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The Iranian President's helicopter has crashed

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104631

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If I'm the next President of Iran, my first action will be to cancel any flights in foggy mountains on helicopters maintained by Iranians.

So…you’ll be woke. Why didn’t you just say that.
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Hank Kingsley

Hank Kingsley 20711

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Finally confirmed.

 

Now I can share this. 

42 years ago my grandfather (along with two friends, a husband and wife) was executed by firing squad on the orders of a freshly appointed 21 year old city prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi. My family is not Muslim, and my grandfather's death was ordered after he continued to refuse to convert to Islam. 

I was 5 years old at the time. Born/raised/living in Houston. All I remember was my dad getting the phone call and then him laying in bed for what felt like a week to me. 

Here is my grandfather's last will and testament, translated and slightly edited to take out family names. 

The Will and Testament of [redacted]

In the name of God, the Almighty.

My dear kind wife, my dear children, and my dear kind sons-in–law, and my dear grandchildren.

Thanks be to God who has given me the strength to be steadfast in all calamities, and to remember God and all of you until my last breath.  I do not have any grief, because I have walked in the path of God and truthfulness. I leave this mortal world with a happy heart. Do not grieve for my death. Trust in God. Do not cry or lament. Be happy and joyful. I am also happy that I have kind children who will not let their mother be sad. I am also satisfied and pleased with you all.

To my kind wife. Mr. [redacted - my uncle] is my attorney and yours. I request him to take action as he finds it appropriate. Firstly, my house and its remaining furniture belongs to my dear wife. If they [the Authorities] return the shop, he will receive two thousand and five hundred tomans per month. I ask Mr.[redacted], kindly to manage the shop.

I do not take anything with me, and I am hoping that there is no reason for the smallest of disputes. You should receive the amount of twenty thousand tomans from Mr. [redacted], who owes it to me, and register the document in his name. Finally, I have written about the rest of the matters in a separate letter. Please receive it [the money] and pay the amount of ten thousand rials as a gift to thank the revolutionary guard that will shoot me. Offer three bouquets of flowers to Mr. Sheikh Rahnama, Mr. Raisi, the prosecutor, and Mr. Hojatoleslam Haj Soltani, the Sharia Judge of the Islamic Court of Karaj, who have shown me love during this period, and pray for them. My children, [redacted - my dad and another uncle], should also send the Revolutionary Court of Karaj letters of appreciation from the United States of America.

Finally, divide equally amongst yourselves whatever is left from the car, shop and other things.

Take my body and bury it in Baba Salman. I say goodbye to one and all, to all my relatives, friends and family.

16 Ordibehesht 1360 [6 May 1981]

[Signature]

 

I never got to meet my grandfather. But I'm sure he would be proud of his children and grandchildren, who ended up living happy, full lives with nothing but love in their hearts. 

 

Edited by Hank Kingsley
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BamaATL

BamaATL 16592

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In the event you have found yourself complaining about tipping culture, perhaps ratchet that down a bit.  This guy had to tip his own executioners.  

Often times it's easy to forget how fortunate we are, reading something like this is a good reminder, and I am grateful.  

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Js1

Js1 85115

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9 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

his return post would get so much rep the internet would freeze up

 

 

The internet cannot handle the length 

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Hank Kingsley

Hank Kingsley 20711

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Thanks for the kind words. 

Adding a bit more color: 

- His two sons (my dad and his younger brother) were already living in the US when he died. One of my aunts and her husband were too afraid to attempt to escape Iran. They still live there but are able to visit family in the U.S.  My other aunt, her husband, and two children (5 and 3 years old, my cousins) escaped the country. They travelled at night by horseback through treacherous terrain (similar to where Raisi's helicopter crashed) and were able to avoid mercenaries with help of friends and total strangers (many of them being Muslim). They got to Turkey, eventually to Spain, and after a couple of years received their visas and moved to California.  

- My grandfather wanted to give money and flowers to his oppressors for a couple of reasons. One, he believed living a lie was far worse than death. He of course wanted to live and be with his family, but once he realized they would never release him from prison, he preferred dying to rotting in jail and being tortured/roughed up. Secondly, he believed they were just following orders from Khomeini and did not want them to feel any guilt. That is why he thanked Raisi and Co. and showed them love when they ordered his execution.

- For me, his story is a gift. I never met him and have no personal trauma as I was too young to understand what was going on. I truly feel lucky that this is part of my family background. What an incredible North Star to guide me and the principles we hold as a family and pass down to our children.

