16th of Azar: In Memory of an Iranian Prince
Remembering Prince Shahryar Shafigh on the 26th anniversary of his assassination by the Shiite Taliban.Around one o’clock in the afternoon, on December 7th 1979 (16th of Azar), Shahryar Shafigh, an officer of the Imperial Iranian Navy, was shot twice and murdered while leaving his mother (Princess Ashraf Pahlavi)’s Paris flat. The two bullets that hit his neck and head were discharged from a 9 mm handgun fired by a hit man riding a motorcycle, who fled the scene after committing the murder.
An anonymous caller soon took responsibility for the assassination, declaring that Prince Shahryar had been killed as “an enemy of the faith” and for aiding “international Zionism,” ending the phone call with a “Long Live Khomeini!” Meanwhile in Tehran, in a public bulletin, Mullah Sadegh Khalkhali announced that the members of Fedayeen of Islam had been responsible for the act, adding: “If we can’t arrest members of the Pahlavi family, we will murder them all.”
Shahryar Shafigh was the first Iranian assassinated by the agents of the Islamic Republic outside Iranian soil. He had remained in Iran until the Iranian government was overthrown, leaving the country with the help of his compatriots in the navy only to avoid imminent capture. After leaving Iran he began widespread activities to overthrow the Islamist Republic, wishing to take advantage of his popularity among naval forces to prepare the grounds for the overthrow of the anti-Iranian puppet regime. It was for this reason that he was marked for elimination.
The royal title of Shahryar Shafigh was “Vala-Gohar”. He was the son of Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of Mohamad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Having the most altruistic characteristics, he was a very popular figure, especially in the Imperial Iranian Navy. According to those who knew him, all his life Shahryar Shafigh never refrained from aiding the poor or from providing for the needy, considering these acts as his life duties. When informed of the financial difficulties of honorable people through his confidants, he would distribute among them a large portion of the money he earned as an officer. Although he was the child of one of the most powerful women in Iran, he was neither arrogant nor haughty, but lived happily among his people.
Shahryar Shafigh was Captain and Commander of the Imperial Iranian Navy’s Hovercraft fleet. Although his name is carefully avoided, in fact never mentioned, by the “Persian Gulf is Persian Gulf” campaigners, he was in fact the commander of the special forces that liberated the Persian Gulf islands of the two Tonbs and abu-Musa.
Tributes:
HIH Ashraf Pahlavi----------
For another perspective on 16 of Azar, go to RaheTudeh/Peiknet to read the following article:
١٦ آذر: پيامی تاريخی، كه نبايد اجازه تحريف آن را داد They neglect to mention it---because to them, and "republicans" like them, History remains number one enemy--- but the perspective is, interestingly enough, that of those who once chose the above mentioned Mullah Khalkhali as their presidential candidate!
