Book review

That Side of the Wall

Seizure of US embassy as narrated by Habibollah Bitaraf

Mahya Hafezi
Translated by: M.B. Khoshnevisan

2024-12-9

Habibollah Bitaraf was one of three first ideologues of the seizure of the US embay and a member of the coordination council of the den of the espionage. He who was studying Civil Engineering in Technical Faculty of Tehran University at that time has first-hand memoirs about the event. The book “That Side of the Wall” narrates the incidents before the seizure of the den of espionage till the release of the hostages from his language. The memoirs have been recorded in two stages between the years 1385 (2006) and 1386 (2007) and the other one in 1402 (2023).

The book has been compiled by Mohammad Mahboobi. His intelligence expertise has enriched the story of the den of espionage, which he published shortly after the book "Roosevelt Street Station". The book has a fluent prose and the narration is done in an acceptable way. As mentioned in the preface, press sources, university admission lists, official appointment reports published in news agencies, as well as excerpts from interviews conducted in the Islamic Revolution Literature Office of the Art Center with Muslim students following the Imam's line, have been used in order to obtain more documented and accurate biographies of the characters mentioned in the book.

The presentation of documents is also done in many cases in a precise and acceptable manner, which raises the reader's expectations from the book. However, a few of the narrator's words are included in the book without providing documents; such as the arrest of an American officer with 7 suitcases of Iranian Air Force documents in Mehr 1358 (September 1979) by the Mehrabad Airport Committee.

The book’s front cover design is a picture of 13^th of Aban 1358 (November 4, 1979), and the early hours of the seizure. The photo also covers the back. The book begins with two pages of the narrator's handwriting, which helped to enhance the work. After the table of contents and the preface, the book is divided into nine chapters.

In the first chapter, the narrator briefly introduces his family and childhood and describes how he entered the technical faculty. From the very beginning of his entry into the university, he joined the Muslim students and assumed student responsibilities. The revolutionary Muslim students of the faculty, as religious people, worked against the leftists in an unofficial organization. This organization became official and was named after the victory of the revolution. In this chapter, a brief explanation is also given about the situation of the technical faculty in (1357) 1978 and the time of the victory of the revolution. The second chapter begins in late 1979. At that time, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organizeion, unaware of the formation of a strong group of students who believed in Imam Khomeini's policies, were seeking to steal new members for themselves. The process of establishing the "Muslim Students' Organization of the Technical Faculty" and then the birth of the Islamic Association of Students of Tehran University and finally the establishment of the Union of Islamic Students' Associations is narrated in this chapter. It has also been explained that the title “Office for Strengthening Unity” was taken from a seminar held at the Polytechnic University with the same name in late Shahrivar of 1358 (September 1979).

In this seminar, the members of the Central Council of the Union of Islamic Associations of University Students were also elected. These seven people were the book’s narrator, Farid Salmanian, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Seyyed Ali Seyyedinejad, and Rahim Bateni. After the seminar, these people, along with a number of other members, went to the Imam and asked him to introduce people as their representatives to defend the Islamic Republic system according to his opinion. Finally, in Mehr 1358, the seven members of the Central Council of Office for Strengthening Unity held meetings with Mr. Khamenei, Hassan Habibi, Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari, Mousavi Khoeini, and Banisadr at the Assembly of Experts. In these meetings, these people explained their views on the “Imam’s line.” In the last meeting, Hajj Ahmad Khomeini also accidentally entered the meeting and explained that in the Imam’s opinion, all our troubles and misfortunes and those of the Third World are due to America. His interpretation was that the interim government remained behind the American wall and the Revolutionary Council did not take a stand against it, but the Imam had crossed the American wall for years. The narrator explains that raising such a topic had a great impact on the members’ views.

