Prime Iranian Sunni cleric says torture of protesters un-Islamic By Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – A high dissident Iranian Sunni cleric on Friday denounced as un-Islamic Iran’s alleged use of pressured confessions to convict detained protesters, as weekly demonstrations continued within the county’s southeast.

In the meantime, the authorities’ crackdown following nationwide protests continued with arrests, together with that of a celeb chef and a outstanding journalist.

Anti-government marches have been held on Fridays within the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province as a part of protests after the demise in custody on Sept. 16 of a younger Iranian Kurdish girl detained by the morality police for flouting a strict costume code for girls.

“If somebody doesn’t settle for the accusation, they torture him to just accept it. Confessions underneath coercion and the beating of the accused don’t have any place in sharia (Islamic legislation) and our nation’s Structure,” Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi stated in a Friday prayers sermon, in accordance with his web site.

Ismaeelzahi relies in Zahedan, capital of the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province, dwelling to Iran’s Baluch minority. Authorities have reportedly pressured him by banning him from touring overseas and proscribing his travels and contacts inside Iran.

Rights teams say convictions of dissidents in Iran’s courts are sometimes based mostly on pressured confessions. Iran denies that.

Ismaeelzahi, a strong dissenting Sunni voice within the Shi’ite-ruled Islamic Republic, additionally denounced mass arrests in Zahedan, after state media stated safety forces had arrested greater than 100 “thugs and armed robbers” there previously few days.

After the sermon, demonstrators marched in Zahedan, chanting “Demise to the Islamic Republic”, in accordance with movies posted on social media. Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the footage.

Individually, the chef and influencer Navab Ebrahimi was arrested within the capital Tehran and brought to Evin jail, the place many political detainees are held, the rights group HRANA stated.

There was no fast phrase from the judiciary on the reported arrest of Ebrahimi, who had 2.7 million followers on Instagram. His account was unavailable on Friday.

Postings on social media stated his arrest could have been linked to a video displaying him making ready Persian cutlets, which can have been seen as a taunt amid state-sponsored occasions marking the third anniversary of the killing of Iran’s high basic Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone assault.

Mehdi Beik, who headed the political desk of the average newspaper Etemad, was detained by safety brokers on Thursday, his spouse stated on Twitter.

Officers are but to announce the explanations for the detention of Beik, who had interviewed kinfolk of arrested protesters.

The U.S.-based Committee to Shield Journalists stated on Twitter that, as of Jan. 5, it had documented the names of at the least 84 journalists who had been arrested in Iran amid the continuing protests, 36 of whom had been launched on bail.