1 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,360 My husband was in Evin Prison in Tehran. 2 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,040 He had been tortured and spent nearly four months 3 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,240 in solitary confinement. 4 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:51,320 It was the last days of the war. 5 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:53,120 We hoped that with the end of the war, 6 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,280 the conditions might improve. 7 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,280 On the day after the ceasefire, I went to visit him. 8 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,640 As I was approaching the prison compound, I noticed the worried 9 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,160 faces of families of other inmates. 10 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:06,120 I asked what had happened. 11 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,720 They said a group had been executed. 12 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,400 I went inside. 13 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,760 I asked the prison officials what had happened, 14 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:14,440 but they wouldn't say. 15 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,040 I cried and screamed, but we were told nothing. 16 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,320 Then they called a member of my family in and told him 17 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:24,200 that my husband had been executed. 18 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,960 They said that he had not agreed to cooperate, that he did not 19 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:28,920 want to be on their side. 20 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:30,680 So he had been executed. 21 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,880 The prison officials would not say where his body had been taken, 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,320 but for years we had heard of a cemetery on the Khavaran Road 23 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:42,920 that runs south of Tehran, where many of the executed were buried. 24 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,600 We went there. 25 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,800 There were a number of new graves, some with bunches of flowers. 26 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,200 I saw a man coming towards us. 27 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,920 He told us that he was the gravedigger and that he'd dug graves 28 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:55,840 for all the executed. 29 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,760 He asked if any of our relations had been executed. 30 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:00,680 I said yes. 31 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,360 He said I was not the only one, 32 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,320 and pointed to a part of the cemetery. 33 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,960 We said 60 bodies were brought in the day before. 34 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,640 We asked how one could identify them. 35 00:02:10,640 --> 00:02:12,800 He said that there is a tag around the ankle of each 36 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,080 with the name. 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,520 He said we could open the graves if we wanted, 38 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:18,160 but he would not help. 39 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,680 My mother and I started to dig. 40 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,360 We judged by size, the grave that might be my husband. 41 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,880 The air smelled strongly of the bodies which were buried 42 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,880 just below the surface. 43 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,040 A face fell out of the blanket in which it was wrapped. 44 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,920 It was the face of a young man of no more than 25 years. 45 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:39,720 I brushed the dirt and blood aside. 46 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,720 He seemed to have a smile on his face. 47 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:44,600 But it was not my husband. 48 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,120 By now, I was crying and there were too many graves. 49 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,240 It was impossible and we knew that the security forces 50 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,960 could descend on us at any time. 51 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,000 We came back one more time, but the cemetery was circled 52 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,600 by security forces. 53 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,880 They threatened to arrest us. 54 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,080 I told them that they couldn't kill my husband and expect me not 55 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,480 to visit his grave. 56 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,520 I told them if they wanted to arrest me, so be it. 57 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,120 I went to the grave, which I had been told by other families 58 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,440 might be my husband's, and laid flowers there. 59 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,040 Then I left Iran secretly for exile, here in Paris. 60 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,480 I am left now with a lot of memories of the past. 61 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,360 My children are my only source of happiness. 62 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,720 But the important thing that occupies my thoughts 63 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,560 is the question of what it was all for. 64 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,040 GUNFIRE AND CHANTING 65 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,560 Ten years ago, the Shah of Iran was brought 66 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,560 down by a mass revolution. 67 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:45,480 Ten days ago, Ayatollah Khomeini, 68 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,280 the man who became its leader, died. 69 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,520 At the beginning, it was the revolution that united 70 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,920 all classes in Iranian society against a corrupt regime 71 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,280 that ruled through violence and fear, 72 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,440 through torture and execution. 73 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,480 Together, the Iranian people took on the Shah 74 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,320 and his Western-trained army, and they won. 75 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,320 But ten years on, that unity has disappeared. 76 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,040 The revolution that Ayatollah Khomeini did so much to create 77 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,200 and shape survives, but it has been transformed. 78 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,320 Under his leadership, it has become something that seems intent 79 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,680 on devouring its own children. 80 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,360 Many hundreds of the regime's political opponents 81 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,720 have been executed in Iran's prisons over the last year. 82 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:38,000 These are lists of those executed published by just one group. 83 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,440 The columns reveal clearly who they were. 84 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,280 These are the children of the middle classes who eagerly embraced 85 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:46,080 and fought in the revolution ten years ago and now 86 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,640 were being destroyed by it. 87 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,880 The execution has disturbed even those at the heart of the regime. 88 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,680 Ayatollah Montazeri, who was then Ayatollah Khomeini's spiritual heir, 89 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,400 wrote this letter to his leader, pleading with him 90 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,280 to stop the executions. 91 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,000 "They are," he says, "a disregard for the law 92 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,920 "and the ruling of judges. 93 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,160 "They will be seen by our own supporters as no more than an act 94 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,960 "of vengeance and revenge." 95 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,280 HE SPEAKS FRENCH 96 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,360 TRANSLATION: Last year's terror in Iran was unique in the world, 97 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:18,760 even in Iran's history, 98 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,000 because at that time, all political prisoners were obliged 99 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,400 to repent their political beliefs, 100 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,040 or they were systematically executed. 