Farzad Bazoft

Farzad Bazoft
Born(1958-05-22)22 May 1958
Iran
Died15 March 1990(1990-03-15) (aged 31)
Iraq
Resting placeHighgate Cemetery
OccupationJournalist
NationalityIranian
Period1980s–1990
SubjectMiddle East

Farzad Bazoft (Persian: فرزاد بازفت; 22 May 1958 – 15 March 1990) was an Iranian journalist who settled in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s. He worked as a freelance reporter for The Observer. He was arrested by Iraqi authorities and executed in 1990 after being convicted of spying for Israel while working in Iraq.

Biography

Bazoft came to live in the United Kingdom in 1975 at the age of 16.[1] He was sentenced to 18 months jail after robbing the Heart of England Building Society in Brackley in 1981. The sentence included a deportation order, which Bazoft appealed against successfully in 1983.[2]

After finishing his education he began a career as a freelance journalist, contributing articles about the Middle East and, in particular, the Iran–Iraq War to news outlets including The Observer and the BBC.[1] In 1989 he was invited by the Iraqi government to come to Iraq along with other journalists to report on elections being held in Kurdistan.[1][3] Before Bazoft set off, he learned about a mysterious explosion that had occurred on 19 September 1989 at the al-Iskandaria military complex, 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Baghdad.[3] The heavy detonation was heard as far away as Baghdad. Despite Saddam Hussein's personal order to keep the matter secret, rumours began to spread that the accident happened in a rocket factory's assembly line, killing dozens of Egyptian technicians involved in Iraq's secret development of medium-range ballistic missiles.

Sensing a possible scoop, Bazoft headed for al-Hilla to search for details. He allegedly undertook his investigation with the approval of Iraqi officials.[1] Observer editor Donald Trelford said in response to Bazoft's arrest: "Farzad Bazoft is not a spy. He is a reporter who went to do a story. He said in advance the story he was going to do. He told the Baghdad government where he wanted to go. ... This is not the action of a spy, this is the action of a reporter."[3] Other western reporters were also interested in the story,[4] but a camera crew from Independent Television News was stopped by Iraqi authorities before they could reach the plant.[3] Bazoft got through, driven by British nurse Daphne Parish.[3] Bazoft also asked military personnel in Baghdad hotels and casinos what they knew and was reported by hotel security to the Iraqi Intelligence Service.[5]

Bazoft was arrested at Baghdad International Airport in September 1989, while waiting for his flight back to London.[1][3] He had 34 photographs of the area of al-Hilla in his luggage,[5] and some soil from near the factory.[citation needed] After six weeks[4] in custody at the Abu Ghraib prison, and, after beatings,[5] Bazoft was put in front of TV cameras on 1 November and made to confess to being an Israeli agent.[1] Parish had also been arrested by Iraqi authorities. Before their trial, President Saddam Hussein wrote to British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, assuring her that Bazoft and Parish would get a fair trial.[6]

Following a one-day trial behind closed doors, lacking conclusive evidence of his guilt, Bazoft was convicted and sentenced to death on 10 March 1990.[7] Parish was sentenced to 15 years in prison,[1] but she was released on 16 July 1990 following a plea for clemency from Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda.[8]

International appeals for clemency for Bazoft had no effect. He was not permitted to appeal against his conviction or sentence, and was executed by hanging at 6:30am on 15 March 1990.[5][9]

Aftermath

Grave of Farzad Bazoft in the east side of Highgate Cemetery

Bazoft's body was placed in a rough wooden crate and despatched to his family in the United Kingdom. Documents seized during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 confirm that Saddam Hussein personally stressed the need for Bazoft's execution to take place before Ramadan (which began that year on 16 March), to quash attempts for clemency by the British government.[10]

