Iran Bans Sunni Cleric from Leading Prayers Amid Crackdown

Sunni cleric Mowlavi Abdulahad Parsa has been removed from his position as leader of Friday prayers as the Iranian government continues to oppress the Sunni community.

The decision, issued in absentia by the Special Clergy Court of Mashhad, also bans Mowlavi Parsa from delivering speeches within the province, according to rights group Haalvsh’s report on Saturday.

Security agencies have threatened the residents of Taghan village with severe consequences if they protest the decree or support Parsa. A source told the rights group that security agencies also threatened the residents that they would be deprived of all government services and allocation of construction funds to the village.

Parsa was previously arrested and interrogated for a week in October 2022 amid the nationwide uprising in which his sermons addressed government cruelty.

He especially spoke out against Zahedan’s brutal Bloody Friday massacre when security forces opened fire on peaceful protestors on 30 September 2022, killing over 100 people. Security forces fired shots at protestors from rooftops near the Grand Mosalla prayer hall and the Makki Mosque, Zahedan's main Sunni mosque.

The cleric also supported the stance of the famed preacher, Mowlavi Abdolhamid, a prominent Sunni cleric and outspoken critic of the Iranian government, who serves as the Sunni Friday prayer Imam in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Sunni clerics have continued to endure legal harassment in the wake of the protests as the Shia government continues to suppress the minority which constitutes around 10 percent of Iran's population.