"Nothing but Islam Will Do"

Rejoicing at the Shah's death, and more executions

As world leaders cabled messages of sympathy to the family of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (President and Mrs. Carter sent "personal condolences"), Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini said "Allahu akbar!" (God is great!) upon hearing of the death of Iran's ex-monarch. Tehran radio announced the news in these terms: "The bloodsucker of the century has died at last."

That official expression of jubilation over the Shah's death climaxed a week of exceptionally highly charged rhetoric. "We want Islam alone; nothing but Islam will do!" Khomeini had thundered, intensifying his quest for a kind of theocratic totalitarianism. Denouncing all nonclerical government groups, including the secular allies who had joined in the revolution, he called for a strengthening of the far-flung militia committees, the parapolice organs that are notorious for arbitrary arrests and brutality.

The Ayatullah delivered his strongest blow yet against President Abolhassan Banisadr, easily the most put-upon head of state in the world. Banisadr has been frustrated at every turn in his attempt to name a Prime Minister and Cabinet. With the new Majlis (parliament) now fully convened, Khomeini called upon it to reject any government candidates proposed by Banisadr unless they are "100% Islamic, revolutionary and decisive."

At week's end Khomeini's ideal candidate for Prime Minister had been found. Banisadr nominated Mostafa Mirsalim, 33, who seemed virtually certain to be quickly confirmed by the Majlis. Mirsalim possesses the two qualifications that Khomeini most desires in a head of government. He is a Muslim fundamentalist who has the support of the mullahs' ruling Islamic Republic Party (I.R.P.). He is also a policeman; as Iran's national police chief, he has proved that only Islamic zealots deserve protection in the Islamic republic.

In another demonstration of their strength last week, the mullahs elected Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as speaker of the Majlis. A ranking member of the I.R.P., Rafsanjani, 45, has been a confidant of Khomeini's since he attended the Ayatullah's courses for advanced scholars of theology in Qum in 1956. A shrewd Muslim fundamentalist, he harbors a strong antipathy toward all Western-educated politicians, like Banisadr. In one of his first official acts, leading a debate on the contested credentials of Majlis Representative Hassan Ayat, an I.R.P. member and enemy of Banisadr's, the new speaker showed his idea of fair discussion. Rafsanjani gave the floor to colleagues who testified in Ayat's favor, then silenced any criticism. The logical outcome of the vote: an easy victory for Ayat.

As matters stand, Iranians have plenty to fear under a power structure that is as unable to prevent terrorism as it is unwilling to stem the widescale repression. In a mysterious outbreak of urban warfare last week, three bombs went off in a parking lot killing six people. Meanwhile, 65 more people were executed for civil crimes like drug trafficking. Twenty-five of them were officers convicted of involvement in the alleged plot earlier this month to overthrow Khomeini and restore exiled former Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar to power.

One after the other, 20 blindfolded victims were marched into the courtyard of Tehran's Evin Jail. Islamic guards fired salvo after salvo, enough to kill the men many times, while prison officials chanted a refrain of Allahu akbar. Such brutal executions, day after day, raise an obvious question: Is the brutality of the revolutionary regime exceeding that of the late Shah's?

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