Iranians In Zahedan Hold Silent Antiregime Rally

The city of Zahedan was the scene of another round of rallies, but this Friday the demonstrators were silent as security forces were swarming the streets.

In addition to the large presence of security forces, the 39th consecutive week of protests was a little different as a lot of people have been arrested since last week, when the regime intensified its crackdown and the campaign against the city’s prominent Sunni leader Mowlavi Abdolhamid.

A website, which covers developments in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, published several videos and photos of plainclothes agents in cars across the city, with reports of several arrests.

Unlike previous weeks, Abdolhamid did not lead the Friday prayers and was substituted by Mowlavi Abdolghani Badri, interim Friday imam. However, Abdulhamid's office announced that the decision was made because the senior cleric led a similar event and delivered his sermon for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), in which he also asked his followers not to chant slogans to honor the occasion of the Eid.

Although people followed his order, the walls of the city were covered with political graffiti, themed around expressing support for Abdolhamid, decrying the regime’s persecution of the religious and ethnic Baluch minority in the province, and remembering Bloody Friday.

Justice for the tragic incidents on September 30, 2022, known as Bloody Friday, has been a recurring demand during protest rallies in the province, also reflected regularly in Abdolhamid’s Friday prayer sermons. According to different reports, security forces killed 80 to 100 people, including women and children, on the day.

In the past few weeks, the regime has intensified pressure on the outspoken cleric, arresting several people from his inner circle and his supporters as well as preventing him from leaving Iran for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

His grandson and several aides have been arrested since last week. The Makki Mosque, Abdolhamid's headquarters in Zahedan has been a center of resistance to the government since popular protests began in September 2022. This is where Abdolhamid delivers his weekly sermons, openly criticizing the regime headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The arrests came a few days after reports surfaced that the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence arm had assigned a hitman to poison and kill the vocal Sunni cleric. The security guards at Makki Mosque arrested a man pretending to be a religious student who allegedly wanted to assassinate the Sunni leader.

According to the report, the suspect admitted that he received a salary of 150 million rials ($300) per week since the beginning of the operation.

Officially known as Sheikh Abdolhamd Esmailzehi, the Sunni cleric is widely popular because of his willingness to challenge Khamenei’s absolute authority. In addition, the country's Sunni minority is systematically discriminated against and the cleric has long been an advocate of minority rights, to the ire of the regime.

During his speech for the Eid al-Adha prayer on Thursday, Abdolhamid again slammed the regime for its atrocities against protesters, especially in the Bloody Friday incident, and decried the country’s judiciary for lack of independence and corruption.

"The judiciary should not be affected by politics", he said, noting that this institution should be a "refuge for the people” but judges follow orders from others, referring to security forces.

"Unfortunately, corruption has taken root in the country today, and the judicial system is no exception... The fight against corruption requires a new mechanism," he added.

He also criticized the authorities for preventing several people in his circle from traveling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, saying that "I am not complaining about being banned, but the people who were with me, who were neither political nor famous, were sent back from the airport, which is against the text of the Quran."