“Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi Golpayegani”: We Curse Jews Following the Quran
“Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi Golpayegani” spoke about cursing Jews according to Quranic verses in his Friday prayer sermons.
While the Islamic Republic of Iran promises freedom of religion and belief in its constitution, evidence from the past 46 years shows that this promise has never been practically observed. Religious minorities in Iran have constantly faced harassment, suppression, imprisonment, and serious charges, and even in the current regional conditions, this treatment has continued with greater intensity.
Following the recent 12-day confrontation between Iran and Israel, the tone of some Islamic Republic officials in dealing with Jews has become openly and sharper. Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi Golpayegani, Khamenei’s representative in Qom Province, said in his Friday prayer sermon yesterday: “The Jewish people are corrupt in their false beliefs and in their conduct.”
He added in his remarks: “Following the Holy Quran, I curse them. We are today fully aware of their malice and crimes and we see that they have no respect for God, God’s prophet, the holy books, mosques, people, or anything else.”
Saidi also claimed: “The Iranian people are aware of what he calls the ‘whispers, deception, cunning and empty, treacherous and fraudulent propaganda of the Jewish people,’ and they pray for the salvation of the people of Gaza.”
Human rights experts believe that such statements not only fuel religious and anti-Jewish hatred, but also demonstrate the continuation of systematic suppression policies against minorities in Iran. This is while Iran, through such behavior, violates its international commitments regarding freedom of religion and human rights, and puts religious minority citizens in a state of constant threat and danger.
Based on reports from international organizations, this pattern of suppression continues from prisons and social restrictions to psychological and legal violence against minorities, and any opposition or protest against it is met with severe suppression.
The Islamic Republic’s commitment to promoting justice and religious ethics, while ground reality indicates a dual approach and the use of religion as a tool of pressure and suppression, is something that, according to critics, systematically violates basic human rights and fundamental freedoms in Iran.