- "Take my body and bury it in Baba Salman" reads tough as fuck to me. I love it. 

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Hank Kingsley

Hank Kingsley 20711

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2 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I looked up Baba Salman -- it's a village, correct?  Is that where he grew up?

Yeah, I was not aware of Baba Salman before reading his will. From what I understand he was born and raised in Karaj, but maybe some friends/family are buried in Baba Salman. 

I do know his grave is still unmarked to avoid anyone desecrating it. None of my family that left Iran has ever gone back, and never will. 

 

 

 

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gsoda3

gsoda3 3237

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16 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Thanks for the kind words. 

Adding a bit more color: 

 

incredible story, appreciate you sharing.  was he a christian refusing to convert to islam?

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104631

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6 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

No, he was a Baha'i. 

Our next door neighbor (a stone-cold knockout, by the way) is Persian Baha'i.  She got here as a teenage refugee, worked her way through college and grad school, and is remarkably successful.  I've met multiple Persia Baha'i over the years, and they all have been fine human beings.  It seems your grandfather was no exception.

My wife and I watched the last episode of A Gentleman in Moscow last night (we loved the book), and at the end, we ended up in a discussion about defectors, people fleeing oppressive states, and the like.  How we grew up in Houston knowing multiple defectors from behind the iron curtain, and from Iran, and even several Latin American countries.  How it is such a terrifying, and brave thing, and how difficult a calculus it is -- leaving everything you know behind, with no certainty that you would actually end up better off.  It's a decision for each individual, for their own reasons.

Your family story is both not unique but also an incredibly beautiful and tragic chapter that belongs to your family alone.  Thank you for sharing it with us.  Your grandfather was a blessing.  I wish you could have known him; I wish we all could have.

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Hank Kingsley

Hank Kingsley 20711

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6 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Are you Baha’i now?

Non-practicing. I still greatly appreciate growing up in a Baha'i family. 

What makes my family history even crazier is my mom is Irish. Her grandparents were school teachers and intensely curious about other religions, and became Bahai's as older adults. Wild that they found there way to the religion in what was probably the early 1900s. In fucking IRELAND. 

My dad moved to London in the late 60s and met my mom through Baha'i friends. 

 

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10933

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11 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Finally confirmed.

 

Now I can share this. 

42 years ago my grandfather (along with two friends, a husband and wife) was executed by firing squad on the orders of a freshly appointed 21 year old city prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi. My family is not Muslim, and my grandfather's death was ordered after he continued to refuse to convert to Islam. 

 

 

Wayyyyy better man than me. I think I would respond with something like,

 

"What do you mean? I've always been a Muslim. Some say the best of Muslims!"

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'stache

'stache 21777

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13 hours ago, Celery Man said:

https://www.besthugecocks.com/watch/1164666/emma-butt-pegging-her-male-slave

Turkish drone identifies heat source in mountainous region of Iran's East Azerbaijan province
From CNN's Artemis Moshtaghian and Yong Xiong

A Turkish drone helping to search for the location where a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed has identified a heat source in the mountains of the country's East Azerbaijan province, according to Iranian state media and Turkish news agency Anadolu.

The condition of those on board the helicopter is still unknown.

A burning spot has been detected and rescue forces are being sent to that area known as Tavil, the country's semi-official FARS news agency reported.

The Turkish drone identified the heat source and shares its coordinates with Iranian authorities, Anadolu reported.

Is this a fart joke? Because it sounds like a fart joke.

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Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova 26287

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1 hour ago, Hank Kingsley said:

with help of friends and total strangers (many of them being Muslim).

I’ve heard a number of stories like this from the time of the fall, some from kids my own age when they were arriving in Dallas. 
Put of curiosity, what religion if any was your family- Jews, Christian, Zoroastrian? I think people forget that that religious diversity of Persia (and really the rest of the Middle East) was pretty extreme until 80’s. 
 

edit- sorry looks like you answered this already

Edited by Bozo_Casanova
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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45560

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My dad was a civil (structural) engineering prof, and when the Shah of Iran was overthrown, his university started to take in engineering students fleeing Iran by the dozens, and eventually hundreds.  It changed the culture of the school in some ways -- there had always been plenty of foreign students studying there, but mostly they were from Viet Nam and India.  Our family would take in students in a sort of sponsorship role, and we got to add Persian culture to the mix, which was eye-opening for a kid not old enough to shave, especially as contrasted to the students from Asia we had already been sponsoring.  I'm glad for the experiences.

