Media reports say most of the detained were students and were released following intervention from the Iraqi foreign ministry.
PETALING JAYA: Islamic authorities in Selangor recently arrested more than 200 Iraqi nationals for taking part in a Shia Muslim ceremony, before they were released after pressure from Iraqi authorities, it has emerged.
The Iraqis, mostly students pursuing Masters and postgraduate studies, were arrested alongside their family members as authorities conducted a crackdown ahead of Ashura which falls on 10 Muharram of the Islamic calendar.
Shia Muslims worldwide mark the week leading to Ashura with events to mark the death anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein, a central figure in Shia Islam.
According to several Arabic-language media outlets, the Iraqis who were arrested were released following pressure from Baghdad.
“The youths detained in Malaysia have all been released,” Al-Kawthar TV, a pan-Arab channel operating from Tehran, quoted Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub as saying.
It also quoted the ministry as saying that it “would not tolerate the Malaysian authorities’ detention of (Iraqi) students”, adding that Baghdad viewed the action “as damaging the bilateral relations”.
The Baghdad Post meanwhile reported that the Iraqis were arrested as officers raided a private function in Juta Mines, a condominium near Serdang, Selangor. FMT is trying to confirm the report with the relevant authorities in the state.
The report coincides with the arrest of a group of Muslims in Johor over the weekend for participating in similar events.
Religious authorities in Malaysia regard Shia Muslims as “heretics” with a ban on it enforced through a 1996 ruling by the National Fatwa Council.
Shia Muslims had been arrested in Malaysia in the past, although those from majority Shia countries such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Kuwait were largely spared.
Malaysia and Iraq have good diplomatic ties, and many Iraqi expatriates have been residing in Malaysia since the end of the second Gulf War.
Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas also holds the second largest share in Iraq’s Majnoon oil field, one of the richest oil fields in the world that currently produces 235,000 barrels daily. The other two stakeholders are Shell and the Iraqi government.
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