On 25 September 2009, Mehdi Zand, the head of The World of Yaad, was sentenced to 2 years in jail following pleading guilty to violent disorder earlier this year on 15 July 2009. When including the time he has already spent in prison, it is likely that he will serve a bare minimum of a further 6 months behind bars.
Two of his followers, who helped him carry out a vicious attack on two former members of the group, have also been sentenced to further time in prison. Francesco Zand, who pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and attempted grievous bodily harm with intent, was given a total sentence of 7 years, whilst Mohammed Kashefi, who pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm, was handed down a sentence of 2 years in prison. All three men originally pleaded innocent to the charges, despite the serious harm that was caused to both victims.
An excerpt from the Hertfordshire Constabulary can be found below:
On Tuesday 11 November last year at about 5pm the trio forced their way into the Blue Fire restaurant on Uxbridge Road in Rickmansworth. The restaurant was locked and shut at the time.
They made threats against the two men in the restaurant over ownership of the business and the pair’s disassociation with a religious movement – The World of Yaad – of which Mehdi Zand is the leader.
During the incident one of the victims, a man from the Rickmansworth area, was injured by Francesco Zand. The man received considerable injuries to his face and has since undergone facial reconstruction....
They made threats against the two men in the restaurant over ownership of the business and the pair’s disassociation with a religious movement – The World of Yaad – of which Mehdi Zand is the leader.
During the incident one of the victims, a man from the Rickmansworth area, was injured by Francesco Zand. The man received considerable injuries to his face and has since undergone facial reconstruction....
...Detective Sergeant Kevin Brown said: “This was a violent targeted attack on two individuals over both the ownership of the restaurant and simply because of the injured parties’ disassociation with Mehdi Zand’s movement.
“This attack was an extreme reaction to the situation and has had long term psychological and physical effects on the victims.
“The verdicts reflect that behaviour of this kind will simply not be tolerated in Hertfordshire."
“Should individuals attempt to take matters into their own hands to resolve disputes with violence, the consequences will be severe and harsh. You will very likely be given a custodial sentence.”
Besides this report from the police (see link to full article in the first bullet point below), there have been many more reports about this attack in the news and some of the articles can be found in the following links:
- Three Men Given Combined Sentence of 11 Years for Assault and Violent Disorder (Hertfordshire Constabulary)
- Trio Jailed for Vicious Attack (Watford Observer)
- Religious Sect Members Jailed after attack on Former Members (Uxbridge Gazette, with the same article also reprinted on the WorldWide Religious News website)
It would appear that Wikipedia, the largest online information resource, has also taken an interest in the news as it has added Mehdi Zand to its 'List of Convicted Religious Leaders' (see bottom of the list).
If you are not already familiar with this attack and the controversy surrounding Mehdi Zand, you can see some earlier articles from the press about this particular case, or you can contact INFORM, the leading specialist on New Religious Movements which is also part of the London School of Economics and is sponsored in part by the UK Home Office, who has a large and detailed report on Zand and his movement.
- An earlier article from the Watford Observer
- A similar article from the Ealing times
- Please also see The Truth about the World of Yaad website for further background information
