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The so-called "Khomeini revolution", which deposed Mohammad Reza Shah, was in reality a mere return to oppressive Shiite theocratic rule, the predominant form of Iranian governance since 1502. Conditions for all non-Muslim religious minorities, particularly Bahais and Jews, rapidly deteriorated. Historian David Littman recounts the Jews immediate plight: In the months preceding the Shah's departure on 16 January 1979, the religious minorities...were already beginning to feel insecure...Twenty thousand Jews left the country before the triumphant return of the Ayatollah Khomeini on 1 February...On 16 March, the honorary president of the Iranian Jewish community, Habib Elghanian, a wealthy businessman, was arrested and charged by an Islamic revolutionary tribunal with "corruption" and "contacts with Israel and Zionism"; he was shot on 8 May.