“Once a person fell into the arms of SAVAK there was nowhere
to turn,” wrote historian William Shawcross.
SAVAK was empowered to act as the sole investigator of all
alleged political crimes and also to bring charges. Suspects had
no right to choose an independent lawyer, and usually were able
to make contact with no one outside the prison. Once in SAVAK
hands, people could simply disappear....By the mid-seventies,
fear of SAVAK extended even into the elite. Almost everyone
with higher education knew someone who had disappeared, or
whose death was thought, perhaps wrongly, to be the work of
SAVAK. Even members of the [shah’s] court were afraid.^34
Members of the organization were well aware of their likely
fate now that the shah’s regime was gone. A few SAVAK opera-
tives offered their services to the revolutionary government and
were accepted. Most fled, or tried to. Those who were captured
were doomed to quick execution—sometimes with, sometimes
without, trials.
Who were the judges? By what authority did they condemn?
This vendetta alarmed the more moderate ulema. No less an
official than Bazargan, Khomeini’s appointed prime minister,
branded the political executions “a disgrace to the country and
the revolution.”^35
An official vote on a form of government was held at the end
of March 1979. Voters had but two choices: in favor of an Islamic
republic or opposed to it. Ballots were of two colors: Green,
signifying Islam, was a pro vote; red, signifying the ancient
tyrant Yezid, was a no vote. In light of the previous year’s events,
few voters were likely to oppose the ayatollah’s intended form of
government. Khomeini won his referendum and proclaimed
Iran to be an Islamic republic.
Although Khomeini could claim an overwhelming mandate in
the referendum, many revolutionary groups, ethnic groups, and
even religious leaders and officials in the new government were
unhappy with it. They had hoped voters would have more than
two stark options when choosing their new form of government.
Khomeini in Power 59