Hassan Zia-Zarifi

Who was Hassan Zia-Zarifi?

Hassan Zia-Zarifi was an Iranian intellectual and one of the ideological founders of the communist guerrilla movement in Iran.

Hassan Zia-Zarifi was executed extrajudicially along with eight others while in prison in Tehran on April 18, 1975. The execution generated tremendous internal and foreign criticism against the increasingly oppressive government of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and helped cement its reputation as a serious violator of human rights.

By the time of his execution, the small group Zia-Zarifi had helped form along with Bijan Jazani had developed into the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas, who posed a serious challenge to the Shah’s government.