Tondguyan, Mohammad Javad
The oil minister of the cabinet of Mohammad Ali Rajaee Tondguyan was captured by the Baathist forces and died a martyr.
Mohammad Javad Tandgovian was born on June 24th,1950 in Khani Abad, Tehran. He was the first child of the family and physically of a small size. As a child, he used to pray next to his father and memorized the prayers with the help of his father and grandfather. Among the beautiful memories of this martyr, the memory of reciting The Komeil prayer is very beautiful. On one of the Friday nights, when he had gone to the mosque with his father, and as usual, after praying, he was reciting the Komeil prayer, suddenly, in the middle of the prayer, the electricity in the mosque went out, and as people could not pray any longer without electricity at the mosque, the had started leaving the mosque when suddenly they heard the good childish voice of young Tondguyan who had started reciting the Quranic verses by heart and his pleasant voice prevented people from leaving the mosque.
He spent his early years in a primary school named Eslamy. Javad did not have a happy and comfortable childhood and adolescence and he had to learn English and Arabic well while studying in high school in order to support his family by working as a tutor. In 1968, despite all the difficulties, he was able to get his high school diploma in mathematics and sat for university entrance exams. Although the number of participants was very high and the number of admissions was low, Mohammad Javad matriculated in the three universities of Shiraz, Tehran and Naft-e-Abadan or Abadan oil university. He decided against going to Shiraz University because of his family's opposition. He had a strong interest in studying at the Abadan Oil University and was able to get the consent of his family to study at there.
At that time, Melli Bank was sending 7 people from among those admitted at the public entrance exam to Europe to take specialized banking courses, and Mohammad Javad was among those seven people. The last stage was going to the interview. On the day of the interview, when the interviewer found out that Javad was a religious person, after discussing with him about religious issues, Javad was turned down. On the day of the interview, he had been asked: If you see a naked girl on the streets or in one of London's parks, what will be your reaction? Javad had said:” In a situation like this, there is no point in attempting to admonish the girl on my part and I can't stop this immorality, first I try to get as far away as possible from the scene. After that, I ask God to help me curb my feelings and not to think about it even in my imagination and dreams.” Under his interview sheet, they wrote: Due to his extreme religious prejudices, he is not qualified to be sent abroad, and even his presence among the bank's employment quota may cause problems in future.
From the first half of the academic years 1968-1969, he started his studies at Naft Abadan university and immediately cooperated with the Islamic Student Association and became a very active and effective member in a short period of time. He invited figures such as Morteza Motahari, Ali Shariati, Mohammad Taghi Jafari to give speeches at the oil University. Tondguyan contributed to the writing of the book entitled ‘ Four Prisons of Man’, which was based on the cassette tape of Ali Shariati's speech at Naft Abadan University.
Mohammad Javad graduated from oil University and then was drafted into military service. At that time, after completing a 24-week course, honor students of universities were sent to areas where they were needed. One year after graduating from school, when he was working at the Tehran oil refinery, he married Batul Burhan Ashkevary from a religious family living on Pirizou street in Tehran. He had come into contact with his wife through the wife of one of his friends, who attended in Qur'an interpretation sessions with Batul Burhan Ashkevary.
After some time, Tondguyan was arrested due to political activities against the Shah's government. He was sentenced to one year in prison. The short duration of his sentence indicated that the Savak interrogators had not been able to get a lot of confessions and to elicit information from him. After his release, because he had been fired from the oil company, he had to go to the army, and although he had a wife and children, he did the rest of his service with the rank of an ordinary soldier. He was always monitored by SAVAK officers. To earn a living, he worked for some time in the Butan company. But he was forced to resign under the pressure of Savak. For a while, he borrowed a car from a friend an worked as a taxi-driver. During this period, he had a difficult life, but after the victory of the revolution, he was chosen to manage a factory and at the same time, he also studied industrial management at the University of Higher Management.
Eleven months after the victory of the revolution, the Ministry of Oil invited him to work, considering his records, and finally, he was elected as the Minister of Oil of the Islamic Republic by the Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Rajaee. In the parliament, after the perusal of the full text of the introduction of the speakers and after the discussions of the supporters and opponents, he was approved of by the representatives with 155 votes in favor, 3 votes against and 18 abstentions.
Even after becoming a minister, he did not stop being simple and sincere. In a memory of his sister, it is stated: "Sometimes with our mother, he would carry a basket and go from one shop to another shopping for the required items. And when people in public places such as a bazar, said to him that he was a minister now, and that he should not walk with a basket in his hand through shops of Khani Abad, he would laugh and ask jocularly: "Don`t ministers need to buy things?"
Martyr Tondguyan assumed the responsibility of the ministry when he was only thirty years old, and accepting such a serious responsibility in such a difficult situation shows his courage, self-confidence and faith, that after seeing all the hardships, he welcomes it all the same.
