Speech [Treason and collusion of the claimants of human rights; oppressing the downtrodden]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Of course, those whose own interests or the interests of their masters are in jeopardy, have a grievance against this movement in whatever form it may be; and they want to extinguish this movement by means of any conspiracy. Sometimes on the pretext of" human rights", they criticize the death sentences that are carried out in Iran, and consider this as an act of violence. They were not present in Iran to see what has happened here, what Iran has gone through in the course of the past fifty years or more, and what has befallen our youth in recent times. But, they know about it; it is not that they are uninformed. They are aware of what the former Shah and the Shah before him did to Iran; and what crimes were perpetrated by these two cowardly men in Iran. They are aware of the treasons committed by them. The gathering that claims to represent human rights group and are taking up the cause of human rights and protesting that" these numbers that have been killed so far were killed for what reason? This is an act of violence." They have overlooked the violence that took place during the reign of the father and son. Those killings that took place at the hands of their agents and sometimes even at the hands of Muhammad-Rida himself- they have totally overlooked them. Neither at that time when the people of Iran were afflicted in that manner and they were looting and killing, did they speak a word about" human rights"; and nor toward the end of their reign when all the atrocities were being perpetrated in Iran within the last couple of years of which all the nations were informed and the people of Iran were in such distress and our youth were being massacred on the streets did they utter a word of protest.

They do not mention the events of the fifteenth of Khordad at all. On 15 th of Khordad [June 5,1963] the way it is said- I was in prison but the way I was told after I was released- approximately fifteen thousand people were massacred, and informed sources again told me that Muhammad-Rida himself flew in a helicopter and directed the killings. These people; these supporters of" human rights" apparently do not regard the fifteen thousand people who were killed in a single day to be human beings. Or they regard them as human beings but do not accord them any rights. If they are human beings and have rights, and these sixty-thousand or more people that were slaughtered in these few months in Iran- the best of our youth were killed, of all strata, the clergy, the university students, the businessmen class, administrators, every sort of people, farmers, workers- and these people who claim" human rights" pretend as if nothing has happened.

We have not witnessed any protests from these people or heard them cry out" No, why are you not observing human rights. Why are you killing so many people?" Now that we are punishing some criminals each of whom have killed several persons or have tortured them to death or have sawed off their feet, or have put them in large pans and burnt them, from all strata, in the prisons they acted in that manner, they caused such a commotion. One night when I was in prison, I could hear the sobbing and moaning sounds of persons who were being tortured. Later, when the prison guards came to me, I protested and told them that prisons must be a place for training and not a place for such savagery. They replied that it was not anything important. Just a runaway conscript was given a slap; whereas, perhaps for more than an hour he was being tortured, and I could hear his cries.

These supporters of human rights, these tricksters, who want to hand over all our resources to their masters, were suffocated on that day; their pens were broken. Now that we have caught some of them and killed them after they were put on trial and have confessed to the crimes they have committed and their files reveal what they have done, now they are raising their voice. Although this is how it has been, and those that were put to death were corrupt and immoral, besides the fact that many of them were killers, murderers, and corrupters of the earth; nevertheless, we recently scaled down their sentences. Only those who it was proven were killers or have tortured the people to death or those who gave orders of mass killings of the people, from now onward will be sentenced to death. Others who have tortured will of course not be sentenced to death but will be punished according to the severity of their crimes; to imprisonment and fines and such things. A person who has sawed off the foot of a prisoner, but the one whose foot was sawed off has not died, we cannot simply tell the offender" please, go away, you are free." Well, this person must be meted out punishment. If the person who has sawn off the foot is caught, then according to religious law his foot must also be sawn off as retribution. If we find that person who was tortured in this manner now, and we see that he seeks retribution, we will permit him to go ahead and retaliate.

They have been killed for the administration of human rights. The people who are claimants of human rights and who raise a clamor for the likes of Habib Ilqaniyan «1» or for Amir `Abbas Hoveyda «2» are precisely the same people who trample upon human rights.

