Ayatollah arrested in Iran for preaching separation between religion and politics
He is accused of misunderstanding Islam. To arrest him police clashes with supporters who had surrounded his home.
Tehran (AsiaNews) An Iranian cleric, Mohammed Kazemeini Boroujerdi, has been arrested for supporting a return to a traditional interpretation of Islam which separates religion from politics. In order to carry out the arrest warrant, police had to use tear gas against the cleric's supporters outside his house in Tehran.
Mr Boroujerdi, who has preached his brand of Islam for years in a mosque in a poor neighbourhood in the south of Tehran, has hundreds of supporters who regard him as someone with divine powers capable of solving their spiritual and material problems.
Iranian officials have accused him of claiming to be a representative of a Shia saint, known as the hidden Imam. Believed to have disappeared 874 AD, the hidden imam or Mahdi is said to reappear to fill the earth with justice and fairness when it has reached its limit in violence and oppression.
Boroujerdi has denied the accusation and said he only defended what he terms the true Islam.
It appears that his arrest is due to the fact that the authorities have become increasingly alarmed by his growing appeal among some sections of people even though he is thought not to be known outside a small circle of dedicated followers.
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15/11/2021 13:06
24/09/2021 09:21
