’ was in fact one of the killers who obtained a visa to enter Switzerland. The other suspect, Nasser Qasemi-Nejad, an official of the Secret Services, had awaited the assassins in Geneva in order to send them back to Iran(Le Figaro, 22 April 1993).
The French President, François Mitterand, acknowledged the involvement of Tehran's Islamic regime and cancelled his visit to Tehran scheduled for the fall of 1991 (Interview with Yediote Aharonoth , November 20, 1992).
Three of the accused were tried by the Special Criminal Court of Paris (la Cour d’Assises Speciales) from November 2 through December 6, 1994. The Court found Ali Vakili-Rad guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Mas'ud Hendi, Khomeini's relative and the employee of the Iranian State Television, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for his role as an accomplice of the terrorist conspiracy.
As for Gholam Hossein Shurideh Shirazi Nejad and Hossein Sheikh'atar, the adviser to the Iranian Ministry of Telecommunications, Nasser Qassemi Nejad, Fereydoun Boyer-Ahamdi and Mohammad Azadi, an officer of the Revolutionary Guards, they were all tried in abstentia, found guilty, and sentenced to life on June 16, 1995.
Arrest and detention
The victim was not arrested.
Trial
The victim was not summoned before a court and no public trial was held in his case.
Charges
In the months following the victory of the Islamic revolution, Iran's new authorities announced the charges against Shapur Bakhtiar on several occasions.
In a speech delivered on May 16th, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini charged Shapur Bakhtiar with "treason".
On December 7th, 1979, Ayatollah Khalkhali, one of the first religious judges appointed by Ayatollah Khomeini, charged Mr. Bakhtiar with "actively opposing Ayatollah Khomeini from his exile in Paris".
Evidence of guilt
Four days after Bakhtiar was charged with treason, in another speech, Ayatollah Khomeini elaborated on the accusation in the following terms: "This man was a fool, I advised him (to join the revolutionary movement), and had he listened to me he would be Prime Minister now. I advised him when I was in Paris that now that the Shah is gone and you have obtained something (the Shah's departure), come and say that you did this to serve the people, and say that you put yourself at the disposal of the people. Had he done it, he would be a hero. He did not understand what he should do." Ayatollah Khomeini was alluding to the resignation he had required from Dr. Bakhtiar after the monarch's departure. Refusing to resign and submit to the will of Ayatollah Khomeini may have been the evidence of guilt.
Defense
Dr. Bakhtiar was not given the opportunity to defend himself before being assassinated; however, he had on several occasions explained why he refused to resign. By accepting the post of Prime Minister, Bakhtiar argued, he had committed to organize the political transition under the rule of law. He refused to submit to the will of street demonstrators, since Khomeini's leadership was established after several mass demonstrations in his favor, and the Ayatollah drew his legitimacy from these demonstrations. Street demonstrations, Bakhtiar contended, could not replace democratic ballots. Bakhtiar, though acknowledging Khomeini's leadership of the movement, did not see under what title he could demand and accept a Prime Minister's resignation. For Bakhtiar, Khomeini had to win a free and fair election to acquire legal and democratic legitimacy. He invited Khomeini to campaign and win the election, whose free and fair character he, as an interim Prime Minister, would guarantee. Refusing to resign, Bakhtiar argued, was not treason, but an act of resistance against the rise of a new tyranny.
Judgment
Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced Shapur Bakhtiar to death during a public speech, on May 16th, 1979. Two days earlier, in an interview with the newspaper Kayhan, Ayatollah Khalkhali had referred to the existence of a death sentence against Dr. Shapur Bakhtiar and claimed the right for the Islamic Republic to implement the sentence anywhere in the world. It is not known if there has been another death sentence issued later by Ayatollah Khomeini's successor. The sentence was implemented in Shapur Bakhtiar's house in Suresnes, a small town near Paris. The victim was stabbed to death.
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Human rights violations in this caseThe legal context
Read about the courts, the judges, and the procedure. The courts
Special courts, known as the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunals, were set up after the February 1979 revolution. Their jurisdiction encompasses a wide array of offences ranging from association with or support of the former regime, promotion of foreign influence, and enmity with the revolution to possession, use or sales of narcotic drugs, murder, and profiteering. In the 1980s, a penal court, presided over by one judge, was created to handle some of the offenses punishable by death, such as theft or adultery. These tribunals’ decisions must be confirmed by a chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The judges
Prosecutors and judges are not necessarily jurists. By 1981, the judiciary was purged of judges trained in law schools. They were replaced by seminary graduates and students, as well as by political appointees (an estimated 2000 by 1989). Since by law judges are only required to have a high school diploma and must be faithful to the Islamic Republic’s tenets, new recruits often have little formal training in the law and are chosen because of their political affiliation.
The procedure
The procedures of these ecclesiastical tribunals fail to meet the minimum guarantees for fair trial as established by international human rights instruments and by sha’ria (the Islamic system of law). In addition to executions ordered by revolutionary tribunals, extra-judicial executions are carried out, targeting dissidents and opposition leaders. In some cases, both inside and outside of Iran, these executions have been traced back to Iranian officials. It is, however, not known if in these particular cases trials are held in absentia.