101 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,880 It was in fact a liquidation, pure and simple, 102 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,400 of all political prisoners, of all organisations 103 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,000 who refused to repent. 104 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:01,840 How can the revolution come to this? 105 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:08,080 Well, we've read, haven't we, that all revolutions come to this. 106 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,360 I mean, we were all revolutionaries. 107 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,640 We entered it with dual feelings. 108 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,240 I mean, on the one hand, we thought we were going to make this into 109 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,680 a different revolution. 110 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,120 That a Stalin isn't going to come out of it, 111 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,320 a Robespierre isn't going to come out of it. 112 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:28,680 I mean, so that was one. 113 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,360 But on the other hand, this revolution, its leadership 114 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:37,600 was the farthest away from us, from our image of the revolution. 115 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:38,960 Right? 116 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,800 So how could I have made it into the ideal one? 117 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,000 Into the one that the Russian one was not, the French one was not, 118 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,360 if you like. 119 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,520 I mean, into that perfect one. 120 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,560 To many in the West, the Iranian revolution seems incomprehensible, 121 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,760 a unique upheaval that is dragging Iran back to the seventh century. 122 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:00,480 But behind its strange images, 123 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,600 there has been a struggle for power that has followed a pattern common 124 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:05,360 to many other revolutions. 125 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,440 This film is an attempt to understand that pattern. 126 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,800 The road down which many revolutions have gone before, 127 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:13,840 from liberation to repression. 128 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:15,600 The Road to Terror. 129 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:33,680 The first mass revolution began exactly 200 years ago in Paris. 130 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,760 For the first time ever in history, the people rose up as a mass 131 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,280 to demand a change. 132 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,760 Not just in who ruled them, but in the entire 133 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,560 social and political system they lived under. 134 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:45,880 They wanted to change the world. 135 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,160 The challenge of the revolution was to the age-old order 136 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:05,640 of European rule, to the notion that men were made by God to be unequal. 137 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,560 To the world of 1789, this was terrifying. 138 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,040 One writer described it as, "An inflamed passion 139 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,240 "which has become a new kind of religion, a religion 140 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,360 "that has flooded the world with its fighters, its apostles 141 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:21,280 "and its martyrs." 142 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:40,080 200 years later, we in Western Europe still live in the shadow 143 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,400 of that revolution, but out of the ruins of the autocratic regime 144 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,360 that fell apart that summer of 1789, came an entirely 145 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,040 new idea of society. 146 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,800 It is the goal that the Western world still pursues. 147 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,360 A society where the people are sovereign, 148 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,360 but the exercise of power will be guided, above all, 149 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:03,200 by a concern for individual liberty and human rights. 150 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,560 True to its revolutionary tradition, Paris has since then been a home 151 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:19,320 to political exiles and today thousands of Iranians who have fled 152 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,080 the present regime live here. 153 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,520 But ten years ago, the man who was about to become one 154 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,360 of this century's most famous revolutionaries was also based 155 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,400 here in exile. 156 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,120 Ayatollah Khomeini's house in a quiet Paris suburb is now 157 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,320 a ruin, blasted apart by a bomb planted by an opposition group. 158 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,920 But ten years ago, it was home to the man around whom the growing 159 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,600 resistance to the Shah was gathering. 160 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,680 SHE SPEAKS FRENCH 161 00:09:56,680 --> 00:10:00,840 TRANSLATION: It all began here exactly ten years ago. 162 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,880 It was in November or December and it was snowing. 163 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:06,520 At that time, I was living in Brussels, 164 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,280 and like many other Iranians, I wanted to know why all the people 165 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,680 were talking about Khomeini, and so I decided to come here 166 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:17,040 to see who he was and what it was he was planning. 167 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,840 I had prepared a number of questions. 168 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,040 Most of all, I wanted to know what he thought about women, 169 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:30,920 about their role in society, 170 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,040 what would happen to them when he returned to the country, 171 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,280 and also, did he plan to seize power himself? 172 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,040 He began to make quite a speech, saying that under the Shah, 173 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,520 women were treated as objects, like dolls, 174 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,520 but now they would be free to do what they want. 175 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,040 And about power, he said, 176 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:54,040 "I shall never take power. I only want to return to my country. 177 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,040 "I understand absolutely nothing about politics. 178 00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:59,280 "I only want to go back home." 179 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,080 On January the 31st, 1979, 180 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,040 Ayatollah Khomeini left to return to Tehran. 181 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,760 Although the airports had been closed against him, 182 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,920 he and the group of revolutionary intellectuals around him 183 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,040 were convinced that their time had come. 184 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,920 That the opposition on the streets was now strong enough 185 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:25,680 to force the regime's hand. 186 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:27,200 SIREN 187 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,200 HE SPEAKS FRENCH 188 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,040 TRANSLATION: All I had in mind was the overwhelming desire 189 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:38,520 to see my country. 190 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,520 No-one had ever imagined that we would be able to return. 