Security Forces Prevented the Holding of Sunni Friday Prayers in Tehran

Iran's security and police forces prevented the holding of Sunni Friday prayers in Tehran, led by Molavi Abdolhamid Ismailzahi. Concurrently with the closing ceremony of the International Conference on Islamic Unity, which Molavi Abdolhamid attended in Tehran, security forces blocked the streets leading to the Sunni prayer hall in the Punak neighborhood of Tehran, preventing the Friday prayers from taking place. According to reports from various websites, including 'Mizan News', a news and analytical site linked to the Freedom Movement of Iran, text messages were exchanged among Sunni residents of Tehran starting Thursday to inform them about the Friday prayers led by Molavi Abdolhamid. However, on Friday, as Sunni worshippers, along with Molavi Abdolhamid and several Sunni clerics, were heading to the prayer hall, they encountered blocked streets that prevented them from reaching the venue. Jalal Jalalizadeh, a professor at Tehran University and a representative of Sunnis from Sanandaj in the sixth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, confirmed in an interview with the Baluch Activists Campaign website that he himself was heading to the prayer ceremony when he realized that all the entrances to the prayer hall were blocked. According to Mr. Jalalizadeh, in a call with one of the prayer hall officials, he learned that on Thursday night, security agents contacted the officials and told them, 'You do not have the right to hold Friday prayers this week.' Jalalizadeh stated that the security forces cited the reason for this prevention as the dissemination of text messages among the public regarding the holding of Sunni Friday prayers, referring to it as 'sensitive.' While the holding of Sunni Friday prayers in Tehran led by Molavi Abdolhamid was prevented, the official website of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran published images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meeting with guests and participants of the International Conference on Islamic Unity, showing Molavi Abdolhamid next to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. There is a one-week disagreement between Sunnis and Shiites regarding the date of the birth of Muhammad ibn Abdullah, the Prophet of Islam, which was designated as the Week of Unity by the initiative of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the then Deputy Leader, and supported by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, aiming to set aside differences between Shiites and Sunnis, and an annual conference is held in Iran under this title. This year, the 28th International Conference on Islamic Unity took place, but according to some published images from the conference, even the Shiites and Sunnis present did not hold a joint prayer. In this context, land allocation in Zahedan for Sunni ceremonies 'after 12 years of pursuit' was noted. Younesi stated that opponents of Shiite and Sunni unity have infiltrated government institutions and that some do not want the government to pay attention to minorities. Mediation by Molana Abdolhamid and the outlook for national unity were also discussed, along with Molavi Abdolhamid's critical response to Alam al-Huda regarding Sunnis.