Banisadr flees his enemies and sets up a command post in Paris
They were the two most wanted men in Iran, hunted for "high treason" by the vengeful mullahs around Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. When darkness fell on Tehran on July 28, Abolhassan Banisadr, the deposed President, and Massoud Rajavi, his ally and leader of the urban guerrillas known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (People's Crusaders), slipped on stolen military uniforms and sneaked from their hideout into a small army van. They were driven to a military airfield, passing unrecognized through security controls (Banisadr had shaved his familiar mustache), and boarded an Iranian air force Boeing 707.
Waiting at the plane was Colonel Behzad Moezi, one of Iran's most accomplished pilots and a man with a remarkable background. He flew the Shah into exile in January 1979. But after growing sympathetic to the revolution, he returned to Iran and joined the Mujahedin. Suspected by the Ayatullah's entourage, Moezi in effect was grounded until war broke out with Iraq. Reinstated with the help of Banisadr, Moezi had flown more combat missions than any other Iranian pilot.
Eight days earlier, Moezi had filed a routine training flight plan with authorities. Now, with his passengers aboard, Moezi prepared to take off. A crew member who was not part of the plot nearly came across Banisadr, who was in the rear of the aircraft, but two other crewmen who had joined the conspirators seized the man. When a second innocent member of the crew came looking for the first, he too was grabbed. Precisely at 10:30 p.m., the big jet began to trundle slowly down the runway. Only then were the two captives released and told of their special cargo: "It's the President."
Once aloft, Moezi veered from the flight plan he had filed and headed west. The plane was actually over Turkey when it was caught by three Iranian Phantom jets. The fighter pilots radioed threats to shoot down the tanker but did not fire. One likely explanation: the fighter pilots' great respect for Moezi himself. Says Rajavi: "Had it been any other pilot than Moezi, we would have died."
At 4:30 a.m., Moezi landed at a military airfield in Evreux, 55 miles west of Paris. After 43 days in hiding, Banisadr was free. But the entourage had to wait at the airport for four hours until French officials, fearing retaliation against some 100 French citizens still in Iran, extracted a written pledge from Banisadr and Rajavi forswearing any political activity involving their home country.
Flak-jacketed police then escorted the pair to Banisadr's old apartment in Cachan, a middle-class suburb of Paris, where he lived during most of his 16 years of exile from the Shah's regime. "I will stay here until the people [of Iran] find the path to democracy," Banisadr told a throng of reporters outside his home. At week's end he moved temporarily to a friend's home in northern Paris, apparently for security reasons.