Bahram Afzali | |
---|---|
Birth name | Bahram Afzali Khoshkebijari [1] |
Born | 6 December 1937 Qom, Imperial State of Iran |
Died | 25 February 1984 Tehran, Iran | (aged 46)
Service/ | Islamic Republic of Iran Navy |
Years of service | 1957–1984 |
Rank | Captain |
Commands held | Islamic Republic of Iran Navy |
Battles/wars | |
Alma mater |
Italian Naval Academy University of Genoa |
Bahram Afzali ( Persian: بهرام افضلی; 6 December 1937 – 25 February 1984) was an Iranian admiral who served as the Commander of the Iranian Navy from May/June 1980 to 24 April 1983. [2] He was executed for his clandestine membership in the Tudeh Party of Iran in 1984. [2]
Afzali was born in 1937 [3] in the city of Qom. [2] His father was a cleric. [1] He entered the service of the Imperial Iranian Navy in 1957 and was sent to Italy for further education. [3] In 1961, he was graduated from Italian Naval Academy, [2] where he was trained in mechanical engineering and shipbuilding. [3] He later obtained a PhD in boat and submarine architecture in 1970. [2]
Afzali was an engineer and a captain in the Imperial Iranian Navy. [4] After the 1979 revolution, he continued to serve in the Navy and took part in the Iran–Iraq War. [4] Then Iranian president Abolhassan Bani Sadr appointed him as the commander of the Navy in June 1980. [5] He was also special adviser of then speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. [6]
At the beginning of 1983, Afzali, along with more than a thousand members of the Tudeh Party was arrested by the IRP. [7] The trial carried out in the form of a military tribunal in December 1983, and 32 of them were sentenced to death. [8] Their judge was Hojjat Al Islam Mohammad Reyshahri, who also interrogated Mahdi Hashemi in 1986. [9] The location of the tribunal has been never revealed. [9]
Ten of these Tudeh members were executed. [8] On 25 February 1984, Afzali was executed on charges of espionage for the Soviet Union. [4] [8] [10]