191 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,760 That the monarchy would be brought down 192 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:46,040 after centuries and centuries of rule. 193 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,280 That feeling erased everything else. 194 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:05,760 But in the plane, I could see that person trying to sit 195 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,680 in a particular seat and another person trying to stop 196 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:11,280 somebody else coming close to Khomeini. 197 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:22,760 All this made me think again. 198 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,920 What was going to happen once we had succeeded - were victorious? 199 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:29,040 What would happen to our regime? 200 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:35,160 He was seen as a leader, as a populist leader, 201 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,280 who would represent all and then who would step aside 202 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,240 and who would let democracy flourish, OK. 203 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,280 SINGING 204 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,040 But the first taste of what was to come, really, 205 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,760 was this interview on the Air France jet 206 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,040 coming to Tehran, right. 207 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,520 With millions of people waiting for him, 208 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,040 estimated five million people waiting for him 209 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:04,760 in the streets of Tehran. 210 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:09,520 The interviewer asks him, "How do you feel returning to your country 211 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,760 "after 20 years in exile?" 212 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,480 And he looks and he says nothing. 213 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:18,040 That's it. Nothing, right. 214 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:20,680 That really shook us. 215 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:22,520 The most revered leader, 216 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,040 you know, throughout probably the history of 20th century. 217 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:28,280 I mean, in a way, more than even Gandhi, 218 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,760 because the Muslims had problems with Gandhi. 219 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,280 Here, you had Armenians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Communists, 220 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,040 you know, Muslims of various sects, 221 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,520 saying, "OK," you know, "Let's do it together. You're our leader." 222 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:42,600 That's coming from these people. 223 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,280 And he says nothing. 224 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,280 TRANSLATION: And then the mullahs came into the plane 225 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,920 and they came up and encircled him and carried him away. 226 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,680 We were left behind and I had the feeling that now, 227 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:02,520 we, the intellectuals, our part was over. 228 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:04,760 Our role had been to look after him 229 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,280 and now the mullahs had come to fetch him 230 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:09,360 to establish their own power. 231 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,040 Although the Shah had fled Iran before Khomeini's arrival, 232 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,520 he had left behind him a government and an army. 233 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,680 For the next few days, thousands of young revolutionaries 234 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:33,600 fought together on the streets. 235 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,520 They came from all political and religious groupings, 236 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,520 united against one of the strongest armies in the world, 237 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,040 that was crumbling in front of their eyes. 238 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,720 Hundreds of thousands of weapons were seized and spirited off 239 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,360 by a multitude of revolutionary organisations, 240 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,840 each with their plan for the revolution. 241 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,920 To impose his authority, Khomeini had already announced 242 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:56,520 a provisional government. 243 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,520 The new Prime Minister would be a man of impeccable liberal 244 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,760 and Islamic credentials - Mehdi Bazargan. 245 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,280 TRANSLATION: I warn everyone that they should obey 246 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,760 because this is an Islamic and legitimate government. 247 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,840 So everybody will obey this government. 248 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:18,040 HE SPEAKS FRENCH 249 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,680 TRANSLATION: The most important moment for me 250 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:22,920 was a few hours after the Shah had gone. 251 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,040 Immediately, public opinion began to search for something 252 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:27,520 to replace him with. 253 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,520 Then, immediately after that, in the public imagination, 254 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:32,760 the Imam took the place of the Shah. 255 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,280 Because the Shah's departure after 50 years of his family's rule, 256 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,760 had left this vacuum into which Khomeini was then sucked. 257 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,760 But Khomeini did not have the means to take over power as such. 258 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,040 It was going to take a whole series of events to transform him 259 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,040 from being a kind of anti-Shah 260 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:03,600 to becoming a kind of duplicate of the Shah. 261 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,280 And it would be a diabolical process. 262 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,360 As in other revolutions, it was violence that made 263 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:20,120 the growing divisions clear. 264 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:24,040 In May, Ayatollah Motahhari, one of Khomeini's closest advisers, 265 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,120 was mysteriously assassinated. 266 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,120 His death heightened the emotions surrounding the debate 267 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,920 on what should be the shape of the new constitution. 268 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,520 To the liberals and many of the left, Islam was to be separate 269 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,280 from the state and Parliament would be sovereign. 270 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,280 But to those Islamic parties that drew their inspiration 271 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,560 from the writings of Khomeini himself, 272 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:46,280 sovereignty belonged to God, not to the people. 273 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,520 In their society, political power would lie with the supreme guardian 274 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,440 who interpreted God's law. 275 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,760 It was a struggle for power. 276 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,040 It was a struggle for power. I mean, here... 277 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,040 It was... It was, if you like, the exact opposite 278 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:08,680 of what was the main characteristic of the pre-revolutionary days. 279 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:13,040 I mean, then, the Iranian revolution was the most united, 280 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,040 the widest possible revolution, I think, of all times. 281 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,760 I mean, we were all... It seemed that almost... 282 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,760 In its last days, it was, like, everybody together. 283 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,040 SHE SPEAKS FRENCH 284 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,280 TRANSLATION: But little by little, it all began to fall apart 285 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,120 and the fundamentalists began to come and attack people 286 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:33,040 who were in political discussion. 