Jahangir Razmi

Jahangir Razmi in 2007

Jahangir Razmi ( Persian جهانگیر رزمی Jahangir Razmi ; *  December 16, 1947 in Arak ) is an Iranian photographer and author of the article, who received the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for current photo reporting. His photograph Firing Squad in Iran was taken on August 27, 1979 and published anonymously in Ettelā'āt , Iran's oldest still-published newspaper. Days later, the photo appeared on the front pages of numerous newspapers around the world. The photo is the only anonymous winner in the more than 90-year history of the Pulitzer Prize. Razmi did not admit to the recording until 2006.

Life until 1979

Razmi grew up in Arak, Iran, the son of a military employee and a housewife. Taking an early interest in photography, he spent a lot of time with the local photographer as a child, developing films and making portraits. He bought his first camera at the age of twelve and, at the urging of a local reporter, began his career as a photojournalist, photographing the scene of a crime. He went into business for himself with a small photo shop, and after his father's death he joined the Iranian army . He had worked for Ettelā'āt since 1972 and was quickly recognized for his technical skills and bravery. Razmi documented the change of power in his country in 1979, when the Islamic revolution forced the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to flee the country and Shiite leader Ayatollah homeini came to power. In August 1979 hundreds of people who had served in the Shah's former government were executed. At the same time, Khomeini sent the Iranian military to Kurdistan to suppress an uprising there. Razmi and a reporter from Ettelā'āt, Chalil Bahrami, followed him.

Firing Squad in Iran

On August 26, 1979, Bahrami learned that a judge he knew, most likely Sadegh Chalkhali , would try Kurds the following day at the airport in Sanandaj . In a 30-minute trial, 11 prisoners were charged with arms trafficking , murder and incitement to riot and sentenced to death. The blindfolded men were led outside onto the airfield, where they were lined up a few meters away from the firing squad . Razmi was able to move unhindered and was able to photograph the shooting from a position behind the shooter on the right.

Razmi supplied two rolls of film to Ettelā'āt's office and editor-in-chief Mohammed Heydari decided to use one of Razmi's pictures on the front page. He chose the picture taken at the moment when some riflemen had fired and some hadn't. Heydari published the picture anonymously to protect the photographer from reprisals by the new government. The United Press International (UPI) news agency soon ordered a copy of the picture and forwarded it to its offices worldwide, again without specifying a name. On August 29, newspapers such as The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph published the picture on their front pages. UPI was named as the source.

In the period that followed, the image gained international attention and was consequently proposed by UPI for the Pulitzer Prize. Although he did not know the originator of the photograph, UPI editor-in-chief Larry DeSantis submitted the image to the Pulitzer Prize Committee, and since he had received the image through the UPI network, he gave an anonymous UPI photographer as Originator. The picture was awarded the Pulitzer Prize on April 14, 1980 as the first and so far only anonymous picture.

Since 1979

In the following years, Razmi continued his work as a photojournalist and documented the Iran-Iraq war in particular . In 1987 he was tired of war photography, ended his collaboration with Ettelā'āt and opened his own photo studio. In 1997 he was named the first "Official Photographer of the President and his Cabinet" by the newly elected President Mohammad Chātami .

In 2006 he was tracked down by the Wall Street Journal and revealed for the first time that he was the photographer of the Firing Squad in Iran . He had never before claimed the authorship of the picture for fear of retaliation. But now, encouraged by the long time lag and because of the disappointment that his name was never mentioned, he confessed to his work.

literature

• Joshua Prager: A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History . Wall Street Journal, page A1, December 2, 2006.

Web links

• Firing Squad in Iran , the Pulitzer Prize winning picture
• 27 photos of Razmi's execution on August 27, 1979 ( photo no.20 was awarded)