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A 75-year-old Iranian cleric has emerged as an unlikely champion of a protest movement led by young men and women seeking to throw off the shackles of the country’s Islamic theocracy. Abdolhamid Ismail-Zai, often referred to by the honorific Molavi by his supporters, is Iran’s top Sunni Muslim cleric as well as a spiritual and political leader for the country’s ethnic Baluch population. In the face of relentless regime violence targeting protesters in the country’s more Baloch southeast, he has become increasingly fiery in his public statements against the regime. On Friday, a week after regime gunmen shot and killed at least 18 unarmed protesters in several towns across the Baloch heartland, Mr Abdolhamid revealed that members of the regime had offered to buy the silence of the families of the dead. They refused, he said. Instead they wanted justice. “We don’t want money,” he said in his Friday prayer sermon. “Who were the people who made this happen and why? Those responsible for this must be brought to justice. This was the request of the families of the martyrs.” Mr Abdolhamid has long been a thorn in the side of regime hardliners. But speaking from his pulpit at Makki Mosque in the provincial capital of Zahedan, the cleric on Friday delivered what was perhaps his most pointed speech to date. He denounced the lack of freedoms under the Islamic regime. He blamed members of parliament for their tough stance on the protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. He demanded changes in domestic and foreign policy and the release of thousands of political prisoners. “We have no freedom in the Islamic Republic,” he said. “Where is the freedom? Where is the freedom of the press? Where is the freedom of expression? Everything is censored. Everything is limited.” He said: “A large part of the Iranian people are protesting. The majority of the people of Iran have objections, they are not satisfied. I urge the leaders of the regime to listen to them.” After his sermon, worshipers poured into the streets of Zahedan chanting against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s praetorian guard. “Death to Khamenei” they shouted. “Death to the Body!” Protests broke out after Friday prayers in other Baloch towns, including the critical port city of Chabahar. Protesters in Iransahr were seen throwing stones and setting fires to stop the advance of gun-toting security forces. Small towns like Rask, Khash and Saravan – scenes of recent massacres by regime gunmen – erupted in protests. This image from a UGC video posted on October 30 reportedly shows protesters dodging projectiles during clashes at Iran’s North Tehran University (UGC/AFP via Getty Images) On Friday, Amnesty International issued a statement accusing the regime of targeting the country’s southeast with extraordinary brutality. “Protesters from the oppressed Baluchi minority have borne the brunt of the particularly brutal crackdown on protests by security forces,” the statement said. The Baluch are a distinct ethnic group spread across the deserts between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Iran’s Baluchis have faced decades of discrimination because of their ethnic and religious status in a country dominated by Persians and Azeris of the Shiite branch of Islam. In recent days, Mr Abdolhamid has questioned why Iranian security forces are using tear gas and gunfire to confront protesters in Persian cities, but have used live fire against ethnic Baluchis and Kurds. More than a quarter of the 330 people killed in eight weeks of protests have come from the country’s southeast, nearly 100 since the September 30 massacre in the town of Zahedan, now referred to as Black Friday. Amnesty said it had recorded the names of at least 100 people, including 16 children, killed in protests in Balochistan. Some who were killed during the November 4 protests were bystanders who did not participate in any political action. Mr. Abdolhamid has been outspoken and critical of the regime’s policies for years and is subject to travel restrictions by the regime. He has been characterized as a charismatic political personality. Protesters in Zahedan earlier this month said they were shot with live bullets (Twitter) He has criticized Tehran’s treatment of Iran’s Sunni minority, but has also criticized armed separatist rebel groups that have fought regime forces. During eight weeks of anti-regime protests, he has emerged as a rare and outspoken public supporter among the elite ranks of the regime’s clerical and political leadership. Mr Abdolhamid recently called for a referendum on the country’s future, angering regime hardliners who accused him of fomenting more unrest. A Balochistan political insider said Mr. Abdolhamid went further in his latest speech than he had ever gone before, but remained cautious, couching his criticisms in religious parables. “He doesn’t want the regime to accuse him of inciting violence,” the insider said. Mr Khamenei appoints all Friday prayer leaders, and posts in provincial capitals such as Zahedan are highly sought after. He has dismissed clerics deemed insufficiently loyal, but punishing the de facto leader of Iran’s Sunni minority at a time of great political instability could risk further inflaming passions. Mr Abdolhamid avoided direct criticism of Mr Khamenei in his speech. But in one he mocked the 227 members of parliament who reportedly signed a letter calling for the death penalty for those who protested, “Parliament is the house of the nation,” he said. “Representatives represent the people. You must listen to the people. You must defend the people so that the bullets of war are not fired at them.”