287 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,680 And then they would shout slogans about Khomeini - 288 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:37,280 fundamentalist slogans. 289 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,280 As in the French Revolution, the crowd, the mass, 290 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,040 was now fragmenting. 291 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,040 Parts of it were becoming a force to be used by those 292 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,760 who wanted to push the revolution on past the attempts to reform, 293 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,040 to compromise with the country's corrupt past, 294 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:27,520 towards instead their idea of a completely new sort of society. 295 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:33,040 REPORTER: Officially, Iran is now ruled by Prime Minister Bazargan, 296 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,200 but real power is in the hands of Ayatollah Khomeini 297 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,520 and the Revolutionary Council. 298 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,280 During the Shah's time, this building housed Iran's parliament - 299 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,280 a largely nominal democracy since he ruled as an autocrat. 300 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:49,680 Today, the building is the headquarters 301 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:51,560 of the Central Komiteh - 302 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,280 Tehran's version of the Paris Commune of the French Revolution. 303 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,280 Real power on the streets of Tehran lies not with the Prime Minister 304 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,520 and Cabinet, but with the komitehs led by Ayatollah Khomeini's... 305 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,520 The struggle for power intensified. 306 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,520 In August, the Komiteh ordered its guards to close down 307 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,760 the newspaper Ayandegan, which had consistently criticised 308 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:14,480 the fundamentalist concept of the Islamic State. 309 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,040 The paper has been what we consider anti-revolutionary 310 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,760 from the very beginning of the Revolution. 311 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:22,760 Its articles have not been... 312 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,040 ..aimed at unifying the people, 313 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,040 or in any direction at all, to that end. 314 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,040 Is that an argument for shutting it down? No. 315 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:34,920 We did shut it down. 316 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:40,040 Ayatollah Khomeini said after the last article, 317 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,760 which was a fabrication, 318 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:47,760 he said, "I will not myself buy this paper again." 319 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:51,560 That is all he said, but that is enough. 320 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,960 But isn't that freedom of the press up to the point where the people 321 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:57,760 guided by Ayatollah Khomeini, 322 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,520 decide that freedom shan't exist any longer? 323 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,040 Well, you see, if the majority want this, 324 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,800 then...this is democracy. 325 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,520 They arrested the council of the writers of Ayandegan 326 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,920 and its editorial board. 327 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,040 Whoever was there was arrested. 328 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,040 Of course, we in the National Democratic Front felt 329 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,040 this is the way...this is the day that we should make 330 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,760 a very, very important stand. 331 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,040 If we do not make a stand here for the freedom of press, 332 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,960 we have not accomplished our duty to the Revolution. 333 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:35,520 We called for a rally in Tehran, in which almost a million persons 334 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:40,280 turned up on the roads and marched towards the Prime Minister's office. 335 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,760 We were attacked by organised hezbollahis. 336 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,520 They attacked them with knives, they attacked them with stones, 337 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,680 they attacked them with bricks, which they brought with them. 338 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,360 Lorry-loads of them were brought with them, 339 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:58,280 they would unload them and they threw them. 340 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:04,280 The people they actually mobilised were the lumpens, the unemployed, 341 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,760 but especially many of those who'd moved in from the countryside 342 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:11,040 and mainly lived in the shanty towns around Tehran, 343 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,040 who could only fall back, 344 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,040 who had not been integrated within the urban society, 345 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,280 and who could be mobilised and who could get excited about that, 346 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,040 who felt secure only in terms of within a religious medium 347 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,280 and in terms of religious slogans and religious imageries. 348 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:32,280 And Khomeini and his radicalism and...and his authority... 349 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,880 ..you know, just gave them all they needed. 350 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,040 They became their mob... 351 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:46,040 ..to confront the other groups and organisations, 352 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:50,280 which basically drew their support from very definite layers 353 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,040 of the urban society - 354 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,280 from students, university students, high school students, 355 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,280 government employees, teachers, professionals. 356 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,760 In October, when fundamentalist students 357 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,040 occupied the American Embassy, Bazargan finally resigned. 358 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,520 Power had now firmly shifted from the liberals 359 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,320 to the Islamic revolutionaries. 360 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,920 But the new constitution that installed Ayatollah Khomeini 361 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,920 as supreme authority also provided for a president, 362 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:21,280 and in January 1980, Abolhassan Bani Sadr was elected. 363 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,280 Although he was close to Khomeini, 364 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:27,040 Bani Sadr interpreted his 75% majority as a mandate 365 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,520 to pull back the power that had slipped to the mullahs. 366 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:33,320 HE SPEAKS FRENCH 367 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,040 TRANSLATION: I wanted to realise the principles 368 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,520 for which the people had made the Revolution. 369 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:44,760 These were freedom, which I wanted to re-establish, and independence. 370 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,040 All of this would be within an Islamic identity. 371 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,200 And I deliberately stood as a candidate 372 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,840 because of the mullahs' claim that the people were following Khomeini. 373 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,120 I said, "No, it's the opposite. 374 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,040 "It is Khomeini who has followed the people." 375 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,120 Bani Sadr had learned his revolutionary theory 376 00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:15,280 not just on the streets of Tehran, but also as a student 377 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,840 in the Paris riots of May '68. 