Persepolis+-+Savak+(the+secret+police)

[[image:uygoiy.jpg]]
=**Prior to the Islamic revolution of 1978–79 in Iran, SAVAK (Organization of National Security and Information), the Iranian secret police and smart service, protected the regime of the shah by arresting, hurting, and executing many dissidents. After the shah's government fell, SAVAK and other smart services were erased and new services were created. [|The Shah's] secret police--SAVAK, usually referred to with an adjective such as "dreaded" or "hated" before the acronym--was active in Iran to stifle those who would oppose him. There is a great deal of controversy over just how horrible SAVAK actually was in the larger scheme of things. Was it a wide-ranging and indiscriminate effort to track down, hurt, imprison, exile and/or murder all those who dissented, or who even were thought to dissent, much like the operations of the [|Soviet KGB]? Or was it far more benign, only dealing with those who would painfully overthrow the government (such as [|Khomeini] and his henchmen), and using torture only sparingly?**= media type="youtube" key="x8fMFCSFNZ4&hl=en" height="355" width="425"

http://neo-neocon.blogspot.com/2006/09/roya-hakakian-and-savak-another.html