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With the inauguration of the first Islamic Awakening Conference in Tehran and with Ayatollah Khamenei demanding the unity of Muslim countries, Iranian Sunni activists issued a statement calling upon the supreme leader to practice what he preaches and grant minorities their full rights. 

“I ask you to put aside sectarian, national, ethnic, and tribal disputes and to unite because unity is the key to success,” said Khamenei Saturday in the conference’s opening speech. 

In the speech, Khamenei stressed the importance of not falling prey to religious strife, which he labeled as “the devil’s work.”

Sunnis in Iran underlined in a statement they wrote the contradiction of calling for unity outside while not dealing with sectarian discrimination inside Iran.

“We ask you to start applying this principle of fraternity and equality in Iran first before wanting to see it happen in other countries,” wrote Sunni activists in the message they wrote Saturday to the supreme leader and of which Al Arabiya obtained a copy.

Iranian Sunnis said in their statement that they did not believe that the Muslim world, the majority of which are Sunnis, would accept to have as their role model a country that prevents its Sunni minority from building mosques and praying in the capital. 

They also pointed out to the violent repression to which Sunnis in Iran are subjected whenever they object to the regime... >>>