The third chapter describes the formation of the idea of ​​seizing the US embassy. The issue of seizure was first raised in one of the meetings of the Central Council of Office for Strengthening Unity in the last week of Mehr 1358 (October 1979). In this meeting, where two of its members were absent, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh first raised the idea. The narrator and Mohsen Mirdamadi also agreed with it; but the other two members of the council, Ahmadinejad and Seyedinejad, were against this. Finally, the three members who agreed decided to pursue this task independently, without the knowledge or participation of the opposition. These people decided to bring more trusted people with them and form a larger group to divide and carry out the tasks. The students held several meetings for this task and concluded that for various reasons, the best time to seize the US embassy was 13^th of Ababn (November 4). During these planning sessions, the Imam's positive opinion for this task was implicitly obtained through Mr. Mousavi Khoeini. The method of identifying and preparing for the task and gathering the faithful and trusted people were also among the other matters that the narrator has described in detail in this chapter.

In the fourth chapter, titled “The Morning of the 13th,” the narrator describes the events of 13^th of Aban. The briefing session is held at 6:30 a.m. so that the students do not have time to call or do anything else and the issue of the embassy seizure is not revealed. The plan to enter the embassy was set so that the column of students would move from the intersection of Bahar and Taleghani streets to the west. This movement was covered by a march to Tehran University and joining the ceremony commemorating the martyrs of November 4. The march begins at 9 a.m. and around 9:30 a.m., the students entered the embassy courtyard after climbing the wall, arguing with the committee forces stationed at the security kiosk, and cutting the chain on the parking lot door. How the main building and a part of this building that was protected by a large safe door were seized, are other matters that are fully explained in this chapter.

In the fifth chapter, the narrator describes the post-seizure events. Among the things mentioned in this chapter is the establishment of a new organization called the “Coordination Council of the Den of Espionage” and the approval of committees called the Committee for Documents, Information and Propaganda, Public Relations, Services, Operations, and the Hostage Affairs Committee. The introduction of the members of these committees and their duties are described in detail in this chapter. In the meantime, councils such as the "Speaker Council" and the "Arm Council" were also formed about which the narrator has talked. The names of some of the hostages and how they dealt with the Cultural Committee are also given in this chapter.

Chapter 6, entitled “Sixty-Six Americans”, describes how the hostages were held. This chapter describes how CIA officers Tom Ahern, William Doughty, and Malcolm Culp were identified and how they were held and interrogated with the help of the Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office. This chapter also describes how non-American citizens were released and handed over to the embassy of their respective governments, and how a Pakistani cook was hired to prepare food for the hostages. The dispatch of mediation delegations to Tehran, the release of female and black hostages, the medical and health conditions of the hostages, and their entertainment are other matters explained in this chapter. The final part of this chapter is the design of the escape plan by John Lambert and how it was thwarted.

At the beginning of the seventh chapter, the narrator mentions how the liberation movements held a gathering in Dey 1358 (January 1979). How the shredded and powdered documents and microfilms are mended and darned, and the publication of these documents in the form of disclosure notices are other topics in this chapter. The assignment of the task of determining the fate of the hostages to the Majlis (parliament) by Imam Khomeini is mentioned at the end of this chapter.

The book’s eighth chapter deals with the Tabas incident and the subsequent dispersal of the hostages to various cities. Malcolm Culp's failed escape, Jerry Mill's failed suicide, and the car accident while transporting four hostages on the Kashan road are among other cases discussed in this chapter.

The ninth and final chapter of the book, titled “Farewell to Den of Espionage” is dedicated to describing some of the events at the end of the hostage-taking and summing up the narrator's words. The illness of one of the hostages, Richard Quinn, the return of the hostages to Tehran and their dispersion in the capital, the forced reduction of the number of students in den of espionage, the students' meeting with the Imam, the infiltration of the MKO into the den of espionage and the publication of documents related to martyr Beheshti, the release of the hostages through the mediation of the Algerian government, and the termination of the Imam's Line organization are among the issues discussed in this chapter. At the end of this chapter, the narrator declares that he is among those who still believe that the seizure of the den of espionage was not a mistake and that this was the most important and best thing that could have helped preserve and stabilize the revolution at that time.

The section of documents and photos is at the end of the book. Some of the documents like the chart of the establishment of the Muslim Students Following Imam’s Line have been published for the first time. The index has been included at the end of the book.

The first edition of “That Side of the Wall” was published by Sooreh Mehr Publications in the year 1403 (2024) in 232 pages and in 1250 copies.