The following is a collection of research and translations from the MEMRI Reform Project following the 2022 protests in Iran. Producing such content is very costly, and your help allows us to continue our vital work of supporting counterterrorism efforts in the U.S. and throughout the West. We are very grateful to those of our valued readers who have already donated this year,
Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, the spiritual leader of Iran's Sunnis, said in a Friday, December 16, 2022 sermon in Zahedan, the capital of the Sunni-majority Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, that the prisoners from the recent anti-regime protests should be released. He said that the verdict of moharebeh (rebellion against God) should not warrant the death penalty,
The spiritual leader of Iran's Sunnis said in a Friday, December 2, 2022 sermon that the Iranian regime should be held accountable for killing Sunni anti-regime protestors.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei believes that his religious guardianship is all-encompassing, covering Shiites and Sunnis, clerics and the masses. Therefore, he sees Sunni scholars as being under his guardianship. This means that Iranian media outlets often use generalized titles that express universal legal and political jurisdiction when describing Khamenei’s authority,