On October 25, 1978 (Aban 3, 1357 AHS), imam Khomeini (May God grant him peace) is informed of the release of a number of political prisoners, who, because of trumped-up charges had endured years of torture by. SAVAK^{( 250)} He therefore devotes one part of his speech to this matter and

States:

But does that then mean that these five years, which have been wasted of a Muslim’s life, of a human being’s life, these five, ten years of persecuting a human being, a Muslim, are to be disregarded? Now that he is free to go, does that then mean that the matter is closed? Is the release of a number of ‘ulama and other members of society supposed to make us

Content? Is the nation now supposed to calm down? Have they (the regime) made it up to the nation? I...

On the one hand Imam Is informed of “the release of a number of prisoners,” and on the other, the sharp-sighted Leader of the Revolution hears accounts of security forces of the so-called ‘government of national reconciliation’ violently crushing peaceful demonstrations in Hamadan, Qum and Gurgan, killing dozens of the Muslim people in these cities such that the hospitals there have insufficient space to admit all of those injured. ^{( 251)}

Other reports released at that time told of how 3,000 workers from the Arak car-manufacturing company had, on that same day, set off towards the town from their place of work in a protest march, whilst shouting slogans in demand of their legal rights. For years, these workers had not dared to make any kind of demand since any employee with a legitimate claim would have been arrested, tortured by SAVAK agents and forced to hold his tongue. Yet, now, these same workers crossed swords with disciplinary officers in the city centre. So too in Rasht, the enraged people of that city attacked the building which housed the Rastakhiz Party’s offices - offices which for years had been the centre where important decisions had been made by the regime’s stooges.^{( 252)}

Foreseeing an imminent blow to the Interests of Great Britain and America (Britain’s closest ally) as a result of the monarchical regime’s disintegration, the British Foreign Minister announces at a London press conference that the fall of Sharif imami’s government would Initially lead to the rise to power of conservative elements in Iran, followed by that of the communists!^{( 253)} It would therefore seem that the British Foreign Minister had in fact disregarded both the people’s constant cries for “Freedom, Independence and an Islamic Republic,” and their recognition of Imam Khomeini as their sole leader and marja -i taqlid.

It would seem that the mass movement of Iran had totally baffled the rest of the world. The American CIA, which, until this time, was famed for its ability to predict revolutions world-wide, or at least was known for its full-level intelligence on the root causes of revolutions and political movements, Is now however, at an absolute loss to understand In response to a question posed by journalists as to the reasons for the Iranian people’s opposition to the Shah, the head of the CIA vaguely states: “The problems in Iran have brought about the rise of conservative elements.”(!) However, the latter never explains ~what he means by “conservative,” nor does he mention which social class or sector these people actually belong to. This was in spite of the fact that everyone at that time was aware that the Iranian Revolution was a revolution embarked upon by those people who had had enough of fifty years of oppression by the monarchical regime, and who, by demonstrating, conducting Protest marches, and sacrificing lives, had called for the Shah to leave the country, for an end to American Interference in Iran, and for the establishment of a government based upon justice and fairness a government based upon the lofty principles of Islam.

As the Islamic Revolution draws closer to its zenith with each passing day, the heads of the governments of Egypt, Israel and America assemble at camp David where they draw up a peace agreement, and, with hand shakes all round, firmly trample on the rights of millions of Palestinians The sum and substance of the Islamic Revolution and its inextricable link with the destiny of other Islamic nations - especially with that of the Palestinian people - are now revealed via slogans chanted by members of Tehran University’s sizeable community: “Death to these three criminals: Carter, Sadat and Begin.” At this point in time, Husni Mubarak, who was the then Vice-President of Egypt during Anwar Sadat’s presidency, makes a quick visit to Tehran and several hours later, having informed the Shah of developments at Camp David, he then leaves Iran.

Imam Khomeini’s presence in Paris and the continual revelations made by him with regard to the regime in Iran, means that the voice of the Islamic Revolution now reaches overseas and causes the oppressed nations to rise up in Support of the revolution. The first to engage in widespread demonstrations in Support of the Iranian Revolution were the oppressed Palestinian people, and news of these events were broadcast world-wide via major news agencies.^{( 254)}

Mourning ceremonies and memorial services continue to be held in Tehran and other Iranian cities for those tragically killed In the mosque in Kerman; and in their speeches on this tragedy and on the crimes committed by the Shah’s regime, the religious speakers at these gatherings continue to make revelatory statements. In order to pacify the people, ‘Ameli Tehrani, the Minister of Information and Tourism, hints that those responsible for the crime in Kerman have been apprehended, and he announces that: “The results of a full enquiry into the event in Kerman will soon be submitted to the Prime Minister.

