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Shiite Iran marks end of Ramadan on two different days in rare event
TEHRAN, May 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Shiite Iranians in a rare event
will mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan this year on separate
days — Sunday or Monday — depending on different religious
authorities’ edicts.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Saturday evening on
his official website that the Eid al-Fitr festival will fall on Sunday
this year.
But the country’s other senior Shiite clerics, or “marjas” — whose
guidance believers follow and are seen as a “source of emulation”,
such as Javadi Amoli, Makarem Shirazi and Safi Golpayegani, among
others — have issued separate statements saying the holiday will be
celebrated on Monday.
The timing of Eid is determined by the position of the moon, in
accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar.
In practice, due to the political system of the Islamic republic,
almost all open religious sites — affiliated with the state — will
mark Eid on Sunday.
A minority branch of Islam, Shiism has been the state religion in
Iran since the early 16th century.
The Sunni minority in the country celebrates Eid on Sunday, in line
with most of the Muslim world.
In the capital Tehran, where many mosques remain closed as part of
measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, worshippers
took part in morning prayers while trying to respect social distancing
rules, according to AFP journalists.
Collective prayers are still banned in principal in the city due to
the pandemic, but special dispensation has been granted for Eid
al-Fitr, one of the most important holidays on the Muslim calendar.
The holiday was also marked by the traditional pardons granted to
prisoners by the supreme leader.
According to the judiciary’s official news agency Mizan Online,
3,721 convicts, including a number of people “sentenced for crimes
related to state security” were granted pardons.
The agency did not provide further details, but several Iranian
media outlets reported that labour activist Esmail Bakhshi and others
who took part in protests at the Haft Tapeh sugar factory in the
southwestern province of Khuzestan were on the list of those granted
amnesty.
Bakhshi was one of the organisers of protests that lasted several
weeks at the factory in late 2018, after which he and other activists
were sentenced to jail terms ranging from five to seven years.
Bakhshi was released on bail in October 2019 pending his appeal. He
claimed to have been tortured while in pretrial detention.
Without acknowledging any irregularities in the proceedings,
judicial authorities said in September they had ordered that Bakhshi
and his companions be given a “fair and equitable trial” on appeal.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1833hrs