NCRI – Iran’s mullahs have ordered ‘scandalous’ photos of Sunnis and Shi’ites praying separately in two groups in the same mosque to be removed from websites in the regime.
The images were taken during the recent ‘Islamic Unity Conference’ held in Tehran and first published on a state approved website.
Even the state-run Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reacted to the publication of photos on Saturday. It wrote that the photos of Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims praying separately had ‘shocked observers’.
The newspaper wrote: “Despite a strong emphasis made during the several sessions that have been held over many years, including this year, unfortunately the participants in this conference have doubts about the basics principals of unity.
The paper wrote that praying separately is ‘absolutely unacceptable’ during the Unity Conference.
Meanwhile on Friday, the police prevented Sunnis from gathering for Friday prayers in a mosque.
The security forces blocked all roads to a small mosque where Sunni cleric Mawlawi Abdulhamid was due to lead the Friday sermon.
This is not the first time that authorities in Shiite-majority Iran have prevented Sunnis from gathering for prayers.
Last October, dozens of uniformed and plain-clothes security agents surrounded the Sadeghiyeh Mosque in northwest Tehran, one of the largest and most important Sunni prayer sites in the capital, preventing Sunni worshippers from gathering for Eid-e Ghorban, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
