Azerbaijani experts demand reaction to Ayatollah's message on Rafiq Tagi's murder

Sheikh Mohammed Jawad Lankarani, Iranian Ayatollah, has welcomed murder of the publicist Rafiq Tagi in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani experts appealed to the official Baku to immediately react to this message.

On November 28, the message of the Iranian religious figure Mohammed Jawad Lankarani appeared on his personal website in Farsi and was duplicated in Azerbaijani on one of the religious online resources.

In his message, the Ayatollah "congratulates Azerbaijani people" and expresses his joy that "the hand of Allah has appeared among Muslims and sent to hell the evildoer who had insulted the Prophet." Besides, the Ayatollah states that "sentence of Fazil Lankarani, who pronounced a deadly fatwa (sentence)" to the journalist, has been executed.

The late Fazil Lankarani, the father of Mohammed Jawad Lankarani, pronounced the fatwa of death sentence to Rafiq Tagi yet in 2006, when the publicist published in the newspaper "Sanat" the article criticizing the Islamic values.

In Azerbaijan, after the Ayatollah's statement, the experts unanimously urged the official Baku to respond to the situation, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

"Such a statement may hide a message of Iranian encouragers to their followers in Azerbaijan: 'Do not fear: continue along those lines, we are standing behind you.' Therefore, the Azerbaijani authorities should adequately respond to the situation and send a protest note to the Iranian authorities," believes Sadraddin Soltan, the political commentator and the Iran expert.

Officials from the Iranian Embassy refused to comment and stated that they would "not comment on the statements of individuals."

When asked to comment on the Iranian Ayatollah, the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that "the issue is under examination" and that "the respond would likely to be pronounced later."