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."

Opinion

Editorial

Depopulating Gaza
Updated 07 Feb, 2025

Depopulating Gaza

The least feasible "solution" is the Trumpian plan for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, which is a non-starter.
‘Pause’ in US aid
07 Feb, 2025

‘Pause’ in US aid

THE impact of the Trump administration’s decision to ‘pause’ all US foreign aid programmes, especially those...
Mobilising opposition
07 Feb, 2025

Mobilising opposition

POLITICS makes strange bedfellows. There has not, for quite some time, been a guest list as intriguing as the one...
No time left
Updated 06 Feb, 2025

No time left

Climate change concerns continue to remain a footnote as politics dominates national discourse, surfacing only when disaster strikes.
Karim Aga Khan
06 Feb, 2025

Karim Aga Khan

PRINCE Karim Aga Khan was a man who straddled various worlds and cultures. Beyond his role as spiritual leader of ...
Cotton production
06 Feb, 2025

Cotton production

PAKISTAN’S cotton crop is on the ropes. The crop output has been falling since FY15, when the country harvested a...