Shaikh Mohammad Khiābāni ( fa, شیخ محمد خیابانی, 1880–1920), sometimes spelled Khiyabani, also known as Shaikh Mohammad Khiābāni Tabrizi was an Iranian Shia cleric, political leader, and representative to the parliament. He was born in

Khameneh Khamaneh ( fa, خامنه; also Romanized as Khāmeneh, Khamaneh, and Khāmneh; also known as Khumla and Khumna) is a city in the Central District of Shabestar County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran; and at the distance of 72 km from Tabriz. At th ...

, near Tabriz to Haji Abdolhamid (his father) from

, a merchant. He became active during the

Persian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution ( fa, مشروطیت, Mashrūtiyyat, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a par ...

and was a prominent dissident against foreign colonialism, which subsequently led to him being sent into exile by the Ottomans in 1918. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Khiabani re-established the Democrat Party of Tabriz after being banned for five years, and published the ''Tajaddod'' newspaper, the official organ of the party, edited by his supporter

Taqi Rafat Mirza Taghi Khan Raf'at ( fa, میرزا تقی خان رفعت; ) was the son of Agha Mohammad Tabrizi. He was educated in Istanbul and during World War I returned to Tabriz to teach French in high school. He was a modernist poet who wrote in Tur ...

. Later, in a protest to the 1919 Treaty between Persia and the United Kingdom, which exclusively transferred the rights of deciding about all military, financial, and customs affairs of Persia to the British, he

revolted In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

and took Tabriz and surrounding areas, calling it

Azadistan Azadistan ( fa, آزادستان, Āzādestān, lit=The Land of Freedom), was a short-lived state in Iranian Azerbaijan that lasted from the early 1920 until September 1920. It was established by Mohammad Khiabani, an Iranian patriot, who was a ...

("land of liberty"); he was not, however, a separatist. Khiabani and his followers chose the name "Azadistan" as a gesture of protest against the giving of the name " Azerbaijan" to the government centered on

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

in Transcaucasia which is called Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. After the fall of Vosough od-Dowleh, the then prime minister, the new prime minister sent Mehdi Qoli Hedayat to Tabriz, giving him full authority, and he crushed and killed Khiabani in the late summer of 1920 (Hedayat claimed that Khiabani had committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khiabani, Mohammad Iranian revolutionaries 1880 births 1920 deaths People from East Azerbaijan Province Deputies of Tabriz for National Consultative Assembly People of the Persian Constitutional Revolution 19th-century Iranian people 20th-century Iranian people Democrat Party (Persia) politicians Members of the 3rd Iranian Majlis Iranian Shia clerics