Ayatollah Killed in Attack in Iran – Liberation

A senior religious leader was killed in northern Iran on Wednesday, April 26. The attack was carried out by an armed man who was arrested, the official IRNA news agency reported. Ayatollah Abbas Ali Sulaimani, 75, “Killed in armed robbery this morning” In the city of Babolzar, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, about 230 km north of Tehran, IRNA quoted an official as saying. “Assailant arrested by security forces”, the company added. The motive of the culprit is currently unknown.

Ayatollah Soleimani served as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative and Friday prayer leader in Kashan, a central city between Tehran and Isfahan, and Jahedan, the capital of the Sunni Muslim southeastern region of Sistan-Baluchistan. Iran is a Shiite majority country.

The Council of Experts, of which he was a member, is a body of 88 religions elected for eight-year terms by direct universal suffrage from a panel of candidates approved by the Guardian Council. She is responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader and overseeing his work. She has the constitutional power to recall him and appoint a new one if deemed necessary.

Such an attack on a senior cleric is extremely rare in Iran. In April 2022, two Shia clerics were killed by suspected jihadists in the holy city of Mashhad in the country’s northeast.

Update : With more information at 1:45 p.m.