Pressure on the Iranian government is growing now that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's sister has also publicly opposed the government. In an open letter, Badri Hosseini Khamenei criticizes the bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations and stresses that her brother's "despotic caliphate" has brought nothing but suffering. "I think it is time to declare that I am against the actions of my brother".
The letter was apparently triggered by the arrest of her daughter Farideh Moradkhani, who had called for Iran's international isolation via video in late November and was subsequently detained. "If they arrest my daughter by force, it is clear that they will use a thousand times more force against other oppressed boys and girls who are subjected to inhumane cruelty," Badri Hosseini Khamenei said.
In her letter, she also calls on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to lay down their arms and support the people "before it is too late."
She said she had always considered it her duty to talk to her brother - Iran's spiritual and political leader - about the needs of the people, "but he did not listen to me and continued to oppress and kill innocent people." As a result, she said, she broke off contact with him. Her family had resisted this "criminal system" soon after the revolution in 1979. In particular, she said, her husband, Ali Tehrani, had spent years criticizing the Islamic Republic in radio broadcasts from exile in Iraq - after his return in 1995, Tehrani spent ten years in prison; he died in October of this year.
The letter in the wording:
In the name of God
Losing a child and being away from your child is a great sadness for every mother.
Many mothers were bereaved during the last four decades.
I think it is appropriate now to declare that I oppose my brother's actions and I express my sympathy with all mothers mourning the crimes of the Islamic Republic regime, from the time of Khomeini to the current era of the despotic caliphate of Ali Khamenei.
Like all Iranian mourning mothers, I am also sad to be away from my daughter.
When they arrest my daughter with violence, it is clear that they apply thousands of times more violence to other oppressed boys and girls who are subjected to inhumane cruelty.
Our family's opposition and struggle against this criminal system began a few months after the revolution. The crimes of this system, the suppression of any dissenting voice, the imprisonment of the most educated and the most caring youth of this land, the most severe punishments, and the large-scale executions began from the very beginning.
Right from the start, my husband Ali Tehrani was against this system and the theocratic government. He was the voice of the people's desire for freedom, and because of it, he endured all kinds of hardships, including being imprisoned twice in 1360's (1980's) and spending ten years in prison in his old age.
During the last twenty years, my daughter Faride has endured all kinds of hardships and imprisonments with her civil and human rights activities, including supporting political prisoners and their families and trying to stop unjust executions.
As my human duty, many times I brought the voice of the people to the ears of my brother Ali Khamenei decades ago. However, after I saw that he did not listen and continued the way of Khomeini in suppressing and killing innocent people, I cut off my relationship with him.
My concern has always been and will always be the people, especially the women of Iran.
I believe that the regime of the Islamic Republic of Khomeini and Ali Khamenei has brought nothing but suffering and oppression to Iran and Iranians. The people of Iran deserve freedom and prosperity, and their uprising is legitimate and necessary to achieve their rights. I hope to see the victory of the people and the overthrow of this tyranny ruling Iran soon.
Ali Khamenei's Revolutionary Guards and mercenaries should lay down their weapons as soon as possible and join the people before it is too late.
I am so sorry that due to physical ailments, I cannot participate in protest movements as I should. But in heart and soul, I am with the people of Iran.
My brother does not listen to the voice of the people of Iran and wrongly considers the voice of his mercenaries and moneygrubbers to be the voice of the Iranian people. He rightly deserves the disrespectful and impudent words he uses to describe the oppressed, but brave people of Iran.
May the people's rightful struggle to achieve freedom and democracy be realized as soon as possible.
Azar 1401
December, 2022
Badri Hosseini Khamenei
Tehran