IHRC condemns the cowardly, treacherous and illegal assassination by Israel yesterday of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei.
The spiritual head of Iran’s government was killed even as Iranian officials were locked in negotiations with the United States in a bid to avert military conflict.
In the Ayatollah’s passing, the world has lost a rare role model who demonstrated that a nation can successfully tread the path of independence although it is besieged by enemies.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s death will be mourned by freedom loving people all over the world, not least by Palestinians for whom his support never wavered even in the face of overwhelming pressure and injury to his own nation. During the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as Muslim countries folded one by one under western pressure, Iran maintained its support for the Palestinian people.
He will also be remembered by the Muslims of occupied Kashmir who held a special place in his heart. Although Iran maintained cordial relations with the occupying power, India, Ayatollah Khamenei was never shy of publicly supporting their cause. In 2017 he said: “The Muslim world should openly support the people of Yemen, Bahrain, and Kashmir and repudiate oppressors and tyrants who attacked [them].”
Muslims everywhere will remember him as an erudite, principled, spiritual and stoic individual who strove to build on his predecessor’s establishment of a new model of nationhood based on Islamic liberation theology.
It is not only Muslims who have been left bereaved. Non Muslims everywhere from Ireland to South Africa will remember Ayatollah Khamenei for his unshakeable resistance to colonialism. After meeting him in 1992, no less a figure than Nelson Mandela, the former leader of the ANC and the first black president of the liberated South Africa referred to the Ayatollah as “my leader” in a show of gratitude for the sustained support Iran had provided to the anti-apartheid cause.
The Ayatollah’s legacy will be etched into history as someone who resisted oppression and stood on the right side of history. The manner of his passing, martyrdom at home with his family in the holy month of Ramadan, was a fitting end for someone who chose conviction and honour above subservience, dignity over safety and faith over survival. It is not death that defines such men, it is the way in which they stand before it.
[ENDS]
For more information or comment please contact the Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222 or (+44) 7958 522196 or email media@ihrc.org
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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
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