Khomeini's onetime protégé Ghotbzadeh is executed
It is perhaps the most enduring ritual in revolutionary Iran: the late-night summons, the slow walk along bleak prison corridors, and finally the waiting firing squad. Last week the executioners' guns took aim, on the specific orders of the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, at one of the founding figures of the Islamic revolution that swept away Shah Reza Pahlavi in February 1979: Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, 46, the man who sprang to international prominence as Iran's Foreign Minister during the U.S. hostage crisis. Ghotbzadeh was shot after a 26-day trial in which he was accused by the Islamic military prosecutor of plotting to overthrow the Islamic government and assassinate Khomeini.
Like so many other vengeful spasms in Iran, Ghotbzadeh's execution was a sign of the profound insecurity that reigns within the Khomeini regime. Islamic Guards are reportedly killing at least 30 people a night now; according to Khomeini's opponents, some 20,000 people have died at the regime's hands since July 1981. As Ghotbzadeh joins a long list of onetime Khomeini confidants who have been either killed or disgraced, the ailing Ayatullah, 82, appears more determined than ever to control Iran.
Ghotbzadeh strenuously denied the charge of plotting to kill Khomeini, but throughout his trial he made no attempt to hide his disillusionment with the murderous regime that he had helped launch. An urbane man who was educated in the U.S. and France, Ghotbzadeh had known Khomeini since 1963. He served as the Ayatullah's interpreter and political adviser during Khomeini's exile in Paris. He took on the Foreign Ministry post in November 1979, and stepped down from office following the country's postrevolutionary elections for the Majlis (parliament). In January 1980, he made an unsuccessful bid to be elected President of Iran. Ghotbzadeh remained defiant until the very end. In a message smuggled out of prison before his death, he declared: "I want the record to be clear that I saw the light and tried as best I could to undo the damage I had done in terms of supporting the satanic regime of the mullahs."
So hard pressed for space is the government's repressive apparatus that it has turned the U.S. embassy into a detention center and execution site. Says a Western diplomat who lives close to the former embassy compound: "At night, you are shocked out of sleep by rifle shots and the cries of people being executed." Iranians living in the area also complain of the horrifying sounds. Says a housewife: "We think the Islamic Guards shoot their victims in the embassy in a way that makes them die slowly and painfully. The screams are unbearable."
As Iran's domestic situation becomes more chaotic, so does its international position. The surprise Iranian offensive against Iraq that began on July 13 has been repulsed, creating an unprecedented crisis of morale on the home front. Iranian army officers blame the failure of the military thrust, which was designed to bring down the Baathist regime of Iraqi