From the 20th of September, when the imposed war began, till 29th of October, when he and his friends were captured by the Iraqi invaders, only 38 days passed. It was very difficult for him to go to the war zones under such conditions, but Javad had traveled to the oil-rich areas of the south three times in the meantime. By doing this, he learned about the situation in the oil-rich areas and raised the morale of the forces of the oil industry. He had just been appointed in charge of the southern regions when a reporter asked him: "Do you think oil or school is more important in the current situation?" Mohammad Javad immediately answered: "Now the school forms the brain of this society and oil is the blood that should flow through its veins." This national wealth is a basic commodity that will only be used to provide essential and non-luxury supplies to masses..."
On November 9th,1980, while about a month had passed from his ministry, when he was going south to visit the Abadan refinery, he was captured by Iraqi army forces on Mahshahr road to Abadan. There is no exact information about the condition of his captivity and how he died in the POW camp.
Engineer Behrouz Bushehri, the deputy of Tondguyan who was captured with him and returned to Iran after enduring years of captivity, says: "Javad was truly selfless, he was captured because of his belief, and he was recognized and martyred because of his sacrifice. We were going to the south so that our colleagues would not feel alone and would not leave their work. When we were captured, we had decided not to identify ourselves even if we were going to lose our lives for that purpose. We destroyed all our identification documents on the way. If we did not introduce ourselves, we would go to the camps like other prisoners, we would have the blessing of writing letters to our loved ones, and we would return with the rest of our compatriots if God was willing. But we introduced ourselves. Do you ask why? For at one point they took us to a pit. We thought they were going to bury us alive. About a hundred civilians were sitting around the pit. They tied our hands behind our backs, they also closed our eyes. They took our things, money, rings, etc. Suddenly, a volley of bullets was heard. We felt that they started killing prisoners... Javad`s fervor was stirred and he said: Behrooz, now that these brutes are killing all these innocent people. It is better to introduce myself. Maybe they think that other officials too are among prisoners , so they won`t kill the poor people. Javad introduced himself and prevented at least one hundred young people of this region from being killed. After Javad introduced himself, they took him away from us, the gunfire stopped, and no one was killed.[1] (Arablou, 1387: 69)
Seyyed Mohsen Yahyavy, who was captured by the Baathist enemy along with Mohammad Javad, says about the days of captivity:: About a week after the captivity, they took us to the Iraqi Security Organization. I didn't get to see Javad while we were there, but I could hear his voice. We were locked up individually in cramped and dark cells. Then we thought of contacting each other. Finally, we were able to communicate with each other through Morse signs, and finally through other prisoners, who had just been transferred to that terrible prison, we learned that the Iranian authorities put a lot of emphasis on the survival of Tondguyan and held the Iraqi government responsible for whatever might happen to him. My cell and Javad's were facing each other, and broadly speaking I was closer to him than the others... Javad and I were taken for interrogation at the same time, but because our eyes were closed, we could not see each other. The interrogators interrogated us in Persian and Arabic. Javad's answer was always the same. He kept saying: I am Mohammad Javad Tondguyan, the Minister of Oil of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I don't have anything new other than what I have already said... Javad was tortured more severely than the others; so that he could not sit for a long time. They took us to the ground floor for interrogation three or four times every month, but during the two years I was there, Javad was taken six times for interrogation... Javad was assumed as one of the prisoners who were forbidden to meet; Except for two special guards, no one was allowed to open the cell door or contact them. The number of these prisoners reached about 15 people... and what was very important was that he always recited the Quranic verses in his cell and in captivity. I personally could hear his voice, albeit weakly, reciting Surah Juma on Fridays and Komeil prayer on Thursdays. Due to the darkness of the prison and the fact that Javad did not have a prayer book with him, he recited from memory. In any case, the sad voice of Javad reciting the Quranic verses and prayers in those difficult conditions in captivity imparted us spirit, self-confidence, patience and trust, and we enjoyed the high spirit. During the whole period of the captivity of Tondguyan, the Iranian authorities made many efforts to release him, but every time the defiant government of Iraq rejected the release of Mohammad Javad for various reasons. (Arablo, ibid.: 75)
When the Iranian forces were able to ward off the invading enemy from the holy land of Islamic Iran, prisoners returned to their homeland in different groups, but there was no word or sign of Javad. After the end of the imposed war and the exchange of prisoners and casualties between Iraq and Iran, the body of Mohammad Javad Tondguyan, who had died a martyr due to severe torture in the Iraqi prison, was returned to Iran and buried on December 29th,1991.[1]
Martyr Tondguyan can rightfully be called the loneliest general of the war years; Because he was never taken to the camp like other prisoners, and as the years of the war have rolled by, the exact date and manner of his martyrdom is still wrapped up in a shroud of mystery.
See also
- The news about the return of the body of Tondguyan martyr in the press
- Captivity, prisoners and LCs in the press
Bibliography
To read more
javanbakhet, Mahmoud (1373). The story of that strange man. Tehran: Shahid.
Salaminejad, Abdul Reza (2012). The star of the cabinet (memoirs of the martyred minister Mohammad Javad Tondguyan). Tehran: Nilofaran.
Rostami, Ali (1390). I am the oil minister (fictional biography of the martyr engineer Mohammad Javad Tondguyan). Tehran: Al Ahmad.
Mohammad Kishani Farahani