ISCHRO NEWS

ISCHRO Index: iran22012008enews (Public)

(Qom, 22 January 2008) — International Shia Cultural and Human Rights Organization (ISCHRO) received reports from within Iran that Shiite mourners have been arrested in Iran for carrying out commemoration ceremonies in Muharram in accordance with the belief’s traditions.

According to the reports Mr. Morghy, Mr. Gholamy, a cleric with the name Shaykh Rasul and several others have been arrested for distributing booklets and information regarding the religious aspects of ‘tatbir’ and its permissibility.  Tatbir is the slight cutting of the top of the head that causes some bleeding.  Shiites do tatbir in a sign of mourning for the killing of Imam Husayn ibn `Ali, the Prophet’s grandson, and his family and companions who were killed by the army of Yazid ibn Mu`awiyah and their womenfolk taken captive.

Every year Shiites around the world mark the month of Muharram and Safar with mourning ceremonies in honour of what they believe was a sacrifice by Husayn and his followers for justice, freedom and reviving the tenets of the Islamic belief.  Their mourning rituals include the beating of the chest with hands, chains, knives and tatbir and various other forms of rituals.  In recent years, Iraqi Shiites carried out tatbir and other mourning rituals that were banned under Saddam’s rule.

Shiite grand ayatollahs and scholars not associated with the Iranian government accept the ritual as part of religious ceremony.  In a defiant speech, the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei this year denounced tatbir and ridiculed it angering most Shiites.  The government has restricted this year’s ceremonies by banning standards and flags that have been part of these rituals for centuries and calling on all religious gatherings to finish at 11 p.m.

Throughout Islamic history governments hostile to Shiites have banned or restricted Shiite mourning rituals that have always played a role in calling for justice and freedom under oppressed rulers.  In the last century Reza Pahlavi, who ruled Iran as the Shah from 1925 to 1941, imposed restrictions on Muharram mourning rituals angering Shiite clerics and population.

Iran has a predominant Shiite population with over 90 percent adhering to the faith.

The individuals arrested by Iranian security forces are said to be kept in inhumane condition in cells that reach temperatures below 17 degrees Celsius.  ISCHRO News has received information that individuals involved have been tortured to extract information regarding their activities and that the incident is being used as pretence by the Iranian government to make further arrests unrelated to the distributing of literature regarding Shiite mourning rituals.

International Shia Cultural and Human Rights Organization condemned the action of the Iranian security forces and demanded the immediate release of the prisoners and compensation for any physical and psychological harm that has occurred.  ISCHRO further called on the Iranian government to respect Shiite mourning rituals and allow the people to freely carry out their religious faith.