Security cameras recorded the whole scene but no one thought any foul play was involved as it appeared that Dr. Ali Abdul Abadi suffered a stroke. After all it was not unusual for a man in his sixties to have a seizure on a cold night, especially someone who was accustomed to a much warmer climate.
Professor Ahmad Riza Kadoura attended a conference that was held at the main campus of the University of Barcelona that was right near the Barcelona Football Club, home of FCB the world famous soccer team. As a renowned analytical chemist Ahmad was invited to give a keynote speech at the opening session of the conference on "New Methods in Analytical Chemistry". He gave a rather boring monotonous presentation, much to the disappointment of the organizers that had read his scientific papers but had never heard him lecture to a live audience. He gave a very detailed description of the electrochemical device he and his students had developed to measure extremely low levels of uranium in drinking water. As it turned out, the data he presented showed that the analytical performance of the device was inferior to instruments that could be purchased for less than $100 from manufacturers in China. The polite applause at the end of the presentation attested to the good manners of the audience rather than to the new insights they had gained from the presentation. Ahmad was unaware of the fact and was convinced that his performance was brilliant and the applause was rightfully earned.
The last session of the day ended in the late afternoon so it was already dark outside when Ahmad boarded the Green Line metro at Palau Reial station. As it was too early for dinner — no respectable restaurant in Barcelona fills up before 9 pm — he decided to go and visit the Sagrada Familia church before looking for a restaurant. He had read about it in his tourist guidebook and knew that it was one of the most popular tourist sites in Europe, second only to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He was impressed by the four main towers that loomed over the surroundings. The church was closed to visitors so he first went to see the brightly lit east side of the church from behind the metal fence. After reading his guidebook he understood that it represented the birth of Jesus and the promise of Christianity. He then walked to the other side that was illuminated in a rather gloomy yellowish light and saw the scenes depicting Gaudi's design of the Last Supper and the crucifixion. After he had appreciated the genius of Gaudi's design he took the stairs down to the metro station. He entered the station and waited on the platform for the train that was headed to Placa Catalunya Square around which many restaurants were located. He didn't pay any attention to a heavily built man that was standing right behind him on the crowded platform. As the train approached the station the man gave Ahmad's back a small shove that sent him flying off the platform right under the wheels of the approaching train. The driver could not stop the train in time and Ahmad's head was severed by the train. In the panic that broke out the hefty man disappeared.
The security cameras only showed a large man with a heavy overcoat and a scarf that covered most of his face and there was no way he could have been identified even with the most advanced facial recognition algorithms.
Ironically, this whole scene happened less than 100 meters from the site where Gaudi, the legendary architect of Sagrada Familia, was run over by a tram some 90 years earlier.
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Baida was a member of the elite science community of the Islamic Republic of Iran and in recognition of his service to his homeland's nuclear program was appointed as a senior member of the Iranian delegation to the IAEA in Vienna. He had grown up in a small town on the shores of the Persian Gulf where the weather was warm most of the year and could not get used to the harsh climate of Vienna. In late November he felt that he was entitled to a vacation and found a nice package deal in Taormina, Sicily. The short flight from Vienna to Catania was not very comfortable and the in-flight service was nothing to write home about. Within one hour after landing he was driving out of the car rental's parking lot in a Skoda Octavia station wagon with automatic transmission. He was smiling at his wife, Layla, and kept saying that they were very lucky to have received an upgrade from a small manual shift car to the larger Octavia. Layla was pleased that Mahmoud was so happy as she, too, was looking forward to the vacation in warm Sicily. The drive along the broad highway from Catania to Taormina was very pleasant but once they left the highway Mahmoud had to focus on the steep, narrow winding road that led to the center of the village. Although they were using a modern GPS navigation system they had trouble finding their hotel. They passed through the center of the village several times without finding the street that led to their hotel and because of the one-way streets had to go round and round in circles. After 30 minutes of wandering around they decided to use HUMINT rather than SIGINT — human intelligence rather than signal intelligence — and asked for directions, quite a degrading thing for a full-blooded Iranian macho man to do, especially one who considered himself as technologically savvy and brilliant. A polite shopkeeper told them that they had to drive through a narrow stone arch that they had passed by several times thinking that it was closed to vehicular traffic, and then take a left fork up a steep dead-end street to the hotel.
They checked in to the hotel and while waiting for their room to be ready chatted with the owner at the front desk and asked about the sites of Taormina. The owner was very helpful and in perfect English told them they should leave their car at the hotel's only parking spot and just take a 10 minute walk to the center. He added that driving around Taormina was not recommended, something that Mahmoud had already figured out and that all the main sites were within walking distance. He suggested that they follow Corso Umberto, the main pedestrian street, and visit the Teatro Greco, the large ancient Greek theater that was built slightly after Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire.
They strolled down the street and reached the theater and were greatly impressed by it. They were amazed to see that it still served as the venue for concerts and performances more than 2000 years after it was used for the very same purpose. They sauntered to the Piazza IX Aprile and found a table in one of cafés on the large terrace that was built at the edge of the cliff. The view of the village of Giardini Naxos and the shoreline way down below was beautiful. The sun was setting in the west and Layla said that she wanted to take a selfie photo of the two of them before it got too dark. They went to the edge of the terrace and leaned on the guardrail. Mahmoud extended his hand with the mobile phone and tried in vain to take a photo with the two of them in the foreground and the view of the shore in the background. Layla suggested they ask someone to take the picture and pointed to a young man who just happened to be standing nearby apparently also admiring the scenery. Mahmoud asked the youngster if he could take their photo and the man smiled politely and came closer to take the phone from Mahmoud's hand. Suddenly he stumbled and accidently fell colliding into the couple. The guardrail was crushed under the combined weight of the three of them and the Iranian couple fell down the steep cliff while the young man managed to grab one of the poles of the guardrail and save himself.