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Iran: Harvard Scholar’s Body Cremated After Request for Burial in Iran Falters Iran: Harvard Scholar’s Body Cremated After Request for Burial in Iran Falters
(about 1 hour later)
Richard Nelson Frye, a renowned Harvard scholar who wanted to be buried in Iran, a request that angered Iranian hard-liners, has been cremated by his family in Boston, the Iranian news media reported Tuesday. The Iranian Students’ News Agency quoted Dr. Frye’s Iranian colleague Turaj Daryaii as saying the family had waited more than two months for official Iranian permission to bury him near the Zayandeh River in Isfahan, the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, before deciding to cremate him on June 8. It was not clear what the family intended to do with his ashes. Dr. Frye, who died on March 27 at age 94, had dedicated his academic career to Iran’s culture and language, and he had written the burial request into his will. He was widely regarded in Iran as a friend, even among some conservatives, including former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But his death coincided with growing resentment by Iranian hard-liners over signs of reconciliation with the United States after three decades of estrangement, highlighted by the possibility of an agreement over Iran’s disputed nuclear program. A month after Dr. Frye died, the leader of Friday Prayer in Isfahan denounced his burial request, calling him a spy and a robber of Iranian cultural artifacts. Richard Nelson Frye, a renowned Harvard scholar who wanted to be buried in Iran, a request that angered Iranian hard-liners, has been cremated by his family in Boston, the Iranian news media reported Tuesday. The Iranian Students’ News Agency quoted Dr. Frye’s Iranian colleague Turaj Daryaii as saying the family had waited more than two months for official Iranian permission to bury him in Isfahan, the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, before deciding to cremate him on June 8. It was not clear what the family intended to do with his ashes. Dr. Frye, who died on March 27 at age 94, had dedicated his career to Iran’s culture and language, and he had written the burial request into his will. He was widely regarded in Iran as a friend, even among some conservatives, but his death coincided with growing resentment by Iranian hard-liners over signs of reconciliation with the United States after decades of estrangement. A month after Dr. Frye died, the leader of Friday Prayer in Isfahan denounced his burial request, calling him a spy and a robber of cultural artifacts.