Jaʻfarī, Shaʻbān, 1921-2006

Shaban Jafari (Persian: شعبان جعفری; 19 August 1921 – 21 March 2006), also known as Pahlevan Shaban Jafari (Persian: پهلوان شعبان جعفری, romanized: Pahlaven Sha'bān Jafari) by Pahlavi supporters or Shaban the Crown-Bestower (Persian: شعبان تاجبخش, romanized: Sha'bān-e Tājbakhsh) or Shaban Bi-Mokh (Shaban the Maniac) by Pahlavi opponents, was an Iranian political activist and practitioner of Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals. A controversial figure in Iranian politics, he was instrumental in overthrowing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh's government in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état. Following the coup, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi seized power and governed as a dictator. Over time, the Shah's regime lost both popular support and confidence. By the 1970s, longstanding grievances against the Shah resulted in the Iranian Revolution which deposed him. Jafari, whose connection to the 1953 coup made him a target for the new Iranian government, fled to the United States where he remained until his death in 2006.