378 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,520 His imagination had been captured by their apparent spontaneity 379 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,360 and in his Islamic society, it would be the people, 380 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:27,120 whose spontaneous actions had brought the Shah down, 381 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:29,760 who would be the interpreters of God's will. 382 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,520 In its peculiar mixing of Western revolutionary theory and Islam, 383 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,040 it was a far cry from Khomeini's concept 384 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,040 of the supreme political authority of the mullahs. 385 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,520 TRANSLATION: So how did we try and stop the mullahs' march 386 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:45,160 towards dictatorship? 387 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,760 Simply by encouraging the people to remain politically active, 388 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,520 to put them, if you like, face-to-face with the mullahs. 389 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:07,400 JEERING AND SHOUTING 390 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,760 By the summer of 1980, many of the young revolutionaries 391 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,520 who had stood side-by-side against the Shah 392 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,760 now began to fight and shoot each other openly. 393 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:20,760 GUNSHOTS 394 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,520 Radical left wing groups such as the mujahedin, 395 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,040 who offered an alternative to the fundamentalist vision of society, 396 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,360 began to attract thousands of followers 397 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:31,280 as Iranian society polarised. 398 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,560 Originally, they had supported Khomeini for his radicalism. 399 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,680 Now, in the struggle for power, they found themselves attacked 400 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,040 as hypocrites who would destroy the revolution. 401 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,760 But it was a revolution that was, in fact, spinning out of control. 402 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,560 On the 22nd of September, Iraq declared war on Iran. 403 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,280 It was to become one of the longest and bloodiest wars 404 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,760 of the 20th century, but its immediate effect 405 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,280 was to bring yet more suspicion and fear. 406 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,760 As in revolutions before, political opponents now saw each other 407 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,040 as potential or actual traitors, 408 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,040 and Revolutionary Guards used the war as a pretext 409 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,800 to search for and arrest anyone they considered subversive. 410 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,040 In an atmosphere of crisis, 411 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,520 Bani Sadr rapidly became the focus for a broad opposition - 412 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,520 one that ranged from the mujahedin to moderate liberals. 413 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:24,360 The mullahs, whose power lay in the Iranian parliament, 414 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,280 saw his growing popularity as a direct threat 415 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:31,040 and in June 1981, they persuaded Ayatollah Khomeini to allow them 416 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,520 to put forward a motion for his impeachment. 417 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,560 Once again, the mob was to play a crucial role. 418 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,600 CHANTING 419 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,240 MAN SPEAKS FRENCH 420 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,040 TRANSLATION: They had decided that the deputies would have five hours 421 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,280 to speak against me and I would have five hours to defend myself. 422 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,040 But it was all set up to prevent me replying. 423 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,440 That is why I asked Khomeini to publish a notice 424 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,760 in which he officially guaranteed that I would leave Parliament alive 425 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:08,520 after my reply. 426 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:17,920 CHANTING 427 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,520 It never arrived. 428 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,040 Never. 429 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,760 So it was clear that if I went to Parliament, 430 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,520 they might kill me even before I'd got there 431 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,760 and claim it was the people who had done it. 432 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,760 What it was, in fact, was a coup d'etat. 433 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:46,760 So they decided to depose him. 434 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,040 So the idea then was... 435 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,520 ..we should resist this, right? 436 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:54,200 We should resist this. 437 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,040 And that was signalled by the huge demonstration, 438 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,280 basically called by mujahedin. 439 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,080 Were you there? Yes. 440 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,760 The demonstration attracted thousands from across the spectrum 441 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:07,440 of political opposition. 442 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,040 Its size shocked the fundamentalist parties. 443 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,280 It was the direct challenge to the power 444 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,280 of their revolutionary organisations 445 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,280 using the methods that had worked so well against the Shah. 446 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,520 From the komitehs, the orders went out, to kill. 447 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:24,040 In the parliament building, the debate took place 448 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,760 in an atmosphere of menace. 449 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,920 Many of the deputies who supported Bani Sadr did not turn up, 450 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,280 fearing they would be attacked or arrested. 451 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,280 Then the result was announced. 452 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,040 CHEERING AND CHANTING 453 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,040 That demonstration was the bloodiest ever, in a sense. 454 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,680 I mean, it was attacked by the Revolutionary Guards, 455 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:16,520 by the neighbourhood komitehs. 456 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,760 It was defended at various points with arms. 457 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,800 GUNFIRE 458 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,200 Various people were killed, many were arrested, 459 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,880 and many were immediately executed. 460 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,680 I mean, that's the beginning of the reign of terror. 461 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,720 EXPLOSIONS 462 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,520 Bani Sadr fled into hiding. 463 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:45,520 The mujahedin and other opposition groups 464 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:47,600 declared armed resistance to the regime. 465 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,360 Street battles broke out in Tehran and other cities. 466 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,520 And in the north, Kurdish rebels stepped up their attacks. 467 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,280 Earlier, I'd lost my own illusions about where this revolution 468 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,280 was going, but I think many had great illusions still left, 469 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,520 but, all of a sudden, they saw that, ah, the whole thing has ended 470 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,520 and something has begun, 471 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,280 which, just, in their worst nightmares, they couldn't imagine. 