| ←321 | Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986 Further Developments of the Situation in Iran |
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| 3 May 1982 |
[Page 539]To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
322.1 We have been instructed by the Universal House of Justice to announce the sorrowful news that since our last report of 11 March 1982, two more steadfast and devoted supporters of the Greatest Name in Iran, Mr. Iḥsánu’lláh Khayyámí of Urúmíyyih and Mr. ‘Azízu’lláh Gulshaní of Mashhad, have joined the ranks of the martyrs of His Cause.[1] After a few months of imprisonment and intense but unsuccessful pressure to recant his Faith, Mr. Khayyámí, a staunch believer of humble means, was executed on 12 April 1982. Mr. Gulshaní, a prominent Bahá’í of Khurásán province who was imprisoned for many months, was executed on 29 April. The following developments are also shared with you.
- 322.2 The friends in the village of Saysán, in one of the outlying districts of Tabríz, are under extreme pressure by a mullah of the neighboring town of Bustánábád, and have been given a month to decide whether they will convert to Islam or face grave consequences. The members of the Bahá’í community in this village, which consists of several generations of Bahá’ís, have remained steadfast and approached the religious authorities in Qum who have recommended to the Imám-Jum‘ih of Tabríz that he intervene and try to relieve the Bahá’ís from such harassment.
- 322.3 All the Bahá’ís of Ḥiṣár in Khurásán have been forced to leave their homes and had to flee to Mashhad.
- 322.4 Although a few believers have been released from prison during the recent period of amnesty, many have been arrested and imprisoned, including nine active Bahá’ís in Qazvín and its surrounding areas, seven in Shiraz, five in Tehran, and seven in Zanján.
322.5 The Universal House of Justice urges the friends throughout the world to continue their prayers for the Bahá’ís in Iran and to intensify their services in the path of the Blessed Beauty to compensate for the plight of our oppressed brethren in the Cradle of the Faith. . . .
- With loving Bahá’í greetings,
- DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT
