Source: rferl.org

Iranian dissident Mohammad Nourizad has blogged about kissing the feet of a 4-year-old Baha’i boy whose parents are in jail because of their faith.

Mohammad Nourizad, a former hard-line conservative columnist turned dissident, kissed the feet of a 4-year-old Baha’i boy named Artin.

Nourizad posted a photo of the scene on his blog along with an account of the meeting. “I told Artin: ‘My little boy, I apologize to you on behalf of all of those who, in these Islamic years, have made you and your [Baha’i] fellows face injustice.’ ”

Nourizad, who has previously been accused by some of political exhibitionism, suggested that by kissing the boy’s feet, he was following the example of Pope Francis, who earlier this year kissed the feet of a young female Muslim prisoner.

“When the pope, the leader of the world’s Catholics, bends, washes, and kisses the feet of a Muslim criminal, why shouldn’t I kiss your feet as a representative of the office of [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the [many] Shi’ite sources of emulation?” he wrote.

Artin, whose parents are in jail because of their faith, ….continue reading at rferl.org