Sister of Iran's leader condemns his rule, urges Guards to disarm - letter - Reuters

DUBAI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - A sister of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has condemned his crackdown connected nationwide protests and called connected the widely-feared Revolutionary Guards to laic down their weapons, according to a missive published by her France-based son.

Iran has been gripped by unrest since the decease of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian pistillate Mahsa Amini successful constabulary custody connected Sept 16., and is facing a three-day wide onslaught question which started connected Monday.

Badri Hosseini Khamenei, who lives successful Iran and is the sister of Ayatollah Khamenei, criticised the clerical constitution starting from the clip of the Islamic Republic's precocious laminitis Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to her brother's rule, the letter, dated "December 2022", said.

"I deliberation it is due present to state that I reason my brother's actions and I explicit my sympathy with each mothers mourning the crimes of the Islamic Republic, from the clip of Khomeini to the existent epoch of the despotic caliphate of Ali Khamenei," she wrote successful the missive which was shared connected Wednesday connected the Twitter relationship of her son, Mahmoud Moradkhani.

"Ali Khamenei's Revolutionary Guards and mercenaries should laic down their weapons arsenic soon arsenic imaginable and articulation the radical earlier it is excessively late," the missive said.

The Revolutionary Guards are Iran's elite unit which has helped the country's found proxies crossed the Middle East, and runs a immense concern empire.

On Tuesday, the elite unit shared a connection calling connected the judiciary to "not amusement mercy to rioters, thugs and terrorists", successful a motion that the authorities person nary volition of easing their fierce crackdown connected dissent.

Iran’s judiciary spokesman, Masoud Setayeshi, said connected Tuesday that 5 radical indicted successful the sidesplitting of Basij militia subordinate Rouhollah Ajamian were sentenced to decease successful a verdict which they tin inactive appeal.

In November, Khamenei's activistic niece Farideh Moradkhani was arrested by authorities aft calling connected overseas governments to chopped each ties with Tehran.

Videos shared connected Twitter by 1500tasvir, an relationship that has 385,000 followers and focuses connected Iran's protests, showed closed shops successful commercialized streets of Tehran, Isfahan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Najafabad, Arak, Babol, and Shiraz wherever information forces were forcing shopkeepers to unfastened up their stores.

Reuters could not verify the videos.

President Ebrahim Raisi meantime gave a code astatine the University of Tehran to people Student Day.

Some students extracurricular the main reception hallway shouted "dishonourable" and "students volition dice but won't judge this government." A video shared by 1500tasvir showed students getting into verbal fights with plain clothed information forces.

Students protested successful respective universities crossed Iran specified arsenic Amir Kabir University successful the capital, wherever they called for the "downfall of the full regime" and shouted "death to Khamenei" according to footage shared by 1500tasvir.

In the northeastern metropolis of Mashhad, students gathered extracurricular Ferdowsi University and were threatened by radical riding successful a prime up motortruck who warned them they would beryllium "summoned" and that it would extremity severely for them.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Michael Georgy, Toby Chopra, William Maclean

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