Azernews.Az

Students and clerics from several Muslim countries have joined a conference in Iran’s holy city of Qom to condemn the alleged Islamic phobia in Azerbaijan, Iranian media reported.

Addressing the conference, titled "Support for Islamic awakening and the doomed policy of Islamic phobia in Azerbaijan", students from Iran, Azerbaijan and other countries said they supported the Azerbaijanis’ fight against the alleged policy of Islamic phobia.

Host of the conference, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Tahriri, criticized the Azerbaijani government, calling on the public to express "mass disobedience", and condemned the recent convictions of Azerbaijan Islamic Party leaders and the veil ban introduced in Azerbaijani schools.

"These actions are unbecoming a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and cannot last forever," he claimed. "The people of Azerbaijan are fighters for Muslim values. This nation preserved its religion during the Communist rule, and Azerbaijani youths will not allow disrespect for the command of Allah now either."

In a statement, the conference participants demanded release of the Islamic party’s leaders and the believers arrested during the protests over the veil ban in Baku.

There is no explicit ban on the wearing of headscarves in schools, but the Education Ministry last year introduced a standard school uniform that precludes traditional Islamic dress.

Azerbaijan Islamic Party leader Haji Movsum Samadov and his several inferiors were convicted by a Baku court earlier this month to between 10 and 12 years in prison on charges of attempts to set up a criminal group to plan terror attacks and to overthrow the government.