The chairman of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia has written to the Iranian president, the foreign minister and the Isfahan governor to facilitate the burial of Richard Fyre and the building of his mausoleum on Khajoo Bridge in Isfahan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has reacted to the letter and called on the president’s office to decide whether it is going to allow the burial of Richard Frye in Isfahan, as the American scholar of Iranian studies had stipulated in his will.
The international and communications advisor of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia says that Richard Frye, who passed away in March, had named Kazem Mousavi Bojnourdi, the Chairman of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, to oversee the implementation of his will.
Frye stated in his will that he wished to be buried next to the mausoleum of Arthur Pope, another Iran scholar and a professor of Frye.
Iranian hardliners have expressed opposition to this wish, labeling Frye a U.S. spy, while other MPs such as Ali Motahari have called for the wish to be carried out. On Thursday, following tension among MPs over Frye’s burial plans, a group of extremists vandalized the Pope Mausoleum on Khajoo Bridge.
