ḤASIBI, KĀẒEM, political figure and university professor (b. Tehran, 1324/1906; d. Tehran, 1369 Š./1990; Figure 1). Born to a merchant family, Ḥasibi graduated from the law school at Tehran (Madrasa-ye ʿali-e ḥoquq wa ʿolum-e siāsi) with distinction in 1928 and was among the first group of students sent to France to continue their education. He studied mining and graduated at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique in 1939. He then returned to Tehran and, following his military service, began teaching at the University of Tehran in 1941 in the Faculty of Engineering (Aʿrābi, p. 113; Ayānda, 16/9-12, 1980-81, p. 866).
In the same year, together with a number of engineers, Ḥasibi set up the Engineers’ Association (Kānun-e mohandesin), which later became Iran Party (Ḥezb-e Irān). This party later joined The National Front (Jebha-ye Melli) under the leadership of Dr. Moḥamamd Moṣaddeq and played an active role in the Oil Nationalization Movement of 1950-53 (Modir Šānači, p. 57).
On July 19, 1949, during the 15th Session of the House of Parliament (Majles), ʿAbbāsqoli Golšāʾiān, the Minister of Finance, presented a bill aimed at revising the Anglo-Iranian Oil Contract (this was known as the Gass-Golšāʾiān Contract), which Ḥasibi and his political friends were against; thereupon he prepared a comprehensive report on the former Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s (q.v.) 45-year balance sheet, which was read to the Parliament in several sessions by Ḥosayn Makki. Then the term of office of the National Parliament came to an end and the bill was not passed (Makki, pp. 189-909; Naft wa noṭq-e Makki, pp. 220-514; Gāh-nāma, pp. 485, 487).
When the oil industry was nationalized in 1951 during Dr. Moṣaddeq’s government, Ḥasibi, as Deputy Minister of Finance, became a member of the delegation charged with the eviction of the former oil company. He accompanied Dr. Moṣaddeq to the U.N. Security Council and also, as oil adviser, defended Persia at the Hague International Tribunal against the British complaint (ʿĀqeli, 1990, I, pp. 324, 335).
Ḥasibi was elected Member of the House of Parliament in its 17th Session in 1951. However, he remained Mo-ṣaddeq’s oil adviser until the end of his premiership and continued to play an influential role in all meetings with various delegations.
After the 1953 coup d’etat (q.v.), Ḥasibi went into hiding, but he was captured and imprisoned in early 1954 by the military government. He was later freed. He continued, to play a role in the political activities of the National Front until his death in 1990.
Ḥasibi was a religious man, loyal to the cause of the oil nationalization movement, and faithful to Moṣaddeq. But he was also self-righteous and inflexible and appeared not to have been well informed regarding the intricacies of the oil industry and international politics and was, as oil advisor, at least partially responsible for the Moṣaddeq government’s failure in the oil negotiations (Ebtehāj, I, pp. 286-87).
Bibliography:
Bāqer Āqeli, Ruz šemār-e tāriḵ-e Irān as Mašruṭa tā Enqelāb-e eslāmi, 2 vols., Tehran 1990.
Idem, Šarḥ-e ḥāl-e rejāl-e siāsi wa neẓāmi-e moʿāser-e Irān, I, Tehran, 2001, pp. 575-76.
Ḥosayn Aʿrābi, Yād-nāma-ye Mohandes Kāzem-e Ḥasibi, Teharn, 1991.
Abu’l-Ḥasan Ebtehāj, Ḵāṭerāt-e Abu’l-Ḥasan Ebte-hāj, I, Tehran, 1996.
ʿAṭā-Allāh Farhang Qahramāni, Asāmi-e namāyandagān-e Majles-e šurā-ye melli, Tehran, 1977.
Gāh-nāma-ye panjāhsāl šāhanšāhi-ye Pahlavi, I, Paris, n.d.
Ḥosayn Makki, Ḵāṭerāt-e siāsi-e Ḥosayn Makki, Tehran, 1989.
Naft wa noṭq-e Makki, Tehran, 1949.
Moḥsen Modir Šānači, Aḥzāb-e siāsi-e irān, Tehran, 1996.
(Bagher Agheli and EIr)
Originally Published: December 15, 2003
Last Updated: March 20, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XII, Fasc. 1, pp. 48-49
