Having been imprisoned in Iran before, and hailing from a family line with a history of criticising the country’s Islamic rulers, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s niece, Farideh Moradkhani,was detained by Iranian authorities after she made a video in which she referred to her uncle’s government as a “murderous and child-killing dictatorship.”

She was detained on Wednesday after coming to the prosecutor’s office in response to a summons, according to a tweet from her brother Mahmoud Moradkhani.
Then, on Saturday, her brother uploaded a video to YouTube, and the link was shared on Twitter where she condemned the “clear and obvious oppression” Iranians have been subjected to, and criticised the international community’s inaction.

Iranian Human Rights Activist and Khamenei’s Niece Farideh Moradkhani: Iranian People Are Fighting a Murderous, Child-Killing Regime; Anti-Iran Sanctions Are Ridiculous; Khomeini, Khamenei Are Like Hitler, Mussolini #Iran #IranRevoIution2022 pic.twitter.com/MMsAKGVIpz
“Free people, be with us! Tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime,” she said.

“This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any law or rule except force and maintaining its power in any way possible.”

She criticised the “laughable” sanctions put in place against the regime due to its crackdown and claimed Iranians had been “left alone” in their struggle for freedom.

The sister of Khamenei who had a falling-out with her family in the 1980s and went to Iraq during the height of the conflict with Iran’s neighbour is the mother of Moradkhani. She moved in with her husband, Ali Tehrani, a controversial preacher born Ali Moradkhani Arangeh.

She gained recognition for her work opposing the death sentence and was most recently detained in January of this year.