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BehoId, The Underminer!

BehoId, The Underminer! 11668

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Also, the 42 years ago part is interesting.  1979 Revolution is just 45 years ago.  So I imagine this was part of some large purge that happened after the revolution.

Sure enough, wikipedia tells me of early 80s purging that includes Baha'i

 

The 1981 massacre[edit]

Between June 1981 and March 1982, the theocratic regime carried out the largest political massacre in Iranian history, targeting communists, socialists, social democrats, liberals, monarchists, moderate Islamists, and members of the Baha'i faith as part of the Iranian Cultural Revolution decreed by Khomeini on 14 June 1980 with the intent of "purifying" Iranian society of non-Islamic elements.[238] Between June 1981 and June 1982, Amnesty International documented 2,946 executions, with several thousand more killed in the next two years according to the anti-government guerilla People's Mujahedin of Iran.[239] More recently, Rastyad Collective has verified the identities of more than 3,400 political dissidents who were executed between June 1981 and March 1982.[240][241] These dissidents were sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Courts during show trials in more than eighty-five cities across the country on charges of spreading "corruption on Earth" (ifsad-fi-alarz), "espionage", "terrorism", or "enmity against Allah" (Moharebeh).[238] Most victims of the 1981 massacre were young activists aged eleven to twenty-four. These activists were either high school students or had recently graduated from universities in Iran and abroad. During the massacre, hundreds of minors were also subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, and summary executions on ideologically motivated charges of ifsad-fi-alarz and moharebeh by the revolutionary courts.[240][238][242]

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Todd Gack

Todd Gack 431

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1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Our next door neighbor (a stone-cold knockout, by the way) is Persian Baha'i.  She got here as a teenage refugee, worked her way through college and grad school, and is remarkably successful.  I've met multiple Persia Baha'i over the years, and they all have been fine human beings.  It seems your grandfather was no exception.

My wife and I watched the last episode of A Gentleman in Moscow last night (we loved the book), and at the end, we ended up in a discussion about defectors, people fleeing oppressive states, and the like.  How we grew up in Houston knowing multiple defectors from behind the iron curtain, and from Iran, and even several Latin American countries.  How it is such a terrifying, and brave thing, and how difficult a calculus it is -- leaving everything you know behind, with no certainty that you would actually end up better off.  It's a decision for each individual, for their own reasons.

Your family story is both not unique but also an incredibly beautiful and tragic chapter that belongs to your family alone.  Thank you for sharing it with us.  Your grandfather was a blessing.  I wish you could have known him; I wish we all could have.

ahem...

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BrickHorn

BrickHorn 18194

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5 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

You know come to think of it I too know some fine women who are Baha’i.  

…or at least Baha’i curious.

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UpperWestside

UpperWestside 6136

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2 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

No, he was a Baha'i. 

I remember taking a course in college called World Religions and the Baha’i Faith was one I found pretty interesting. Of the actors I have met in New York the kindest was Rainn Wilson and he was raised in and still adheres to the Baha’i faith. He was unbelievably kind and considerate to all the fans that came off the street to meet him while he was eating. 
 

That’s a long way of saying that faith is cool in my book.

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texasdago

texasdago 7553

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12 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

42 years ago my grandfather (along with two friends, a husband and wife) was executed by firing squad on the orders of a freshly appointed 21 year old city prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi. My family is not Muslim, and my grandfather's death was ordered after he continued to refuse to convert to Islam. 

Man, I've heard crazy stories of how high ranking former Iranian officials were hunted down and executed.  I'll leave it at that but pretty insane stuff.  I've had many Persian friends and acquaintances over the years and have always felt like there is an odd Persian/Italian similarity specifically in the non-Muslim community.

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Hank Kingsley

Hank Kingsley 20711

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39 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

I remember taking a course in college called World Religions and the Baha’i Faith was one I found pretty interesting. Of the actors I have met in New York the kindest was Rainn Wilson and he was raised in and still adheres to the Baha’i faith. He was unbelievably kind and considerate to all the fans that came off the street to meet him while he was eating. 
 

That’s a long way of saying that faith is cool in my book.

The Baha'i Faith - for a religion - is fantastic. It definitely helps that it's relatively modern as it was started in the 1800s.  One of my favorite aspects is the strong belief in the harmony of science and religion. A few choice quotes from one of the leaders, probably written just before or after 1900. 

