Asadollah Lajevardi
| Asadollah Lajevardi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1935 Tehran |
| Died | 23 August 1998 (aged 62–63) Tehran Bazaar |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Occupation | Warden |
| Political party | Islamic Coalition Party |
Sayyed Assadollah Ladjevardi (Persian: اسدالله لاجوردی; 1935 – 23 August 1998) was an Iranian conservative politician, prosecutor and warden. He was assassinated by MeK on 23 August 1998.
Lajevardi was born in Tehran on 1935. He studied theological sciences before working as a bazaar draper.
Lajevardi was a follower of Ayatollah Kashani and Fadayian Islam. He was arrested and convicted on three occasions for militant activities. In 1964, he served 18 months for taking part in the assassination of the late Iranian prime minister Mansour. Later in 1970, he served three years in Evin prison for attempting to blow up the offices of El Al (the Israeli airline) in Tehran. Finally, he was once again arrested and convicted of 18 years in prison, for being a member of the militant group People's Mujahedin of Iran. He was among those who visited Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris when the latter was in exile.
In 1979, with the onset of the Iranian Revolution, Lajevardi was appointed the chief prosecutor of Tehran. Lajevardi was given the added post of warden in June 1981 after the first post-revolutionary warden of Evin, Mohammad Kachouyi, was assassinated. According to Ervand Abrahamian, Lajevardi "liked to be addressed as Hajj Aqa, and boasted he was so proud of Evin that he had brought his family to live there." He was temporarily removed from his post in 1984, but continued to live at Evin with his family to avoid assassination.
Ladjevardi maintained that the Islamic Republic had converted prisons into 'rehabilitation centers' and 'ideological schools', where inmates studied Islam, learned the errors of their ways, and did penance before returning to society. As the chief warden at Evin, the main political prison in Tehran, Ladjevardi "boasted that more than 95 percent of his 'guests' eventually oblige him with his sought-after videotaped 'interview'"—i.e., a confession of their political errors and praise of the Islamic Republic and the prison staff.
However to his critics he was known as "the butcher of Evin Prison". He was said to have been personally responsible for the torture and execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners who opposed the ruling theocratic government of Iran. Prisoner interview/confessions were reportedly induced by systematic torture, and the number of executions under his supervision is estimated to be roughly around 2500 according to one account. In her memoir, Iran Awakening, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi states that an estimated 4000-5000 members and supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MKO) were executed during a three-month period in 1988 immediately following the failed "Mersad" rebellion, which was launched upon the end of the Iran–Iraq War by MKO fighters based in Iraq.
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