Overt Letter of Sunni Elites to Iranian Leader

Tehran- A large group of Sunni dignitaries have written a lucid letter to the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reminding him some inert articles of the Constitution over the rights of the bereft Sunni community of Iran.

“SunniOnline” has learnt that a letter which had been signed by dozens of Sunni intellectuals, Imams, Khateebs, teachers, and social, political and cultural activists has been organized in seven clauses.

The Iranian Sunni activists underlined in the beginning of their lucid letter that the Sunni community of Iran had been striving to protect the sovereignty of the country, especially during 8 year-long Iran-Iraq conflict.

They put “intervene of some foreign powers” and “imprudence of the most central governments” the main reasons of Sunnis’ political, social, cultural and economical problems who mostly live in the frontier regions of Iran. Negligence of the statesmen in resolving the crises created a “gulf” between people and the regime, as they stated.

Reasoning the 12th, 15th, 19th, 20th and 23rd Articles of the Iranian constitution, they asked the leader to ensure execution of the Articles so Sunnis may get equal human rights, and political, economical, social and cultural rights along with their other compatriots.

In the second clause of the letter, Sunni elites reminded Mr. Khamenei the 37th and 67th Articles of the constitution which urge on trial of culprits publicly in presence of jury in all courts. They criticized unjust “trial”, “aggression”, “disservice” and “imprisonment” of dozens of Sunni scholars and activists who have been facing these matters because of their tenets.

The writers of the letter called on the leader to issue necessary orders for Sunni citizens’ employment in public departments and organizations as well as key positions due to the 20th Article of the Constitution.

The Sunni dignitaries expressed their deep concerns over insulting of Sunnis’ sanctions in the state TV channels and radio stations while the Article 57 clarifies it that Sunnis have freedom of speech to broadcast their views and tenets via “national media”, TV and radio stations.

They alluded to some problems in appointment of Shia clerics as representatives of the leader in the Sunni-majority provinces, asking the leader to appoint Sunni clerics for such seats in order to reduce Sunnis’ problems.

In another part of the letter it has been stressed Sunni Muslims constitute 20 percent of the entire Iranian population; they need more sincere attention of the rulers. The 107th Article suggests that at least 10 representatives should represent Sunnis in the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership.

In the seventh section of the letter, Sunni elites expressed their marvel over unprecedented discriminative stances of the regime as none of the deserved Sunnis could get any official plaque in the past 33 years. They called it “particular negative opinion of the regime about Sunni Muslims”.

Sunni intellectuals mentioned the leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, as the “first man” in the country who “observes process of making policies” and should be answerable over the turnover of the regime. They asked him to establish a “high-ranking board from trustable and influential Sunni and Shia brothers” that would study deeply problems of the Sunni community and prevent the ongoing deprivation of fellow citizens from their basic human, legal and Islamic rights.

It is noteworthy that this letter has been organized and approved by dozens of Sunni Ulama, imams, Khateebs, teachers, and social, cultural and political activists from different parts of Iran. They belong mostly to Sistan-Baluchistan, Hormozgan, South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, Gilan, Talish, Ardabil, Namin, Shiraz, Khonj, Bushehr, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Western Azerbaijan, Gorgan, Turkmen Sahra and the Sunni community of the Tehran province.
Their names remained secret due to “security measures”.

Source: SunniOnline.us