 Taheri's defense maintained that he had never visited Abadan and that he was in Ahvaz at the time of the blaze.The tribunal found Taheri guilty and executed him shortly thereafter on 23 February 1979.Dillip Hiro, author of "Iran Under the Ayatollahs", said that anti-shah groups were not likely to have caused the fire, since the Cinema Rex was located in a working-class neighbourhood and was showing the film "Gavaznha," starring well-known actor Behrouz Vossoughi, which Hiro claimed had "passed the censors with considerable difficulty."