Bahram Afzali
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6 December 1937
Bahram Afzali | |
|---|---|
 Afzali in summer 1980 | |
| Born | Bahram Afzali Khoshkebijari[1] 6 December 1937 |
| Died | 25 February 1984 (aged 46) |
| Branch |  Islamic Republic of Iran Navy |
| Service years | 1957–1984 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands | Islamic Republic of Iran Navy |
| Conflicts | |
| 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]
Arrest, trial and death
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]
