From beatings to mock executions – inside the horror 444-day Iran hostage crisis

dailystar.co.uk:

Iranian capital of Tehran. The Iranian Revolution which began in January 1978 and ended 13 months later in February 1979, saw the overthrow of the Shah and the monarchy, with the Middle Eastern country becoming an Islamic Republic.The revolutionaries were angry with the American government due to its support for the Shah and tried to take over the US embassy twice before succeeding in November 1979.In recent months the US had reduced the size of the embassy's staff from a high of nearly 1,000 earlier in the 1970s, to just over 60 by the time of the take over.Not all of them were captured straight away, but those that were, including Marines and embassy staff, were blindfolded by the occupiers and then paraded in front of assembled photographers.

Over the next couple of days, many of the embassy workers who had sneaked out of the compound or had not been there at the time of the takeover were rounded up by Islamists and returned as hostages.Six American diplomats managed to avoid capture and took refuge in the British embassy before being transferred to the Canadian embassy. To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.In a joint covert operation known as the Canadian caper, the Canadian government and the CIA managed to smuggle them out of Iran on January 28, 1980, using Canadian passports and a cover story that identified them as a film crew – with the movie, Argo, which won Best Picture at the Oscars, based on these events.52 of the 66 captured Americans would then spend the next 14 months (444 days to be precise) in captivity, before finally being freed on January 20, 1981.One of these was Barry Rosen, 75, who worked as the embassy's press attaché.Talking to.