Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Monday urged his country's judiciary to extend support to "oppressed" Muslims in Kashmir, news agency IRNA reported.

Khamenei called on the Iranian judiciary to firmly declare support or opposition to legal and humanitarian issues, such as sanctions, terrorism and oppressed people in the world, in order to reflect its stance on them "throughout the world".

Khamenei had met with government heads and officials belonging to the judicial system.

The Iranian leader also called on the judiciary to support Sheikh Zakzaky, a Nigerian Shia scholar who had been detained by the government.

Earlier, Khamenei had, during an Eidul Fitr sermon, called upon the Muslim world to support the oppressed people of Bahrain, Yemen and Kashmir, in what is believed to be the first time he publicly called for support for Kashmir in seven years.

The last time he spoke about Kashmir, the Indian government had formally lodged a protest with Tehran.

Khamenei in 2010 had said: "The major duties of the elite of the Islamic Ummah is to provide help to the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to sympathise and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime."