Iranian president’s presence bodes well to address Shia rights in Malaysia, says Suaram

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran at the opening of the KL Summit yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: Rights group Suaram has welcomed the participation of Iran’s Hassan Rouhani at the KL Summit, saying the presence of a leader from a Shia-majority nation bodes well towards addressing official discrimination against the Shia Muslim minority in Malaysia.

“Any member of the Shia community in Malaysia must be filled with hope to see the Iranian president on the same stage as the Malaysian prime minister whose keynote address stressed unity and tolerance as opposed to discrimination and oppression in the Muslim world,” said Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong.

Rouhani was in Kuala Lumpur yesterday where he attended the opening of the KL Summit by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Also present were Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Kua said there were concerns that Malaysia was fast becoming an intolerant Muslim nation in the wake of crackdowns by authorities on the Shia community.

Shia is the second-largest branch of Islam but is labelled deviant by Malaysia’s Islamic authorities, who have in the past raided private religious events of its adherents.

In 1996, a fatwa was issued declaring Shia Islam as deviant.

Kua said he hoped the KL Summit would discuss issues related to the rights of the Shia Muslims.

He said Shias remain under threat of arrest despite constitutional guarantees on religious freedom.

He also noted the case of Amri Che Mat, a Perlis activist whose home was raided by state authorities over his Shia leanings, had gone missing. Amri has since been declared a victim of enforced disappearance blamed on the police. - FMT