Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 42)
2018-05-22
Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 42)
Edited by: Mohsen Kazemi
Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company
2002 (Persian Version)
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian
Formation of Western Corps
In the early days of Islamic rule, not only the army had not been purged of traitors and counter-revolutionary forces, but also some groups came into conflict with the Islamic thought of the revolution. Hence, the risk of danger and erupting of a conspiracy was possible at any moment. Therefore, it was necessary to establish an organization to protect the revolution and its achievements. Thus, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was formed and a lot of meetings were held for its establishment. Martyr Mohammad Montazeri, Javad Mansouri, Abu Sharif [Abbas Agha Zamani], Danesh Monfared, Mohsen Rafiq Doost and Abbas Douzdouzani were among those who participated in these meetings; and of course there were people who were against the creation of such an organization, and in order to show their opposition, they made a series of actions.
Because I was abroad for a while and had been taught appropriate courses of military and passed combat training, and my revolutionary friends recognized this background and my presence alongside the fighters inside and outside the country, I was also called up to some of these military meetings. They were serious meetings with complicated discussions which sometimes lasted until midnight.
A council was held for setting up the corps. Most of its members were those whose names were mentioned above. Finally, after hours of negotiations and meetings, the IRGC was established in May 1979, and a brief statue was written and each of brothers took some responsibility, and Mr. Javad Mansouri[1] was elected as the first commander of IRGC. And after a while, I was commissioned to form the western corps by cooperation of Mr. Lahouti - the representative of Imam in the IRGC -, the late Samawati, and Mr. Mohammadzadeh.
After receiving the administrative order, we foursome moved toward Kermanshah. First Mr. Lahouti provided us a place at the guesthouse of the governor-general’s office, and we began to design and implement the initial plans and preliminaries.
We should select five people for the IRGC’s council in different regions by taking into account the circumstances and political conditions. To do this, we did secret research through various sources such as, the leader of the Friday prayers and Imams of mosques, the authorities of the committees or the people we knew or those who were introduced by the trustworthy friends. Those who were elected should have participated in ideological discussions in the later stage, and after we four as the members of central council of regional corps approved them, they were introduced.
In Päveh, we chose one of friends from Tehran as a commander, and he himself selected his staff. We almost did the same in Ilam. After establishing the IRGC in several cities, we should have decided more deliberately about Hamadan. The IRGC of Hamadan was considered as the headquarters of the West corps. And the corps of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and Ilam provinces were under the control of the West corps. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Madani[2] suggested me: "You yourself take charge of the IRGC of Hamadan for the present, so we see what happens then." Mr. Mansouri, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, also agreed. And I took a heavy responsibility.
After being assigned as the commander of Hamadan corps, different meetings were held, consultations were done, and planning began, and with a lot of consultations, we recruited about seventy people and allocated a responsibility to each of them. These passionate brothers were revolutionary and Muslim people of Hamadan city who had come to help sincerely the revolution with whatever they had.
I recall that one of those who had entered the IRGC in the very first days was martyr Samawati who had carpentry shop in bazaar, but he asked his errand-boys to do all works and he himself was in the corps full time. And he did not receive any salaries from the IRGC until the end.
We recruited some people for operations, research, administrative and personnel affairs, etc. We recruited some less experienced persons who quickly adapted to the situation and specialized in those fields. If anybody faced a problem that could not solve it immediately, they asked help from other brothers without any formalities. There was no matter what was responsibility, position, and degree, only sincerity was important and all things went by believing in God and in a revolutionary spirit. Indeed those days were divine days.
