News From Iran, Both Silly and Sinister

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Ayatollah Khomeini’s Dating Do’s And Don’ts

What would we do without Iran, the laughingstock of nations, having this year beaten out North Korea yet again for that title? Iran, the country that warns Israel that it is coming for it, only to find that the tiny Jewish state’s Mossad has been running circles around the Islamic Republic for more than a decade? Iran, where the spiritual guide and founding father of the regime, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, gave advice to the lovelorn – call it Khomeini’s Dating Do’s ‘N Don’ts – as, for example, this unforgettable statement, published in his Tahrirolvasleh, Vol. 4, Darol Elm, Qom, Iran, 1990: ‘ “A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, ewe, camels and so on. However, he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village; however, selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.” That qualifies as an example – there are others –of Khomeini’s patented blend of the Silly and the Sinister..

Presidential Candidate Mohsen Rezaei Presents His Economic Platform

For unadulterated silliness we have Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei. In the runup to the upcoming Presidential election in Iran, Rezaei, a perennial candidate, recently offered his “solution” to the country’s economic problems. His brilliant idea – how many Iranians must be groaning and saying to themselves “now, why didn’t I think of that?” –is reported on previously at Jihad Watch here and at Arutz Sheva here.

Mohsen Rezaei, a conservative candidate for the Iranian Presidency, said in a recent interview that his plan to boost the country’s ailing economy was to kidnap 1,000 Americans and demand several million dollars in ransom per hostage.

Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad posted a video of Rezaei’s statement to Twitter.“This is surreal. Mohsen Rezaei, candidate for Iran presidential elections, said he’d take 1000 more American hostages to boost iran’s economy. For every hostage he’d ask several (million dollars) as a solution to Iran’s failing economy,” she tweeted.

In the video, an anchor said in Farsi, “So he’d take hostages to extort money.” The video cuts to a clip of Rezaei who says “We’ll take 1,000 Americans hostage. America will have to pay several billions to get every single one freed.”“This is how we can solve our economic problems,” he added.

Rezaei was described by Saeid Jafari writing for the Atlantic Council as a “perpetual candidate” for the presidency.

He first ran for president in 2005. He also ran in 2009 and 2013.

Reza [sic] was the Iranian Republican Guard Corps commander-in-chief for 17 years….

An absurd idea, but not too absurd for Mohsen Rezaei or those who will vote for him. And Mohsen Rezaei is not someone who can be dismissed as a figure of no significance. For 17 years, he was the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and thus the most important military man in the Islamic Republic. This is an example of Iran the Silly.

The Persecution of the Afkari Familly

Sinister, and not a bit silly, is the story of Navid Afkari.

Navid Afkari was an Iranian, a champion wrestler, and a patriot, who wanted only the best for Iran. In 2018, he and two of his brothers attended a peaceful protest – it was put down violently by Iranian security forces – against the miserable state of Iran’s economy. For that brief nonviolent appearance, Navid Afkari was falsely accused of killing a security office who was monitoring the protest. There was not a shred of evidence to support that charge. Nonetheless, Afkari was sentenced to death; he was hanged in September 2020.. A report on how the Iranian regime continues, even after his death, to torment his family, is here.

The Islamic Republic of Iran continued its violent repression of the executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari, desecrating his grave on Thursday after his brother and father were arrested during a visit to the cemetery.

Afkari’s sister Elham posted a photograph of Navid’s ravaged grave, writing on Instagram: “You can threaten, destroy, or arrest, what are you going to do with Navid’s name and memory in people’s hearts?”

Iran’s regime, according to Western governments and human rights organizations, imposed an extrajudicial hanging on Afkari in September for his role in protesting regime corruption in 2018.

The regime sentenced him to death for an “act of war against God” for his participation in demonstrations against miserable economic conditions in Iran.

The clerical regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed without evidence Afkari killed a security officer who monitored the protests.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Dec. 17 that Navid’s father Hossein Afkari and his brother Hamid were cleaning the area around the wrestler’s grave when they were arrested. They were released later in the day.

Apparently they had no right to clean the grave of their martyred son and brother.

But that destruction of Afkari’s grave, and the regime’s goons preventing his father and brother Hamid from attempting to clean up the gravesite, was not the end of the Afkari family’s calvary. At the same time that Navid was sentenced to death, two of his brothers, Vahid and Habib, were sentenced to 54 and 27 years, respectively, in prison, charged with being present at the protest when Navid supposedly killed the security guard.

The latest example of the Iranian regime’s relentless persecution of the Afkari family took place on June 12. Saeed Afkari, a brother of Vahid, Habib, and Navid, described the scene:

“Today… my family and some of the relatives gathered in front of Adelabad Prison to protest against my brothers’ 280 days in solitary confinement. Plainclothes officers severely beat my mother, my sister, my father, my aunts and others. They confiscated the cell phones, arrested my sister and one of the [female relatives] women and released them an hour later…. Two female officers beat my mother so that her head was hit on the asphalt. 20 people beat Navid [the father], , 5 people [beat] Elham [the sister] and 2 people [beat] my mother, who is a 55-year-old woman.

”My father protected Elham. Some officers took my father away and five female officers in chador jumped on Elham and handcuffed her and dragged her to the ground and took her into the van. Elham’s neck and hands are injured. My mother and my aunts were also severely beaten.”

These beatings, including those administered by the chadored goonettes who banged the mother’s head on the asphalt pavement, were the cruel response of the regime to the Afkari family’s daring to offer a silent protest in front of the prison. This is Iran the Sinister.

First published in Jihad Watch.