Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Saudi Arabia has been concerned about the potential influence of Iran’s supreme leader among its Shi’a population, especially since Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei took on the title of Vali-ye faqih, or “guardian-jurist.” Such concern is understandable given that the two countries are both neighbors and rivals: Khamenei is a marj’a, the highest-ranking Shi’a religious authority, but he is also the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Armed Forces. This concern over Iranian influence among the Saudi Shi’a community reached its peak following the Khobar Towers bombing on June 25, 1996, a terrorist attack that targeted members of the United States Air Force’s 4404th Wing (Provisional). This paper aims to investigate the Iranian influence within the Shi’a community in Saudi Arabia by focusing on the followers of the supreme leader’s marj’aiyyah, known as “Khat al-Imam,” and its military wing, “Hezbollah Al-Hejaz,” often he
UNPO joins global call for urgent action on arbitrarily detained minority rights defenders in Iran
36 civil society and human rights organizations, including the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), have jointly made an urgent appeal to the international community to secure the release of Kudish acitvists and others arbitrarily detained in Iran. The UNPO has long been campaiging for recognition of the grave danger than Iranian minority rights defenders face, both in Iran and overseas. In August 2020, UNPO members from around the world representing some 300 million unrepresented people, jointly issued a resolution calling for urgent action to be taken to protect Iran s minorities. It is deeply disturbed by significant crackdown targetting the Kurdish community, as well as other minorities such as the Ahwaz and Baloch, that has seen widespread arbitrary arrests and continued executions of minority rights defenders in Iran. It urges the international community to lis
We, the undersigned 36 civil society and human rights organizations, call for the urgent attention of the international community to an ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and enforced disappearances by the Iranian authorities, targeting scores of people from Iran’s disadvantaged Kurdish minority in the provinces of Alborz, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Tehran, and West Azerbaijan.
Iran: Urgent international action needed to secure release of Kurdish activists and others arbitrarily detained article19.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from article19.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.