TEHRAN – Fotros Media, an Iranian center for Shia documentary films, has produced a short documentary reviewing the biological assassination of Imam Hassan (AS), second Imam of the Shias, based on a study carried out by a group of Western scholars. 

“‘Rereading a Biological Assassination’ has been made based on scientific studies done in 2016 by a group of secular American forensic science scholars who are not necessarily Muslim,” Fotros Media executive Hassan Malakuti told the Persian service of MNA on Friday.

“Due to the fact that the scholars had no autopsy report, they conducted their studies based on interviews with Sunni and Shia people and proved that Imam Hassan (AS) had been martyred by means of mercury chloride intoxication,” he added.

He noted that neither the Muslim nor the Shia world has had any involvement in this study, and said that the group scrutinized the historical cases of mysterious deaths based on forensic sciences. He also added that the group has previously carried out a study on Napoleon Bonaparte’s death.

The results of the group’s studies on the biological assassination of Imam Hassan (AS) have been published in a magazine published by the British Academy of Forensic Sciences (BAFS), which has contributed to Fotros Media in making the documentary.

Rasul Jafarian, a historian of the University of Tehran, collaborated with “Rereading a Biological Assassination”, and Nasser Tahmasb did the narration for the documentary project, which was filmed in Iran, Turkey and England.
  
The study was carried out by Nicole Burke, Mitchell Golas, Cyrus L. Raafat and Aliyar Mousavi.

In the conclusion of their study, the group wrote, “The fact that neither an autopsy nor a judicial investigation was performed by the authorities at the time should not deter the use of eyewitness accounts as evidence.
 
“Mineralogical, medical and chemical facts support the hypothesis that al-Hasan’s death was caused by calomel (mercury(I) chloride) intoxication.

“This forensic hypothesis is consistent with the historical position, reflected in ancient (medieval) documents, that al-Hasan was poisoned by Ja’dah, at the instigation of the caliph, and with the Byzantine emperor’s involvement.”

Malakuti called Fotros Media an independent center that is managed by a group of Shia youth who are spiritually aligned with Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani, a top Shia cleric in Iraq.    

Photo: A poster for “Rereading a Biological Assassination”.

MMS/YAW