Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali (صادق خلخالی in Persian) (1927? - November 26, 2003) was a hardline Shia cleric of the early years of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On February 24, 1979, he was chosen by Ayatollah Khomeini to be the Sharia ruler (حاکم شرع in Persian) to overlook the courts and make Islamic rulings, many of which were executions. Ayatollah (Arabic: آية الله; Persian: آیت‌الله) is a high title given to major Shia clergymen. ... Persian (فارسی / پارسی), (local name in Iran/Persia, Afghanistan and Tajikistan: ‘Fârsi’), ‘Pârsi’ (older local name, but still used by some speakers), Tajik (a Central Asian dialect) or Dari (another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan), is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, western Pakistan, Bahrain, and elsewhere. ... 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... November 26 is the 330th day (331st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... An Islamic republic is a state under a particular theocratic form of government advocated by some Muslim religious leaders in the Middle East and Africa. ... February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... Ayatollah Khomeini founded the first modern Islamic republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (آیت‌الله روح‌الله خمینی in Persian) (May 17, 1900 – June 3, 1989) was an Iranian Shia cleric and the political and spiritual leader of the 1979 revolution that overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the then Shah of Iran. ...

Khalkhali is infamous for his many death sentences against prominent Iranian officials of the Pahlavi era, especially Amir Abbas Hoveida, a former prime minister, and Nematollah Nassiri, a former head of SAVAK. Most of the condemned did not have access to a lawyer or a jury. The Pahlavi dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Iran from 1925 to 1979, from which two Shahs were drawn. ... Amir Abbas Hoveida (in Persian: امیر عباس هویدا; February 18, 1919–April 7, 1979), also spelled Hoveyda, was a significant Iranian politician. ... General Nematollah Nassiri was the director of SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency during the rule of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. ... SAVAK (Persian: ساواک, short for سازمان اطلاعات Ùˆ امنیت کشور Sazeman-i Ettelaat va Amniyat-i Keshvar, National Organization for Intelligence and Security) was the domestic security and intelligence service of Iran from 1957–1979. ...

At the height of the Iran hostage crisis in 1980, Khalkhali appeared on television poking the charred bodies of the crews of US helicopters which crashed in the desert on the botched rescue mission Operation Eagle Claw. The Iran hostage crisis was a 444-day period during which the new government of Iran after the Iranian Revolution held hostage 66 diplomats and citizens of the United States. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more large horizontal rotors (propellers). ... A dune in the Egyptian desert Desert in California In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation, less than 200 mm per year. ... The wreckage of a Sea Stallion helicopter at the Desert One base in Iran Operation Eagle Claw (or Operation Evening Light) was a United States military operation to rescue the 53 hostages from the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran on April 24, 1980. ...

He later investigated and ordered the execution of activists for independence of Kurdistan and Turkmen Sahra, and then drug traffickers. In an interview, he has personally confirmed ordering more than 100 executions. // History Before World War I, most Kurds lived within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, in the province of Kurdistan. ...

Khalkhali was elected as representative of Qom in Parliament for two terms, and was removed from power upon Khomeini's death in 1989. He retired to Qom, where he taught islamic seminarians. Qom is famous for the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh, first built in the late 8th century. ... مجلس شورای اسلامی - The Majles; Irans Parliament. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He died at the age of 76 after a heart problem.

External links

• Obituary from The Economist website
• Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali profile from the Telegraph