In December 2008, security forces attacked the Gonabadi Dervishes’ hosseinieh in Kish Island in the Persian Gulf and beat and arrested several Dervishes who were inside.*

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They also changed the hosseinieh’s door locks, did not allow anyone to enter it, and confiscated the hosseinieh’s belongings. Several nights later, they raided the house of a Gonabadi Dervish and arrested the people who were attending a meeting there. Farshid Yadollahi Farsi and Amir Eslami, two Dervish attorneys who went to Kish Island to defend detained Gonabadi Dervishes, were also arrested. They were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on charges of disseminating lies and disturbing public order. After that, a group of Gonabadi Dervishes gathered in front of the prosecutor’s office in Kish Island to protest these arrests. Many of these Dervishes were prosecuted later.

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