Dear Baha'i friends,
On 1 December 1980 the Universal House of Justice cabled certain National Spiritual Assemblies as follows:
WITH FEELINGS HORROR INDIGNATION INFORM YOU MARTYRDOM MUHAMMAD HUSAYN MA'SUMI AND HIS WIFE [Shikkar Nisa] BRUTALLY PUT TO DEATH 23 NOVEMBER NUK VILLAGE NEAR BIRJAND IN KHURASAN. FIFTEEN MASKED MEN ATTACKED COUPLE THEIR HOME MIDDLE NIGHT FIRST POURED KEROSENE ON HUSBAND AND SET HIM ON FIRE THEN FORCED HIM RUN FEW METRES FINALLY HEAPED WOOD UPON HIM BURNING HIM TO DEATH. HIS WIFE SUBJECT SIMILAR TREATMENT DIED TWO DAYS LATER HOSPITAL. SO FAR THIS ATROCITY NOT REPORTED IN NEWS MEDIA. ...
... The Universal House of Justice calls on the friends in every land to continue to remember the oppressed friends of Iran in their prayers, supplicating Baha'u'llah to grant His divine aid and assist that persecuted community to face the trials that God has ordained for them, in accordance with His inscrutable wisdom.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’)
