chauvunist
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2011
- Messages
- 2,726
- Reaction score
- -3
- Country
- Location
Sunni Muslims in Iran's capital are not allowed to open or operate mosques.
BEIRUT – Iranian security forces have reportedly demolished a prayer hall serving as the only Sunni mosque in the capital Tehran in the latest act of repression against Sunni Muslims residing in the theocratic Shiite state.
“The Tehran municipality has demolished parts of a mosque in the city’s western Pounak quarter,” Al-Jazeera cited unofficial sources as saying late Thursday.
“The Tehran authorities have justified the demolition with the excuse that the mosque is an illegal center which allows foreigners to come to the country,” the Qatari-owned network added.
Al-Jazeera’s Tehran bureau chief Abdul Qader Fayez said that the demolition had included parts of the building Sunnis use as a prayer room and “that it is the only [such location available to] Tehran’s Sunnis, who number around 1 million individuals.”
“So far, apart from the municipality’s remarks—that it is dealing with ‘a center witnessing illegal activities’—there has been no official statement,” the report added.
The Pounak site was originally shut down by Iranian authorities on January 17, 2015, according to a report published by BBC Persian.
“Sunnis do not have an official prayer site in Tehran, and during previous years have rented a hall to be used as [a substitute for] a mosque,” London Center for Baluchistan Studies director Abdul Sattar Doshoki told the outlet.
The anti-Iranian government National Council of Resistance of Iran went into further details on the destruction of the place of worship,saying that on early Wednesday morning state security forces raided and destroyed the Pounak prayer hall.
“The suppressive forces further searched the premises of the mosque’s Sunni Imam Abdullah Moussa-Zadeh and confiscated his mobile phone,” the report added.
The destruction of the site—which had previously been ordered shut by Iranian authorities in January—prompted the Sunni imam of Zahedan to send protest letters to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.
“Intolerance towards even a single ordinary prayer hall and its destruction in a city that does not allow Sunnis to build a mosque ... not only hurts the sentiments of Iran’s Sunni community, but also offends all Muslims of the world,” NCR-Iran and other online outlets quoted Molavi Abdul Hamid as writing in his missive.
Abdul Hamid is considered the spiritual leader of Sunnis in Iran and is known for his advocacy of Sunni rights. Iran strapped a travel ban on the Sheikh in 2014.
Sunni Muslims in Tehran have not been allowed to build and operate mosques since the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei and his Vilayat-e Faqih political system that places the reins of government in the hands of a Shiite religious authority.
Because the Sunnis cannot operate official mosques in the Iranian capital, Human Rights Watch noted, a Sunni council in Tehran has “established a system of namazkhanehs, or provisional prayer sites, to accommodate Sunni worshippers in Tehran province during Friday prayers and Eid holidays.”
Iran demolishes only Sunni mosque in Tehran
These Mullah's have no shame...Churches and synagogues are allowed but sunni mosques are not allowed in Tehran,Shows their true mentality..
BEIRUT – Iranian security forces have reportedly demolished a prayer hall serving as the only Sunni mosque in the capital Tehran in the latest act of repression against Sunni Muslims residing in the theocratic Shiite state.
“The Tehran municipality has demolished parts of a mosque in the city’s western Pounak quarter,” Al-Jazeera cited unofficial sources as saying late Thursday.
“The Tehran authorities have justified the demolition with the excuse that the mosque is an illegal center which allows foreigners to come to the country,” the Qatari-owned network added.
Al-Jazeera’s Tehran bureau chief Abdul Qader Fayez said that the demolition had included parts of the building Sunnis use as a prayer room and “that it is the only [such location available to] Tehran’s Sunnis, who number around 1 million individuals.”
“So far, apart from the municipality’s remarks—that it is dealing with ‘a center witnessing illegal activities’—there has been no official statement,” the report added.
The Pounak site was originally shut down by Iranian authorities on January 17, 2015, according to a report published by BBC Persian.
“Sunnis do not have an official prayer site in Tehran, and during previous years have rented a hall to be used as [a substitute for] a mosque,” London Center for Baluchistan Studies director Abdul Sattar Doshoki told the outlet.
The anti-Iranian government National Council of Resistance of Iran went into further details on the destruction of the place of worship,saying that on early Wednesday morning state security forces raided and destroyed the Pounak prayer hall.
“The suppressive forces further searched the premises of the mosque’s Sunni Imam Abdullah Moussa-Zadeh and confiscated his mobile phone,” the report added.
The destruction of the site—which had previously been ordered shut by Iranian authorities in January—prompted the Sunni imam of Zahedan to send protest letters to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.
“Intolerance towards even a single ordinary prayer hall and its destruction in a city that does not allow Sunnis to build a mosque ... not only hurts the sentiments of Iran’s Sunni community, but also offends all Muslims of the world,” NCR-Iran and other online outlets quoted Molavi Abdul Hamid as writing in his missive.
Abdul Hamid is considered the spiritual leader of Sunnis in Iran and is known for his advocacy of Sunni rights. Iran strapped a travel ban on the Sheikh in 2014.
Sunni Muslims in Tehran have not been allowed to build and operate mosques since the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei and his Vilayat-e Faqih political system that places the reins of government in the hands of a Shiite religious authority.
Because the Sunnis cannot operate official mosques in the Iranian capital, Human Rights Watch noted, a Sunni council in Tehran has “established a system of namazkhanehs, or provisional prayer sites, to accommodate Sunni worshippers in Tehran province during Friday prayers and Eid holidays.”
Iran demolishes only Sunni mosque in Tehran
These Mullah's have no shame...Churches and synagogues are allowed but sunni mosques are not allowed in Tehran,Shows their true mentality..
