Two Iranian Grand Ayatollahs Call For Calm During Hajj
Two leading Shiite clerics in Iran have urged Iranian pilgrims to respect Saudi law during ‘the Hajj,’ the annual pilgrimage to Mecca due July 7-12.
Two leading Shiite clerics in Iran have urged Iranian pilgrims to respect Saudi law during ‘the Hajj,’ the annual pilgrimage to Mecca due July 7-12.
Grand Ayatollahs Naser Makarem Shirazi and Jafar Sobhani made their call during meetings Friday with Abdolfattah Navvab (Abdul Fattah Nawab), representative for Hajj and pilgrimage affairs of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Makarem Shirazi said Iranian pilgrims should not behave in ways that could provoke the sensitivities of the Saudis, and that given Iran’s strained relations with Saudi Arabia, Hajj was a chance “to create optimism and dispel pessimism.”
The statements by the two clerics loyal to Khamenei could be a public signal to Saudi Arabia, amid attempts to improve ties between Tehran and Riyadh.
Makarem noted that Hajj was “indirectly” a political issue. Iran and Saudi Arabia broke off formal diplomatic relations in 2016 and the Hajj has sometimes over centuries revealed tensions between Shia Iranian pilgrims and the Saudis, who follow the Wahhabi tradition in Sunni Islam. In 1987 over 400 Iranians died in clashes with Saudi security forces.
Sobhani suggested that Iranian officials should advise pilgrims to “respect the laws of Saudi Arabia and to refrain from doing what is not right.".After two years of pared-down pilgrimage due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, this year Saudi authorities will permit 1 million Muslims from inside and outside the country to participate. About 40,000 Iranians are set to attend.
In a note published Friday on a Telegram channel run by his supporters, Meysami said he will not end his hunger strike, which he said he would begin Saturday morning, unless authorities stop the execution of Swedish-Iranian national Ahmadreza Djalali (Jalali). Meysami, who is a doctor, said he will refuse all food and only take a little water and a medication which if not taken will cause quick bleeding in his digestive system.
Quoting unnamed "informed sources," semi-official media in Iran reported this week that the 51-year-old Djalali's death sentence was impending.
This is not the first time Iran has threatened to execute Djalali. In November 2020, Djalali told his family he was being sent to solitary confinement in preparation for his execution which the authorities eventually did not carried out, without offering any explanation.
The Iranian state television at the time aired a video of Djalali confessing to spying for Israel but he subsequently released an audio message from prison saying he had been coerced into making the confession. The father of two has always denied any wrongdoing.
Djalali's wife, Vida Mehrannia, told Iran International at the time that he was being used as pawn by Iran in its relations with Europe. Mehrannia on Friday told Radio Farda, that this time authorities have not informed Djalali, his family, and his lawyer of their intention to carry out the death sentence.
Meysami, a doctor and teacher who has been serving a five-year sentence for his anti-hijab activities, said in his message that he had met Djalali at Tehran's Evin prison over three years ago. "He had been on hunger strike in protest to repeated threats of his execution and the effects of which on his body and soul were clearly visible," he wrote.
"Imagine subjecting a human being to this repeatedly. Not once, not twice… Is there any torture worse than this?" Meysami said about repeated threats of execution made against Djalali.
"I don't want to just oppose Dr Djalali's execution, I want to draw attention to something much more important, to draw attention to the fact that they send a man to his death many times and bring him back," he wrote. "Regular and intentional torture like this is definitely crime against humanity."
Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde in a tweet Wednesday expressed concern over Djalali.
“We’re aware of the egregious case of arbitrary detention of Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmadreza Djalali by Iranian authorities. We echo concerns from UN experts that Djalali’s case is ‘truly horrific,’ and urge his release,” a US State Department spokesperson said in response to a query by Iran International Friday.
Earlier this week the Swedish foreign ministry confirmed that Iran has recently arrested a Swedish tourist.
Tehran's relations with Stockholm have escalated further following Swedish prosecutors asking a sentence of life imprisonment for Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian judiciary official, for crimes against humanity committed during the prison purges of 1988 in Iran.
Calling Nouri's arrest and trial "unlawful and unfair", Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi on Monday accused Sweden of violating Nouri's human rights.
