February 07 2020
A young cleric who is a member of the Assembly of Experts has disappeared mysteriously and not been seen in five months.
Ruhollah Sadr-os-Sadati is the member from Hormuzgan of the all-clergy Assembly of Experts that elects a successor to the Supreme Leader when that post falls vacant.
Most of the members are elderly. But Sadati is just 36 years old.
September 4, friends said Sadati, his two brothers and a fourth person got in a car to drive from Hormuzgan on the Persian Gulf Coast to Sadati’s home in Qom. He never showed up in Qom.
The governor of Qom, Bahram Sarmast, said the cleric has not been seen and no one knows what has happened to him.
The road distance is almost 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), with large sections through desolate areas. There is lots of room for accidents, but four months without a sighting is more than unusual.
The disappearance has prompted much speculation. Some suggest he has been arrested by the regime.
Sadati had been active in campaigning against corruption, which likely made him some enemies. But many clerics are now actively complaining about corruption since it became a major public issue early in 2019.
