The Great Escape

By William Drozdiak

Banisadr flees his enemies and sets up a command post in Paris

They were the two most wanted men in Iran, hunted for "high treason" by the vengeful mullahs around Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. When darkness fell on Tehran on July 28, Abolhassan Banisadr, the deposed President, and Massoud Rajavi, his ally and leader of the urban guerrillas known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (People's Crusaders), slipped on stolen military uniforms and sneaked from their hideout into a small army van. They were driven to a military airfield, passing unrecognized through security controls (Banisadr had shaved his familiar mustache), and boarded an Iranian air force Boeing 707.

Waiting at the plane was Colonel Behzad Moezi, one of Iran's most accomplished pilots and a man with a remarkable background. He flew the Shah into exile in January 1979. But after growing sympathetic to the revolution, he returned to Iran and joined the Mujahedin. Suspected by the Ayatullah's entourage, Moezi in effect was grounded until war broke out with Iraq. Reinstated with the help of Banisadr, Moezi had flown more combat missions than any other Iranian pilot.

Eight days earlier, Moezi had filed a routine training flight plan with authorities. Now, with his passengers aboard, Moezi prepared to take off. A crew member who was not part of the plot nearly came across Banisadr, who was in the rear of the aircraft, but two other crewmen who had joined the conspirators seized the man. When a second innocent member of the crew came looking for the first, he too was grabbed. Precisely at 10:30 p.m., the big jet began to trundle slowly down the runway. Only then were the two captives released and told of their special cargo: "It's the President."

Once aloft, Moezi veered from the flight plan he had filed and headed west. The plane was actually over Turkey when it was caught by three Iranian Phantom jets. The fighter pilots radioed threats to shoot down the tanker but did not fire. One likely explanation: the fighter pilots' great respect for Moezi himself. Says Rajavi: "Had it been any other pilot than Moezi, we would have died."

At 4:30 a.m., Moezi landed at a military airfield in Evreux, 55 miles west of Paris. After 43 days in hiding, Banisadr was free. But the entourage had to wait at the airport for four hours until French officials, fearing retaliation against some 100 French citizens still in Iran, extracted a written pledge from Banisadr and Rajavi forswearing any political activity involving their home country.

Flak-jacketed police then escorted the pair to Banisadr's old apartment in Cachan, a middle-class suburb of Paris, where he lived during most of his 16 years of exile from the Shah's regime. "I will stay here until the people [of Iran] find the path to democracy," Banisadr told a throng of reporters outside his home. At week's end he moved temporarily to a friend's home in northern Paris, apparently for security reasons.

The former President blamed Khomeini, who was once his mentor, for "the appalling disaster that has befallen the country. Said Banisadr: "We must try to find a quicker way of overthrowing the absolutists who lust after power only." The remarks upset French officials, who reminded Banisadr of the terms of his exile and forced him to cancel a press conference.

Banisadr's sudden escape stunned many diehard supporters, some of whom expressed a sense of betrayal after his earlier vows to stay and fight what he called "the new despotism."

Other Iranians in exile scorned the idea of joining him in a united front against Khomeini. In particular, Banisadr was spurned by Shapour Bakhtiar, the last Prime Minister appointed by the Shah, who had also taken refuge in Paris. Bakhtiar argued, correctly, that Banisadr had helped build the Islamic Republic of Iran. Said the former Prime Minister: "What is happening to Banisadr is a direct result of what he himself created."

But Banisadr is depending for most of his support on the Mujahedin, who spent years battling the Shah's secret police. More to the point, the Mujahedin want a modern Islamic state, a fact that undercuts the appeal of the mullahs and their obsession with the past. The guerrillas are estimated to have as many as 100,000 people under arms, with several hundred thousand additional sympathizers. The clerics have accused the Mujahedin of a rash of devastating bombings, including the June 28 explosion at Islamic Republic Party headquarters that may have killed as many as 150 people.

Mujahedin Leader Rajavi protected Banisadr by shuffling him among four guerrilla "safe houses" while he was in hiding. The two men cemented their alliance during long talks in their hideaways. They saw their strengths as complementary: Banisadr offering legitimacy as an elected President with broad popularity; Rajavi supplying military firepower and a keenly disciplined organization.

To fool the Islamic Guards, Khomeini's vigilantes, the Mujahedin spread rumors that Banisadr was hiding in Kurdistan. Actually, Banisadr spent the entire time in Tehran. He was able to move around the capital, not exactly at will but frequently, sometimes in a small car, sometimes in taxis. He wore no disguises, although he did give up his glasses, and only shaved his mustache for his escape. Occasionally, he was recognized, but no one reported him to the police. Most of the time, however, he traveled without attracting any attention.

Banisadr heard the radio coverage of his impeachment proceedings and later sent an appeal to Khomeini. Said Banisadr: "It was a race between bombings and executions.

I tried to persuade Khomeini to stop the executions so I could ask the people to stop the bombings. The executions did not stop, and neither did the bombings."

Banisadr has named Rajavi as Prime Minister of his government in exile and authorized him to form a "national resistance council" that would serve as a government-in-waiting for the day when the mullahs may be swept from power.

Both men proclaim faith in an Iranian republic that will be Islamic and democratic. They hope to galvanize an anti-Khomeini crusade like the Ayatullah's final campaign against the Shah. "We can overthrow Khomeini within a few months," boasts Rajavi.

But others are not convinced. "Many Iranian technocrats, doctors and engineers fled Iran because they were scared of fanatics like the Mujahedin, not because they supported the Shah," says Ali Shahin Fatimi, editor of an Iranian newsletter in Paris. Other Iranian intellectuals in exile criticize Banisadr's arrogance and political naivete. Says one: "If he could not do anything as President, and if he cannot organize a revolt from within Tehran itself, what can Banisadr possibly do from Paris?" It is a question that the mullahs were also asking themselves last week in Tehran. --By William Drozdiak.

Reported by Raji Samghabadi/New York and Alessandra Stanley/Paris

With reporting by Raji Samghabadi, Alessandra Stanley

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