Ayatollah’s Niece Voices Support for Mass Protests
as Iran Cracks Down on Public Figures
HAVANA TIMES – In Iran, the niece of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, activist Farideh Moradkhani, urged foreign powers to cut ties with the Iranian regime over its brutal crackdown on protests.
Farideh Moradkhani: “O free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime. This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any laws or rules except force and maintaining its power in any possible way.”
Moradkhani was arrested last week, according to her brother, just days before the video started circulating.
The U.N. Human Rights Council voted Thursday to establish a fact-finding investigation into human rights abuses against protesters. One rights group says 18,000 have been arrested, while security forces have killed 450 protesters since mid-September, including 63 children. Other high-profile protest supporters have been targeted by authorities. Rapper Toomaj Salehi has been charged with “corruption on earth” and could be sentenced to death. Meanwhile, soccer player Voria Ghafouri was arrested last week on charges of “incitement against the regime.” This comes as Iran called for the U.S. team to be expelled from the FIFA World Cup after it posted a now-removed picture of the Iranian flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic. Iran will face the U.S. on the field tomorrow. Last week the Iranian team did not sing the Iranian national anthem in Qatar.