Thursday, October 11, 2007

400 Kurds arrested in Iran

AKI - Adnkronos international Iran: Hundreds of Iranian Kurds arrested in Sunni sweep
Up to 400 Iranian Kurds who belong to the Sunni faith have reportedly been arrested in the last three days in Saghez and other cities of Kurdistan province in the country's north-west.

Two religious leaders, the imam from the Khatam al-Anbia mosque, Seyyed Seifollah Hosseini, and the imam of the Hamza mosque, Seyyed Hassan Hosseini.

All those arrested belong a Sunni religious group called Maktab Quran (The Way of the Koran), which disapproves of the presence of clerics in the government. The state religion is Shiite Islam, practised by the majority of Iranians.

In Saghez, which has the greatest number of Maktab Quran followers, a curfew was imposed for three days and all religious ceremonies organised for Ramadan were suspended.

On Thursday morning a group of citizens gathered in front of the government building of Kermanshah, calling for the two religious leaders and all detainees to be released.


Powered by ScribeFire.

Sphere: Related Content

0 Comments: