36 arrested in the Comoros at Ashura

MORONI, Comoros: Comoros security forces have arrested 36 Muslims for marking a Shiite event in violation of the constitution which enshrines Sunni doctrines, police said Thursday.

The group was arrested in the capital Moroni on Wednesday during prayers for Ashura. “Thirty-six people were arrested because they were commemorating Ashura while our constitution is clear: only the practice of Sunni Islam and Shafi’i rites are authorised in the Comoros,” police commander Colonel Tachfine Ahmed told AFP.

A video shared widely on social media showed that among those rounded up was one of the most important Shia figures on Indian Ocean archipelago, Mohamed Mladjao.

Mladjao’s wife and mother-in-law were also arrested. The Comoros’ 2018 Constitution says the Islamic state draws on “Sunni principles and rules of obedience and the Shafi’i rites that govern belief and social life.” The Shafi’i school is one of the major branches of Sunni practice. According to Comoros law, those under arrest face imprisonment of between five months and one year, and a fine of 200 euros.