Religious leaders of the Sunni Muslim communities in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province and in the Kurdish provinces of the country are being increasingly targeted for persecution, arrest, and imprisonment because of their criticism of the state’s violence against peaceful protesters, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on August 15. “Iranian authorities are jailing and defrocking religious leaders of the Sunni communities for speaking out against the state’s killings and arrests of protesters,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI, said in a news release. Ghaemi said the Sunni clerics had committed no illegal act other than speaking out.
Religious Leaders In Sunni Communities Of Iran Targeted For Supporting Protesters
Iran's top Sunni leader, Molavi Abdolhamid, who is based in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, has been repeatedly targeted for his his vocal support of the protests.