The Baha'i Studies Listserv *Baha’i Physician Stabbed in Bandar Abbas*
Dr. Iraj Maydani is a 69 year-old-physician who lives in the port city of Bandar Abbas, specializing in infectious and tropical diseases. He is a Baha’i, but is nevertheless greatly admired for his skill and care as a competent physician not only in Bandar Abbas but throughout the region. He has been targeted and harassed in the past because of his religion and in 1980s was imprisoned for some years along with his sister and brother-in-law for their belief in the Baha’i faith. On Saturday, July 11, 2009, Dr. Maydani was stabbed in his office. It is not clear if the motive was anti-Baha’i agitation or robbery. The following report was shared from the region: During the course of Friday Prayers at a mosque in Bandar Abbas, Dr. Maydani was mentioned several times as an example of a good physician in the city. This may have provoked some prejudiced people to attack and beat him so severely the next day that he had to be hospitalized. No one knows what the intruders wanted. At first, Dr. Maydani told them to take whatever they wanted, and they took some things from his desk. While leaving, though, they used their daggers to attack him, resulting in tearing his ear (suggesting that perhaps they intended to cut his throat), and a cut on his hand. They also stabbed him in his abdomen, which was a heavy cut, but fortunately circumstances prevented the dagger from piercing deeply, as otherwise it might have caused more damage and could even have severed his vertebral column. He immediately called upstairs using the intercom in his office, and asked his son to come downstairs. By the time his son, Aria, arrived, the attackers had left the scene. With the help of two patients and another doctor, whose clinic was across the street, Aria immediately took his father to the hospital. He was quickly operated on. The physicians are concerned about internal bleeding and the possibility of infection. Although some parts of his intestines were cut and removed during the course of surgery, since some of the contents of the large intestines spilled into the abdomen, there is still a danger of infection or internal bleeding. If there is no indication within four days, there will not be any danger to the patient. Dr. Maydani’s sister expressed the following sentiments; although they are emotionally charged, they indicate the depth of the family’s anguish: My brother has been through so much! Now again at age 69, he has to go through so much pain and suffering. It must have been very frightening when the attackers were stabbing him with a knife and there was no one to help him. Such a helpless situation! I know Baha’u’llah gives one the courage to face such a trauma. What is happening to our kind Iranian people who have been changed into such heartless souls, trying to kill a doctor who has been helping them for over forty years in that far-away place?! He is the only infectious disease and tropical disease specialist in that area of Iran with so much experience. God knows if he will be able to work again and help the people he loved so much. -- Ahang Rabbani, PhD http://ahang.rabbani.googlepages.com/ http://iranpresswatch.org/ __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
