# Tayeb Hajrezaei

Teyeb Hajrezaei (Persian:طیب حاج‌رضایی) (1912 in Tehran – 2 November 1963 in Tehran) was one of the traditional athletes of the Pahlavi era and among those individuals known as javan mard or Looti in the oral literature of that time. In 1953, he was a supporter of the Pahlavi dynasty during 1953 Iranian coup d'état but later emerged as an opponent of Mohammad Reza Shah. After spending some time in prison, he was executed by firing squad on 2 November 1963.

## Life

Teyeb was born in 1912, in the Sābūn Pāz Khāneh (commonly known as Sām Pāz Khāneh) neighborhood of Tehran. His father, Hossein Ali Hajrezaei, was originally from Avaj County and, after migrating to Tehran, worked in collecting dry twigs for bakeries. Teyeb had three brothers named Haji Masih, Akbar, and Tahir. He had an early interest in traditional sports and gained recognition after completing his military service. From 1951 to 1963, Teyeb was involved in the field of fruit and vegetable trading in Tehran, specifically in buying and selling fruits and vegetables. Throughout his life, he had two wives and seven children.
He and his contemporaries engaged in ancient sports in places like Zurkhaneh Asghar Shater in the wheat warehouse (near Shush Square), Zurkhaneh Reza Kashfi in Saadat Bazaar (on Molavi Street), and Zurkhaneh in the Pachenar and Nizamabad neighborhoods. Additionally, they practiced in Zurkhaneh Shaban Jafari in City Park.
In his youth, Teyeb had several stints in prison due to involvement in various incidents, with some instances where he did not complete his sentence. His criminal record included:
* Two years of solitary confinement for clashing with the Shahrbani guards in 1937.
* Pursued for involvement in 1940, released on bail.
* Five years of imprisonment with shackles in 1943.
* Exile to Bandar Abbas in 1944 on charges of murder. He was found not guilty.
According to accounts from others, Teyeb is attributed with traits such as kindness and helping those who cannot defend themselves, and needy people. Some describe him as a religious person; for instance, it is said that he refrained from trimming his beard during the month of Muharram and wore black mourning attire while mourning. Bijan Hajrezaei, Teyeb's son, spoke about his father's devotion to Husayn ibn Ali:
"My father had a strange sensitivity and affection for the lineage of sanctity and purity, especially Imam Hossian. I truly say that he loved him; even in the face of my mother's objections about some of his expenditures, he would say, 'I divide my life and the money I earn into two parts. I spend one part on myself, and the other part I either mourn for Imam Hossian or spend it in his way.'"
One of Teyeb's notable activities was leading a mourning procession during Tasu'a' and Ashura, moving from the warehouse area towards the city center and receiving great respect from neighborhood dignitaries such as Ali Kashani along the way.
Teyeb and those associated with him did not directly participate in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état but joined the scene in the afternoon after the coup's victory. Teyeb's respect for the leaders of the uprising, who were the heads of the field, was a significant factor in his reluctance to directly cooperate with the Pahlavi court. After the 1953 coup, Teyeb gradually changed his stance on supporting the court. In some cases, such as the election of the head of the coffee-makers' guild, he clashed with the supporters of the court, including Shaban Jafari, and prevented Shaban Jafari from being elected as the head of the guild instead of Ibrahim Karimi Abadi. The efforts of Seyyed Reza Zanjani, through two of Teyeb's friends, Hossein Kalantari and Ghasem Samavar Saz, were among the factors that changed Teyeb's opinion towards the court. In return, the court tried to change Teyeb's opinion by offering him benefits, such as transferring the right to buy and sell Indian watermelons in exchange for a check for one and a half million tomans. Due to unknown reasons, and likely to pressure him, they executed the check, and he was sent to prison for 24 hours. The imprisonment for the check was very distressing for Teyeb, and it was one of the factors of his discontentment with the court.

## 1963 demonstrations in Iran and the execution of Teyeb

The Pahlavi regime arrested Teyeb Haj Reza on June 16, 1963, along with 400 others, accusing them of disrupting public order. They identified Teyeb Haj Reza and Ismail Rezaei as the leaders of the arrested individuals. Eventually, among those detained, Ismail and Teyeb Haj Reza were sentenced to death by the Special Court No. 1, headed by Brigadier General Hossein Zamani, and prosecuted by Colonel Ahmad Dolou Ghajar. With the representation of the sequestration lawyer, Teamsar Shayanfar, after 13 trial sessions for criminal and treasonous activities aimed at disrupting public order and security on the days of June 15 of that year, they were sentenced to execution based on Article 70 of the General Penal Code. This verdict was carried out on the early morning of November 2, 1963.
In his will, Teyeb stated that anyone making a claim for money after his death should be paid, and anyone from whom he was owed, if they did not settle their debts, he forgave.
His wife was Fakhr al-Molouk Migrant Zanjani. She died on 5 April 2015, in one of Tehran's hospitals."