Bahman Samandari
Bahman Samandari (November 8, 1939 - March 18, 1992) was a Persian Bahá’í who was martyred in Iran.
Biography[edit]
Samandari was born into a Bahá’í family in Karaj in 1939. He pursued his education in Tehran where he completed high school and in 1955 his parents sent him to the United States to pursue further studies and pioneered to Turkey the same year.[1]
In 1960 Samandari returned to Iran and worked until 1965 when he moved to Turkey and completed an Economics degree at Ankara University. After graduating with his degree he returned to Iran and in 1971 he married Rosa Mahboubi, daughter of Hasan Mahboubi.[2][1] In his career he established the Samandari Travel Agency which became a successful company however after the Revolution in Iran in 1979 the new Islamic Republic authorities seized the company and dismissed Samandari.[2]
After the Revolution Samandari served on an executive board which oversaw efforts to facilitate Bahá’í students, banned from attending university within Iran, undertaking correspondence courses through the University of Indiana.[2] He was arrested in 1987 at a meeting of the Yárán, although he was not a member of the body, but released after fifty-seven days on bail. He began working at a textile factory after being released.[1]
On March 17, 1992, Samandari visited the Revolutionary Prosecutor's office to renew his bail however he did not return home. His family visited the office the following day and were told to return to the office on April 5. When they visited the office on that day they were provided with Samandari's glasses and his will and informed that he had been executed. His body was not returned to his family for burial and they were never advised where his grave is located.[1]
In April 1992 the Bahá’í International Community reported Samandari's execution to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva and the Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran responded to accusations from the United Nations of persecution of the Bahá’í community by claiming that Samandari was executed because he was a spy, not due to his religion, however he did not provide any evidence supporting the conclusion and did not provide any explanation for how due process could have been observed considering Samandari was executed within twenty-four hours of being taken into custody.[2]
