- Executed of the Dignitary who presented last AFC Asian Cup to Captain Ghleechkhani.
Parviz Ghleechkhani is a legend in Iran’s football. Not only he had exceptional skills and was a complete footballer, but he was also a competent leader who steered his Team Melli to the last ever Asian Cup title in Tehran in 1976.
Ghleechkahni remains the only Asian player to have won the AFC Asian Cup title for three-times. It is hardly unlikely that his record will be broken anytime soon.
The final was at the Aryameher Stadium, currently Azadi. 120,000 fans filled that foiled the stadium demanded nothing less than defeating Kuwait and its arrogant coach Mario Zagalo. The Brazilian had been wildly quoted that Kuwait is the Champion before any ball was kicked in the AFC Asian Cup to be held in Iran for the 2nd time.
In fact, Zagalo who steered Brazil to the FIFA World Cup title 6 years ago with stars like Pele, Zairzinho, Tostao and Carlos Alberto, was so confident that his Kuwaiti team will win the title, he dismissed Iran chances of lifting the title at home. That did not go down well with the Iranian passionate fans to the extent that a song was composed teasing Zagalo.
Ali Parvin scored the only goal of the match from a brilliant free-kick and Iran lifted the cup for the third time running humiliating Mario Zagalo. At the end of the match with 120,000 cheering and dancing fans in Arayamehr, Lieutenant General Ali Hojat Kashani, The head of the Physical Education Organization known as General Hojjat, was the designated dignitary who presented the trophy to Captain Parviz Ghleechkhani.
Two years later, with the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Hojat Kashani was one of the Shah regime personnel who was arrested and incarcerated at Qasr Prison. General Kashani had no lawyer to defend him. Sadegh Khalkhali, the Hanging Judge as he was labelled, claimed that “Only those people who are deaf and dumb are allowed to have a lawyer. There is no such thing in the Qur’an as a lawyer. “
The Kayhan daily published a report on 11th April 1979 on the trial of General Hojat and 10 other military personnel. The Kangaroo court was presided over by Khalkhali who is responsible for issuing death sentences to thousands of the Shah regimes associates and government civil servants. Khalkhali ordered the execution of all the defendants. In his closing statement, he said: “It is not the court that has tried you, but the millions of Iranians who have given their blood. They have tried you. We are here on behalf of the Imam (Khomeini) and the Iranian people to justify the right.”
The report did not specify how much time was awarded to General Hojat and indeed each defendant, who were all executed, to defend their case. It was another verdict of mass execution.
Iran’s most celebrated football and the Captain who lifted the Asian Cup for the final time, fled the country fearing for his life and remains a fugitive after years of glorious service for his homeland.