Following the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Baha’is of Iran, who had long been the victims of periodic outbreaks of violence, the later rounds of which had been instigated by the notorious SAVAK, were subjected to a fresh wave of persecution. In August 1980 all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran — a national council whose election and functioning are prescribed in the Baha’i teachings and which forms part of the Baha’i administrative structure in all countries — were abducted and disappeared without a trace. Undoubtedly they were executed