This man Hoveyda, was the prime minister for fifteen or thirteen years approximately, and all the crimes are the responsibility of the prime minister. If we find any of the prime ministers of that era such as Sharif Imami «3» such as Shapour Bakhtiyar, «4» they would be condemned to death. Bakhtiyar himself confessed that the killings were ordered by him. They directed the killings by inciting the massacres. Their whole group is immoral; they are corrupt. We are doing this for the sake of human rights. And, this group that raises their voice shouting" human rights, human rights." are the stooges of the colonialists. The origin of these groups was founded in America or in other places under the name of" human rights groups" and so on and so forth were created by them in order to destroy human rights. So many crimes were committed by this ignoble man in Iran and so many killings and pillaging that they now say he must be put to death. However, no verdict has been passed for the death of Muhammad Rida, but it will be issued. If we find him, he must be killed. The people who talk of human rights are now raising their voice and expressing regret.

Of course, America must express regret because Muhammad Rida was a very good servant for America who gave away all our resources to America to eat. He made Iran poor and gave away everything to America and its friends. They must of course express their regret. Israel must of course express regret for the death of Ilqaniyan; because Ilqaniyan was a man who committed so many crimes here and committed so much treason, and gave away so much of the wealth of this nation to Israel, that they must of course express regret. But, we must see what the fact is. Is it a fact that we are violating human rights?

Throughout this period that this government of ours, this government of Iran that is now in power, throughout this period of its establishment, and throughout the period after the Revolution- although in revolutions so many would be slaughtered- bring a single instance of a person who was killed without being guilty of a crime. They should come forward and say that this person was innocent although they would arrest our youth in droves for the `crime' of finding a book in their homes, on the charge of finding a circular in their home, on the charge of being acquainted with someone who was in possession of those circulars; or on the charge of finding a banned book or a religious treatise in a bookstore- on these charges they would take them away, torture them and then kill them.

Throughout this period that this prime minister- the Islamic Prime Minister- has taken charge, you will not find a single person in this court of revolution, in the prime ministers office, in the army or in any other place in this government who has been arrested by them without criminal charges or having been imprisoned by them for a single day, and there has been no filthy language used against a person. Do not these human rights groups pay attention to these things? Or they know it but pretend to be deaf? They are traitors. They want to subjugate us like before. We do not listen to these words. The group that has been put to death until now was for the administration of human rights. Our courts have done their job with precision, have taken the opinions of every sort of reliable individual, and then have taken a decision. From now onward, again some rebates have been made, so that it would not be too severe. Later on, more rebates will be given too. But with the same individuals who committed such tortures, and killed human beings in that manner, we nevertheless directed that, not even a single word of abuse must be said to them in the prisons. I announced this; I issued a circular that in an Islamic government prisoner- however, serious his crimes- nobody has the right to starve them; nobody has the right to slap them; nobody has the right to torture them; nobody has the right to use a foul word against them. He should be prosecuted only to the extent of his crime and be meted out punishment in accordance with that crime; not more than this; not in excess of this. In the prison of these torturers if they would arrest any one of us and if we dared to utter an indecent word to them, they would behave with us in that cruel manner. These torturers are now in our prisons, right now in the prisons of Iran- these people are imprisoned. Those who came from abroad to report on their condition attested to the fact that the prisons are in keeping with civilized standards.

Let them come and see. They are sitting there abroad and getting paid and are holding their pens and keep on writing something under the title of" human rights." These are persons who wish to trample upon human rights- not that they want to exploit human rights. These people do not reserve any right for our youth who were slaughtered in such large numbers and who were tormented so much- they say these are not human beings. As if they do not consider us as human beings. And, when we sentenced to death a few persons because they have tortured, they have killed, they have massacred, they have poured on to the streets and have killed indiscriminately in the course of fifteen or ten years, they raise a clamor; everyone witnessed these incidents; all of you saw these things happening. They are aware of these events- not that they are ignorant of these facts. In the same way that they are informed of the details of the present, they were knowledgeable of the details of the past too. They are knowledgeable, but they are traitors; they are unjust; they are not humans. They are mercenaries who wish to trample upon human rights. This is how it has been up to now.

