Son of Arrested Imam of Rask: My Father Has Been Tortured with a Taser and Electric Iron

The son of the Sunni Imam of Rask claims that his father is still under "physical and psychological torture" at the Intelligence Department of Zahedan, one month after his arrest. Abdolghafar Naqshbandi, the son of Mowlavi Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi, announced on Sunday, September 24, via the messaging app "X" that according to "news received after about a month of his arrest," the Sunni Imam of Rask is being tortured in the "torture chamber of the Intelligence Department of Zahedan". The son wrote on a picture of his father that he has been tortured "with a taser and electric iron". He also recalled that he had previously endured "four years of torture" alongside his father in the same intelligence agency. Mowlavi Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi was arrested on Sunday, August 20, on charges of "disturbing public opinion through false speeches, slander and defamation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and actions against national security and illegal seizure of national lands." Intelligence and IRGC forces had previously asked Mowlavi Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi via officials from the Chabahar oil company to go to Chabahar to "reopen the fuel quota for his family's vehicles," but he was pursued and arrested by government forces on his way there. After the arrest of this Sunni cleric, the public relations office of the judiciary of Sistan and Baluchestan announced that Mowlavi Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi had held "harsh positions aligned with the opponents of the Islamic regime" in recent months and claimed that he had "invited people to chaos and street riots with false and unrealistic speeches in his Friday sermons and meetings." The term "riots" is used by officials and institutions of the Islamic Republic to refer to peaceful public protests in Iran. Mowlavi Abdulhamid, the Sunni Imam of Zahedan, previously reacted to the arrest of Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi, describing him as "a popular figure and prominent scholar" who was arrested for criticizing officials' performance, stating that "this arrest will lead to increased dissatisfaction, and his freedom is in everyone's interest." Furthermore, Fariba Baloch, a civil activist from Sistan and Baluchestan, previously told the Persian section of Voice of America that the arrest of Mowlavi Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi has "inflamed the anger of Baloch citizens." Rahim Bandoui, a member of the central council of the "People's Party of Baluchestan," told Voice of America that the Islamic Republic seeks to scare the Iranian people through "murder and arrest" of Baloch citizens. In recent days, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom expressed concern over the increased pressure on religious minorities in Iran and the arrest of their leaders, coinciding with the first anniversary of the killing of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini while in custody of the Islamic Republic's law enforcement.