36 Shiites arrested during Ashura prayers in the Comoros

“Thirty-six people were arrested for celebrating Ashura, even though our constitution is clear: only the practice of Sunni Islam and Shafi’i rites is allowed in the Comoros,” police commander Colonel Tachfine Ahmed told AFP.

A video widely shared on social media showed that Mohamed Mladjao, one of the most important Shiite figures in the Indian Ocean archipelago, was among those arrested.

“They were remembering Hussein… During this prayer, which was held in a private place, he was arrested,” his son Mladjao Abdoul Anlym told AFP.

Mladjao’s wife and mother-in-law were also arrested.

“My father only asks for one thing: that he can practice his religion, which he practices at home with his Shiite friends,” said Anlym. “That says a lot about the dictatorship in the country.”

The 2018 constitution of the Comoros states that the Islamic state is based on “Sunni principles and rules of obedience as well as the Shafi’i rites that govern faith and social life”.

The Shafi’i school is one of the main branches of the Sunni religion.

Under Comorian law, those arrested face prison sentences of between five months and one year and a fine of 200 euros.

In May 2019, according to the US State Department’s Religious Freedom Report, security forces arrested between 30 and 40 Shiite Muslims on suspicion of forming non-Sunni religious communities. The Comoros was placed on a watch list for religious freedom violations.

str/br