Respect Ethnic Groups and Their Culture

The Friday Imam of the town of Zahidan in Iran’s Sunni-populated province of Sistan and Baluchistan, Molavi AbdolHamid sent a letter to the new director of the state-run national radio and television organization (IRIB) calling on him to respect the culture and dress of the country’s ethnic groups and refrain from insulting them on television.

This letter dated November 13, 2014 was published by Sunni Online website, a site reflecting the views of Iranian Sunnis and seems to reflect the views of Sunni clerics and Sunni activists regarding their views on Iran’s national radio and television network.

AbdolHamid’s letter to Mohammad Sarafraz, the new head of IRIB reads, “Because Islamic Iran has a unique situation regarding the diversity of ethnic groups and religions in the world, the enemies of the Iranian nation and the Islamic republic of Iran strive to weaken us by creating despair and divisions among us. In reality this diversity is an opportunity for the great Iranian people which can be used in the direction of development and unity of the country.” He called the mission of IRIB “hard” and called on for “respect” of the organization for “ethnic groups” and refrain from taking sides or favoring one religious group or party.”

Another appeal he made is that the Sunni for of azan (call for prayers) be performed in Sunni populated regions. Sunni activists have for years been asking IRIB for this but the management of the organization has not responded. In some Iranian provinces such as Kurdistan, the provincial television network does in fact read out the Sunni version of the azan , something that does not happen in other Sunni-populated provinces. Permission was given to perform the Sunni version of the azan call in Kurdistan on direct orders of ayatollah Khamenei in 2009 when he was visiting the province.

That year, and prior to the dispute over the 2009 presidential elections, after Ezatollah Zarghami was appointed to head IRIB for the second five-year term, Molana AbdolHamid made his request for Sunni azan for the provinces of Baluchistan, Hormozgan and Golestan.

Now that a new IRIB head has been appointed, AbdolHamid is again making his request. Sarafraz was appointed as the new IRIB director directly by ayatollah Khamenei on November 8, 2014.

Sunni clerics in Iran have for years been saying their culture and religious traditions are insulted by the national radio and television organization. They even objected to the broadcast of a serial program called Imam Ali and Mokhtarname, both narratives based Shiite leaders and views. Sunni activists have said that these two programs contain insulting parts to their religious sect.

According to Molana Garghij, IRIB should not be broadcasting ignorant programs such as the beating of the chest. AbdolHamid too has been a regular critic of IRIB regarding its treatment of Sunnis. At one time he said Sunnis had been complaining about IRIB for the last thirty years, yet their “religious tenets are insulted and Sunni traditions and events are not presented, except in very small doses, which then too are inaccurate.”

In 2012 a group of Iranian Sunni activists wrote an open letter to ayatollah Khamenei criticizing IRIB’s manner of broadcasts and said that Sunni tenets were insulted in the national media.

In this later letter, AbdolHamid calls on Sarafraz to stop the insults at IRIB regarding Sunni dress and culture.

Despite constitutional provisions that stipulate on the use of local languages, media and broadcasting media in article fifteen, Sunnis in Iran continue to be denied the right to use their mother tongue at the national radio and television network. He also points out that many Iranians watch foreign satellite television stations. Many Iranians in recent years regularly watch the television channels of neighboring countries that broadcast program in the local ethnic languages.