Friday Congregational Prayers Threaten Society

Family members of those Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) veterans who were arrested last Friday on charges of holding “illegal” Friday prayers told Rooz, “it is unfortunate that one must have a permit to hold a congregational prayer on Friday in the Islamic Republic of Iran while in no other place in the world does a congregational prayer need a permit.”

In speaking with Rooz, family members of Dr Gharavi said that they had spoken with their prisoner but Dr Yazdi and Mr. Farzadi said they had no information about their detainees.

Ibrahim Yazdi, the secretary general and Hashem Sabaghian a member of FMI’s central council were arrested last Friday along with Ali Asghar Gharavi, Ghafari Farzadi and Ahad Rezai, members of the Isfahan, Tabriz and Zanjan offices of the political party after their prayers and on charges of holding an illegal Friday prayer in Isfahan.

Mr. Varyadi, Abbas Moslehi and Haghighi of the FMI were also arrested.

Immediately after the arrest, IRNA state-run news agency claimed that these political activists were arrested because of an “illegal Friday prayers organized by a veteran Wahabi in Isfahan.”

Response of the Family Members and the Latest News on the Prisoners

Ghafari Farzadi, the head of the Tabriz branch of the FMI was one of the detainees whose family members said they had no news of his status. Amin Farzadi, the son of Ghafar Farzadi spoke with Rooz and said, “Unfortunately I have no news of my father since Friday and do not know where he is and what his condition is.” He further said, “My father suffers from a prostate illness and so we are very concerned about him not receiving his medicine on time. He had gone to attend a memorial event after which we have not heard from him.”

Khalil Yazdi, the son of Ibrahim Yazdi also spoke with Rooz and said, “We have no news what so ever and only know what websites have published.” He further said, “This is the first time we hear that Friday prayers are illegal and we have not ever had illegal Friday prayers and this is unfortunate that one needs a permit to even say your prayers in the Islamic Republic. In no other place in the world do they do this. Even in America and Israel, engaging in prayers needs no permits. Even in Russia Muslims can easily hold their prayers.”

Ibrahim Yazdi’s son expressed his concern about his father’s situation, adding, “This is the ultimate cruelty and the government is not even ashamed to say that it has arrested people for not having a permit. Such issues never existed in our country and I am sorry to hear of them.” Khalil Yazdi also said that these measures were to pressure his father to stop his political activism. “They had pressured in the past for my father to end his political activities, and now they are stopping him from performing his prayers. It is unfortunate that the Islam that was brought in to liberate people is now being used to imprison them.”

This is the third time that Ibrahim Yazdi has been arrested and imprisoned after last year’s disputed presidential elections.

Tahere Alizadeh, the wife of Dr Gharavi also spoke with Rooz about her husband’s detention. She said that Ibrahim Yazdi and Hashem Sabaghian had been transferred to Tehran, adding, “After the arrests, Mr. Vahid Sabaghian and I went to the information center of the ministry of intelligence. As we were waiting for someone to talk with us we noticed an open door and saw Mr. Sabaghian in it. We spoke with him and his health was relative ok. We also saw Mr. Gharavi when the staff stopped us from talking and asked us to leave, and said they would inform us. We left and yesterday I got a call from the information office and the person asked me if I had heard from my husband. I told them he was being held by you, why do you ask me, to which responded by saying that they had allowed him to call me but he had no interest in calling us. So we returned to the revolutionary court and the information center which is when they told us that Mr. Sabaghian and Mr. Yazdi had been transferred to Tehran while the others remained in Isfahan.” Dr Gharavi’s wife continued, “Dr Gharavi called last night and spoke with my son and asked that his medicine be sent to him along with a stool. Mr. Gharavi suffers from a severe spinal disc backache and cannot sit or walk. He told our son that he is in prison and that his back hurts a lot and that his legs were numb; which is when he asked for a stool. I plan to go to the news center to take his medicine and a stool and inform them that my husband was in complete rehabilitation and now that you have taken him to prison, you do not even have a stool to give him?”

Prayers and Societal Security

In her talk with Rooz about the arrests Tahere Alizadeh, the wife of Dr Gharavi, described what led to the event. “FMI members had gone to Isfahan to attend a memorial for the death of Dr Meskin’s daughter and to pay their respects to him.” Meskin is a member of the FMI. “After the memorial service in the mosque it was decided for everyone to go to Dr Meskin’s house for lunch. Because of the illness of some of the participants, including Dr Yazdi and Mr. Farzadi and Dr Gharavi, it was decided to go to another place for lunch. We arrived around noon and held our prayers which is when they stormed the house and said that the Friday prayer had been organized illegally,” she said. “The prayers had not been planned in advance because Dr Gharavi has been on sick leave for three months. We informed the security agents of this adding that during the three months Dr Gharavi had only left house to attend Mahsa’s burial event (the daughter of Mr. Meskin) and participate in the memorial service for her. They still arrested him.”

Mehdi Moghadam, the son in law of Dr Gharavi also spoke with Rooz and said that ministry of intelligence agents who had come to arrest the FMI members rough handled them. “They were plain-clothesmen and did not present any identification or warrants. When we asked for these, they simply said that they were from the ministry of intelligence. Some introduced themselves as Basij force members (militias under the command of the Revolutionary Guards). They locked up everybody in the house and then distributed interrogation sheets, asking us to fill them out. A few hours later they left and took away Messer Yazdi, Gharavi, Sabaghian, Farzadi and Rezai.”

Mehdi Moghadam added that because they did not present any identification, everybody in the house protested to their presence, and even rough handled those who resisted being taken away.

According to Mr. Moghadam, the agents said, “You have been illegally holding Friday prayers and we are assigned to stop this because this causes societal insecurity.”

Mrs. Alizadeh, the daughter of Dr Gharavi told them that there was no such thing as illegal Friday prayers, adding, “We believe in Friday prayers. According to the teachings of Islam whenever there are 5 people we will hold congregational prayers. I also told them that God orders us to do this, while say it is illegal. Which one should we follow? You expect us to ignore God’s command because you do not believe in it?”

Mrs. Alizadeh explained that congregational Friday prayers used to be regularly held by ayatollah Gharavi. After he died, Dr Gharavi picked this up regularly and held Friday prayers until government agents stormed the house and since Dr Gharavi was not there summoned him to the intelligence ministry. There, they asked him to guarantee that he would not hold congregational Friday prayer events. He then stopped the event, particularly as his health had deteriorated. Until last Friday, which was an unplanned event, according to her.

When Rooz asked her why did she think the state was so sensitive about Friday prayers, she said, “Perhaps it is because they are afraid of people assembling together. But I really do not know what is the issue.”