And, praise be to God, some of them have been meted out their due punishment- but of course, some more are still there. Now there are conspiracies. Now, those same individuals who were engaged in this work, some of them are still there, are busily engaged in plotting, and wish to start all over again. Those who are engaged in hatching conspiracies, those who want things to revert to their former condition, to subjugate a nation again, to oppress a nation all over again; to throw the rights of a nation to the wind of destruction all over again- if we find these people, we will of course bring them to justice- and God willing, we shall find them.

Those like Mr. Mutahhari who would not hurt a fly- I knew this man for approximately twenty years- a man of such morality, a man of such grace, of such humanity was condemned to assassination.

Why? What had Mutahhari done? Whom had he killed? What was his crime? Was he not a human being? This man of philosophy, knowledge, religious scholar, and scientist- was he not a human being? They kill this human being in this fashion without having committed a single crime. What was the crime of Mr. Mutahhari? What had he done? What was the crime of Waliyyullah Qarani? «5» But what were they guilty of that they deserved to die?

Now too they have prepared a list of those who are to be assassinated. Are they under the mistaken impression that with the killing of Mr. Mutahhari or the killing of those like Mr. Mutahhari, this movement will die out and once again, the rights of our nation will be trampled upon. Once again, these human rights activists did not write a word about Mr. Mutahhari or say a word. At least we have not heard them utter a word. Was he not a human being? They did not protest, they said nothing; they did not condemn the person who killed him.

Now they claim not to know him. Well, why did not they condemn the group who committed this act? Now, if we are to find Mutahhari's killer and punish him for his crime, in retribution, then they will raise their voice that it is an act of violence. Is it not violence to kill an innocent man for no reason? Sometimes, a person may have done something, whereas this man had no vocation other than to teach and to study. He was a person whom I had known for about twenty years, and I was informed of his condition and status, and I know that he has not hurt any person; a man who had toiled for this nation; a man who was an author of books; a man who was a philosopher and an intellectual deserved to be killed that they assassinated him? Where are the human rights groups that they are not uttering a single word? Now, if we find the person who has killed him and sentence him to death, then all of a sudden the pens of the human rights activists will begin to write and publicize it as an act of violence. That Iran is a violent country that does not respect human rights. What sort of a group are these people? I do not know what kind of an upbringing they have had; what sort of animals are they?

This is the situation of the world of materialism. This is the condition of these material human rights groups. This is the condition of the material world, which has no regard for anything other than its material interests, and the interests of their masters, because they have no knowledge of anything. They overlook everything as long as it does not jeopardize their own interest. And only when their interests are endangered they raise a hue and cry. This is a feature of material upbringing. And this manner of administration that is now present is characteristic of Islamic trainings; it is spiritual and teaches that not a single person should be imprisoned or sent into exile without being guilty of a crime. Humanitarian Islamic rights are this that there must not be injustice and the rights of the oppressed must not be violated. Neither any person must oppress any other, nor must we be unfair with the oppressed, and nor must we overlook and say that the oppression has been finished and it is all over.

Society must be trained. The divine lows are for the training of society and not for seeking revenge. If the murderer is not killed, homicide will increase. There is life in retribution. «6» If we close the door to retribution, and have nothing to do with anybody who kills, killings will increase; the lives of the people will be destroyed; any person who desires will kill another person. Retribution is for ensuring the life of human beings. It is training and is for the good of society.

