Ayatollah Al-Sistani’s office asks court to free photo-burning detainee

Shafaq News- Baghdad

The office of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani has asked an Iraqi court to release a young man detained after a video showed him burning a photograph of the senior Shiite cleric.

In a letter addressed to the Central Investigation Court in Baghdad’s Al-Rusafa district, Al-Sistani’s office said it had filed no personal complaint against him.

The man was arrested on September 5 after footage circulated on social media showing him burning a photograph of Al-Sistani. Al-Rusafa Police Command said its intelligence units located and arrested him before referring him for legal procedures, but did not disclose what charges, if any, had been filed against him.