472 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,760 Both sides used the tactics of terror. 473 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,920 Six days after the overthrow of Bani Sadr, a bomb exploded 474 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,760 at the headquarters of the largest pro-Khomeini party. 475 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:25,760 It killed 74 people, including Ayatollah Beheshti, 476 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,520 second only to Khomeini, four cabinet ministers, 477 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,360 ten deputy ministers and 27 deputies. 478 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,280 Two weeks later, another bomb killed the new President 479 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,040 and Prime Minister, but the regime did not falter. 480 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,360 In response, thousands were arrested and taken to the prisons, 481 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,520 such as Evin Prison in Tehran, a centre of torture under the Shah. 482 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,120 There they were shown on television repenting 483 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,520 and pledging their allegiance to the party that now ruled Iran - 484 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,760 Hezbollah, the party of God. 485 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:57,080 Many thousands were also executed. In Evin, sometimes over 100 a night. 486 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,280 They were under the control of the revolutionary prosecutor 487 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,040 Asadollah Lajevardi. 488 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:06,520 What he did after the reign of terror was, on the one hand... 489 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:12,040 ..go for immediate executions 490 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,680 and declaring it, coming out on television saying, "We killed..." 491 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,520 "We are going to kill..." giving interviews, 492 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,520 showing and coming out and saying, "No, we are killing." 493 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,640 And, in fact, they went so far as killing 494 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,880 some members of the Revolutionary Guards themselves. 495 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:34,280 They were killing at such a speed that in the confusion of people 496 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,040 just being taken to Evin, OK, 497 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,280 some guards were mixed up with prisoners 498 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,040 and they were simply shot, you know, right there. 499 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,520 I mean, that came out. Their... Their identities are known to many, 500 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,280 the Revolutionary Guards who were killed by Lajevardi. 501 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,520 But in that sense it was very effective. 502 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,600 I mean, you know, here there is no joke. It is absolute terror. 503 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,320 TRANSLATION: For those who want to make war, there is severe treatment. 504 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,160 But the people themselves are in favour of the regime. 505 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,280 The people themselves, when they give 16 million votes 506 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:14,520 to our President, Mr Khomeini, it shows that the people are satisfied. 507 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,600 This rule is the rule of the people themselves. 508 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,840 TRANSLATION: I heard that one of my brothers had been executed. 509 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,520 And when I heard the news, I was so shattered, so sad. 510 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,520 I just couldn't understand. 511 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,520 I thought, it's impossible. 512 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,040 So many people had died for this revolution, 513 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,280 just for the sake of going backwards, 514 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,280 to have yet another fascist. 515 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,520 It's just not possible for a revolution to go this way. 516 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,040 But also, I can't understand how people can kill, can execute, 517 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,520 can torture another human being just because of his thoughts. 518 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,040 It's something I'm never able to understand. 519 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,040 I don't even want to understand. 520 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,760 It's so bloody vile, it's so terrible. 521 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,040 This is Pere Lachaise in the heart of Paris, and not Tehran. 522 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,280 This is a very important and famous cemetery 523 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,280 where many exiles are buried, including Iranians. 524 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:55,040 Iranians who fled from the terror of Khomeini, 525 00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:58,520 mostly from 1981 onwards. 526 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,720 Of course, this is the graveside 527 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,000 of Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi, 528 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,440 a very prominent Iranian writer 529 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,160 and political thinker. 530 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,560 But at the same time, the Iranian resistance had come 531 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:22,200 abroad, and Paris had become the centre of the Iranian opposition. 532 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,720 One of the most important reasons for which I came to Paris 533 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,800 was to do something about Khomeini, 534 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,000 together with the rest of the opposition, 535 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,480 which had gathered here. 536 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:36,240 The first mass revolution brought with it the first terror to Paris 537 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,240 in 1793. Thousands of suspected enemies of the revolution were taken 538 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,400 to prisons such as the Conciergerie. 539 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,040 From there, they were driven daily through the streets of Paris 540 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,200 to the guillotine. Faced with invading armies and with plots 541 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,080 to overthrow the government, a small minority of revolutionaries, 542 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:55,680 led by Robespierre, turned to terror as a method of preserving their idea 543 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,560 of the revolution. 544 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:03,760 TRANSLATION: It was the same thing that Stalin did 545 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:05,360 during the Russian Revolution. 546 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:07,760 Up to the point where he did not feel himself threatened, 547 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,560 Stalin accepted the ways of the Bolshevik Party. 548 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,680 But from the moment he realised that movements within the party 549 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,280 were leading to his own elimination, he turned to terror. 550 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,200 In the Iranian Revolution it was the same. 551 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,760 A small minority took advantage of the danger created by the war, 552 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:33,280 and the onrush of the revolution, to seize the reins of power. 553 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:37,320 And then it used terror as a means of governing. 554 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,280 But Robespierre's problem, as it would be for many other 555 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:53,200 revolutionaries in the future, was how to justify the use of terror, 556 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,280 yet still persuade the people that the aims of the revolution 557 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,080 had not been destroyed. 558 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,720 At the height of the executions, Robespierre made a speech 559 00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:06,160 in which he tackled this problem head on. 560 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:10,280 Terror, he admitted, was the main force behind despotic government, 561 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,880 the very sort of government that the revolution had fought to destroy. 