Mosque belonging to Shiite community suffers second attack in two days

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A man walks past burnt religious pictures at the Shiite Muhammediye Mosque on July 8, after a fire caused considerable material damage. AFP Photo / Ozan Köse

A mosque belonging to the Shiite Caferi community in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district was vandalized in the early hours of July 9, just a day after it was subject to an arson attack.

According to witnesses, two people entered the mosque by climbing on its roof and breaking the glass on the dome.  

The imam of the Muhammediye Mosque, Hamza Aydın, said the latest attack took place in the morning despite security measures adopted by the police following the first attack.

“The muezzin said they had vandalized a number of things such as books, Qurans, his own room. But they did not take or burn anything,” said Aydın, adding that witnesses told him the assailants threatened them and demanded that prayers not be held at the mosque.

Aydın also urged restraint following the incidents, saying they were "not a Shiite and Sunni problem" but rather "something different."

The latest incident occurred as an investigation continues into a fire that erupted at the mosque on July 8, with initial inspections indicating an arson attack.

Aydın told the press following the first attack that they had received many threats over the last week, with people accusing them of “worshipping stones.”