Ali Akbar Tabatabai
Encyclopedia
Ali Akbar Tabatabaei was an Iran
ian exile and former press attache to the Iranian embassy in the United States
under the Shah
who became president of the Iran Freedom Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland
after the Islamic Revolution
.
A critic of Ayatollah Khomeini, Tabatabaei was shot in his Bethesda, Maryland
home by Dawud Salahuddin
, an American
Muslim
convert.
Salahuddin has stated he was paid $5000 by Iranians to kill Tabatabaei and is currently on the FBI fugitives list. He escaped to Iran via Paris and Geneva, reaching Teheran, Iran, on July 31, 1980. In a 1996 interview with ABC's 20/20, Salahuddin confessed to killing Tabatabaei. He has also stated he thought the killing was "an act of war".
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian exile and former press attache to the Iranian embassy in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
under the Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
who became president of the Iran Freedom Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
after the Islamic Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
.
A critic of Ayatollah Khomeini, Tabatabaei was shot in his Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
home by Dawud Salahuddin
Dawud Salahuddin
Dawud Salahuddin, sometimes spelled Daoud Salahuddin is an African-American convert to Islam most famous for his 1980 killing of Ali Akbar Tabatabai, an Iranian dissident and critic of Ayatollah Khomeini, and his exile in the Islamic Republic of Iran.-Biography and activities:Dawud Salahuddin was...
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
convert.
Salahuddin has stated he was paid $5000 by Iranians to kill Tabatabaei and is currently on the FBI fugitives list. He escaped to Iran via Paris and Geneva, reaching Teheran, Iran, on July 31, 1980. In a 1996 interview with ABC's 20/20, Salahuddin confessed to killing Tabatabaei. He has also stated he thought the killing was "an act of war".