"All Iranians are shocked": Activist speaks out against human rights abuses in Iran

30 August 2020, 14:38

Masih Alinejad calls out honour killings and appeasement in Iran

This Iranian activist called out western countries for standing by on the human rights abuses seen in Iran to protect economic interests.

Maajid Nawaz was speaking to Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist as outrage spreads across the Middle Eastern nation over the arrest and prison sentence of a man who beheaded his own 14-year-old daughter in a so-called honour killing.

Ms Alinejad told listeners that "Romina Ashrafi's father killed her," but was only sentenced to nine years in prison. She admitted that "people are furious," especially at the premeditation of the attack.

Before he killed his daughter "he made a phone call with a lawyer," the activist revealed.

Maajid was audibly shocked when Ms Alinejad told him that if a woman removes her headscarf in public "you will be imprisoned for 24 years, but if your father cuts [off] your head, he'll get nine years."

"This is justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Maajid asked Ms Alinejad about her brother, who was abducted for supporting her political and social views in the theocracy.

She went on to tell Maajid that her brother had been sentenced to eight years in prison for supporting her and highlighted the ridiculousness of the sentence, given a father gets an extra year for beheading his daughter.

Maajid dug deeper into the topic of western appeasement, and wondered if it is clear in Iran that the west is watching on while the Islamic Republic carries out such atrocities against its people.

"Those politicians from the west are totally silent," she insisted, telling listeners that negotiations surrounding nuclear energy play a big part in the west remaining silent against the Iranian regime.

She went on the attack against western governments for "cooperating with the same regime to kill its own people."

You can watch the remarkable conversation in full above.