Habib (Habibollah) Elghanian ( fa, حبیب (حبیبالله) القانیان, 5 April 1912 – 9 May 1979) was a prominent
Iranian Jewish
Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...
businessman and philanthropist who served as the president of the Tehran Jewish Society and acted as the symbolic head of the Iranian Jewish community in the 1970s.
He was arrested and sentenced to death by an
Islamic revolutionary tribunal shortly after the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
for charges including corruption, contacts with
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
, and "friendship with the enemies of God", and was executed by firing squad.
[ He was the first Jew and businessman to be executed by the Council of the Islamic Revolution.
]
Early life and education
Elghanian was born in 1912 in Persia and had six brothers, Aghadjan, Davoud, Nourollah (father of Henry Elghanayan
Henry Elghanayan (born August 2, 1940) is an Iranian-born American real estate developer who co-founded and is the current chairman the Rockrose Development Corporation.[Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...]
which later became the largest and most technologically advanced plastics manufacturer in Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. He played a significant role in bringing Western technology to Iran in the 1960s and 1970s. A self-made multi-millionaire, Elghanian was known for his entrepreneurial accomplishments in Iran and Israel. In addition, he served as the leader of the Tehran Jewish Society in the 1960s and 1970s.[
]
Arrest and execution
Elghanian was arrested in 1975 as part of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's attempts to eliminate corruption among major businesspeople. He was both fined for illegal activities and then, jailed.[
Shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979, Elghanian was arrested on 16 March after returning to Iran, and accused of spying. The charges included corruption, contacts with Israel and ]Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
, and "economic imperialism". On 8 May, he was tried and convicted of a number of crimes, including meeting with Israeli leaders. According to his granddaughter, the trial lasted less than twenty minutes. He was sentenced to death, with his execution carried out before dawn the next day. All of the property belonging to the Elghanian family in Iran was confiscated by the state. A report by ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine states: Elghanian, who was convicted of spying for Israel, was said to have made huge investments in Israel and to have solicited funds for the Israeli army, which the prosecution claimed made him an accomplice "in murderous air raids against innocent Palestinians."
Elghanian stated that he was not a supporter of Zionism, though his Plasco Building was built by Israeli engineers during the Shah era when Iran had close relations with Israel, and he had made investments in Israel.
On 9 May 1979, Elghanian was executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
in Tehran. He was the first Jewish citizen and one of the first civilians of Iran to be executed by the new Islamist regime.
Consequences
Elghanian's death was considered one of the reasons for the departure of 75% of the 80,000 Jews who lived in the country before the revolution.
Amid the post-revolution chaos, the government with its many rival factions initially refused to release Elghanian's body to his family for burial. With the intervention of Chief Rabbi Yedidia Shofet
Yedidia Shofet (also spelled ''Shophet'', and often referred to as Hakham Yedidia; November 14, 1908 – June 24, 2005) was the former Chief Rabbi of Iran and the worldwide spiritual leader of Persian Jewry.
Early life
Yedidia Shofet was bor ...
and other prominent members of the Tehran Jewish community, his body was finally released and initially buried in an unmarked grave in Tehran's Beheshtieh Jewish Cemetery. Out of fear of further retaliation, only a handful of people attended Elghanian's burial. A modest tombstone was later placed on his grave making no reference to his execution.
Shortly after Elghanian's execution, the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
passed a resolution authored by New York Senator Jacob Javits
Jacob Koppel Javits ( ; May 18, 1904 – March 7, 1986) was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the United States Congress. A member of the Republican Party, he al ...
to condemn his execution as well as that of other civilians as a violation of human rights in Iran
From the Imperial Pahlavi dynasty (1925 to 1979), through the Islamic Revolution (1979), to the era of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979 to current), government treatment of Iranian citizens' rights has been criticized by Iranians, by interna ...
.
In the aftermath of the Stuxnet
Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005. Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and is believed to be responsible for causing subs ...
worm that attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, there was speculation by security researchers working for Symantec that a number found in the Stuxnet code – "19790509" – which was used as a marker to identify computers that should not be affected, was a reference to his execution date; however, researchers also warned against using this possible connection to draw any conclusions as to Stuxnet's origin.
On 19 January 2017, the 17-storey Plasco Building in downtown Tehran collapsed live on TV after a fire engulfed its top floors. Twenty firefighters were killed and at least seventy people were injured.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elghanian, Habib
20th-century Iranian businesspeople
20th-century philanthropists
1912 births
1979 deaths
Businesspeople from Tehran
Iranian Jews
Iranian philanthropists
Jewish philanthropists
Businesspeople in manufacturing
Mizrahi Jews
People executed by Iran by firing squad
People executed during the Iranian Revolution