Iran: Forces Arrest Lecturer of University on Insulting Baloch Sunnis

Hameed Samsaam, lecturer of Persian literature in Islamic Azad University of Zahedan has been arrested by forces hours after viral of a selfie video which shows the lecturer insults Baloch community and Sunnis’ sanctities.

SunniOnline, the official website of the Iranian Sunni community, reported a video has been published where apparently Hameed Samsaam, a lecturer of Islamic Azad University of Zahedan proudly admits that he filed negative marks for Baloch Sunni students in the university’s exams because of their connection with Sunni Ulama.

Many students of the university have confirmed the man had affrontive and humiliating behavior with local students. In the video, he moves ahead and records his video while people offer Tarawih prayers on footpath outside of a Sunni mosque. While recording the selfie video, he insults the worshipers and the obligatory of Namaz/prayers.

The affrontive expressions of Samsaam made different classes of Sunni and Baloch community furious. A great number of Baloch students entered the university forcibly and demanded trial of the lecturer. They chanted slogans against the offender and took placards in favor of Islamic sanctities and Ulama.

Meanwhile, the office of Shaikh Abdol-Hamid, president of Darululoom Zahedan and Friday imam of Sunnis in Zahedan, issued a statement and decried the affrontive remarks of Samsaam.

The statement termed the lecturer “connected to extremist and sectarian elements” who just want to create disputes among ethnic and religious communities and divide them.

The office of Mawlana Abdol-Hamid called on authorities to notice the words of this lecturer as an act against national security and punish him with the strongest punishment.

Following the detention of Samsaam, principal and professors of the university issued statements and condemned his expressions. The prosecutor of Zahedan also informed media that Hameed Samsaam had been sent to prison for further investigation.

It is notable that Zahedan is the capital city of Sistan-Balochistan province in the southeastern part of Iran where Baloch Sunnis are in majority. But the major official posts are with the Shia minority.