End of a Tragicomedy

"Please tell Mr. Ebtehaj to leave prison so as to make our job easy," said the magistrate to a clerk. Thus, on the same absurd note with which it began seven months ago, the case of Iran's most celebrated prisoner ended last week.

Abol Hassan Ebtehaj, 62, is a brilliant but irascible banker and economic planner whose frequent forceful criticism of Iranian corruption and autocracy outraged Cabinet ministers and even members of the Shah's entourage. With equal bluntness he attacked the U.S. for "spoiling us little children" with massive military aid, accused Washington of doling out economic assistance without sufficient planning. For years, Iranian officialdom tolerated him simply because Ebtehaj was essential to the country's economy. As chief of Iran's Plan Organization from 1954 to 1959, he initiated the country's ambitious land and industrial development projects, hired such able foreign assistance as David E. Lilienthal's Development and Resources Corp.

Last November Ebtehaj's enemies caught up with him. He was imprisoned on criminal charges that he had misused funds, signed a $35 million contract with Lilienthal's group before the government had formally authorized the agreement.

After Ebtehaj was jailed, the government went ahead with the deal.

Delicate Issue. Ebtehaj behind bars proved to be almost as troublesome as Ebtehaj on the loose. Editorial writers in Europe and the U.S. demanded his release; the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee informally explored the issue.

The Iranian government grew so sensitive on the subject that it suspended foreign publications that even mentioned his name. Even Premier Ali Amini said he was convinced that Ebtehaj was "honest and upright," but the Ministry of Justice continued to hold their prisoner without a trial or a formal indictment.

Last month, after the entire top echelon of the Plan Organization resigned because Justice Ministry gumshoes had brought all work to a standstill by asking "thousands of stupid, irrelevant and vexatious questions," Amini promised to take immediate action on Ebtehaj's case. More important, the Shah himself became a frequent visitor to a Teheran bowling alley owned by Mrs. Ebtehaj, promised to help her husband get out of jail.

About two weeks ago Ebtehaj was offered his freedom if he handed over bail of $140 million--four times the amount of the contract with Lilienthal. Newspapers defied censorship to quip that the government was trying to pay off its deficit. Haughtily, Ebtehaj refused the proposition, even though his wife raised pledges for the money in less than a week. "If I am guilty, prosecute me," he said, "and if I am innocent, release me.

I cannot claim to be innocent by furnishing bail." Final Compromise. The government then reduced its demand for bail to $35 million and offered to write a letter to Ebtehaj affirming his innocence and unjust arrest. Still he refused. Only when the regime's face-saving condition of bail was dropped completely did the prisoner agree to be liberated. In exchange, Ebtehaj posted a $140 million bond guaranteeing his continued presence in Teheran.

Last week everything seemed ready for the triumphal return home. Then Ebtehaj himself provoked more trouble. He demanded written assurances that the conditions of the bond permitted him to vacation at Iran's Caspian Sea resorts.

Wearily, the magistrate applied to higher authorities for permission. Until the papers arrived, Ebtehaj insisted on staying in jail, even grabbed the belt of a cop who had neglected the formality of the occasion and tried to leave Ebtehaj unguarded. Two days later he finally consented to quit his prison hospital cell, and his captors breathed a sigh of relief.

Said Ebtehaj last week as he drove off from jail with his wife and 4 1/2-year-old daughter: "Thus ends a tragicomic opera of Iranian justice."

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