- The ancestral home of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was destroyed by protesters in Iran.
- It is believed he was born in the house, now a museum dedicated to his life.
- The pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by Islamic revolution in 1979.
The ancestral home of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, was destroyed by protesters in Iran.
Social media posts show a portion of the building in the city of Khomein, which bears his name, on fire.
Regional authorities denied there had been an arson attack, despite news organizations verifying the videos’ location.
It is believed that Ayatollah Khomeini was born in the house, which is now a museum dedicated to his life.
The pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by Khomeini’s Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, ushering in the theocratic regime that still rules the country today.
He was Iran’s first supreme leader from his accession till his death in 1989, which is currently remembered with a national day of grief every year.
Videos posted to social media by Khomein show a large crowd applauding as the fire starts. According to an activist network, the video was shot on Thursday night.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency was not attacked, according to the press office of Khomein County.
The agency published a video of the residence and claimed it was accessible to “pilgrims and lovers of the departed Imam,” adding that a small group of people had gathered outside the property.
“The doors of the house of the late founder of the great revolution are open to the public,” the agency added.
One of the most recent episodes in a string of statewide protests against his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his administration is the fire at his ancestral home.
Following the death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been arrested by morality police for allegedly violating the stringent hijab laws, the protests against Iran’s religious establishment erupted two months earlier.
According to Iranian official television, five security personnel were murdered in the most recent disturbance on Thursday.
Funerals for young Iranians who allegedly died at the hands of security personnel on Friday spurred further protests.
In the south-western city of Izeh, mourners chanted “death to Ali Khamenei” as they attended the funeral of Kian Pirfalak, a nine-year-old child who, according to his family, was shot dead by security agents despite official denials.
Further demonstrations against civilian deaths attributed to security personnel took place in the towns of Tabriz, Mahabad, and Zahedan.
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