However, the details of his participation are more complicated than the popular image suggests. Jafari himself consistently rejected the idea that he had been a paid agent of the CIA, British intelligence, or the royal court. He also disputed accounts that portrayed him as the central organizer of the street demonstrations.
One of the most important elements of his own account concerned his imprisonment. Jafari said that he had been arrested after the violent events of March 9, 1953, when a confrontation surrounding the Shah and Mosaddegh resulted in an attack on Mosaddegh’s residence. According to Jafari, he remained imprisoned until August 19 and was released only around midday, after the political situation had already begun to change.
