Word: koran
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...less, by developing a following and gradually gaining the recognition of one's superiors. Khomeini's first significant political victory came in November 1962, after the Shah's government decided that a witness in court could henceforth swear by the "divine book" rather than the Koran. The new Ayatullah led the clergy in a general strike, and the government backed down...
During the year, the President and his wife received gifts worth $100 or more from 68 donors. Included were a crossbow from Admirer Wladyslaw Adamowski of Poland, a handmade Cherokee Indian headdress from Iron Eyes Cody of Los Angeles, a 32-cassette tape recording of the Koran recited by Mahmond El Husary of Cairo's Islamic Academy, and a vermeil chain with 62 gold peanut pendants from Frank Sinatra's daughter Nancy. All of the gifts were turned over to the Government, with five exceptions; a Norman Rockwell book from the Boy Scouts of America, a limited edition...
Next day an obscure group called Forghan sent a letter to a Tehran newspaper saying it had killed the Ayatullah. Government officials later confirmed that Motahari had been a council member. Although little was known about Forghan, a Persian word that is both a synonym for the Koran and a term for something that separates right from wrong, the group purports to oppose the growing power of the Islamic clergy. Post-assassination leaflets distributed by the group deplored the rise of "akhoundism," a term meaning government by the mullahs...
Defendants in the revolutionary courts are tried under the Shari'a, the Islamic law based primarily on the Koran, rather than under Iran's penal code. Trials are conducted by a five-man panel of judges. Verdicts in the trials, some of which have lasted less than an hour, are reached by a majority vote of the judges; the sentence is handed down by the senior judge, whose appointment is approved by Khomeini, and carried out immediately. There are no appeals. The new regulations allow for defense attorneys, though none were seen at last week's trials...
...sputter of midnight traffic had given way to the long wait for dawn when the 1,400 inmates of Rawalpindi District Jail began to pray. Imperceptibly at first, their murmur grew as they recited from the Koran; the time for execution was approaching. Shortly before 2 a.m., the prisoner, gaunt and ailing, was led from his dungeon death cell to the scaffolding. His hands were tied behind his back. Stepping to the gallows he cried out, according to one account, "Oh Lord, help me, for I am innocent!" Thirty-five minutes later, the body was cut down, taken away...