ABSTRACT
On a hot day on August 10, 1978, during the last year of the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Hossein Takab’alizadeh and his two friends, Farajollah and Hayat, walked into Rex theater in the city of Abadan, the site of one of the largest oil refineries in the world. They were each carrying a brown bag containing a bottle of high octane airplane fuel and matches. They joined the audience, which was engrossed in Gavaznha (Deers), a film about an anti-government smuggler. Half way through, Hossein and Farajollah left the hall, doused the three closed exit doors with gasoline, set the doors on fire, and fled from the scene.
