Iran condemns desecration of holy site in Syria

TEHRAN,May 5(MNA) – A number of Iranian officials, clerics, and seminary students on Saturday strongly condemned the desecration of the tomb of a companion of Prophet Muhammad (S) on the outskirts of Damascus by Syrian rebels. According to Al-Manar, Syrian opposition groups posted photos online on Thursday saying they belong to the holy shrine of Hujr ibn Adi al-Kindi, which is located in the Damascus suburb of Adra. According to the report, the so-called Adra Revolution Coordination has confirmed on its Facebook page that militiamen of the self-proclaimed Free Syrian Army had exhumed Kindi’s tomb and transferred his remains to an unknown location. In Iran, seminary students and teachers held demonstrations across the country on Saturday to protest against the blasphemous move. And seminary teachers in the holy Iranian city of Qom and the holy Iraqi city of Najaf canceled their classes on the same day in protest at the insulting move. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday sent separate letters to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, in which he condemned the exhumation. He also called on the mentioned organizations to condemn the move and take the measures necessary to protect holy sites. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on the same day that the perpetrators of the act of blasphemy would receive a response that would make them regret their action. Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani also issued a message on Saturday and condemned the move on behalf of the parliament. In his message, he called on the UN and UNESCO to make efforts to prevent similar acts of desecration.