December 30, 2014 — Updated 1514 GMT (2314 HKT)
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei compares U.S. protests to Middle East conflicts
- One tweet included #BlackLivesMatter, a hashtag popularized by supporters of Eric Garner
On Sunday he tweeted: “#Jesus
endured sufferings to oppose tyrants who had put humans in hell in this
world& the hereafter while he backed the oppressed. #Ferguson”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s chief political and religious authority, acknowledged the role of Jesus in Islamic theology and compared the biblical prophet’s struggle to that of black people in the United States.
The tweet included
#BlackLivesMatter, a hashtag popularized in recent weeks by supporters
of Eric Garner, a 43-year old African-American man that died after being
put in a chokehold by a NYPD officer.
It read: “It’s expected
that followers of #Jesus follow him in his fight against arrogants and
in his support for the oppressed. #BlackLivesMatter”
On Christmas Eve, the
Ayatollah lumped the struggle of Palestinians in the Gaza strip with
protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where black teenager Michael Brown was
shot dead by police, and called on members of all three monotheistic
faiths to stand-up against oppression.
The tweet said: “#Jesus like
all prophets was herald of monotheism& human dignity; nowadays
humanity needs this message more than ever.#Ferguson #Gaza 1/1/93″
The unverified Twitter
account, widely accepted as the mouthpiece of the Ayatollah’s social
media campaign, often posts diatribes against the West and Israel to its
more than 91,000 followers.
In August of this year,
the leader published a poignant image that criticized President Barack
Obama’s support for Israel during the country’s military operation to
debilitate Hamas, a group many Western nations including the U.S.
designate as a terrorist organization.
“US govt has subjugated a
great nation w/ massive resources to a criminal regime like
#Israel.10/31/12 #Ferguson #Gaza,” it said.
In response, some
Twitter users accused the Ayatollah of hypocrisy, and tweeted him with
hashtags such as #AllLivesMatter, #GayLivesMatter and
#KurdishLivesMatter.
In its 2013 report on
Iran, Human Rights Watch said: “Many civil society activists remained in
prison on political charges. Authorities regularly subjected prisoners,
especially those convicted on politically motivated charges, to abuse
and deprive them of necessary medical treatment.
“Iranian women continued
to face discrimination in many areas including personal status matters.
Authorities restricted political participation and employment of
minority groups, who account for about 10% of the population.”
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