All the divine laws are for the good of society. If that person who commits that act and the law has ascertained punishment for the crime, if there is no punishment, then such crimes will rise. If for example, a person has gone and committed an act of adultery with the wife of some other person, if the punishment is not meted out to him, well such sins will increase. Promiscuity must be checked. They would catch the robbers and put them into prison. There, they would teach them to rob. They would hold classes for them on how to pick pockets easier and better. Whereas, if a few thieves are caught and meted out punishment on the basis of the existing religious laws, then the hand of thieves will be severed from Iran and the world for ever. In the manner the religious judge orders- the religious judge who is loathe that the rights of even an animal be oppressed let alone that of a human being, if it be proven that a few thieves who are caught, have committed this crime, he orders that they must be punished in accordance with the law. This is because he judges on what is good for mankind, for the safeguarding of human rights. Divine laws are for the protection of human rights. Human beings- all of them- have a right to live. If they do not kill this psychopath and this person, who has committed murder, then homicide will increase. If for the crime of committing robbery, a few persons who have stolen and entered people's homes and destroyed their property are not given punishment, crimes will increase. Catching a few thieves, taking them to prison, and then teaching them a few more tricks on how to pick pockets will cause robberies to increase. These thieves must not be imprisoned but given the very punishment that has been mentioned, and then let go. Then it will not increase. If the person who commits adultery with the wife of another, and if he is brought to justice and killed in accordance with the conditions, this will not increase anymore. Islam is protecting the rights of human beings.

You who are claiming" human rights" want to violate and trample upon human rights. So many human beings have been killed do they not have the right to punish a couple of persons who have slaughtered many. Now is killing in retribution against human rights? Is this the logic?

We are optimistic that a government of Islamic justice can be established. Pray that God willing it be done. Only then will the people of the world understand what is the meaning of a government of Islam and what it is. Now, it is an unknown quantity, now they do not know what a government of Islam will be like. They are under the impression that if Islam arrives, it will put all the women in a room and close the doors on them. Then all the people well this is propaganda.

A couple of days ago, a group of Jews had come here. They had told these Jews- I do not know, whether they had said these to the Jewish population- that should this movement go forward and an Islamic government be established, they will exterminate all the Jews. They will kill all of them. I told them, that well, the movement has advanced and continues to move on but has anyone shown you Jews the slightest disrespect? Has anyone troubled you? With this talk and these nonsensical allegations, they want to prevent this movement from reaching its destination and an Islamic government to be installed; because if Islamic rule be established, then the hands of the foreigners will be cut off from the Islamic country- and they want to have a free hand. Then, the likes of Muhammad Rida Pahlavi will not be able to reign and provide leadership, and they want that he should stay so that they can act as they like. God willing, this rule will be installed so that the people will know what an Islamic rule- that lasted only for a limited period at the advent of Islam as even at that time they did not allow it to be realized- is like and what it means.

Now, what is our duty? Until now, it has been these complaints that we have heard from the human rights groups. What is our duty now? We have many duties now. Various classes have various duties. There is one duty that is common, and which is that we must all with all our strength and power at our disposal strive to safeguard this movement; to sustain this unity of expression; to protect the divinity of the movement so that everyone works for the cause of Islam. The very thing that brought us to the present situation and made us victorious- because it was for Islam- is the unity of expression All of the nation revolted for the sake of Islam and triumphed. The great God has approved it. Now, it is the duty of all of us to strive with all the strength that we have- every individual in his own capacity- to safeguard the unity of expression and Islamic character of this movement. If it is safeguarded, we will be victorious; you should have no doubt about it. We will destroy all these decadent garbage that are now engaged in corruption and conspiracy- we will destroy all of them. But on condition that all the people, the whole nation, join hands with each other to safeguard this movement. This is the gift, which the Blessed and Almighty God has presented us. If we safeguard this gift and trust, and do not betray it, we will be victorious. But if God forbid we betray this movement, then there is the danger that God forbid, our condition reverts to the initial circumstance and even worse.

Various strata of the people have different duties. Now, we hear it is being said that there is go slow at work in the offices, there is go slow in the factories; this is betrayal of a country. Now is the time to do more work and not lessen the work. We are now faced with certain problems in this country; our economy is a weak one. Right now, they looted and plundered our wealth and went away. At present, our agriculture is not a robust agriculture; now is the time that this nation- that until now has been tormented and has received this divine gift by undergoing hardship- must work more and not work less. Why go slow in the offices? Now the country belongs to you; you must work. Why go slow in the factories? Why laziness? Why idleness? The country belongs to you; you must work. Why go slow in farming? Those who are engaged in these activities must work as much as they can. If they can work harder than before, they should not refrain. The country is in need of hard work, it is in need of agriculture; the ministries need to work; work should be done and the people should not be made to wait

