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| Hojjatoleslam Abdulaziz Azimi Qadim |
This is the voice of the Shiite cleric Hojjat-ul-Islam Abdulaziz Azimi Qadim, who resides in Qom, Iran. Hojjat-ul-Islam has been imprisoned since May 2 and is being held in the "Langavud" prison in Qom. This interview was given roughly a year before his arrest.
On August 12, it was reported that Azimi Qadim had been brought to a court in Tabriz, where new charges were leveled against him.
Azimi Qadim was arrested on May 2 for failing to comply with a court ruling issued two years prior. Two years ago, he had been banned from wearing clerical robes for ten years because he participated in protests demanding education in the Azerbaijani language. Azimi Qadim refused to comply with this unjust ruling, and as a result, he was imprisoned.
According to human rights defenders from Tabriz, the new case against Azimi Qadim stems from his speech at the memorial ceremony of historian Samad Serdarinyan at the end of April. Reports indicate that the indictment accuses Azimi Qadim of making anti-government statements during this event.
Azimi Qadim has no lawyer. His wife, Ruqayya Sayyari, shared this information with Radio Azadliq. She says that the reason for Hojjat-ul-Islam Azimi Qadim’s imprisonment is his fight for education in the Azerbaijani language.
“They say because of his Turkish ethnicity, ‘don’t wear this robe, follow our orders.’ Azimi Qadim doesn’t listen to them; he says, ‘I will not turn my back on my homeland, my children should be Turkish.’ He says, ‘our television channels, our networks, the books for our children should be written in Turkish, and they should learn in Turkish.’ He is devoted to this cause. Everyone knows him. I am also proud of him.”
Hojjat-ul-Islam Abdulaziz Azimi Qadim, in 2006, gave a speech at the grave of Sattar Khan. Amnesty International released statements about Azimi Qadim three times—once in August 2005, again in May 2006, and in October of the same year. They demanded the immediate release of the Azerbaijani cleric, who had been imprisoned, tortured, and subjected to pressure for demanding his national rights.
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On the day Hojjatoleslam Abdulaziz Azimi Qadim was arrested, his clerical robe was forcibly removed. |
According to Ruqayya Sayyari, this is Azimi Qadim’s third arrest. Hojjat-ul-Islam has two young children. Fatima is in the third grade, and Ali will start school this year.
Fatima also expresses dissatisfaction with the fact that the lessons at her school are conducted in Persian.
“I would prefer to be Turkish, not Persian. Because I want everything to be in Turkish, nothing in Persian. All my friends are Turkish, but they tell me to speak Persian. I can, but I know Turkish better than Persian.”
According to Ruqayya Sayyari, the children ask where their father is and when he will return. Fatima says her father told her he was going to teach the police. But she does not believe that.
“My brother lied to me, saying he was going to teach the police. But I know where he went. He went to the Turks. He went to teach in Turkish.”
Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution grants all nations living in the country the right to education in their native language. However, Azerbaijanis, who are the largest ethnic minority in Iran (estimated to number between 20 to 35 million), do not have schools where they can learn in their mother tongue. Amnesty International reports that Azerbaijani activists who demand education in their native language have been arrested, and they are recognized as prisoners of conscience.
In interviews about the regime’s pressures, Azimi Qadim himself also spoke out:
“You know, the government’s current intention is to turn homes into prisons. They are concerned that there will be too many political prisoners. That’s why they exert all their strength to make the country a prison, so that people will be afraid.”
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Ana dilində təhsil tələb edən mollaya qarşı yeni ittihamlar