NCRI – Arrests of anti-Khamenei clergy and pressure on them have increased following the uprising on the holy day of Ashura, December 27, 2009.
The intelligence agents of the Iranian regime arrested Mr. Mohammad-Taqi Khalaji, a clergyman close to the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, on Tuesday, January 12, at his residence in Qom.
Another clergy, Sheikh Mohammad Qureyshi, who leads the Sunni mosque of Jame Mohammadieh in Talesh in Northern Province of Gilan, was arrested on Sunday, January 10, and taken to the local intelligence office in the province. He had already served a one-year-prison-term in mullahs’ jails.
A number of Sunni theologians were also arrested in the city of Khash in Sistan and Baluchistan province, southeastern Iran, in late December. The arrestees included Molavi Saeed Kordi, Molavi Abduljalil Mir-Baluch Zehi and Molavi Jaber Yar-Mohammad Zehi.
The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations to condemn the arbitrary arrests and take urgent measures for unconditional release of these clergymen and all political prisoners in Iran.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 17, 2010
