Seven of the nine were part of the “Jazani-Zarifi group,” named after Bizhan Jazani and

Hasan Zia-Zarifi. SAVAK arrested them in early 1968 during the planning stages of a guerrilla offensive. The CISNU, in partnership with Amnesty International, mounted a widely publicized defense campaign in Great Britain as the group stood trial in early

1969. The court did not hand down any death sentences, but the militants languished in jail as their comrades on the outside launched a series of assassinations and targeted attacks against symbols of Pahlavi power, including ten operations between August 1974 and March 1975. In April, one month prior to royal couple‟s arrival in the United States,

SAVAK responded to the attacks on their own by murdering Jazani, Zarifi, five additional Fadaiyan, and two members of the Mojahedin outside of Evin Prison as they allegedly attempted a jail break.73

The political murders motivated the shah‟s critics in Congress, many of whom had protested the political trials of early 1972, to join the ISAUS in a letter-writing campaign to the Georgetown president. Don Edwards wrote to Henle and pointed to the nine recent deaths as the failure of justice in Iran. Exploiting a play on words, Edwards asserted that it was “a contradiction in terms to bestow a degree of humanity to a voice for a government which grossly violates basic human rights.” The letter-writing campaign marked the first time that Donald Fraser (D-MN), the chairperson of the House

Subcommittee on International Organizations, expressed his concern about human rights in Iran. Fraser emphasized that the lack of civil liberties, plight of political prisoners, and reports of torture made Georgetown‟s relationship with the Iranian government

“regrettable.” Ronald Dellums wrote to President Gerald Ford and Reverend Henle,

73 Vahabzadeh, A Guerrilla Odyssey, 17-21, 37-38. Material on the 1969 defense campaign in Great Britain located in File No. NEP3/2, “Iranian Students in London,” FCO 17/851.

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