Gonabadi Dervish Leader Passes Away, in a Hospital in Tehran
Published by Ali on December 26, 2019
International Liberty Association: The leader of Gonabadi dervishes, passed away in a hospital in Tehran, on 24 December 2019.
The 92-year-old Noor-Ali Tabandeh, also known as Majzoub Ali Shah, was a France educated lawyer and the spiritual leader of Gonabadi dervishes. He was also an outspoken critic of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), or Iran’s theocracy, for which he was imprisoned for nearly two years, spending six months of his sentence in solitary confinement.
ILA received a picture which shows a crane parked in the middle of a street to block access to the hospital. Also a photo posted on Twitter shows riot police in full gear on bikes in a square leading to the hospital.
Tabandeh’s body was still held by the hospital while a crowd of his followers mourned outside. Police diverted passing cars to a nearby street.
Noor-Ali Tabandeh had been hospitalized for complications arising from old age and his hunger strike in protest to the limitations imposed on him and his followers. He had been under house arrest since February 2018 when hundreds of his followers were arrested for protesting the conditions imposed on their leader.
Many of Tabandeh’s followers are still in prison. On 14 November seventy-two imprisoned dervishes who were on hunger strike in protest the restraints imposed on Tabandeh said they were determined to continue till they die. Four of them had to be hospitalized on 18 December but were taken back to prison.
On December 21 Tehran’s outspoken lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi warned about the dangerous health condition of imprisoned dervishes who are on hunger strike. The Iranian authorities have made no comments on Sadeghi’s warning.
ILA condolences the death of Dr. Nour Ali Tabandeh, the leader of Gonabad dervish, to the Iranian Gonabadi dervishes.
