Dr. Bagher Shamloo, faculty member at the Faculty of Law and Director of Legal Affairs at Shahid Beheshti University, has published the following note following the martyrdom of five university professors:
In the Name of the Creator of Existence
In Mourning the Banality of Evil and the Martyrdom of Five Distinguished Academic Colleagues "For what sin were they slain?" (Qur’an 81:9)
The cruel martyrdom of five professors—Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, Dr. Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Dr. Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Dr. Seyed Amir Hossein Feghhi, and Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi—respected faculty members of Shahid Beheshti University, has caused profound grief and sorrow among colleagues, staff, students, and the proud nation of Iran. This brutal crime, committed at night against the entire families of the victims, is a clear manifestation of the utter moral degradation and cowardice of the enemies of this nation.
The divine words of the Holy Qur’an eloquently and delicately portray the abhorrence of killing innocent people—those who have committed no sin or harm. The barbaric act of burying daughters alive in pre-Islamic ignorance, once committed with pride merely due to their gender, was condemned and abolished by divine decree.
What is tragic is that in the 21st century—an era of scientific advancement and modern technologies—such immoral and inhumane behavior reoccurs, now perpetrated by those who claim to champion progress and democracy. These professors, prominent experts in physics and nuclear science, were cowardly and ruthlessly assassinated solely for their scientific knowledge and capabilities. The divine question posed in ancient times remains hauntingly relevant: For what crime were they killed? In which religion or human tradition does being a scientist justify death?
Can such logic be found anywhere outside the racist doctrines of extremist Zionism?
Humanitarian law—one of the great achievements of 20th-century reformers and just legal scholars—was established to regulate warfare and restrict inhumane military actions. It explicitly prohibits attacks on civilians and non-military areas, even during times of war. These legal frameworks offered a glimmer of hope for a humanity weary of conflict. Yet in a time when no official war exists between Iran and the Zionist regime, and even before any military confrontation has occurred, the targeted assassination of scientists—whose scientific achievements have saved lives and addressed social challenges—is a clear violation of all principles of humanitarian law. The severity of these crimes is such that even silence in the face of them represents a profound moral failure.
War—deemed by wise reformers and jurists as “absolute evil”—when accompanied by the violation of strategic and moral principles, descends into political and moral barbarism, masked only by the tools of modernity. It is a gross injustice against the ideals of human dignity and the evolutionary path of rights and ethics.
Western civilization, with its polished modern appearance, is still deeply rooted in centuries of colonialism, racial superiority, and apartheid—unlike the deeply cultured and ancient civilization of Iran. This immaturity has led to repeated and shameful crimes, eternally recorded in history: the massacre of Indigenous peoples and the burying of children in Canada, the brutal treatment of Native Americans, the atrocities of slavery, and the savagery of the Crusades.
The culture of arrogance and apartheid has permeated Western political, religious, economic, and even scientific institutions. Basic human rights, life, and access to resources are judged by their own narrow logic. The very creation and imposition of the Israeli state reflects this distorted ideology—a product of racial and religious superiority cloaked in modern tools and global influence. Among the clearest examples of this destructive mentality are the crimes committed in Gaza: attacks on children, women, hospitals, schools, and refugee shelters; and now, the nighttime assassinations of Iranian scientists and civilians.
These heinous acts are permanent stains on the human history of the 21st century. The West, unlike the proud civilization of Iran—home to the world’s earliest culture (as Hegel described), and birthplace of mystics, scientists, and inventors—has a long record of persecuting scholars. Throughout history, there have been numerous recorded crimes committed against innocent scientists. Hypatia, the first female mathematician and a prominent philosopher of the 4th century AD in Alexandria, was murdered by a group of fanatical Christians in power, led by a man named Peter, solely because of her scientific beliefs. Her body was burned in a misguided act of supposed divine devotion—an atrocity that led to a prolonged decline of mathematical scholarship in Alexandria.
Similarly, the Italian philosopher and astronomer Giordano Bruno in the 16th century, and later the renowned scientist Galileo Galilei in the 17th century, were tried and sentenced to death or severe punishment for supporting the heliocentric theory—that the Earth revolves around the sun.
Today, racial and ideological discrimination—empowered by a regime armed with advanced military and biological technologies—commits crimes without any respect for international law or humanitarian values. As even the German Chancellor once stated, such a regime acts as a “proxy executor” of the West’s dirtiest ambitions. These crimes continue the dark legacy of historical atrocities: the Inquisition, the suppression of science, and the genocides committed by Alexander, the Mongols, Mussolini, and Hitler.
Netanyahu, as the executive, military, and political arm of the arrogant Western world, has carried out the dirty missions of the self-deluded and misguided segment of Western civilization (while respectfully acknowledging the wise, reformist, and just figures of the West). He launched a twelve-day war against Iran in late spring 2025 (1404 in the Iranian calendar), and for nearly two years has waged relentless aggression against the defenseless people and children of Gaza. In these conflicts, the utmost cruelty and brutality in the killing of innocent civilians and distinguished scholars was employed—reminiscent of the savagery of the Age of Ignorance and the Middle Ages. The staggering statistics of these recent atrocities, along with the numerous, unforgivable violations of legal and humanitarian norms by a group deluded by the illusion of divine chosenness, cannot in any way be attributed to a compassionate and life-giving Creator through any rational or childish excuse.
Yet we must acknowledge a bitter truth: the chain of human evil did not begin with the Mongols or Hitler, nor will it end with Netanyahu. Perhaps these vile figures are necessary for humanity to understand and cherish the true meaning of dignity and justice.
In conclusion, the deep sorrow and anguish from these tragic events—born of ignorance and the illusion of righteousness—are manifestations of the banality of evil. The perpetrators of these crimes, along with complicit international organizations, intellectuals, and self-proclaimed advocates of Western civilization and human rights, either glorify such acts, silently condone them, or refrain from condemning them out of cowardice and inhuman motives. Such foolish and deluded responses will undoubtedly lead to repeated cycles of violence in human history. According to the law of karma and chaos theory, these actions will not only have grave social consequences but will also impose collective responsibility. Yet divine promise and the universal laws of existence assure us: truth will prevail, and justice shall be established. Amen.
May the eyes of the enemy be blind— those who harbor hatred for the enlightened.
O Lord,
Protect this land from the storms of sedition; It is the sacred ground of the wise.