Mohammad-Javad Bahonar

Mohammad Javad Bahonar was born on 3 September 1933 in Kerman, Iran.[4] His father was a simple tradesman and had a little shop in the city of Kerman.[5] He was the second child of nine, and his family was very poor. As a child, he was taught the Quran at the local Makk-tab-Khaneh (parochial school attended by the students very often at the house of local mullah before national school system was put in place) also learning to read and write Farsi. Guided by the Ayatollah Haghighi, he studied at the Masoumieh seminary. At the same time he could obtain the degree of fifth of ancient school.[6]

Bahonar passed his primary school at Masoumieh School of Kerman. In 1953, he went to Qom Seminary and attended in the class of Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iranian revolution.[7][3][8] He received a PhD in theology from the University of Tehran.[7] Also, he was faculty member of the Tehran University and taught religious lessons and theology.[3][7][9]

Bahonar was assassinated along with Rajai and other members of Islamic Republican Party when a bomb exploded at the party's office in Tehran on 30 August 1981.[4][14][15][13] In Iran, this explosion is known as the Hashteh-Shahrivar bombing. The bomb was set off when one of the victims opened a briefcase. The briefcase was carried by Massoud Keshmiri, a security official at the Islamic Republican Party, to the meeting. One week later, Keshmiri was announced as responsible for planning and execution of the assassination.[8] Keshmiri was identified as an operative of Mujahedin that was supported by Saddam Hussein.[4][3] He tried to assassinate Rajai and Bahonar on 22 August when Rajai introduced his cabinet to Ruhollah Khomeini. Ahmad Khomeini explained that Keshmiri was with Rajai when they came to see Imam Khomeini. He had a suitcase but they did not allow him to bring it.[8]

Iranian authorities announced that Massoud Keshmiri, "a close aide to the late President Muhammad Ali Rajai and secretary of the Supreme Security Council, had been responsible." Keshmiri, an MEK member who was thought to have died in the explosion, "was accorded a martyr's funeral" and was "buried alongside Rajai and Bahonar."[16][17][18][19] Various MEK supporters were arrested and executed in reprisal, but Kashmiri apparently slipped through the dragnet.[20] The reaction to both bombings was intense with many arrests and executions of MEK and other leftist groups.[21]

• Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, his brother
• Mohammad Beheshti

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