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Iranian Sunni leader voices concerns to Khamenei

Iran’s most prominent Sunni leader thanked Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for publicly addressing his concerns about discrimination.
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AbdolHamid Ismail Zahi, better known as Molavi AbdolHamid, the Friday prayer leader in Zahedan and perhaps Iran’s most prominent Sunni leader, thanked Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sept. 6 for publicly addressing Zahi's open letter regarding concerns about discrimination. AbdolHamid called Khamenei’s response “a historic, wise and final command.” He said Khamenei’s command was a “religious and legal duty” for all of the officials to implement “justice and equality” between all the races and religions in Iran.

AbdolHamid has written a number of public letters addressed to Khamenei in recent years. His latest letter, which received a response by Khamenei, was written Aug. 2. The letter addressed the issue of discrimination and hiring of individuals across the country. In Iran, while many Sunnis are elected in local city council elections in Sunni majority cities, all provincial appointments come through the central government in Tehran. The second issue addressed in the letter by AbdolHamid was mosques in major cities in Iran, such as Tehran. While Sunnis have mosques in Tehran, the mosques — some refer to them as simply houses of worship rather than mosques — do not compare in size or stature to the mosques in Sunni majority areas in the border provinces.

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