A number of religious extremists brutally beat a Gonabadi Dervish in the city of Khorramshah after making telephone threats and graffiti on Dervishes’s places of worship in order to force him to declare renunciation of Sufism.

According to Majzooban Noor, in recent days and by the beginning of the month of Muharram and holding
mourning ceremony for Imam Hussein, Sayyid-as-Shuhadaa (Leader of Martyrs), a number of religious extremists who are known as “Fatemiyon group”, have started to bring wave of intimidation against the Gonabadi Dervishes in the city of Khorramshahr. The threats started with a series of phone calls to Dervishes residents in Khorramshahr and continued to write graffiti against sufis on the door of the Dervishes’s places of worship in the aim of closing the Dervish ceremonies. Eventually, it led to beat a Gonabadi Dervish in order to force him to declare renunciation of his faith (Sufi school).
Two day ago Gonabadi Dervish and resident of Khoramshahr, Mr. Amin Azadi was
kidnapped by fundamentalist groups after he left his home and was transferred to a place out of the city and was tortured and severely beaten. Based on the reports he was left unconscious there. Police officers eventually found him and took him to Taleghani hospital in Khorramshah.

All this happened because extremists wanted Mr. Azadi to sign a letter of repentance of being Dervish, his faith and beliefs which was prepared before but the Dervish did not accept their orders.
The religious extremists have also stated that: “The city of Khorramshahr is Iran’s Karbala and belongs to all Iranian martyrs; Dervishes have no right to be here!”
Despite the fact that during 8-years of sacred defense (the eight-year Iran–Iraq war) many Dervishes were achieved martyrdom, sacrificing themselves to regain their plundered homeland.