Iran: Vindication for Ebtehaj

Iran's government was plainly playing politics when it arrested peppery Abol Hassan Ebtehaj in 1961 and charged him vaguely with extravagance and misuse of government funds. For years, he had been the highly successful head of the Plan Organization, under which most of Iran's biggest economic development projects had been accomplished. He had also been a prosperous banker known widely for his scrupulous business methods.

The only thing Ebtehaj lacked, in fact, was control over his angry tongue.

He had bitter, controversial views on almost everything; irascibly, he lashed out in speeches at corruption in the government, dared even to criticize the...

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