According to the Balochistan Human Rights Group, three Baloch citizens, including a Sunni cleric and two staff members of Makki Mosque in Zahedan, have each been sentenced to one year in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Zahedan.
The individuals are Hamidullah Farooqi Malazehi, a scholar at Darul Uloom Makki and the grandson of its founder, Molavi Abdolhakim Shahbakhsh, a teacher and editorial member of Nedaye Islam magazine, and Mehdi Khodashenas, a cultural staff member of Makki Mosque. They were arrested by security forces last year and subjected to months of detention and torture before being put on trial.
Their arrests were part of a broader crackdown on Makki Mosque and Sunni scholars. In November 2023, state-affiliated media and IRGC-backed outlets broadcast forced confessions from these individuals, linking them to a Starlink equipment shipment allegedly connected to the office of Molavi Abdolhamid, the Friday prayer leader of Zahedan. These accusations were dismissed by independent sources and Molavi Abdolhamid’s office as baseless and part of ongoing security pressures.
These actions are seen as part of the systematic repression of Baloch citizens and the Sunni community in Iran, including arbitrary arrests, torture, forced confessions, and heavy judicial sentences against Sunni scholars and activists.
