RNA – Ayatollah Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, the chairman of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council and the First Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, issued a statement condemning the brutal crimes against oppressed Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Myanmar’s security forces have long been attacking Rohingyas and torching their villages since October 2016, in a bid to push them out of the western state of Rakhine. The attacks have been intensified since August 25, with State Counselor Aung San Suu Ky ignoring international demands to call off the operation.
Thousands of Rohingyas have already fled their homeland to take refuge in Bangladesh. Many people have been killed during the perilous boat journeys on the Naf River, which separates the two neighbouring countries.
The refugees have also tried to cross the border into Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The text of Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi’s statement is as follows:
In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Should anyone kill a believer intentionally, his requital shall be hell, to remain in it [forever]; God shall be wrathful at him and curse him and He shall prepare for him a great punishment”
[The Holy Quran 4:93]
The shocking news of the brutal and widespread massacres of the oppressed Muslims of Myanmar has reached the ears of the world in the past few days amidst the deadly silence of the claimants of human rights, freedom of religion and expression.
The Islamic world is in mourning and humankind is ashamed. In addition to conveying the message that every pure heart and every pure inclination is agonized and wounded, this issue conveys another clear message to the ears of the world that the hypocritical claimants of human rights and freedom, like the other slogans of the global arrogance, are just a means for further political and cultural interventions and efforts to change the situation of countries, especially Islamic countries, in terms of ensuring the security of the criminal and child murdering Israeli regime and to plunder the wealth of Muslim nations and the independent nations of the world.
I offer my condolences on this devious tragedy to the Great Prophet [Muhammad], to the Imam of the Time [Muhammad al-Mahdi], to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei] and to the Islamic Ummah and I call on Islamic scholars to raise public awareness about the plans of the global arrogance and for Islamic governments to make serious efforts to stop these inhumane crimes and to restore the rights of the oppressed people of Myanmar and the Islamic nation to preserve its unity and harmony and to swear to Islam in the face of the arch enemies.
I pray to God Almighty to further the word of monotheism, Islam and Muslims as much as possible and for the collapse and annihilation of the arrogant and oppressive powers.
May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon you.
Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi
September 7, 2017
112/930/487