Following the tensions created by government hardliners in May and June 2010 around the Karaj’s hosseinieh, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes sent an open letter to the Armed Forces’ Prosecutor’s Office, complaining about the IRGC forces’ provocative actions.

Following the tensions created by government hardliners in May and June 2010 around the Karaj's hosseinieh, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes sent an open letter to the Armed Forces’ Prosecutor’s Office, complaining about the IRGC forces’ provocative actions.

Karaj

Dervish

Location ON Map

In July 2010, they also published an open letter that they sent to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on behalf of the Gonabadi order, criticizing the government’s response to the protests. In 2007, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes in Garmsar in Semnan Province had also sent a letter to then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking him to prevent provocative actions by government hardliners.

When Dervishes who gathered in Karaj’s hosseinieh returned to their cities, many of them were summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence. In Shahr-e Kurd in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, security forces raided the house of Nematollah Riahi, an aged Gonabadi Dervish who refused to go to the MOI local office. In 2018, Riahi was arrested before the clashes in Golestan-e Haftom. There is no reporting about his trial.