SAVAK Essays

In the years between 1800 BCE to 1750 BCE Hammurabi ruled Mesopotamia from the city of Babylon. Hammurabi is most known for his code. The code of Hammurabi was established to maintain order and justice through Mesopotamia. Order and Justice inevitably constructed and established the city states of Mesopotamia to thrive. This code put the people of the social hierarchy in their place to fulfill their duties. As stated by Hammurabi himself “they… named me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, the worshiper

SelfMadeHero’s The Tempest: A Purely Romantic Play William Shakespeare has been one of the most adapted authors around the world, through many various types of media: print media, visual media or even interactive media. In the last decades of the twentieth century, diverse adaptations are made to The Tempest, widely known as the latest play of the English playwright. This research paper examines the September 2007 edition of this play from the series entitled Manga Shakespeare, by the British graphic

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an international revolutionary figure, once said, “Passion is needed for any great work, and for the revolution, passion and audacity are required in big doses”. Deaddiction and bravery is required to take action for your believes and drastic actions may be taken. Persepolis is an illustrated autobiography childhood novel of Marjane Satrapi, in which the author tells her story of growing up during the Iranian Revolution that started in the late 1970’s and the challenges she

Women all over the world are kept cages, on display, preventing them from being what they are supposed to be. That’s is what Nazar Afasi demonstrated in her book, Reading Lolita in Tehran. This book is about the struggles women during the new regime in Tehran. After the revolution women were very restricted. Women had to wear a hijab in front of any men and most of the women no longer wear it for religion but as a symbol of the oppressive regime. They couldn’t really talk to the opposite gender nor

Iran is a majority Shi’a Islam country in Southwest Asia. Iran was called Persia until 1935 when the name was changed and its capital and largest city is Tehran. During the beginning part of the twentieth century, it was ruled by the Pahlavi family; the last ruler of this family was Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah aligned his oil-rich country with Western nations, especially the U.S. and Great Britain. Inspired by Atatürk’s work in Turkey, he launched a series of modernizing reforms termed

J butler, head of the executive committee of the International Commission of Jurists, showed that torture was used systematically in SAVAK’s prisons. In his study William included a testimony by Reza Baraheni, an Iranian poet who was imprisoned by SAVAK in 1973, without being formally charged. Baraheni spoke of “being beaten, whipped and exposed to the sounds of screaming prisoners”. Speaking about his observations of the other prisoners he said: “prisoners were lashed to the top of an iron, double-deck

Although George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an accurate allegory of the Russian Revolution, it also well applies as an allegory to the Islamic Republic of Iran 's recent Revolution in 1979. (Iran Chamber) The previous leader of Iran during the Iranian Revolution was Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and the events building up to his overthrow are most important when discussing the interrelatedness of Iran being a modern day Animal Farm. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi is most similar to Napoleon the pig, by both

Argo, the movie directed by Ben Affleck, the recipient of the best picture award at the Oscars, proved to grasp the attention of many. Based on the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979-1981, Argo has both accuracies and inaccuracies misleading people with an improper re enactment of this meaningful event. The movie was most accurate in trying to recreate the Canadian Caper mission but most inaccurate with the escape of the 6 hostages from Tehran, Iran. Also due to Hollywood’s intervention in creating this

War can turn horrific events into people's everyday lives, after time they can no longer remember a life without death and destruction. Persepolis is a book about the Iranian Revolution and how war shapes the lives of the people in them, especially children who grow up in it. Marji Satrapi is a young girl whose life is shaped by war. She is in her formative years when the war begins and her whole life is changed, they are forced to wear veils and change the way they live. The war shapes the lives

released Operation Ajax on the Iranian government. In result, General Mohammad-Reza seized power as a Shah and acted as an absolute monarch. The Shah was a fascist puppet of the U.S. government and used a secret police organization called SAVAK to force allegiance. The SAVAK censored media, forced intrusive surveillance, tortured and murdered opponents. In 1979, religious fundamentalists dethroned the Shah and took 66 American hostages from the U.S. embassy. The group would return the hostages in exchange

Iran Revolution 1979 Since the fall of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Raza Pehlevi, following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 things have never been the same for The Islamic Republic of Iran. In the following research paper we will delve as to what led to the citizens of Iran to revolt against the shah, its effects on the country, its success or failure and finally comparing it with past and future revolutions. Iran had come under the rule of the Shah after his father abdicated the throne. Iran was ruled

Most countries have at least a slight respect for their leader, but that isn't always the case. It is very rare for middle eastern countries to disrespect a ruler, let alone speak out on their opinion. In the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the Satrapi family were adversaries of the Shah. They joined a plethora of other Iranian citizens in speaking out against the Shah. All of the Iranian adversaries banded together to bring down the rule of Reza Shah. The strength of all of the revolutionaries

Film Review of Coup 53 Documentary The documentary Coup 53, was created by Iranian director Taghi Amirani, and he created this documentary to discover the truth about the coup that happened in Iran in 1953. The CIA and MI6 were involved in the coup to overthrow Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, who was at the time the prime minister of Iran. The U.S. had come out and said they were involved in the coup but the U.K. did no such thing, but Amirani wanted to unravel the truth about who had created the plan for

Ali Shariati is a Shi’a Muslim living in Iran. Iran is an Islamic country to which majority is Shi’ite. Shariati is a revolutionary thinker, philosopher activist and one of the brilliant modern interpreters of Islam. He was described by Muhammad Tariq as, “a reactionary fanatic who rejects anything new without knowledge nor he was an intellectual imitating the western perspectives without his independent judgement (Tariq, n.d.)”. He studied Islam and presented an Islamic critiques in response to

US-Iranian relations during 1963-89 were a crucial part of regional developments as a result of Iran’s geopolitical importance in the Middle East as a resource-rich regional power. After the re-establishment of the autocratic Pahlavi monarchy in 1953, the Shah relied on US and domestic support for the maintenance of his regime. Subsequently, in the 1960s and 70s, U.S. support faltered, and the economy and the reforms of the White Revolution failed due to corruption and inept government policy. As

Revolutions are often messy affairs. Typically the deposition of a government is one something that is carried out without fierce opposition from those in power. Throughout the 20th century the world had seen a steady reduction in the number of monarchies in power. After WW2 the united states and the soviet union both somewhat agreed that monarchs were not the best systems of government. The united States in particular advocated for the spread of democratically elected leaders. This however contracted

Revolution in 1979. Iran was a country that was ruled with a majority Sunni population and government. Despite economical growth, there was much opposition against the Mohammad Reza Shah, leader of Iran, and how he used the clandestine police, the Savak, to control the country. The strong Shi'a opposition against Shah resulted in the country becoming a very volatile place to live and eventually it all piled up into a civil war (History of Iran: Islamic Revolution of 1979). The opposition was lead