562 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:18,040 But for a revolutionary government, terror was something very different 563 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,720 because it meant the destruction of those whose moral corruption 564 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:25,680 barred the way to a new society of virtue. 565 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,280 "Terror has now become," he said, 566 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,720 "the despotism of liberty against tyranny." 567 00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:41,240 Another of the Jacobins, Saint-Just, put it more simply - 568 00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:44,480 "We must force the people to be free." 569 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,360 And this is the other legacy of the French Revolution 570 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,840 that has echoed down through many other revolutions 571 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,720 of the past 200 years. That there comes a time 572 00:36:03,720 --> 00:36:07,960 when to preserve the purity of your revolution and your power, 573 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,720 it is necessary and justified to kill, 574 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:16,560 in order to regenerate a society that is not fully aware 575 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,640 of what is good for it. 576 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:29,040 CHORAL MUSIC PLAYS 577 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:38,120 I think most of them were doing it because they thought, 578 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,840 here are infidels, here are our enemies of God, 579 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:46,000 here are those who are rising against the government of Allah, 580 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,720 you know, and his representative on Earth. 581 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:53,200 I think that for many, it became so easy to do it, 582 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,320 so easy to do it, because, as many other revolutions 583 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:00,360 in the past had done it for the sake of history, right, 584 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,560 history, you know, history will justify it. 585 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,560 I mean, history demands you to kill. 586 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,400 I think these people thought that they were doing it for the sake 587 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,720 of God, that they were doing it following God's commandment. 588 00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:15,560 Can you compare it to something like the terror in the French Revolution? 589 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,760 To the extent that it was done 590 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,600 self-righteously, to the extent that it was done 591 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,080 for high motives, for ideals. 592 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,160 You know, I mean, to that extent it wasn't done 593 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,000 for petty advancement by many, I think. 594 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:33,960 To that extent, they're compatible. 595 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,600 I mean, they're comparable to terror in any other revolution, 596 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:40,920 where it's done for pure... for selfless motives, if you like, 597 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,360 you know. But I think intertwined with that... 598 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,600 And how can we separate it? ..is power, is the lust for power, 599 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:51,480 is the losing of power. I think that was very much there, too. 600 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:55,560 I mean, remember this. Here where - I mean, Iran in this sense, 601 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,360 in some ways maybe, also like the French Revolution, 602 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,160 but certainly more than the Russian and the Chinese and many others, 603 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,160 here was a real revolution in the sense that many people 604 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,280 from the lowest stratas of society 605 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:11,040 were, you know, were brought to where they felt 606 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,680 now they were on top. Now they were on top 607 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,560 and now, I think there was also an element of revenge. 608 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,960 Don't forget that it was... I mean, that element of revenge, 609 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,040 I think, was very important, was central, was there. 610 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:25,200 I mean, remember that the Shah, 611 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:29,320 I mean, just on every level, these people felt degraded 612 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:33,680 from Khomeini and Beheshti down, as mullahs, 613 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:38,040 as they were representative of an old, dying culture in Iran, 614 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:39,640 they felt degraded. 615 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,360 They had this vengeance and they wanted to let it out. 616 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,920 And I think that shooting - see, who were they shooting? 617 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:46,360 Who were they killing? 618 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,760 They were killing the cream of the Iranian society. 619 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:52,760 Remember that. They were killing the brightest university students, 620 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:54,520 who usually would become political. 621 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,240 They were killing the brightest high school students. 622 00:38:57,240 --> 00:38:59,680 They were killing these modern political women, 623 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:02,120 just, you know, what they hated. 624 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:03,960 And I mean, they were killing... 625 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:06,880 They were killing professionals, physicians, lawyers. 626 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:12,040 They were killing the kind of society that had been developing 627 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:15,760 in Iran for the past, you know, 100 years. 628 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,800 Today in Tehran, thousands and thousands of people on the march 629 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,480 in a procession which is both religious and political. 630 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,440 These are the poor of South Tehran, and the fuel and basis 631 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:31,960 of Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution. 632 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,560 As long as they support the Ayatollah, 633 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,720 it doesn't matter if covenants are decimated by death, 634 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:39,800 exile or disgrace. 635 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:48,040 CHORAL MUSIC PLAYS 636 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,720 Ayatollah Khomeini had now established his idea 637 00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:48,360 of a revolutionary Islamic society in Iran. 638 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:53,000 But in the process he had used terror to create that new order. 639 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,280 Like the French Revolution, 640 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,400 it also became a regime committed to exporting its ideas, 641 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:02,080 ferociously criticising those in the West who would criticise it. 642 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,240 Britain and America had used violence for over 50 years 643 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:07,520 to dominate Iran as part of their empires. 644 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,440 Yet now, like hypocrites, 645 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,520 they pretended a concern for human rights. 646 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:16,880 TRANSLATION: To serve Islam is to serve mankind. 647 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:21,480 Mankind is today enslaved in the hands of those 648 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:23,640 who supervise them in tyranny. 649 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:31,200 All nations are caught in the talons of these powers 650 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,960 who consider themselves pious and competent. 