Hamid Reza Chitgar (7 July 1949 – 19 May 1987, also known as ''Hamid Bahmani'') was an exiled Iranian

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician who lived in France 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 dynas ...

and was assassinated in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

by the Iranian government.

Early life and education

Hamid Reza Chitgar was born in the town of

Babol Babol ( fa, بابل, , known as "Orange Blossom City" , also Romanized as Bābol; formerly known as Barfrouch) is the capital of Babol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. Babol is divided into two metropolitan areas (under Iranian law). At the 20 ...

in the Mazandaran province of

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 ...

in 1949. After finishing his engineering studies in

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 ...

, he pursued his master's in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France in the mid 1970s.

Arrest and defection

He returned in Iran and was politically active during and after the revolution. He was once arrested by the

Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

in March 1981 for the publications of his publishing house (which published political and non-political materials). He was taken to the Evin prison and soon taken back to his printing house in order to lure other political activists. He was able to escape and lived underground for 6 months before fleeing to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1983 where he obtained political asylum.

Exile

Chitgar was a member in the leadership of the Hezb-e Kar (Labor Party of Iran). During his stay in France, he distanced himself from the idea of armed resistance. He was the representative of the Labor Party in the

National Resistance Council The National Council of the Resistance (also, National Resistance Council; in French: ''Conseil National de la Résistance'' (CNR), was the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance: the press, trade unio ...

and was a member of the council before his assassination. He was married and had one daughter.

Assassination

According to a close source, a man named ''Ali Amiztab'' corresponded with Chitgar from Iran a couple of years before his murder and established a regular contact with him. In his letters, he wrote about establishing a group of sympathizers of the Labor Party in Iran. Finally, he asked to meet Chitgar in person and set up a meeting in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. Chitgar who never traveled alone and did not trust his interlocutor tried to find friends to travel with him. For various reasons, no one was available and Chitgar decided to go alone. On 19 May 1987, he traveled to Vienna to meet with this man. His wife did not receive any news from him and after a few days, began to look for him and alerted the

Austrian police The Federal Police ( de-AT, Bundespolizei) is the national and principal law enforcement agency of Austria. The Federal Police was formed in July 2005 as one formal unit of police. In 2005, the Federal Police replaced the Austrian Federal Genda ...

. The efforts of his wife and family proved fruitless until the neighbors of the apartment, where Chitgar was murdered, complained about the odor and police discovered his body on 17 July, two months after the murder. He had been shot twice in the back of his head. According to the Austrian police, the apartment had been rented by an individual with a

Turkish passport Turkish passports ( tr, Türk pasaportu) are issued in accordance with the Passport Act (No. 5682) from 15 July 1950 to Turkish citizens to travel abroad. Citizens of the ''de facto'' state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) ...

for three months. The rent was paid in full. The efforts of the family's lawyer to encourage the investigation and obtain more information were not successful. The Austrian authorities noted that investigation in the case of Chitgar's assassination was difficult because the agent of the Islamic Republic had a Turkish passport and did not need a visa to come to Austria. No other information was given to the family. The assassination was widely reported in the local press and caused a wave of protests by Iranian and European political groups. Hamid Reza Chitgar's body was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 8 August 1987.

Further investigations

ian-born

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

film maker

Reza Allamehzadeh Reza Allamehzadeh ( fa, رضا علامه‌زاده) is an Iranian-born Dutch filmmaker, film critic and writer who lives in the Netherlands. He is primarily known for his films about refugees, such as ''The Guests of Hotel Astoria'' (1988), and ...

made a documentary on

state terrorism State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which a state conducts against another state or against its own citizens.Martin, 2006: p. 111. Definition There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper def ...

of the Islamic government of

European countries The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, international reco ...

, ''Holy Crime'', where the case of Mr. Chitgar was presented amongst many others, such as Iran's former prime minister

Shapour Bakhtiar Shapour Bakhtiar ( fa, شاپور بختیار, ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In the words of historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in ...

who had also been assassinated during his French exile .

References

External links

List of Assassinated Iranians abroad

Article published in 2010

Holy Crime website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chitgar, Hamid Reza Assassinated Iranian politicians Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in France Iranian communists Anti-revisionists Iranian people murdered abroad People murdered in Austria Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Abroad ''Abroad'' ( ar, الغربة) is a short film directed by Lebanese filmmaker Zayn Alexander. The film made its world premiere at the 33rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 2, 2018. The Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebane ...

Murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

Human rights abuses in Iran People from Mazandaran Province 1949 births People of the Iranian Revolution Iranian revolutionaries Iranian emigrants to France People from Babol 1987 murders in Austria 1987 deaths 20th-century Iranian people Hoxhaists