Sunday 1 March 2009

An Open Letter to: Dr. Ekmel eddin Ihsan Oghlu(The secretary general of the Islamic Conference) (OIC)

March, 4, 2009

Dr. Ekmel eddin Ihsan Oghlu
The secretary general of the Islamic Conference (OIC)


Honorable Dr. Ihsan Oghlu,

Asallam Alykom,

As you are informed by now, Darvishes in Iran are being constantly under direct and systematic oppression by the Iranian government. As of now there have not been any legal discourses, laws and rules under the Islamic Republic judicial systems to protect the dervishes and their civil rights. The destruction and the demolition of their place of prayers (Namaz Khaneh) in addition to the endless suppression of the Darvishes are becoming widespread and ordinary practices in today’s Iran. This is an unprecedented dangerous heresy that may cause and bring about unfortunate and regrettable devastations.

The suppression of Sufis in Iran has been rapidly increasing for the past few years which include many different incidents that are stated in enclosed attachments for your kind consideration. These oppressions include the destruction of the Prayer places in the different cities namely, Tehran, Qom, Boroujerd, Esfahan, Shahr-e-Kord, and Kish Island, and arresting, detaining and jailing Sufi followers in these cities.. In addition, the Iranian government is disregarding and violating the Darvish’s basic legal rights. As soon as the government finds out about an individual’s affiliation with Sufism he/she is immediately stripped of their job and is faced with many difficulties. There have been instances of disbarring of licenses of the lawyers defending Sufi clients. i.e., Mustafa Daneshjoo, Omid Behrouzi, and the expulsion of college students ,such as Mohammad Ismail Salahi, who were studying in the University and other educational institutions, thereby breaking the barriers of respect and disrespecting the sufi masters and the elders of Darvishes and imposing house arrest on them, unable to travel or even reside in their own hometown, as well as illegal entry into their houses, taking their belongings and sealing off their property and possessions across the country..

Considering that the Islamic Republic is one of the signatories and participants of the international conventions intended to respect and uphold the right of religious and ethnic minorities, their oppressive approach towards the minorities on one hand and the silence and the lack of objection of the legal and the justice system of Iran on the other hand and also the lack of freedom of speech and the obligatory silence on the part of the independent religious scholars on these situations is clearly at odds with the convention’s rules and regulations. It is such a hypo racy that the same people, who have no regards for human rights or the right of each ethnic and religious minority within Iran, claim that the rights of Shi’ia and Islamic faith have been violated by protesting and writing to the media outlets.

What the Iranian government is doing to its fellow Shi’ia citizens is against the Islamic laws and the international rules and policies. Continuously, there have been daily programs of widespread and systematic atrocities throughout the country for destroying the holy places of worship through issuing Fatwas by a group called ” Amerin”, so-called government proxies.. They have destroyed the many “Namaz Khaneh”, insulted, attacked the people as they were praying during the month of Moharam, in the city of Qom, and arrested one twelve hundred fifty innocent individuals. They expelled the Imam Jamaat (Mohandes Amir Labaf) from his home town, and detained him for more than five years, which is clearly against the teachings of the Koran according to the verse:: “ان الصلوه تنهی عن الفحشاء و المنکر و لذکر الله هو اکبر”. Attacking and beating people while they are praying leads to more violence, destruction and moral decay of the society..

Even though some the followers of Sufism have invited these fundamentalists to participate in a group discussion to discuss these problems, there have not been any responses as of now. Ironically, these atrocities are happening now that the Human Right organizations mandate countries to recognize the individual rights of each citizen in their home countries by providing them protection against fundamentalism and extremism.

Surely the OIC will not be silent against these violent attacks and will do what is necessary to provide unity and harmony for all followers of Islamic faith.

We are requesting your outmost cooperation in this dire situation. If the government of Iran is not willing or capable of stopping this small group of extremists who are against the rest of the Islamic world, then there should be another solution to resolve this matter. We are hoping that these unresolved cases will be investigated by proper authorities and the outcome will be documented for the public view. Thank you very much.


Sincerely,

The Committee of Sufis & Students of Iran

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