Immediately after the execution, the British recalled their ambassador to Iraq[11] and cancelled all ministerial visits, though the Conservative government was not unanimous on the response, with Conservative MPs Rupert Allason and Anthony Beaumont-Dark supporting the Iraqi government response, and Terry Dicks even publicly stating on the day before the execution that Bazoft "deserved to be hanged".[12] Bazoft's story nonetheless triggered widespread outrage in the West and contributed to international isolation of Saddam's regime. Months after the incident, on 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, sparking the first Gulf War. During that war, the command tank of the UK's 7th Armoured Brigade was named Bazoft's Revenge.[13]

2003년 옵서버는 바조프트의 초기 취조를 지휘한 이라크 정보국 대령 카뎀 아스카르를 추적했다. 그는 바조프트가 결백하다는 것을 알고 있었지만 사담 후세인에게 유죄를 선고하고 처형하라는 명령을 방해할 힘이 없었다고 시인했다.[5] 후세인 자신이 바조프트의 사형을 명령했다는 사실은 후세인 정권이 2003년 침략 당시 테이프에 녹음된 회의록에서 확인된다.[10]

대처 정부는 이라크가 영국 수출을 위험에 빠뜨릴 수 있다는 불안감에서 이라크에 대해 아무런 조치도 취하지 않기로 했다는 것이 2017년 초의 논문 발표됐다. 1990년 재무부 수석 비서인 노먼 라몬트는 옵저버와의 인터뷰에서 "영국인이 어땠는지에 대한 논쟁이 있었다. 그는 이란 여권을 가지고 있었고 그것이 결정적인 것이었다. 그는 영국 시민이 아니었다"고 말했다. Bazoft는 영국 레지던트 자격을 얻었다.[14]

이란 국영 라디오 IRIB는 이 사건을 "영국 언론인 파자드 바조프트의 처형에 대한 영국 정부의 성가신 행위"라고만 언급했다. 이후 이란의 종교적으로 보수적인 일간지 카이한은 한 이란 국외 사상가에 대해 "이란-이라크 전쟁에는 단 한 명의 순교자만 있었고, 그것이 바로 파르자드 바조프트였다"[citation needed]고 비꼬았다. 이를 통해 이 신문은 이란의 통치자들에게서 비호감을 받고 있는 이란 디아스포라가 이 나라를 지키기 위해 전쟁에서 희생된 사람들을 과소평가하고 있음을 보여주고 싶었다.[citation needed]

참조

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Donald Trelford (14 March 2010). "Executed by Saddam Hussein: the death of Observer reporter Farzad Bazoft, 20 years on". The Observer. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  2. ^ Whitney, Craig R. (17 March 1990). "Reporter Hanged in Iraq Had Once Robbed Bank". New York Times. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "1990: Observer journalist executed in Iraq". BBC News. 10 March 1990. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  4. ^ a b Leader (18 March 1990). "Farzad Bazoft". The Observer. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e Ed Vulliamy (18 May 2003). "Proved innocent". The Observer. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  6. ^ Higham, Nick (30 December 2016). "Cabinet files reveal plan to shoot nuclear intruders". BBC News. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  7. ^ 로버트 피스크: 문명을 위한 대전: 중동 정복, 169페이지 ISBN 978-1-4000-7517-1
  8. ^ "Iraq frees British nurse in spy case". New Strait Times. Reuters. 17 July 1990. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  9. ^ Donald Trelford (18 May 2003). "My colleague was simply a journalist after a scoop". The Observer. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  10. ^ a b Luke Harding (26 October 2011). "Saddam Hussein ordered execution of journalist Farzad Bazoft, records reveal". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Butchery in Baghdad". New York Times. 16 March 1990. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  12. ^ "Farzad Bazoft". The Guardian. 18 March 1990.
  13. ^ 패트릭 코딩글리: The Eye of the Storm: 걸프전에서의 사막쥐 명령, 페이지 83, ISBN 0-340-68246-9
  14. ^ Norton-Taylor, Richard; McVeigh, Tracy (1 January 2017). "'It would be bad for our interests': why Thatcher ignored the murder of an Observer journalist". The Observer. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

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