Sources (Among others): Amnesty International, Law and Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, February 1980; Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, The Justice System of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1992; E/CN.4/1989/26 p.14; UNCHR, Resolution 1984/54 , Abolition of Torture - Iran - 1; 28 November 1984; Report on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Special Representative of the Commission, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, 28 January 1987. Amnesty International, A SHOCKED WORLD WATCHES IN DISBELIEF, VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 1987-1990. Memoirs of Ayatollah Khalkhali, religious judge and former head of revolutionary tribunals (2001), and Ayatollah Montazeri, dismissed successor to Ayatollah Khomeini (2001). UNCH, E/CN.4/1994/50, Final report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran prepared by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, pursuant to Commission resolution 1993/62 of 10 March 1993 and Economic and Social Council decision 1993/273. E/CN.4/1994/50, 2 February 1994.
 read...
 close... Extrajudicial killings and the Islamic Republic: A decades-long pattern
Read more about the pattern of extrajudicial killings ordered by the Islamic Republic authorities.
Since the inception of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights, have blamed the Islamic regime for the extrajudicial killing of its opponents, both within and outside of its borders. Although over two hundred cases have been reported, the exact number of victims remains unknown.
Extrajudicial executions carried out in Iran are rarely investigated; the few cases that have been investigated have indicated that the Iranian state security apparatus has been involved. Agents of the Islamic Republic have also targeted dissidents outside the country, assassinating opposition members in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Pakistan in Asia; Dubai, Iraq, and Turkey in the Middle East; Cyprus, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain in Western Europe; and across the Atlantic in the United States,.
In many of these cases local authorities have made no arrests. However, investigations, when they have taken place and been made public, have led to the single hypothesis of State ordered crimes. The organization and execution of these crimes constitute a pattern that Swiss prosecutor Roland Chatelain describes as “common parameters” following a “meticulous preparation.” Similarities between different cases in different countries have created a coherent set of presumptions designating the Islamic Republic as the instigator of these assassinations. In cases involving prominent Iranians assassinated in France, Germany, and Switzerland, local prosecutors have provided evidence linking Iranian authorities to the crimes in question. In France, for example, the Iranian Deputy Minister of Telecommunications has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 1991 murder of two dissidents. In Germany, agents of Iran's secret services and Lebanese Hezbollah have been convicted for the 1992 murder of four dissidents in Berlin. Currently, the Islamic Republic's Minister of Information and Security at the time of this murder is under an International arrest Warrant launched by German judicial authorities for his involvement. Furthermore, the German court found that Iran's political leadership ordered the murder through a "Committee for Special Operations," whose members reportedly include the Leader of the Islamic Republic, the President, the Minister of Information and Security, and other security officials.
The Islamic Republic’s officials have claimed responsibility for some of these assassinations while denying involvement in others. In the 1980s, Iranian authorities justified extrajudicial executions of dissidents and members of the former regime and actively worked for the release of Iranians and non-Iranian agents who were detained or convicted in the West for their involvement in those killings. During the 1990s, they systematically denied any involvement in extrajudicial killings and often credited the killings to infighting amongst the opposition. Still, the rationale supporting these killings was articulated as early as in the spring of 1979 when the First Revolutionary religious judge publicly announced the regime's intention to carry out extrajudicial executions. He said: “no state has the right to try as a terrorist the person who kills [exiles] in foreign lands, for this person is implementing the verdict issued by the Islamic Revolutionary tribunal.” More than a decade later, in August, 1992, the Minister of Intelligence and Security publicly boasted about the success of Iran's security forces, alluding to the elimination of dissidents: "We have been able to deal blows to many of the mini-groups outside the country and on the borders...."
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close... Based on the available information, the following human rights have been violated in this case:
The right to liberty and security of the person. The right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 3; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 9.1. The right not to be punished for any crime on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under national or international law, at the time it was committed. UDHR, Article 11.2; ICCPR, Article 15, Article 6.2.
The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the right to change and manifest his or her religion or belief.
UDHR, Article 18; ICCPR, Article 18.1, ICCPR, Article 18.2; Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Article 1 and Article 6.
In its general comment 22 (48) of 20 July 1993, the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee observed that the freedom to "have or to adopt" a religion or belief necessarily entailed the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views, as well as the right to retain one's religion or belief. Article 18, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights bars coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, including the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to religious beliefs and congregations, to recant their religion or belief or to convert.
The right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
UDHR, Article 20; ICCPR, Article 21.
The right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of one’s interests.
UDHR, Article 20; ICCPR, Article 22.1.
The right to due process
The right to be presumed innocent until found guilty by a competent and impartial tribunal in accordance with law. ICCPR, Article 14.1 and Article 14.2.
Pre-trial detention rights
Trial rights
The right to a fair and public trial without undue delay. ICCPR, Article 14.1, ICCPR, Article 14.3.c.
The right to defense through an attorney or legal aid. The right to examine, or have examined, the witnesses against one, and the right to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on one’s behalf under the same conditions as prosecution witnesses. ICCPR, Article 14.3.d and Article 14.3.e%viol_iccpr_14.3.e%.
The right to have the decision rendered in public. ICCPR, Article 14.1.
Judgment rights
Capital punishment
The inherent right to life, of which no one shall be arbitrarily deprived. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 3; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 6.1; Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, Article 1.1, Article 1.2.
The right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. ICCPR, Article 7; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Article 1 and Article 2.
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