Iran lawmaker calls for Sunnis to be employed in government

The head of the Ahlus Sunnah Iranian parliamentary bloc, Jalil Rahimi has called on the government to employ more Sunni Muslims.

“The majority of Sunni Iranians voted for President Hassan Rouhani in the last election but Rouhani did not keep his promise to employ Sunnis in managerial positions, except in some cases,” Rahimi was quoted by the Iranian Labour News Agency as saying yesterday.

Rahimi stressed that Sunni Muslims are not employed in official circles, except for the appointment of Sunni deputy minister and one ambassador.

He added that working on the basis of justice and equal opportunity will bring about social harmony in the country, adding that he had not received a response on the subject from Rouhani’s government despite sending his request to the president’s First Deputy, Eshaq Jahangiri, and the Iranian government spokesman, Mohammad Baqir Nobkhet.

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Rahimi stressed that the current situation has reflected negatively on the Sunnis’ view of the government in Iran.

“The main problem facing Sunnis in Iran is the violation of their rights to worship and not building mosques for them in cities such as Tehran,” he said, adding: “We Sunnis want to build mosques in Tehran and the cities where we live.”

Five to ten per cent of Iran’s population is Sunni, made up mostly of it’s repressed Kurdish population.