215. Martyrdom of ‘Aṭá’u’lláh Riḍvání

215

**Martyrdom of ‘Aṭá’u’lláh Riḍvání **

27 August 2013

Selected National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

215.1 With deep sorrow, the Universal House of Justice has directed us to share with you the following information related to the martyrdom of ‘Aṭá’u’lláh Riḍvání (Ataollah Rezvani) of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Saturday, 24 August 2013, and to request your attention and immediate action, as outlined below.

215.2 The details concerning the circumstances surrounding Mr. Riḍvání’s murder are as yet relatively limited, but at this time it is understood that he was shot in the back of his head and that his body was found in his car near the railway station on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas, the city where he resided with his family. Information received thus far points to the possibility that his assailants had forced him to drive to that location. His body was discovered following a search when he failed to return home.

215.3 Mr. Riḍvání’s murder was clearly religiously motivated. He was well known as a Bahá’í and was loved and respected by the people of Bandar Abbas for his honesty and helpfulness. As a young man, he was expelled from his engineering studies at university because he was a Bahá’í. He nonetheless came to be regarded as an expert in water purification, and his work took him to other cities. Recently, owing to pressure and threats from agents of the Ministry of Intelligence, he was dismissed from his work and had to resort to selling water purification equipment. These agents had also been bringing pressure to bear on him to leave the city. More recently, he had begun receiving menacing telephone calls from unknown persons. It should be noted that on several occasions in the past few years, senior local clerics have attempted to incite the population through highly inflammatory sermons against the Bahá’ís of the city, who have, since the days of the Islamic Revolution, been subjected to the various forms of persecution that continue to this day to be inflicted upon the believers throughout Iran….

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

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