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Iran probes ‘anti-Shia sermon’ in Mecca

TEHRAN: Iran is probing complaints that a prayer leader in the city of Mecca verbally attacked Shiite Muslims amid efforts by Tehran and Riyadh to improve their occasionally strained relations.

The hardline Jomhouri Islami newspaper on Tuesday claimed that television broadcasts of last Friday’s prayer sermon in Mecca were cut short after the prayer leader implied that Shiites had “nothing to do with Islam”.

Jomhouri Eslami reported that prayer leader Sheikh Saleh Al-Taleb had said in Mecca on Friday that “one of the non-Arab nations is provoking a sectarian crisis,” in a reference to Shiite Iran. According to the allegations, also repeated on Iranian state television, he added, “The role played by this group has nothing to do with the prophet,” in reference to Shiite Islam.

There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia concerning the text of the sermon.

“I did not actually listen to actual words, but our embassy in Riyadh is pursuing the matter,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

“There were some speeches regarding the (Shiite) imams, our embassy has discussed it with the officials there. We hope that the sanctity of the different Islamic sects is preserved and we all follow a unified path.”

The head of Iran’s organisation for hajj has also protested to the authorities in Riyadh that Saudi security forces were mistreating Iranian pilgrims visiting Mecca. afp

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