Khalil Tahmasebi (Persian: خلیل طهماسبی) (14 February 1924 – 21 January 1955) was a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

and member of the Iranian

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

group

Fadayan-e Islam Fadayan-e Islam ('';'' English; "Fedayeen of Islam" or "Redeemers of Islam") is a Shia fundamentalist group in Iran with a strong activist political and terrorist orientation.FEDĀʾĪĀN-E ESLĀM. (1999). In Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved from ...

("Self-Sacrificers of Islam"), which has been described as "the first

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Islamist organization to employ terrorism as a primary method of political activism." On behalf of this group, Tahmasebi who was waiting in the crowd on 7 March 1951 when the Iranian Prime Minister, Ali Razmara, visited the Shah Mosque for a memorial service, fired three shots, assassinating Razmara. He was arrested at the scene. He was described as a "religious fanatic" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. In 1952, he was freed by the Iranian Parliament during the premiership of

Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 1950 Iranian legislative election, 16th Majlis. He was a membe ...

, his pending death sentence was quashed, and he was declared a "Soldier of Islam." According to ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', Tahmasebi "promptly rushed to the Hazrat Abdolazim shrine, wept joyously and said: 'When I killed Razmara, I was sure that his people would kill me.'" Following the

1953 Iranian coup d'état The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état (), was the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953. Led by the Iranian army and supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, the co ...

, Tahmasebi was re-arrested and tried for the assassination of Razmara; he was executed in 1955.

References

1924 births 1955 deaths Executed Iranian assassins Iranian Islamists Islamist assassins Shia Islamists Assassins of heads of government Fada'iyan-e Islam members People convicted of murder by Iran People executed by Iran by firing squad People executed by Pahlavi Iran {{Iran-bio-stub