Iran: Sunni cleric calls for the release of protest detainees

Iran’s security forces have arrested and detained thousands of demonstrators as Tehran looks to increase its crackdown on the ongoing protests. A prominent Sunni cleric has called for the release of protesters that were detained and to stop executions.

Sunni Muslim cleric Molavi Abdolhamid has criticized Tehran’s crackdown on the protests in a statement on his website. Abdolhamid also criticized the death sentences imposed on some of the demonstrators during his Friday Prayers sermon, as a few executions have already been carried out.

“We compassionately recommend that you release the recent prisoners who were detained during these protests and do not treat them harshly. Most of them are young and very young. Free the young men and women,” said Abdolhamid.

“Don’t charge them with (capital offenses) and if they are, they should not be sentenced to death and put to death,” said the outspoken cleric during his Friday Prayers sermon.

Protesters in the streets of Zahedan, the capital of the Sistan-Baluchistan province in southeast Iran began their demonstrations following Abdolhamid’s sermon. Videos of the protests shared on social media showed protesters chanting for freedom and for the country to be prosperous.

Rights organization Amnesty International said 26 people are facing possible execution after the Islamic Republic executed two people it arrested over the ongoing protests which broke out in September after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police. Amini died days after she was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code on women.

Tehran has also sought to blame its foreign adversaries for fomenting the unrest.

“At least 26 people are at great risk of execution in connection with nationwide protests after Iranian officials arbitrarily executed two individuals following grossly unfair sham trials in a bid to instill fear among the public and end protests,” said the rights group in a statement.

Thursday last week, Iran was ousted from the UN Commission on the Status of Women following a resolution proposed by the United States. 29 countries in the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council voted in favor of the resolution, eight voted against, including China and Russia, and 16 countries abstained.