Maryam Rajavi: Destruction of Sunni prayer hall in Tehran is an anti-Islamic, sectarian and criminal act
She called on the international community, defenders of human rights and freedom of opinion to condemn this suppressive measure
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described the destruction of a Sunni prayer hall in the Poonak district of Tehran as an anti-Islamic, sectarian and criminal act, and she called on all defenders of human rights and freedom of religion and belief and the international community, especially the Muslim countries, Europe and the US, to protest against it.
Archive Photo, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Iranian Resistance
According to reports, on Wednesday morning, July 29, suppressive forces destroyed “Poonak” prayer hall in Tehran, which had long been forcibly closed and barred from being used for holding prayers.
The destruction of this prayer hall took place while the clerical regime has prevented the large Sunni population in Tehran from using or building a mosque.
The suppressive policies of the clerical regime against the Sunnis have intensified during Hassan Rouhani’s presidency. During this period a large number of Sunni prisoners in Gohardasht, Orumiyeh, Miandoab, Chahbahar, Zahedan and Zabol prisons were executed and a number of Sunni clerics and citizens in Sistan and Baluchistan Province have been assassinated.
Mrs. Rajavi called on Muslim clerics, especially Shia clerics, not to remain silent against repression and discrimination against Sunnis in Iran and not to allow the mullahs’ regime to continue their inhuman crimes in the name of Shiite Islam. She called on all Iranian people especially young people of every religion to support their Sunni brothers and sisters. “As long as this regime is in power, execution, torture, repression, oppression and increased discrimination against various ethnic groups and followers of other religions will continue, and this disaster will only end through regime change and the establishment of democracy and popular rule instead of the mullahs’ rule”, Mrs. Rajavi added.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran in its Plan on the Provisional Government’s Relations with Religion, adopted November 11, 1985, states: “Any form of compulsory religious and ideological teaching and any compulsion or practice or non-practice of religious rituals and customs is forbidden. The right of all religions and denominations to teach, proselytize, and freely perform their rituals and traditions, and the respect and security of all places belonging to them, are guaranteed” and “All forms of discrimination against the followers of various religions and denominations in the enjoyment of their individual and social rights are prohibited. No citizens shall enjoy any privileges or be subject to any deprivations in respect of nomination for election, suffrage, employment, education, becoming a judge of any other individual or social rights, for reason of belief or non-belief in a particular religion or denomination.” The plan adds: “Jurisdiction of judicial authorities is not based upon their religious or ideological stance, and laws not formulated within the legislative institution of the land will have no official sanction or validity.”
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 30, 2015
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