Ali Motahari, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Cultural Commission, has called on the government to issue a permit to allow Richard Nelson Frye, the recently deceased American scholar and expert on Iranian and Central Asian Studies, to be buried in Isfahan.
Ali Motahari addressed Parliament on April 10, calling on the administration of Hassan Rohani to facilitate the burial of Frye beside the Zayandeh River, as the Iranian-studies scholar requested in his will.
Some opposition has been expressed by Iranian officials, who have referred to Frye as a U.S. spy.
Ahmad Salek, the Isfahan representative and head of Parliament’s Cultural Commission, has expressed opposition to Frye’s burial in Isfahan, but Motahari said the Cultural Commission is by no means unanimous in this opposition.
Frye is credited with establishing the first Iranian studies program in the U.S. at Harvard University. He passed away on March 27, 2014 in Boston at 94.
