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The assaults on Baha'is in al-Shuraniya began after an episode of the program, “al-Haqiqa,” aired on Dream 2 on Saturday evening, 28 March 2009; the episode focused on Baha'i celebrations for the holiday of Nawruz on 21 March and featured a Baha'i resident of al-Shuraniya, the Baha'i activist and dentistry professor Dr. Basma Gamal Musa. Also participating in the program was Gamal Abd al-Rahim, a journalist at the state-owned al-Gomhouriya newspaper and a member of the Press Syndicate. During the broadcast, al-Rahim referred to Dr. Musa saying, “This one should be killed.” On 31 March, only hours before Baha'i homes were torched, al-Gomhouriya published an article by Gamal Abd al-Rahim in which he commended the residents of al-Shuraniya for throwing stones at the homes of Baha'is in the previous days, considering these crimes evidence of their “protectiveness of their religion and faith.”
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