TheMuslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line (Persian:دانشجویان مسلمان پیرو خط امامDânešjuyân-e Mosalmân-e peyrov-e Khatt-e Emâm), also called theMuslim Students of the Imam Khomeini Line,[1] was an Iranian student group thatoccupied the U.S. embassy inTehran on 4 November 1979. The students were supporters of theIslamic Revolution who occupied the embassy to show their support for AyatollahKhomeini and their outrage that the ex-Shah of Iran was admitted to the United States for cancer treatment, instead of being returned to Iran for trial and execution. The occupation triggered theIran hostage crisis where 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days.
The organization was agroup comprising students from several major science and technology universities of Tehran, including theUniversity of Tehran,Sharif University of Technology, andTehran Polytechnic.
Time reported in December 1979 that there was "general agreement among Iranians and Western diplomatic sources that the 200 or so young men and women who are always inside the embassy compound are indeed legitimate students", although many Americans suspected otherwise.Time explained that television images taken outside the embassy show "armed men ... in dark green fatigues" who "look more like combat soldiers", but identified these men as members of the Pasdaran, theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[2]
Amongst the students wereEbrahim Asgharzadeh, who concocted the original idea to seize the American embassy in September 1979,Mohsen Mirdamadi,Habibolah Bitaraf, andMasumeh Ebtekar, who was the group's spokesperson during the embassy hostage-taking and later became theVice President of Iran For Women and Family Affairs.[citation needed]
Their name refers to theImam, that is, the leader of Iran,AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini, who was not informed of the occupation of the embassy in advance, but later supported and confirmed the action.[3] Information from other sources suggests Ayatollah Khomeini not only knew of the plans ahead of time, but approved them as well.[4]
The group found political identity and social reinforcement in the revolutionary atmosphere, and because of the embassy action, the overall position of the supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was strengthened in comparison with leftist groups.[citation needed]
Media related toMuslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
  | ThisIranian history-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
