Son of Iran’s top Sunni cleric detained after court summons - Baluch rights group
A son of Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran’s top Sunni cleric in Sistan-Baluchestan province, was detained after being summoned to a clerical court in Mashhad and pressured to post a public statement condemning the recent unrest, Baluch rights group Haalvsh reported on Monday.
Sources cited by Haalvsh said the judge in the case threatened and pressured Mohammad Tayyeb Esmailzehi a day before his detention, telling him to post a statement on his personal Instagram account condemning the burning of mosques and Qurans, as well as the killing of government security forces during the unrest in January.
Esmailzehi was summoned by phone and appeared at the Special Clerical Court in Mashhad on Feb. 13, according to Haalvsh’s Telegram channel.
He was questioned for several hours over two consecutive days and was detained on Monday after the interrogation sessions ended, then transferred to an unknown location, the group said.
