TEHRAN: A leading Iranian cleric has come out in support of the people’s right to protest against the country’s rulers, in a report published Friday, after demonstrations erupted over Mahsa Amini’s death.
Iran has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Amini’s death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
“The people have the right to criticize the leader of Muslim society, whether the criticism is justified or not,” Ayatollah Javad Alavi-Boroujerdi said, quoted by Shafaqna news agency.
“The people have something to say and they don’t agree with what you are doing,” Ayatollah Alavi-Boroujerdi told the authorities.
The 68-year-old cleric is the grandson of late grand ayatollah Hossein Boroujerdi, the leading Shiite cleric in the 20th century.
The street violence that broke out across Iran after Amini’s death has led to dozens of deaths, mostly among protesters but also among the security forces, and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested.
“The press should be free, different thoughts should be expressed on state television,” Alavi-Boroujerdi said.
During the unrest since last month, “some people have been arrested and are in jail... treat them with mercy,” he added.
On September 26, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani, a prominent conservative cleric and strong supporter of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had called on the authorities to “listen to the demands of the people.”
Iran cleric voices support for right to protest against rulers
https://arab.news/9m87u
Iran cleric voices support for right to protest against rulers
- "The people have something to say and they don't agree with what you are doing," Ayatollah Alavi-Boroujerdi said
- "The press should be free, different thoughts should be expressed on state television"
Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine
- The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030
- The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium
ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
