Martyr Ayatollah Ghaffari was born in 1916 in Azar Shahr, Tabriz and lost his father when he was only a child.
Having accomplished preliminary studies, he departed for Tabriz and engaged in acquisition of religious sciences while living a poor life. In 1945 he left for Qom to take advantage of the presence of such grand teachers as Ayatollah Boroujerdi for about 11 years.
Then he went to Tehran and when Hassan-Ali Mansour proposed his State and Provincial Associations plan in 1961, he began to oppose and deliver anti-Regime revelling speeches till the uprising of June 5, 1963. On 5 June 1963 and upon his return home after delivering a speech, the regime hirelings trespassed his domicile, arrested him and put him under interrogation and torture.
After release he continued his struggles and so was apprehended once again by SAVAK. During 1971-74 he staged a novel form of struggle and appeared less in public. Ayatollah Ghaffari was finally arrested in the early summer of 1974 in Tehran. His son narrated his last visit with his father in this way: “In the last visit, the father was dragged about to visit table while his hands, foots and teeth, except for two or three, were broken and his bruised body pointed to his being savagely tortured.
Only few words were exchanged between us. He told me that he thought that was the last meeting between us…
Ayatollah Ghaffari was repeatedly imprisoned and tortured and suffered heavily. The Pahlavi regime arrested his children, brother and his wife in order to make him submit. On December, 28, 1974 Ayatollah Hossein Ghaffari, died in the prison of the Pahlavi regime. Ayatollah Ghaffari was known as a highly knowledgeable clergyman who opposed puppet dictator Mohammad Reza Shah, he was a supporter of Ayatollah Khomeini and spoke out after he was sent to exile.
Ayatollah Ghaffari did not remain silent witnessing injustice in the Pahlavi regime. He wrote books and published articles in magazines that revealed the cruelty of the regime. In addition, he also voiced his opposition to the despot ruler. As a result, he was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned. Finally, after being tortured in prison, Ayatollah Ghaffari became martyr. He was buried in Qom.