Iran cracks down on Sufis: hundreds remain jailed

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran Focus has obtained a partial list of names of Islamic mystics arrested during a protest in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran Focus has obtained a partial list of names of Islamic mystics arrested during a protest in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week.

Islamic mystics, or Sufis, focus on the direct perception of Truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism, common to both Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, has its roots in Iran. Its followers oppose Iran’s ruling theocracy on spiritual grounds.

Police arrested some one thousand Sufis as clashes broke out after the place of worship used by the mystics was demolished Tuesday on government orders.

Hundreds were injured during the clashes after police fired teargas and used truncheons to attack the demonstrating Sufis.

The partial list of those arrested was provided to Iran Focus from a reliable source in Qom.

The following individuals are believed to be arrested for taking part in the demonstrations:

Alireza Abadi
Hossein Abbassi-Zadeh
Ghobad Asaii
Mehdi Akbari
Akbar Ahmadi
Seyyed Jaafar Ahou’ghalandari
Reza Azar
Rahim Ahang
Ramin Ashkur
Azar-Noush Ahmadi
Mohammad Akbari
Mohammad Donyadideh
Amir Dalvand
Hojjat Dehghani
Hossein Farrokhi
Hassan Feizi-Zadeh
Mohammad-Reza Ghorbani
Sadegh Hayati
Amir Houshang-Iraqi
Mohammad-Reza Jaafar-Abadi
Gholamali Karimi
Ehsan Kodar
Ali Karimi
Amir Karimi
Mehdi Pour-Kashani
Ramazan Khodabakhsh
Shahram Moghaddami
Kazem Mohit
Ali Mahmoudi
Mohsen Mohammad-Zadeh
Hamid Monjezi
Mansour Mareshi
Mohsen Mo’meni
Mahmoud Marashi-Nia
Behzad Nouri
Amir Rezai
Asghar Rajab
Saeed Rahim-Zadeh
Arash Shaltouki
Hassan Siahomri
Alireza Seif
Mohammad Salas
Hossein Sabri
Parviz Samadi
Omid Yekkehshenas
Mohammad Yaghoubi
Sadegh Youssefi
Abdolamir Yekkehshenas
Davoud Zeif-Dar
Reza Zanganeh
Mazdak Zalpour
Hassan Zighami