The sister of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran denounced the “authoritarian” regime and supported the protest movement that erupted about three months ago with the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini.
• Also read: Iran: Arresting “terrorists” linked to European countries
• Also read: In Iran, activists suspect the morality police will be abolished
• Also read: Washington says there is “nothing to indicate” that the status of women in Iran will improve
“I oppose the actions of my brother,” Badri Hosseini Khamenei wrote in a message posted on the Internet on Wednesday by his son, who resides in France, Mahmoud Moradkhani.
“I express my sympathy to the mothers who weep over the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic regime from the time of (its founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini to the current period of the tyrannical succession of Ali Khamenei,” continues Hosseini Khamenei, who is said to be in Iran.
Iran has been the scene of protests since the death on September 16 of Mohsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was arrested three days earlier, who was accused of not respecting a dress code that required women to wear headscarves in public.
Pictures of the supreme leader were burned, women marched through the streets without veils and protesters defied security forces.
The crackdown on the movement has left at least 448 people dead, according to the Oslo-based human rights NGO.
The authorities have arrested thousands of people, 11 of whom have been sentenced to death in trials linked to the protests.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83, accused the United States, Iran’s archenemy, and its allies such as Israel of encouraging “riots” in the country.
“My concern has always been and always will be the Iranian people, especially women,” Hosseini continued in her letter, accusing the regime of “bringing nothing but suffering and oppression (…) to Iranians.”
Ayatollah Khamenei’s sister said, “The Iranian people deserve freedom and prosperity, and their uprising is legitimate and necessary to assert their rights,” saying that she hopes to “overthrow this authoritarian power in Iran.”
Citing health problems that prevent her from participating in the protests, she attacked her brother, who “does not listen to people’s voices.”
It also called on the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, to “join the people before it is too late”.