One of the most suitable areas for anti-revolutionary activities was in the western part of the country. Hence, the anti-revolution and ego-lost small groups began their hostility there from the first days of the victory of the revolution. This would increase our responsibility for dealing with damages and possible dangers. All the brothers were trying from morning to night to secure the region, and they paid a price in this way. But they achieved a worthy treasure which was the spirit of sacrifice, martyrdom, friendship and sincerity, and so on. They overcame each problem without any excuses and the slightest expectation in a completely friendly environment with limited facilities. From the west to the east and from the north to the south, in each corner of the city and also in the suburbs and around it, temporary post-stations or bases were built, so that the traffic on the roads, hideaways and bottlenecks to be controlled. Initially, due to the susceptibility and instability of the city, most of the nights I myself often selected those who should watch out the post-stations, and then I dropped in on them. Sometimes I was awake up to the morning Adhan and I personally went to visit the post-station in Hamadan–Tehran to the Hamadan–Kermanshah and ordered necessary instructions. Sometimes I went three times from this side of the city to the other side, and usually I had the opportunity to sleep and rest after the Morning Prayer until 8:00am. At 8 o'clock, I should go to do daily routines.
To be continued…
[1]. Javad Mansouri, son of Mashallah, was born in Kashan in 1945, and finished his primary education at Anoushirvan School in Tehran and completed his secondary education at the Alavi School in Qasr Prison. He was arrested and imprisoned in October 1965 for joining to the Islamic Nations Party. He was released in March 1969. In 1970, he became a member of Central Group of Hezbollah Organization, and in the same year he was accepted by Tehran University and could get his bachelor's degree in economics. In the second half of 1971, as Hezbollah organization integrated into MKO, Mansouri withdrew from it. He was arrested again in June 1972 by SAVAK and tortured heavily and was deported to the prisons of Kermanshah and Mashhad and eventually, he released in December 1978 from Mashhad Prison. Following the victory of the revolution, Mansouri has been in charge of various posts such as, the first commander of IRGC, cultural deputy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran's Ambassador in Pakistan, cultural deputy of Islamic Azad University, etc. and now he is a research adviser of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, research deputy of Research Center for Islamic Culture and Thought, and member of the Supervisory Board of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. He has written different books such as, Independence, Culture and Development, the uprising of June 5, 1962, genesis trend of Islamic Revolution and the education and political training and dozens of research and scientific articles. For more information you can see Memoirs of Javad Mansouri, Tehran, office of Islamic Revolution Literature.
[2]. Martyr Ayatollah Seyyed Asadollah Madani was born in 1914 in Azarshahr, Azerbaijan, in a cleric family, and he lost his mother when he was four, and lost his father in sixteen. He spent the preliminary levels of the Islamic courses in the seminary of Qom, and for four years he was under the guidance of Imam Khomeini and learned some courses in philosophy, mysticism and ethics. He traveled to Najaf to complete his higher education, and got Ijtihad from great ayatollahs such as, Ayatollah Hakim in Najaf and Ayatollah Hojjat Kouhkamri in Qom and Ayatollah Khonsari. Ayatollah Madani was also in contact with Ayatollah Kashani. In response to the events of June 1993, he closed his classes in Najaf and began lecturing in opposed to the Shah regime. And he played a significant role in releasing of the Ayatollah Hakim’s telegram about this uprising. Ayatollah Madani began his propaganda from the village of Dareh Moradbeik, Hamadan. During his stay in Najaf, he visited Iran regularly as a missionary. And in 1949, he returned to Iran with the idea of fighting and with knowledge of science and mysticism. In 1971, by invitation of the clerics and scholars he went to Khorramabad to teach religious sciences, and became the supervisor of Kamalvand seminary by Imam’s decree. He was arrested by SAVAK in 1975, due to the intensity of his activities against the Shah's regime, and then he was sent into exile to Mamassani, Gonbad Kavoos, Kangan and Mahabad provinces until the victory of the revolution. Following the victory of the Revolution, Ayatollah Madani went to Hamadan with the invitation of Hamadan people and he was elected as the representative of the Assembly of Experts. After the martyrdom of Ayatollah Qazi Tabatabai, he was elected as the representative of jurisprudent and also the leader of Friday prayer in Tabriz. Finally, he was martyred by the hypocrites on September 11th 1981 at the altar of Friday prayer of Tabriz.
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