Kurdistan Human Rights Network – Hassan Amini known as the director of Religious Sciences school of Imam Bukhari based in Sananda criticised discrimination against Sunnis in Iran in an open letter published on the occasion of Islamic Unity week.
The Sunni cleric, who for years has been summoned and interrogated by Iranian security agencies for religious activities, criticised the Sunni situation in Iran on the occasion of the Unity Week.
Islamic unity week refers to a ceremony held every year both by Sunnis and Shia. The event is held between two dates of the birthday of prophet Muhammad.
“Reviewing the speeches and actions of the officials and organisers of the unity week conference in the last thirty years clearly reveal the contradiction between their promises and their actions. The Sunni people of Iran are not only deprived of the enjoyment of their minor rights as stipulated in Article 12 of the constitutional law but are also subject to gross oppression and discrimination.”, he says at the beginning of the letter.
“25 to 30 percent of the population of Iran are Sunnis but they are excluded from governmental and military posts such as the minister, vice president, governor, commander of the police, high ranking commander of army, the high ranking commander of the IRGC, and ambassadors in the Islamic countries since the beginning of the revolution”., he adds.
This prominent Sunni cleric has emphasised on the persistence of oppression and discrimination against Sunnis in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including “Deprivation from Learning Mother Tongue along with Farsi language and the lack of formation of special courts for clergy in Sunni areas.
“I ask the supreme leader of Iran why if at least none of the branches under his supervision do not heed his last year’s recommendations regarding lack of discrimination against Sunnis in addition to the Judiciary & Executive Branch”, he concludes.
