Detained Yarsan man tortured to death in Iran

Ramin Moshasha

Ramin Moshasha, grandson of leader of Yarsanis, was killed under torture in Hamedan prison on September 25. He had been imprisoned since one year ago on charge of “spreading propaganda against the state.”
Ministry of Intelligence officials refused to deliver the body to the family and warned them to refrain from speaking to the media.
The Yarsan or Ahle Haqq, is a syncretic religion in the late 14th century in western Iran. The total number of Yarsanis estimated at around 2,000,000 or 3,000,000. Primarily found in western Iran and eastern Iraq, mostly ethnic Goran Kurds, though there are also smaller groups of Turk, Persian, Lori, Azeri and Arab adherents. Some Yarsanis in Iraq are called Kaka’i. Yarsanis are also found in some rural communities in southeastern Turkey. Yarsanis say that some people call them disparagingly as “Ali-o-allahi” or “worshipers of Ali” which labels Yarsanis deny. Many Yarsanis hide their religion due to pressure of Iran’s Islamic system, and there are no exact statistics of their population.

A poster announcing a memorial ceremony for Ramin Moshasha, tortured to death in Hamedan prison on September 25, 2018,  is seen in this photo shared on social media.