Omid Djalili has been speaking openly about the plight of the people in Iran as protests against the regime continue and the crackdown by the regime intensifies
In recent weeks, Iran has been rocked by protests as people take to the streets to demonstrate against the rule of an authoritarian theocracy.
Following these protests, the Iranian government has clamped down hard against protesters, with human rights groups reporting that over 2,400 people may have been killed in the crackdown.
What’s more, information about the exact numbers has been difficult to specifically identify because the government switched off the internet, reducing protesters’ ability to coordinate and get information out.
However, there is hope among those both outside and inside the country that the rule of the current Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, may soon be over and democracy may be allowed to flourish in the country.
Speaking about the revolution to The Times has been the comedian and actor Omid Djalili. The London-born actor is the son of Iranian parents and has long been an advocate for Iranians living under autocratic rule.
Speaking to the publication, Omid, who has appeared on BBC’s Live at the Apollo and at the Royal Variety Performance, talked movingly about when he learnt that the brother of one of his friends had been killed by Iran’s security forces.
He said the regime wanted the family to pay $5,000 (£3,700) to release the body and to sign a petition saying something terrible.
Omid explained: “They found his body and the regime wanted [them to pay] $5,000 and to sign a declaration that he was a member of the security forces and was killed by one of the protesters. That’s the kind of sick, dark thing they’re doing.
“The lowest estimate [for the number killed] is 2,000 people. The highest estimate by Iran International which had done a full research over two days is 12,000 people.
“I saw a video online of 14, 15-year-old kids who had gone to the protest and were walking home and the security forces shot them all in the head. They were all on the ground, a couple of them were still struggling to be alive and people were trying to revive them. It’s horrific what they’re doing.”
This isn’t the first time Omid has talked about the unrest in Iran and the regime’s treatment of its people in recent days. Speaking to Andrew Marr on LBC, he said: “This is a bizarre, lunatic, fundamentalist version of Islam that Muslims try to detach themselves from.
“I’ve got parents of friends and family in Iran. They come to your house, shoot you in the head, throw your body in a ditch.
Source: Mirror
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