Shahram Rezai
Shahram Rezai (d. July 6, 1997) was a Persian Bahá’í who was martyred.
Rezai was a Bahá’í youth who as of the 1990's had been conscripted to complete his compulsory military service. He was shot in the head by a weapons training officer near the city of Rasht on July 6, 1997. The officer was briefly arrested as a result however the court gave him a light sentence as a result of Rezai being a Bahá’í,[1] only sentencing him to pay the cost of the three bullets which had killed Rezai.[2]
The Universal House of Justice noted his martyrdom in a letter pulished on August 18, 1997, which included the following:
"The Universal House of Justice was grieved by the news of the sad events which engulfed the two lovers of the Abha Beauty, Shahram Rida'i and Masha'llah Inayati. These two trod the path of truthfulness and fearlessness and never concealed their relationship with the world-embracing Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh; this resulted in fuelling the fire of prejudice amongst heedless individuals, and finally in leading the two to the exalted station of martyrdom and the attainment of the presence of the Desired One."[2]
