His penchant for mischief didn’t vanish. In one particularly audacious prison scam, Baligh sold the prison’s communal television to another inmate for 100 tomans. The buyer, discovering the deception, was more amused than angry, reportedly remarking that “he deserved to be tricked by such a master.”
Inside the prison walls, Baligh positioned himself above ordinary criminals. He sought the company of political prisoners and hardened criminals—those who, like him, were perceived to have crossed moral or political lines rather than simply stolen out of desperation. He considered himself a criminal philosopher—a man who lived by his own code.
The Great Scam: Selling the Palace of Justice
Among all of Baligh’s feats, none would match the sheer absurdity and brilliance of his most infamous scam: the sale of Tehran’s Palace of Justice.
It began with a chance meeting outside the British Embassy, where Baligh encountered two Arab (or possibly American) businessmen. They were looking to invest in a hotel in Iran. Sensing an opportunity, Baligh invited them to what he claimed was his office on Gisha Street.
There, he offered them a “hotel” for sale—a grand building located on Khayyam Street, a few blocks from the heart of old Tehran. The building in question was the actual Palace of Justice, the headquarters of Iran’s judiciary.