Classes at Tehran University have now become either totally or partially cancelled, and every day students hold congregational prayer gatherings and chant anti-regime slogans in the university grounds. Meanwhile, in Gurgan, following an anti-regime demonstration and protest march, the people charge towards SAVAK headquarters and are dispersed both by shots fired from within the building by SAVAK agents, and by an attack made on them In the streets by members of the security forces.^{( 255)}

High-powered and passionate meetings are now conducted in the National Consultative Assembly. During a performance staged for the public, certain assigned Members of Parliament attack the government by forming both minority and majority factions, whilst other delegates, despite the ongoing popular demonstrations and strikes, stand in defence of the government.

Sharif Imami’s ineffectual government now adopts a mercurial political policy: on occasion promising to implement reforms, to guarantee the rights of workers, and to punish those responsible for crimes committed, and at other times resorting to threatening and Intimidating the people by creating a bloodbath in the streets of Tehran and the provinces.

Whilst the world’s powerful governments, such as those of America and Britain, are busy giving the Shah their assurances by declaring their support for his policies^{( 256)} , it Is the words of Imam Khomeini which count - words uttered from a modest house situated in a remote French village, words which in fact express the view of the people:

We want to free a nation; we want to make a nation independent; we want to break loose from the fetters of America, Britain and the Soviet Union, and naturally, this will mean that self-sacrifices have to be made. It will mean that our youth are to lose their lives, that we will be imprisoned for something like ten years . . . We in no way fear these things. They can attack to their hearts’ content . . . And let these powerful nations declare their support for him (the Shah) as much as they like, let anyone who so desires go ahead and do this, for an entire nation is now standing up In confrontation and is saying ‘no.’ No cannons or tanks can be effective before the ‘no’ of a nation...

Yes indeed, we see that this is in fact the slogan that the people are shouting: “Cannons, tanks and machine-guns no longer have any effect.

Today they announced that they have released a number of political prisoners, and that a further number is to be released later^{( 257)} But the question is, does this freeing of prisoners compensate for everything? They deprive a human being in every way for something like five or ten years, stripping him of any kind of freedom, and persecuting and torturing him in prison, then they tell him that he is free to go^{( 258)} ! But does that then mean that these five years, which have been wasted of a Muslim’s life, of a human being’s life, these five, ten years of persecuting a human being, a Muslim, are to be disregarded? Now that he is free to go, does that mean that the matter is closed? Is the release of a number of ~ulama and other members of society supposed to make us content? Is the nation now supposed to calm down? Have they (the regime) made it up to the nation^{( 259)} ? Or is it that the present situation is such that they are no longer able to continue to behave as they have in the past; is it that they are struggling to come through the present situation alive, a situation in which the entire population has turned against them? Are they truly now able to save themselves? Can they actually be saved?

This Shah who has reigned over us for about thirty years, who has reigned over the Muslim people in the manner of Genghis Khan, this Shah who has killed so many of the Muslim people, who has caused so many Muslims to flee their homeland, who has deprived and stripped so many human beings of their civil rights, this Shah now says: we have released them (the political prisoners), so now what more can you possibly expect from us! But the people expect you to provide ten years of life! You wasted ten years of a human being’s life in prison, in a room two metres square^{( 260)} You took away the life of a human being, of someone who could have served the people, who could have served the people by being active and writing in a free environment. You wasted ten years of a nation’s life, and now, having allowed it to go free, you ask what more do we want? We want compensation for these ten years. The people want these ten years in which you persecuted their children in prison to be compensated for. Yet, there is no way that such compensation could be given in this world.

