Guilty As Sin
December 22, 1953 — The Daily Press

The Mossadegh Project | May 7, 2021                    


The Daily Press newspaper in St. Marys, Pennsylvania published this lead editorial on the sentence given to Prime Minister Mossadegh in military court.

Aside from the overt bias, it contains some pretty extreme “mistakes”.




In News Again

The Weeping Willow of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, is back in the news again after a brief absence. He was found guilty yesterday in Tehran of treason to his country and remanded to a damp jail cell. [“moist” would have also worked]

He has been sent up for three years of solitary confinement; which to the lay mind, seems like minor sentence for a grave crime. [It was followed by lifetime house arrest]

Mossadegh today finds himself at the end of the rope he hewed himself. Only a few years ago he was the chief of fairly prosperous country as Middle Eastern standards go.

The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was paying steady dividends to his countrymen. It had set up ideal working conditions for Iranians, provided them with adequate housing, schooling and hospital care. Workers for the oil company were the envy of the rest of the country. [If so, why the public clamor for nationalization?]

Then Mossadegh got the idea his government was entitled to added royalty, and when he did not receive it, nationalized the industry and drove the British from his land. [The purpose of nationalization was more than just financial]

Then he tried to make a deal with Soviet Russia to take over operations of the abandoned oil wells and refineries, but no soap. [Not a word of this is true]

The wells still stand idle and the economy of Iran has sunk to a low state indeed. The ousted premier tried every way possible to make a deal with America. This was ruled out by the administration. [So the U.S. was intransigent?]

Then he sent the young Shah into exile when he found out the latter was trying to renew negotiations with Great Britain. [Not a word of this is true] After a few weeks followers of the Shah turned on Mossadegh, tossed him out of office, placed him in jail and brought him to the trial ended yesterday with a sentence of guilt pinned against him. [The British and Americans were also responsible, but shhhh]

He had within him, at one time, the possibility of being one of the finest rulers in his part of the world, but by refusing to face facts as they actually exist, he became too big for his turban and today is just another prisoner behind granite walls. [Which facts exactly needed facing?]



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Related links:

Pres. Eisenhower vs Adlai Stevenson is to Shah vs Mossadegh? (Sept. 1953 Letter)

Mossadegh’s Strength “Derives From the Spirit Of Nationalism” | U.S. Report, May 6, 1951

Jail For Mossadegh | The San Mateo Times (California), December 30, 1953



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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