Iranian Sunni leader makes appeal to Iraq's top Shiite cleric
Iran’s prominent Sunni leader, Molavi Abdul Hamid, sent a letter to Iraqi Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani requesting that he act as a mediator between Iran's Sunni community and the government.
Prominent Iranian Sunni leader Molavi Abdul Hamid sent a letter July 21 to Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ali al-Sistani, regarding the unequal status of Sunnis in Iran. Abdul Hamid asked Sistani to act as a mediator between Iranian authorities and Iran's Sunni community, with the goal of encouraging the government to adopt fairer policies toward Sunnis in Iran.
Abdul Hamid is based in the southeastern city of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan. His political and social activities seek to promote equal citizenship rights for the Sunnis of Iran. He pursues a moderate approach and encourages dialogue that shuns the use of violence.
In his letter, Abdul Hamid wrote that Sunnis in Iran are facing “extreme sectarian discrimination” amid “the absence of religious freedom,” the lack of “Sunni elites in public positions” and “imbalances between Shiites and Sunnis in Sunni areas.”
Sunnis are “prevented from building mosques in Tehran,” he wrote, and “holding Friday and Eid prayers in Tehran and other major cities.”
