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In Taft several people were put to death, some of whom were shot and their bodies dragged through the streets. A newly converted eighteen- year- old youth, named Husayn, was denounced by his own father, and torn to pieces before the eyes of his mother, whilst Muhammad- Kamal was hacked into bits with knife, spade and pickaxe. In Manshad, where the persecutions lasted nineteen days, similar atrocities were perpetrated. An eighty- year- old man, named Siyyid Mirza, was instantly killed in his sleep by two huge stones which were thrown on him; a Mirza Sadiq, who asked for water, had a knife plunged into his breast, his executioner afterwards licking the blood from the blade, while Shatir- Hasan, one of the victims, was seen before his death distributing some candy in his possession among the executioners and dividing among them his clothing. A sixty- five year old woman, Khadijih- Sultan, was hurled from the roof of a house; a believer named Mirza Muhammad was tied to a tree, made a target for hundreds of bullets and his body set on fire, whilst another, named Ustad Riday- i- Saffar, was seen to kiss the hand of his murderer, after which he was shot and his corpse heaped with insults.
(297:2)
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