Ahmad Kasravi, born on September 29, 1890 in Tabriz, Iran. While still in his teens Kasravi warmed to the principles and ideals of the Iranian Constitutional Movement in spite of his ultra conservative religious background and the atmosphere of the poor, backward section of Tabriz in which he grew up. Having reached the status of mullah [priest] at the age of twenty, Kasravi flatly repudiated all that he considered to be unenlightened and repressive in the education, precepts and practices of the Shia branch of Islam and turned wholeheartedly to the pursuit of knowledge, truth and social justice. He taught Arabic at the Presbyterian-run American Memorial School in Tabriz, contributed to the liberal journals in Egypt and Syria, wrote an Arabic grammar book for the Ministry of Education in Azarbaijan.

A figure like Kasravi could not have lived but among enemies. His friends, although dedicated to his cause, were comparatively few and scattered all over the country. He was attacked vehemently by the Shi'ite clergy for his liberal ideas and by the court for his anti-monarchical statements. And he defended himself where the law and the courts were involved. There were two attempts on his life. The first, in April 1945, the year during which he had published his most scathing works, was unsuccessful. But the next year in 1946 by the Fada'iyan-e Islam assassinated him in the court chamber where Kasravi was defending himself against anti-Islamic charges.

Source: http://www.iranchamber.com/personalities/akasravi/ahmad_kasravi.php