Now, we come to the traders, businessmen and shopkeepers and this class of the people. Today is the day that we must serve this nation, that throughout the period of history of this father and son and after that in the course of the Revolution, has suffered immense hardships. The bazaars were closed for almost a year and half and very many poor people have become poorer. Today is not the day for profiteers to get moving and taking advantage; today is the day of support. They must be supportive of their brethren; and it is not the time to sell goods worth ten tumans for one-hundred tumans. Today, overcharging is betrayal to an Islamic country. They should not commit this treason; they should be a little lenient with the people. They are your own brethren. With the brothers who have given their blood you, respected businessmen were not in these arenas. I know that you were not present, those who were present were the smaller shopkeepers, and these porters, and these workers; and these clergymen and I should say, the university students- all of whom are poor. These classes carried this movement forward, and gave their own blood and the blood of their youth in order to carry this movement forward. Now, is it fair that a reputable businessman who owns such and such factory, has so and so assets, and is seated right on top only as a spectator, now not co-operate with these people who have given their blood in order to carry this movement forward to its destination? Should they be unjust towards the poor? Should they raise their prices so much that these poor people are unable to pay for them? Should their lives be thrown in disarray? Well, they must get along with their brethren; with those who have toiled in the path of religion; who are their fellow countrymen; who are their coreligionists and not indulge in profiteering. Do not create a situation whereby we have to act based on our divine duties with them. They should themselves prevent these problems. One day, if we decide to act based on our divine duty, they will be in a pitiable condition. Do not allow this to happen. This was a speech about the group of over-chargers.

Yet, one group is the smugglers, the heroin peddlers, and those smugglers who are engaged in smuggling weapons. This too, is an affliction and pain, which is now threatening the lives of the people. These are the first-degree traitors to this country. To bring opium and distribute it among the people, to bring heroin and distribute it among our youth will destroy our nation. Before they are whipped by the whip of God, before they face the wrath of God, they should themselves be careful and refrain from doing these things. They should give up this trade; this is treason; this is forcing our honorable youth to their doom; this is the corruption of our race; it corrupts the generation. Is there a shortage of trade that a person should resort to selling heroin? Engage in some other business. Go and do some other work. You call smuggling your job. Let alone smuggling heroin, opium, and weapons from abroad. It may fall in the hands of the enemies, and throw the country into chaos. It was another topic I wanted to mention.

Yet, another topic is the question of agriculture. Those persons who were engaged in farming and have now because of some reasons left their farms and have been tricked into coming to the cities and been housed on the outskirts of the cities must return to their farms, to their lands. They are now free to engage in farming and the government will buy their produce at good prices.

We are now in such a situation that all of us must help to build this country. We must all have sympathy with this nation. It is a nation like a war-ravaged nation- it is in fact war-ravaged- a nation that has fought on the streets. Is war other than this? With the only difference that they had tanks and guns, and we had fists and a steely determination. It is not fair that now the various strata who are in a position of affluence again do the same things with this nation- a war-ravaged nation; a nation betrayed; a nation hit with crime; a nation that was reduced to poverty and deserted- what those before them have done in another form. To commit the same treasons that they did, except that they would take them away and kill them in prisons and such places, whereas these people kill with heroin. This is worse than murder.

Gentlemen, we must be awake. We must act in accordance with the teachings of Islam; we must be human; we must be fair. There are many pains to discuss; and I hope in the same way that the Blessed and Almighty God has helped us by His compassion, He will help us once again so hat we can carry this movement to its conclusion and liberate our country from the claws of the foreigners, and bring the traitors to justice.

May God protect all of you. May you be prosperous and healthy and serve your own country.

[In reply to the question of one of the audience regarding establishment of an organization for serving the poor, the Imam replied:]

Everything else is on the gentlemen to organize anything that is useful for the country and the people. Now, all the strata are in need of help, I mean all the sections. The weaker sections are in need of help. You should help in whatever way that you can. May you succeed, God willing.