4.   Attempt on the Shah’s Life
Baha was imprisoned in Tehran for complicity in the attempt on then Shah's life on August 15. He was then released subject to expulsion from Iran.
According to Baha, the epistle to the son of the wolf, Juli Chamler's translation, PP.16-17, "I was in no way connected with that criminal affair and my innocence was indisputably proved before the tribunal. Nevertheless they arrested me …… they confined me in a place which has no parallel…When I was released from prison, I journeyed in accordance with the order of H.M the Shah toward Iraq Arabi [i.e. Baghdad] escorted by a Persian and by a Russian officer."

According to Sir Abbas Effendi, Traveller's Narrative, English Translation, Vol. II, PP. 51-54. "Baha was placed under arrest and a whole regiment guarded him closely. After several days of interrogations they sent him in chain and fetter from Shimran to the gaol of Tehran. … the decision of the court declared his purity and freedom from the charge. … Baha requested permission to withdraw to the Supreme Shrine [of Karbala and Najaf] and, after some month by the royal permission and with leave of the Prime Minister, set out accompanied by one of the king's messengers for the shrines."

According to the Dawn-Breaker Nabil's Narrative, American Edition, Shoghi Effendi's translation, P. 603, "Baha stayed in the home of Mirza Majid, his brother-in-law, who acted as secretary to the Russian minister [Prince Dolgoruki]. The Shah demanded that the accused be delivered into his hands. The Russian minister refused, and requested Baha to proceed to the home of Mirza Aqa Khan, the grand Vizir. His request was granted, whereupon the minister formally communicated to the grand Vizir that the utmost care should be exercised to ensure the safety and protection of the Trust his government was delivering into his keeping, warning him that he would hold him responsible should he fail to disregard his wishes."

(PP. 636-687) "when Azim [i.e. Shaykh Mulla Ali] was questioned, he answered: "I alone conceived the plan and endeavoured to execute it … the words of his declarations were taken down by both the ministers, interpreters and the grand Vizir’s representative, who submitted their records to Mirza Aqa Khan. The documents which were placed in his hands were chiefly responsible for Baha’s release from his imprisonment.”
P. 670 “No sooner had Baha received his freedom then the decision of the government was handed to him informing him that within a month of the issuing of this order, he with his family were expected to leave Tehran for a place beyond the confine of Persia.
Baha accompanied by the members of his family, and escorted by a member of the imperial body guard and an official of the Russian Legation set out from Tehran on his journey to Baghdad.
According to Mirza Muhammad Jawad of Qazwin, in his Historical Epitome, Materials for the Study of the BÂBi Religion by Prof. Browne, PP. 6-7, Baha was imprisoned or confined until the Russian minister in the capital exercised himself to protest him, when it was proved on enquiring and investigation that he had no knowledge of the above-mentioned event, and his non-complicity therein became clear. So, his innocence being established, he was released through the effort of the afore-mentioned minister, but having regard to existing circumstances and the severities which prevailed, it was considered expedient that he should reside in the “abode of peace” “of Baghdad. So Baha set out, being accompanied by his family, and a specially selected officer on the part of the Shah, and another on the part of the Russian Legation, for Baghdad.”
Baha’s statement that “my innocence was indisputably proved before the tribunals” before his “arrest” and Sir Abbas Effendi’s statement that “the decision of the court declared his purity and freedom from this charge” are not corroborated by Baha’s historian Nabil in the Dawn-Breakers and Mirza Muhammad Jawad of Qazwin in his Historical Epitome.
On the other hand Mirza Jawad’s statement that “it was proved on enquiring that Baha had no knowledge of the attempt” is contradicted by Nabil in the Dawn-Breakers, P. 599, where he states that “Baha interviewed Azim, who in that interview was advised, in the most emphatic terms, to abandon the plan he had conceived. Baha condemned his designs and disassociated himself entirely from the act it was his intention to commit.
The fact is that so audacious an attempt demanded most deterrent punishment, a verdict of “guilty” or “not guilty” by a process of law was out of the question. A suspect who abjured his faith was spared. Otherwise he faced death in many cases, life imprisonment was few and far between.

Without going into the merits of his case, Baha owed his release from imprisonment to the intercession of the Russian Minister.

In acknowledgment of the Russian Minister’s service which saved his life, Baha in an epistle addressed to the Czar of Russia from Acre says: “When I was in chains and fetters, in the prison of TA (i.e. Teheran), one of their ambassadors assisted me. Therefore god decreed unto thee a station which none but Himself can comprehend. Beware but thou charge this lofty station,” The Dawn-Breakers, ibid, P. 603, footnote 2.
“God’s decree” will not prove anything, but in this specific case, Baha’s decree proved untrue.
In the Dawn-Breaker, ibid, P. 506, Baha is quoted as saying “The epistle we addressed to the Czar of Russia, alone failed to reach its destination. Other Tablets, however, have reached him, and that epistle will eventually be delivered into his hands.” This was in Iran.

In the Materials for the Study of the BÂBi Religion, PP. 275-287. Facsimiles are reproduced of state papers bearing on the removal of the BÂBis from Baghdad to Turkey in Europe, dated May 10, 1862. In document A.7 the Iranian foreign minister refers to the ill-considered policy of former official," which enabled "Mirza Husayn Ali of Nur [i.e. Baha] to obtain release from the Anbar prison [in Tehran] and permission to reside in the neighbourhood of the shrines [of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq."

'From that time until now, the foreign minister continues, "he is in Baghdad, and at no time has he ceased from secretly corrupting and misleading foolish persons and ignorant weaklings. Sometimes, moreover he has hand to sedition and incitement to murder as in the case of Mulla Aqa of Darband, when they grievously wounded with intent to kill; besides sundry after assassinations which took place."
The foreign minister then directs and instructs his ambassador accredited to the sublime porte, in Istanbul, Turkey to approach the Ottoman Government for "the extradition of Mirza Husayn Ali and such of his followers and familiars as are the cause & root of the mischief," alternatively for "the deportation to, and detention in that be mischief-maker [i.e. Baha] and his several intimates, some other place in the interior of the Ottoman kingdom which has no means of communication with one frontiers, so that the channel of their mischief making and sedition may be stopped."

The ottoman government elected the second alternative. Baha had already acquired the Ottoman nationality. The Traveller's Narrative. English Translation, Vol. II, P.88. This was at Bagdad.

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