God has endowed man with intelligence and reason whereby he is required to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis of knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition. Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and science. If a question be found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it are impossible… – Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith, p. 239.

 

Religion and Science are inter-twined with each other and cannot be separated. These are the two wings with which humanity must fly. One wing is not enough. Every religion which does not concern itself with science is mere tradition…. Therefore science, education and civilization are most important necessities for the full religious life. – Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 28-29.

 

 

Until now it has been said that all religions were composed of tenets that had to be accepted, even if they seem contrary to science. Thanks be to God, that in this new cycle the admonition of Baha’u’llah is that in the search for truth man must weigh religious questions in the balance of science and reason. God has given us rational minds for this purpose, to penetrate all things, to find truth. If one renounce reason, what remains? The sacred texts? How can we understand God’s commands and to what use can we put them without the balance of reason?

The priests are attached to ancient superstitions and when these are not in keeping with science, the priests denounce science. When religion is upheld by science and reason we can believe with assurance and act with conviction, for this rational faculty is the greatest power in the world. Through it industries are established, the past and present are laid bare and the underlying realities are brought to light. Let us make nature our captive, break through all laws of limitation and with deep penetration bring to light that which is hidden. The power to do this is the greatest of divine benefits. Why treat with indifference such a divine spark? Why ignore a faculty so beneficial, a sun so powerful? – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p.96; p.101-2.

Edited by Hank Kingsley
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LCHorn

LCHorn 2585

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21 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

The Baha'i Faith - for a religion - is fantastic. It definitely helps that it's relatively modern as it was started in the 1800s.  One of my favorite aspects is the strong belief in the harmony of science and religion. A few choice quotes from one of the leaders, probably written just before or after 1900. 

God has endowed man with intelligence and reason whereby he is required to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis of knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition. Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and science. If a question be found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it are impossible… – Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith, p. 239.

 

Religion and Science are inter-twined with each other and cannot be separated. These are the two wings with which humanity must fly. One wing is not enough. Every religion which does not concern itself with science is mere tradition…. Therefore science, education and civilization are most important necessities for the full religious life. – Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 28-29.

 

 

Until now it has been said that all religions were composed of tenets that had to be accepted, even if they seem contrary to science. Thanks be to God, that in this new cycle the admonition of Baha’u’llah is that in the search for truth man must weigh religious questions in the balance of science and reason. God has given us rational minds for this purpose, to penetrate all things, to find truth. If one renounce reason, what remains? The sacred texts? How can we understand God’s commands and to what use can we put them without the balance of reason?

The priests are attached to ancient superstitions and when these are not in keeping with science, the priests denounce science. When religion is upheld by science and reason we can believe with assurance and act with conviction, for this rational faculty is the greatest power in the world. Through it industries are established, the past and present are laid bare and the underlying realities are brought to light. Let us make nature our captive, break through all laws of limitation and with deep penetration bring to light that which is hidden. The power to do this is the greatest of divine benefits. Why treat with indifference such a divine spark? Why ignore a faculty so beneficial, a sun so powerful? – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p.96; p.101-2.

I’m not a well read religious scholar, but I do think it’s worth adding that Islam was entirely compatible with science, epistemology, and finding compromise between the faith and earthly concerns, including being able to coexist with non-adherents, for a thousand years.  
 

It’s only been in the last 200 that the Wahhabists have so successfully taken a fringe belief mainstream and created an environment in which the clerics feel like they have to one-up each other at being the biggest assholes to be the “true” faith.  

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Willfully Horn

Willfully Horn 7918

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9 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

I’m not a well read religious scholar, but I do think it’s worth adding that Islam was entirely compatible with science, epistemology, and finding compromise between the faith and earthly concerns, including being able to coexist with non-adherents, for a thousand years.  
 

It’s only been in the last 200 that the Wahhabists have so successfully taken a fringe belief mainstream and created an environment in which the clerics feel like they have to one-up each other at being the biggest assholes to be the “true” faith.  

I applaud your subtle, unstated, condemnation of christo-fascist  Nationalism.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104631

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7 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

I applaud your subtle, unstated, condemnation of christo-fascist  Nationalism.

Yeah...I do find it ironic at hell that one of the people ranting the loudest around here against the backwards islamofascist regime, built on a foundation of idiotic religious fundamentalism and intolerance, as well as repression of the opposition....wants the same damned type of regime to take power here in the US.  The fact that he can't see the irony makes it even better.

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