A Lenient Sentence | Jamestown Post-Journal, Dec. 23, 1953

Foregone Conclusions
Dec. 23, 1953 — The Jamestown Post-Journal

The Mossadegh Project | December 19, 2015

An editorial on the military court verdict for the deposed Iranian Prime Minister in The Jamestown Post-Journal in New York.

A Lenient Sentence

That Iran’s former Premier Mohammed Mossadegh was guilty of treason on several counts was so thoroughly documented by his conduct in the last two years that the verdict of guilty was a foregone conclusion. His machinations against Shah Reza Pahlevi [Mohammad Reza Pahlavi] forced that monarch to leave Iran temporarily to escape probable arrest. Mossadegh dissolved the lower house of Parliament illegally and his manner of holding an election for a new Parliament compelled opponents to vote publicly and thus expose themselves to retaliation.

These offendings were only part of his treasonable conduct. In addition, he brought his government to the verge of bankruptcy by preventing any solution of the situation caused by the nationalizing of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. That he came off with a sentence of only three years in prison was due to intercession by the young Shah whom he tried to dethrone. [He only wanted the Shah to reign constitutionally] Yet, defiant to the end, the lachrymose old statesman declared that he rejected any appeal for leniency and had done nothing to call for forgiveness.

There have been no recent reports regarding the conflict between the Iranian and British governments over the virtual confiscation of the AIOC [Anglo-Iranian Oil Company] but the British have a long experience with Iranian (Persian) affairs and psychology, and although the present Premier [Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi] does not love the British, who kidnaped him during the last war and kept him incommunicado until it was ended, he has the reputation of an able and objective man. There is thus ground for expecting that a just agreement will be reached—if for no other reason, then because of the condition of Iran’s treasury, whose biggest income was from oil.

Related links:

Mossadegh Treated Well — The San Bernardino County Sun, December 24, 1953

Brief Dictatorship — The Jamestown Post-Journal, August 21, 1953

Light Punishment — The Brooklyn Eagle, December 24, 1953

MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”