In an exclusive interview with Rasa News Agency:‎

Harun Elbinawi discusses the “saddest day” of his life

A Nigerian activist and public affairs analyst expressed his thoughts on the 31st death ‎anniversary of Imam Khomeyni, the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. ‎

News ID: 450258

Date: 03 June 2020 - 16:43

RNA – Iranians and the supports of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution are marking 31 years ‎since the departure of the revered founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeyni, an ‎eternal example of the defeat of the West in imposing its will on freedom-seeking nations.‎

Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Mousavi-Khomeyni, better known as Imam Khomeyni, ‎passed away on June 3, 1989, at the age of 87.‎

As an anti-imperialist icon, he devoted his life to standing up to Iran’s former Pahlavi ‎monarchy, a key ally of the United States, and eventually paved the way for the regime’s ‎downfall in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.‎

In an exclusive interview with Rasa News Agency, Harun Elbinawi, a Nigerian activist and ‎public affairs analyst, expressed his thoughts on the death anniversary of Imam Khomeyni ‎and the role he played in the Islamic world and in standing up against oppression. ‎

June 3, 1989, remains the saddest day of my life. That was the day the great Imam ‎Khomeyni left this world. When the news reached me, I fainted. When I was revived, I told ‎my late mother that my life has ended! She said “No! A good successor will succeed him!” ‎And Imam Khamenei was chosen!‎

This exceptional man changed the course of human history forever from his prayer mat. He ‎was only armed with his conviction that the oppressed will be victorious. He led the glorious ‎‎1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran to victory with no support from any world power.‎

In 1979, Iran and Nigeria were at the same developmental level but today the difference in ‎terms of progress and development is like the distance between heaven and earth. Iran ‎recently successfully launched satellites into orbit while Nigeria is infested with bloodthirsty ‎terrorists and armed bandits. While today Iran, with a population of 90 million, generates ‎more than 80,000 megawatts of electricity, Nigeria, with a population of more than 200 ‎million, generates 4,000 megawatts of electricity.‎

Before 1979, Iran, like Nigeria and Saudi Arabia today, import more than 90% of their needs ‎but Iran today manufactures more than 90% of its needs. This is progress. A developing ‎nation must be steeped in production and that will create many jobs and insulate the country ‎from domination by the greedy, genocidal and barbaric imperialists of the West.‎

Immediately after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeyni ordered that Iran ‎must break off diplomatic ties with two racist and apartheid entities: South Africa and the ‎Zionist Israeli entity. Iran handed the South African embassy in Tehran to the African ‎National Congress (ANC) and the Israeli embassy to the Palestine Liberation Organization ‎‎(PLO). Iran started funding the revolutionary activities of ANC and Palestinian resistance ‎groups for freedom and independence from the white settler colonialist barbarians. Iran ‎honoured African-American revolutionaries like Haj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) and issued ‎postage stamps and named streets after them.‎

Before the Islamic Revolution, the literacy rate in Iran was 45%. Today, Iran has one of the ‎highest literacy rates in the world with 95% of the population literate. The Islamic Revolution ‎was knowledge-based and after its victory, acquiring knowledge was highly encouraged. ‎

‎“Tomorrow belongs to those who plan for it today.” – Malcolm X

Any nation that wants to make progress and develop must invest heavily in education. ‎Nigeria has more than 13 million children out-of-school – the highest in the world. The ‎corrupt ruling elites in Nigeria deliberately do not invest in education out of sheer wickedness ‎and evil because they think keeping people in ignorance and poverty makes them easy to ‎control.‎

It is important to note that Iran achieved all these monumental successes despite the ‎imposition of debilitating sanctions by the arrogant Western imperialist powers. The Islamic ‎Revolution cut off the filthy hands of the looting and plundering of Iranian resources by the ‎United States and the United Kingdom from Iran forever. To punish Iran, they imposed ‎debilitating sanctions to sabotage Iran’s successes and to prevent Iran from becoming a role ‎model to other developing nations.‎

Imam Khomeyni inspired millions not only in Iran but all over the world and this influence is ‎still reverberating. The awakening of the human mind and mindset cannot be suppressed ‎with the barrel of the gun or blast of bombs and thousands of mass graves created by ‎tyrants and wicked oppressors will never destroy the idea of freedom and the philosophy of ‎liberation of the school of thought of Imam Khomeyni.‎

A haiku for Imam Khomeyni:‎

‎“Where are you, my leader? I have come to Jamaran!‎
Where are you, my leader? They said you have gone!‎
I cannot cope with this emptiness!”‎

On a final note, we offer our deepest condolences to Imam al-Mahdi and Imam Khamenei ‎on this sad occasion of the demise of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. May God ‎eternally rest his soul. al-Fatihah.‎

Rasa News Agency