Lawyers for Liberty has urged religious authorities to stop raiding and arresting Syiah Muslims, given the constitutional guarantee to freedom of religion.

In recent weeks, both local and foreign Syiah Muslims have been arrested in Selangor and Johor. Syiah Islam is regarded as deviant by religious authorities.

In a statement today, the human rights NGO’s director Melissa Sasidaran said such raids were tantamount to “harassment” as they had neither “proper justification nor constitutional authority”.

“Article 11 of the Federal Constitution clearly stipulates that every person has the right to profess and practise their religion.

“Yet our religious authorities commonly fall back on Article 11(4), which limits the propagation of any religious doctrine among Muslims, to justify their actions.

“Any interpretation of this, which would allow the authorities unbridled and arbitrary powers to oppress Syiah Muslims, is erroneous and amounts to a disproportionate restriction on freedom of religion,” Melissa said.

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) previously made similar criticisms about the raids.

Melissa said those arrested appeared to have been practising their faith in private spheres and were not propagating their beliefs to other Muslims.

“Merely disagreeing with the teachings and practices of Syiah Islam is not a sufficient ground for these harsh actions... Those who were arrested had not committed any genuine crime nor caused any harm to anyone.

“We strongly urge the government and state religious authorities to end this unnecessary assault on the religious freedom of Syiah Muslims,” she said.

Other than being out of line with the constitution, Melissa said that the raids also contravened international human rights law that guarantees freedom of religion as well as freedom from discrimination by governments on the grounds of one’s religion or belief.

Last Friday, Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Jais) conducted a raid in Gombak and arrested 23 people.

Jais later arrested foreign Syiah Muslims after it raided a private function in Bandar Sunway.

Several foreign nationals were also arrested in Johor after police and the State Islamic Affairs Department reportedly raided a Syiah Muslim function in Kempas.

The crackdown coincided with the first and 10th of Muharam, when Syiahs mark Ashura, the anniversary of the death of Husin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a central figure in Syiah Islam.