Parviz Sabeti Finally Breaks His Silence: But Does He Say Much?

By:Dr Mahyar Etminan is an epidemiologist and Professor at

the University of British Columbia

Parviz Sabeti one of the top deputies of the SAVAK, has been an elusive figure for the last 45
Years, the inception of the Islamic Revolution. One of the Shah’s top confidants and key figures
in the SAVAK, Iran’s secret police prior to the Revolution, Sabeti has been residing in the US
Since his exile and has granted few interviews. Now, after more than four decades, a five-part
documentary, produced by Manoto TV, on Parviz Sabeti was just debuted on the same station.
Sabeti’s 7.5-hour program is filled with perfunctory topics, vignettes and events mainly from the
era before the revolution. He starts describing the early years of SAVAK and its activities, its set
up and of course the arrests. Topics that many Iranians don’t remember and probably don’t care
much about. Instead of focusing on the years leading up to the revolution, he only touches on the
events prior to the fall of the shah. Even then, his accounts are mostly events that bear little
significance on the revolution. In particular, what he fails to discuss (perhaps leaving them it for
his upcoming book) are the number of the ‘million dollar’ questions on what really happened in
the years leading up to the revolution; mainly what did SAVAK know? when did it know them?
and why wasn’t anything done to avert the revolution.
To his credit, Sabeti has an impeccable memory, although at times mumbles his way through
some of the account, considering he is 87 and purportedly has just recovered from a traumatic
accident. If Manoto intended to create a Biography of Sabeti, it did a good job with good
graphics, original audio from the 1950s and 60s and even professional re-enactments. But I am
certain most Iranians who watched this documentary did so in hope of getting some answers to
the critical questions that many want to know; mainly could SAVAK have averted the Islamic
revolution and if so, who or what prevented it in doing its job.
The fear that SAVAK and its activities had instilled in the Iranian society in the lead up to the
Iranian revolution, was one of the main pillars that catapulted the revolution into victory. The
criticism toward SAVAK was not because of its arrest of terrorists who wanted to interfere with
the country’s national security, but for the arrests of those who were wrongfully detained, jailed
or tortured for simply reading banned scripts or books. Many of these victims have recounted
their experience since the revolution. It seems that none of these witnesses were contacted to tell
their side of the story for this documentary.
During the 5-part series, Sabeti mainly stuck to two narratives. 1) SAVAK did what it had to do
to protect the country’s national security, 2) he had blown the whistle on the clergy, soon to
become revolutionaries, years prior to the revolution, but he says it fell on deaf ears. This
narrative is weak and not convincing to many of which are well informed about the SAVAK and

seek more granularity on SAVAKs track record, answers that only high-ranking officials such as
Sabeti can answer.
For me, the Sabeti documentary fell shot. After 7.5 hours of listening to Sabeti, my knowledge
about the SAVAK is probably at the same level it was before watching this documentary. This is
a pity as people who hold the secrets like Sabeti are few and far between.

Mahyar Etminan PharmD, MSc (Epidemiology)
Associate Professor
Departments of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Medicine| Faculty of Medicine
The University of British Columbia |The Eye Care Center