The revolution loses a leading intellectual

The revolutionary court prosecuted a leading figure of the Pahlavi state for political repression and other offenses.

His rapid execution became one of the best-known early cases of revolutionary justice.

Many Iranians saw trials as a response to decades in which officials had been protected from public judgment.

Some revolutionaries argued that summary proceedings weakened due process and the moral authority of the new order.

The cleric and revolutionary theorist was shot after leaving a meeting of the Revolutionary Council.

The attack reflected violent conflict over clerical authority and the meaning of revolutionary Islam.

Large commemorations presented Motahhari as a martyr and condemned armed attacks on the new order.

A decree consolidated armed revolutionary groups into an institution tasked with protecting the revolution.

Its purpose was to defend the new political order against restoration, foreign interference and internal armed threats.

Local militants and networks that had fought the Shah became part of a national organization.