Memoirs of Rafigh Doust unveiled

“I’m Talking for the Sake of History” is the title of an oral history book based on memories of Mohsen Rafigh Doust about the Sacred Defense and the Islamic Revolution.

IBNA: Addressing the unveiling ceremony of the book at the Art Bureau of the Islamic Development Organization, Hedayatollah Behboudi, director of the Islamic Revolution Literature bureau, stated that the book entails forthright memories of the events which led to the Islamic Revolution.

“A little has been told about such memories,” said Behboudi. “By reading the book, readers come across realities they have never heard of before about the revolution. This can be regarded as the first step for preservation of such memories since the Islamic Revolution.”

The ceremony was held on Sunday, February 3, 2013 at the Art Bureau in the presence of the book’s narrator, prominent Sacred Defense and Islamic Revolution activist Mohsen Rafigh Doust, writer Saeid Allamian, secretary of the Expediency Council, Ali Shamkhani, head of the Center for Strategic Studies of Armed Forces, head of the Islamic Development Organization Mehdi Khamoushi, head of the Art Bureau Mohsen Momeni, member of the central council of the Islamic coalition party Asadollah Badamchian, Davoud Ahmadinejad, Hujatoleslam Mohsen Ghera’ati and a number of other cultural and government figures.

In his address, Rezaei stated that he has been in close contact with the life of the book’s narrator and his memories have a lot in common with Mr. Rafigh Doust even though he had not had the chance to read the book by himself yet.

Later on, Khamoushi stated that the book chronicles Islamic Revolution in a way that they intermingle with Sacred Defense events. “The memories are being told by one of the pillars of the Islamic Revolution and a veteran revolutionary figure without whom the revolution would lose a lot of its impact. Mr. Rafigh Doust is one of those who cannot be imagined in a different context rather than the Islamic Revolution so far as they devoted their lives to the revolution.”

Two things are apparent throughout the book; one is the love and affinity of Rafigh Doust towards Imam Khomeini and the other is Rafigh Doust’s ability to handle various issues. The memories are written in a novel style drawn from the interviews with their narrator.

The events are related in an outspoken, absorbing fashion dragging the readers to the last page of the book, posited Khamoushi elsewhere in his address. The interviews took three years for Allamian to complete.

The work was unveiled at the end of the ceremony. It is prepared by the Islamic Revolution Literature bureau of the Art Bureau and is to be marketed by Soureh Mehr Publishing company.

Mohsen Rafigh Doust is an Iranian official, the Director of the Noor Foundation. He was the chief of Imam Khomeini's security detail in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution, and helped found the Revolutionary Guards.

He is noted for having driven Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Revolution, from the Tehran international airport into Tehran, during Khomeini's triumphant return to Iran from exile, while millions of Iranians crowded the road to welcome Khomeini back. He has told journalists this was the most important day of his life and "crowds were all over the car, touching and hanging on to it."

He served from 1982 to 1989 as Minister of the Revolutionary Guards where he managed to palliate internal dissent and obtained weapons from abroad for the Iran-Iraq War.