One of the clear proofs for there having to be another place where God Almighty will punish these oppressors, is that supposing you came together and tore Muhammad Riza Khan limb from limb, you then would only have killed one person. He is only one person, one vile person, and thus you would have taken a life for a life. Let’s imagine that the person you are to kill is a good person, that like the person for whose life you wish to obtain retribution, he is an honourable person, nevertheless, were you to kill him you would have only taken one honourable life in return for another honourable life! But what about all of those honourable people whom he has deprived of existence, all of those youngsters of ours that he has killed and whose lives he has curtailed. If someone were to have killed someone else, then his punishment would be for him also to be killed in return for the life he had taken. But if that someone were to have brought about the death of, and to have killed, a multitude of people, then is there any way that retribution could be exacted for this here in this world? Of course, the person in question would have to be punished most severely here in this world, but even then would retribution have been fully exacted? Retribution would have been exacted for one family. If we were to cut someone’s life short in return for his having cut short the life of a family, then this would be retribution for one family, but what about the other families?

Are we now to content ourselves with the fact that this man^{( 261)} has granted a pardon? We are talking about men for whom your pardon means nothing. Indeed, it is not a question of granting a pardon, it is in fact a question of doing that, which is required of you, and right now, you are obliged to release these people. Many of these prisoners were people whose unlawful sentences had already been served anyway. Yes, their sentences were unlawful from the start, but even having served the assigned term of imprisonment, they continued to be detained without reason. But now that these SAVAK agents, these perpetrators of so many crimes, have come and opened the prison gates, releasing certain prisoners, is that the end of the matter? No indeed, now the matter is only just beginning! He (the Shah) and all of his agents are to stand trial. But even then, supposing they are all executed, retribution will still not have been exacted, for a hundred lives will have been taken in return for hundreds, for thousands of lives.

In Tehran, during one bout of killings alone, four to five thousand people are said to have been killed^{( 262)} They say that these latest killings in Hamadan have left up to a hundred people dead. I’m not sure whether this was yesterday or the day before. And even now, Hamadan is once again in a turbulent state. In Qum too, both yesterday and today, there have been disturbances and the sound of gunfire has rung out^{( 263)} As to how many people have been killed however, I just do not know. The same has also been happening in Zanjan^{( 264)}and you have all heard about Kerman. The situation is the same everywhere. Crimes have been committed in every place you could possibly mention. Yet, now he (the Shah) has granted a pardon!! To hell with this pardon of his. If it weren’t for the pressure exerted by the people and this widespread public opinion, then he would not have granted a pardon at all. This is not a case of granting a pardon; it is a case of doing that which one is compelled to do anyway. The crimes he has perpetrated cannot be recompensed by taking such measures. It is beyond us to exact retribution, for how can we compensate for the killing of four to five thousand people when there is only one person to be punished and no more, and even then when he is the kind of person that he is. This is why there has to be a world in which constant torment prevails until retribution is exacted; a world in which unremitting anguish awaits these tyrants.

We are really at a loss as to what we should do about the current situation in Iran. Of course, that is not to say that the situation is not promising, for it is. It is not that we are now concerned as to why such a situation prevails, but nonetheless, you can see for yourselves just what they are doing, just what madness they have called into being. Having said that however, it is worth having to contend with these things in order to rescue a nation. We must not be concerned by the fact that we are making self-sacrifices, for this was the practice of the prophets, these were the things that the prophets themselves did. The prophets and the friends of God (awliya) rose up against those who were cruel, those who oppressed the people, and in so doing they killed and were killed, they sacrificed their young and they sacrificed their close friends and followers. So there is now no call for us to be concerned that blood might be spilled. Indeed, blood has to be spilled^{( 265)} ! A nation will not succeed in rescuing itself from the suffering, which stems from all these crimes and losses without having to pay a price. A certain mother has been seen to have stood up in Bihisht-i Zahra cemetery and to have said that the tree of freedom needs to be watered and that her son’s blood is something which serves this purpose’^{( 266)} These are the kind of lion-hearted women we have amongst us.

Islam needs us to make sacrifices for its sake. Just consider what pure and virtuous lives have been sacrificed from the advent of Islam down to the present. A case in point is Hazrat Amir (Imam ‘All) who fought against Mu’ awiya for eighteen months in the battle of Siffin, and who killed so many adversaries and lost the lives of so many fellow combatants, over ten thousand people in all, well over this figure^{( 267)} Mu’ awiya was someone who made claim to being Muslim and to being the Prophet’s rightful successor. He prayed at congregational prayer gatherings, was the Friday prayer leader, and so on. He practised all of the outwardly visible religious practices. Unlike Yazid, whose exterior was as aberrant as his interior, Mu’ awiya was good at keeping up appearances. He kept up appearances and also advocated Islam, so what actually happened to cause Hazrat Amir to engage in battle against him? The reason Imam ‘All fought against Mu’ awiya was because he was a tyrant who had unfairly exploited the people. He had seized Damascus from Islamic rule and was forcing the people to behave ruthlessly and to commit injustices. He plundered the people’s wealth, the public treasury. Haz rat Amir was obliged by duty to fight against him irrespective of whether he was to be the vanquished or the vanquisher. The fact that he may be defeated if he were to engage in battle at this time, did not concern Hazrat Amir. Once he saw that he was able to confront Mu’awiya in battle, he rounded up his troops and battle commenced, although it is true to say that on this particular occasion he was eventually defeated.

