Reuters. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s niece, a well known rights activist, has called on foreign governments to cut all ties with Tehran over its violent crackdown on popular unrest kindled by the death in police custody of a young woman.
A video of a statement released on Friday by Farideh Moradkhani, an engineer whose late father was a prominent opposition figure married to Khamenei’s sister, was being widely shared online after what activist news agency HRANA said was her arrest on Nov. 23.
“Oh free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime,” Moradkhani said in Farsi in the video which carried English subtitles.
“This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any rules except force and maintaining power.”
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Khamenei’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for “inappropriate attire,” pose one of the strongest challenges to the country’s clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.