November 11, 1954

Ex-Foreign Chief of Iran Executed

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

EHERAN, Iran, Nov. 10 -- Dr. Hossein Fatemi, Foreign Minister under former Premier Mohammed Mossadegh, was shot at 6 A. M. today by an army firing squad. He had been convicted by a court-martial of rebellion against the monarchy in the days immediately before Dr. Mossadegh was overthrown by the Royalists.

The execution was carried out in secret, like the recent execution of twenty-one persons convicted of having participated in a Communist revolutionary conspiracy in the armed forces.

The 38-year-old Dr. Fatemi was convicted Oct. 10 after a secret trial. An appeal before a military panel, also secret, upheld the condemnation. The army announced Saturday that Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi had turned down Dr. Fatemi's last hope, a petition to take his appeal to the Court of Cassation, Iran's Supreme Court.

The acts of rebellion charged against Dr. Fatemi began on the night of Aug. 15 last year when he was arrested by palace guards as he tried to deliver the Shah's dismissal to Dr. Mossadegh. Dr. Mossadegh arrested the guards, charging an attempted coup. The Shah immediately flew to Rome by way of Baghdad from a Caspian resort where he had awaited the outcome of his order dismissing Dr. Mossadegh.

Dr. Fatemi, released within a few hours, launched a series of violent verbal attacks against the royal court in speeches and editorially in his newspaper. He led a huge demonstration in Parliament Square that resolved by acclamation to establish a regency.

Dr. Fatemi went into hiding when Dr. Mossadegh was overthrown Aug. 19, but he was arrested March 13.

The army prosecutor said Dr. Fatemi had written his will shortly before his execution. In it he sent greetings to his wife and family and his brother, Seifpour Fatemi, who is an instructor in the Persian Department at Princeton University.