When the Lord of the Martyrs (Imam Husayn), may peace he upon him, sees that an oppressive ruler, a tyrant, is governing over the people, he makes it clear that should one witness an oppressive ruler governing over the people and tyrannising them, then he is to stand in confrontation against the tyrant and is to do all he can to put a stop to his tyranny. And this is exactly what Imam Husayn did with only several people supporting him, people who were so few in number that they were nothing compared to the soldiers and the outfit they were to confront^{( 268)} Nevertheless, the Imam considered it his duty to rise up and sacrifice his blood in order for him to reform the people and to haul down the banner of Yazid. And indeed this he did, and an end was put to the affair. He sacrificed his own blood and that of his sons, as well as his children and everything he possessed in God’s path, for the sake of Islam. Now, is our blood more precious than the blood of the Lord of the Martyrs?

Why should we be afraid of sacrificing our blood or of sacrificing our lives? That tyrannical sultan (Yazid) said that he was Muslim, but Yazid was the kind of Muslim that the Shah is - he may in fact have been somewhat better than the Shah, but he was certainly no worse than he. However, because he treated the people so badly, because he was a tyrannous, cruel man who wanted to mislead the people by forcing them to obey him, the Lord of the Martyrs deemed it necessary to confront this cruel sultan even if it meant losing his life. This is the line of action that was taken by the prophets. If a cruel, unjust sultan wished to rule over the people the prophets would stand up against him and would do as they saw fit with him. Now, we too must confront him (the Shah) with whatever it takes. We must forbid him to do evil and enjoin him to do good, and we are to pull him down from this redundant throne. Hence, we are not concerned about sacrificing our lives; let us sacrifice them. This is clearly something, which we must do. We want to free a people; we want to free a nation; we want to make a nation independent; we want to break loose from the fetters of America, Britain and the Soviet Union, and naturally, this will mean that self-sacrifices have to be made. It will mean that our youth are to lose their lives, that we will be imprisoned for something like ten years. These things will have to happen. All kinds of sacrifices will have to be made. But we are in no way upset by the fact that we are to go to prison, or that our youngsters are to sacrifice their lives, since these things are to happen for the sake of truth, for the sake of God.

When something is to be done for the sake of God and for the sake of fighting oppression, then what is there for us to worry about? The fact that we are working for the sake of God and that our youngsters are making self-sacrifices for His sake is no cause at all for worry or grief. Be sure not to allow this fear to enter your hearts in any way. Be sure not to pay attention to those evil whisperings which ask: What on earth can we possibly do about the situation? What will the eventual outcome be? And so on. Or to those words uttered by certain of the devil’s accomplices to us clergymen and to you the people. Be sure to stand firm and not to allow any kind of fear to enter your hearts for, God willing, you shall be the victors. Whether we are killed or whether we kill others, Truth is on our side. Even if we are killed, we will have been killed in the fight for Truth, and this constitutes victory. And again, if we kill others, this too will have been in the fight for Truth, and therefore also constitutes victory.

We in no way fear these things. They can attack to their hearts’ content, but they will eventually bite the dust and be destroyed. And let these powerful nations declare their support for him (the Shah). As much as they like, let anyone who so desires go ahead and do this, for an entire nation is now standing up in confrontation, and is saying ‘no.’ No cannons or tanks can be effective before the ‘no’ of a nation, as we have seen since martial law has been implemented. Martial law is in force right now in Qum, but yesterday saw the holding of many demonstrations there yet again, and it is said that further demonstrations have been held there today also. People no longer pay any attention to this martial law of theirs. Truth can no longer be put to silence at bayonet point. This is just not possible any more.

I beseech the Lord to protect you all, and to enable us all to serve this nation and to serve Islam. God willing, may He grant us success in carrying out our bounden duty (the audience chants a salawat).