651 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:35,480 TRANSLATION: There are those who claim to be followers 652 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:40,160 of Jesus Christ who said if one slapped your face, 653 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:44,800 you should turn it, so that he would slap it on the other side. 654 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:48,440 Jesus Christ would not make such an error. 655 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:55,440 Do you think that we in the Western press and the Western media can sit 656 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:59,120 and make simple judgments of right and wrong 657 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,480 about issues such as human rights, 658 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:07,680 in a process as complicated as the Iranian Revolution has been? 659 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,520 TRANSLATION: I do not believe that any people or individual 660 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:16,600 has the right to judge a whole nation 661 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:18,840 with simplistic and short judgments. 662 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,240 But for the French Revolution, 663 00:43:32,240 --> 00:43:34,840 this period of terror was relatively short. 664 00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,240 For the Iranian Revolution, sadly, 665 00:43:37,240 --> 00:43:40,160 it is clear that the terror is not finished. 666 00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:47,920 Why is it endless? 667 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,640 One of the most important reasons is that Khomeini's idea 668 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:54,440 of the society he wants to create in Iran is not clear. 669 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:09,760 On the one hand, there is a vision of a utopia 670 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:13,880 that goes back to the society of 14 centuries ago, 671 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:15,960 but that is an anachronism. 672 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:19,240 Iranian society is actually a complex society 673 00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:21,040 of the late 20th century. 674 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,600 This means that Khomeini's Islamic rules and ideas, that have remained 675 00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:28,280 static for centuries, must be exploded and reshaped 676 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:30,440 to fit today's society. 677 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:46,560 Or Iran, on the other hand, will have to regress to fit 678 00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:50,480 the image of a tribal society of 14 centuries ago. 679 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,160 This is not possible, and it is this tension 680 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,840 that is the root of the violence. 681 00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,360 In the French Revolution, the safety afforded by victory in war 682 00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:04,000 began the end of the terror. 683 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,520 For Iran, the war went on and on, its cemeteries becoming elaborate 684 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,960 memorials to a crusade that seemed without end. 685 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,600 By the spring of 1988, Iran prepared to accept the United Nations 686 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,440 ceasefire, and at that point, the Mujahideen invaded 687 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:19,000 from their bases in Iraq. 688 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,960 To the regime and many ordinary Iranians weary of 689 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:25,400 eight years of fighting, this attack was pointless treachery, 690 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,440 an alliance between the opposition and the enemy. 691 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:30,080 The invasion was repulsed, 692 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,880 but in the climate of insecurity created by the failure to win 693 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:36,160 the war, it gave another twist to the machinery of terror. 694 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,760 Thousands of political prisoners from all opposition groups, 695 00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,200 some who had been in jail for over six years, were asked to repent. 696 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,080 If they refused, they were executed. 697 00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:49,040 We all were part of the revolution, 698 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:52,040 our families also were part of it too. 699 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:56,320 But a large number of them have been executed recently. 700 00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:00,360 Reza says that his brother was executed. 701 00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:06,760 Following his execution, Reza's brother-in-law 702 00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:11,560 was executed, his cousin was executed 703 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:16,480 and also his... another cousin, who was the 13th member 704 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:20,080 of his family who were executed. 705 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:27,560 When his family went to know about the body of the prisoners, 706 00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:31,560 they told her that they haven't been buried as such. 707 00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:36,560 They are all being put in a cemetery far away, somewhere in Tehran. 708 00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:40,960 So it was up to the families themselves to find the bodies 709 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:42,960 of their beloved. 710 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:47,200 I know that I am not alone. 711 00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:49,640 I know that there have been many thousands of executions 712 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,400 in the prisons in the last year. 713 00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,720 What is important for me is to know why these people 714 00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:57,520 have lost their lives. 715 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:00,640 I remember my husband and I used to talk together. 716 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:03,280 Neither of us could understand how a revolution 717 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:04,960 could become like this. 718 00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:09,040 But I also know that without revolutions in the past, 719 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,040 the world would not have changed. 720 00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:15,360 And for me, the struggle continues against another dictator. 721 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:20,640 I regret having lost a man who had been my best friend. 722 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:22,480 I loved him and still do, 723 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,280 but I do not regret what has happened 724 00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,560 because I know that this revolution is not finished yet. 725 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,560 It is important to note that my husband did not die 726 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:35,280 for a personal end. 727 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:39,920 He resisted torture and finally died for something he loved, 728 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:43,640 and once one is in love, one is capable of anything. 729 00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:06,920 TRANSLATION: This is the place where I came ten years ago 730 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:10,160 because I was waiting so impatiently for the Iranian Revolution. 731 00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:13,480 This is where, hour after hour, we listened to the radio 732 00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:16,160 for the news of what was happening. 733 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:17,960 Ten years have gone by, 734 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:21,280 thousands of people have become victims of the revolution, 735 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:22,680 and it goes on. 736 00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:25,960 I have lost two close members of my family in the executions 737 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:28,200 and many other close friends. 738 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:32,160 For me, this is no longer what the revolution was about. 739 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:36,320 For me, the revolution is what I saw when I first went back to Iran. 740 00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:39,440 It is what I had read about in history. 741 00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:42,920 But we also know that a revolution always goes forward, 742 00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:44,640 never back.