1. Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was an Iranian politician who served as a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini during his 1978 exile in France and was foreign minister during the Iran hostage crisis following the Iranian Revolution.
21 Facts About Sadegh Ghotbzadeh
1. 2.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh left Iran in 1959 after being detained twice due to his opposition activities to the Shah's regime; he lived in Europe, the US and Canada.
3.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh attended Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service from 1959 to 1963.
4.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh contributed to the Freedom Movement from the US.
5.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was part of the more radical wing of the movement together with Ebrahim Yazdi, Mostafa Chamran and Ali Shariati.
6.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh left the US when his passport was revoked and moved to Algeria, Egypt, Syria and finally to Iraq, where he met Ayatollah Khomenei in 1963.
7.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh developed a close relation with Musa Al Sadr, an Iranian-Lebanese Shia cleric.
8.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh became a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini when the latter was in exile in France.
9.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh along with Mostafa Chamran was part of the faction, called "Syrian mafia", in the court of Khomeini, and there was a feud between his group and the Libya-friendly group, led by Mohammad Montazeri.
10.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was an Amal sympathizer and close to Lebanese Shii cleric Musa Al Sadr.
11.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh accompanied Khomeini on his Air France flight back to Iran on 1 February 1979.
12.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was appointed managing director of National Iranian Radio and Television on 11 February 1979.
13.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh tried to overhaul it to be in line with Islamic teachings, purging royalists, women, and leftists.
14.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was appointed foreign minister in late November 1979 after Abolhassan Banisadr resigned as acting foreign minister amid heated disputes on the fate of the American hostages.
15.
In early 1980 Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was involved in early Iran hostage crisis negotiations in Paris with Carter aide Hamilton Jordan, which led to "a complex multi-stepped plan" which was torpedoed by Khomeini announcing the hostages' fate would be decided by the new Iranian parliament.
16.
In January 1980, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh ran for the presidency, but lost the election.
17.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was first arrested on 7 November 1980 on charges of planning to kill Ayatollah Khomeini and criticising the Islamic Republic Party.
18.
The twenty-six day trial of Sadegh Ghotbzadeh began in August 1982.
19.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh's forced confessions, which were aired, are said to have come only after severe torture on the part of the police.
20.
Late on 15 September 1982, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was shot by a firing squad in Evin Prison.
21.
Abolhassan Banisadr, who had been in exile in Paris, stated that Sadegh Ghotbzadeh's execution was "settling of accounts".