Poignant farewell ceremony

Press, 18 January 1979, Page 6

Poignant farewell ceremony

NZPA Teheran The Shah flew out of Iran on Tuesday in some secrecy after officials cancelled a scheduled news conference and told journalists that the departure had been put off until yesterday. The Shah had reigned longer than any other living monarch. It was at 1.24 p.m. local time that the silver-and-blue Boeing 707, christened Shahin (Falcon), took off from Mehrabad Airport for Egypt. As the jet flew over the capital, its citizens were unaware that the year of riots, which have claimed more than 2000 lives, had finally succeeded in driving out the monarch. But within 15 minutes the news had spread throughout Teheran, and hundreds of thousands of people poured out of their homes shouting “Shah raft” — “The Shah is gone.” The Shah’s departure from the capital began at

about 12.30 p.m. local time when the monarch, grim-faced and wearing a dark suit and overcoat, with Queen Farah at his side, led his retinue out of the white marble Niavaran Palace in the north of Teheran towards a fleet of four khaki-coloured helicopters. Ten minutes later the helicopters approached Mehrabad Airport and landed beside the imperial pavilion, a gray brick structure several hundred metres from the main building. There a brief and poignant farewell ceremony took place as the Shah said good-bye to a small group that included the Prime Minister, the Court Minister (Mr Ali Sholi Ardalan), senior Government officials, several military officers, members of the imperial guard, and some palace retainers.

Asked when he would return to Iran, he said “It depends on the status of my health and 1 cannot define the time.” As he finished speaking two of his imperial guards knelt to kiss his shoes, and when the Shah moved to stop them and lift them up, there were tears in his eyes.

The Empress, trying to keep her emotions under control, said, “I’m sure that the independence and national unity of car country will be preserved. I have faith in the Iranian people and in the culture of Iran. May God bless and preserve the Iranian nation.”

Then the royal couple kissed the Koran held by a follower and walked under it, as is the Muslim custom when taking a long journey. It was reported that the Shah took with him a bag of Iranian soil as his father did when he was exiled in 1941.