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RFL/RE – Two imams have been attacked by unknown assailants in the central Iranian city of Qom, the latest in a series of assaults against clerics across the country.
According to the Hawzah news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Seminary of Qom, two young men attacked the imams “with an iron pipe for no reason.” The cars of the clerics were also damaged.
One of the two was hospitalized and needs surgery, Hawzeh news reported.
The Qom police department has yet to publish a report on the incident.
There has been an increase in reports of attacks on clerics in various parts of Iran in recent months, which coincides with rising tensions among the population over worsening living conditions.
In July, a young Iranian cleric named Mojtaba Hosseini was stabbed several times in the back while giving a sermon in the city of Karaj, according to a local official. That same month, an imam was injured in an assassination attempt by an assailant passing by on a motorcycle in Isfahan city.
Several other attacks have also been recorded.
Mohammad Taghi Fazel Meybodi, a senior member of the Islamic Seminary of Qom, said earlier that many clerics and seminary students don’t appear in public gatherings because of the “teasing or cursing” they hear from people.
