Human Rights – Arash Hejazi

Neda, the girl who died so the world knew

Arash Hejazi — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:03:09 +0000

Three years ago, on 20 June 2009, Neda, the Iranian girl, bled to death on the streets of Tehran, shot by an Iranian pro-government militiaman during the protests to the fraudulent presidential elections.

She was one of hundreds of people who were slain by the Iranian brutal government, just because she aspired for change. Right before she died, her gaze was captured on a cameraphone, circulated the web, and caught the attention of millions around the world and became the most watched death in the history.

In the days after she died, the international media went hysterical about this tragedy. Presidents and Prime Ministers condemned it, the Iranian people called for justice, the Iranian government denied it. But her death had moved millions. The world now knew. They knew that in the mysterious land of Iran, there also lives a generation who is so much like their peers around the world, a generation who wants to find joy in life, wants to have a voice, and is ready to give up everything in the quest for freedom.

However, three years have passed now. The green movement has been suppressed violently, hundreds of people are in prison, hundreds in anonymous graves, and those who have a grave are under constant surveillance lest people pay homage to them.

Three years have passed and the world has moved on. Their only concern about Iran is for the nuclear ambitions, for which no evidence exists. In the meantime, those who shouted for freedom have fallen into despair, feeling that the world has forgotten them. In the meantime, the world no longer remembers Neda, the girl who stared into the camera seconds before she died, saying ‘look at me, don’t forget that they killed me, because I wanted to have a voice.’

The media has moved on, they no longer care about the most watched death in the world, it’s the time of Euro games, and then Olympics.

And the brutal Iranian regime looks back at all the crimes and injustice it committed in the last three years, and realised that no one really cares anymore. The fundamental regime smiles and says, ‘I did the right thing to kill all those who protested. I’ll do the same next time. After all, everyone would forget the bloodshed before the next Olympic games

Care about human rights more than you care about Iran’s nuclear ambitions

Arash Hejazi — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:47:18 +0000

I was recently in Sweden for the launch of my memoir, The Gaze of the Gazelle, called 47 Sekunder: En berättelse om Irans förlorade generation in Swedish. There, among the warm hospitality of the Swedish publisher and the encouraging and welcoming approach of the Swedish media, I was asked the same two questions over and over again: What do you think about the Iranian nuclear programme, and, what the world can do to help Iranians?

I did give them my answer then, and since I have come back from Sweden, the second question haunts me. I cannot talk on behalf of all the Iranians [isn’t that what dictators usually do?] I can only talk for myself, but as an Iranian, one of the millions who poured into streets in June 2009 to call for change, one of those who likes to believe that we had something to do with the start of the Arab spring, a part of the generation that lost its youth and joy, but kept nourishing its dreams, growing up under a totalitarian regime, spending its best years in the Iran-Iraq war, but surviving to tell the story.

The world is seriously concerns about the alleged Nuclear ambitions of Iran, but has stopped caring about the human rights situation: Today, hundreds of Iranian writers, activists, reporters, bloggers and other prisoners of conscience are rotting the Iranian prisons; women and minority rights have never been undermined as much as today, fear has overwhelmed the society, all the attempts to express the widespread dissent among the Iranians have been brutally suppressed by the totalitarian regime, another generation is being burnt.

And all the world cares about is the nuclear ambitions of Iran, of which no hard evidence is available. For this, the nation, the very people who stood up against the abuse in Iran in 2009, are being punished by embargoes against the Iranian oil and banks, which is destroying the Iranian economical infrastructure, taking away the livelihood of people, and putting families under strict pressure. On the other hand, they have to face constant threats against their security, and deal winner constant fear that Israel or the NATO could invade Iran any day.

What hope have they got to cling on to? They are being punished by everyone: their basic rights are being abused by the Iranian regime, their livelihood is being compromised by the international sanctions, and their safety and security is being threatened by the international community. The world is not listening to their pain, and their own government is punishing them for expressing it.

If the world does not care about their livelihood, their freedom, and their safety, the Iranians will stop caring about the international security. These are dangerous and uncharted waters. The question lurking in our minds is: What will happen if tomorrow the Islamic Republic of Iran announces that they have voluntarily stopped their uranium enrichment, and the observers are welcome to visit any facility they wish in Iran? The Islamic Republic becomes friend to the West again, the world won’t need to worry about the nuclear threat anymore, and would turn to their own issues. But what will happen to the prisoners of conscience on the death row? What will come out of the porters who are rotting in prisons and the persecuted families? What about those bloods that were she’d in a cry for freedom and democracy?That’s not going to be a concern for the old anymore, would it?

Focus on the human rights abuse in Iran and other countries. The Iranian regime should be held accountable for its crimes against its own people. Could you ever trust a regime that opens fire on its own people?

Probably it’s time for the UN to assume a new role. It’s not the nuclear ambitions of a country that can threaten international security, it’s the human rights abuse in any given country that undermines international peace.

Arash Hejazi

17 February… I was born, Giuordano Bruno was burnt alive, and there are still people dying for their dreams

Arash Hejazi — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:30:02 +0000

It was my birthday yesterday. 17 February was the day that Giurdano Bruno was burnt alive, Newsweek was published for the first time, and Sadeq Hedayat, the great Iranian author was born. I did want to become an author and publisher, following Hedayat and Newsweek; but I never dreamt that I would be following Bruno’s path one day. Now I am being virtually burnt alive for speaking up the truth, just like Bruno. I witnessed a crime and spoke up about it, and for that I was persecuted. Now, it has been three years since I last celebrated my birthday in my homeland, among my family and friends. It’s been three years since I last saw the vast desert and the ever-shining sun of my country, or spoke my mother language without feeling that I am speaking to myself.

But this is not important. Truth shall set us free. The thing that has been preoccupying me since yesterday, is the world we live in and the country we love so much, but does not love us back.

The Iran I miss so much does not exist anymore, it probably never did. It was an idea… not a reality. In the country I loved and never existed, the rulers wouldn’t open fire on their own people, people wouldn’t be tortured and killed for their ideas or words, the leaders did not aspire to become a militiary power at the expense of the freedom of their people, and children were happy, the youth looked forward to the future, the mature people looked at their young ones and smiled, and the old ones looked back and were happy that the world they were leaving was a world better than the world they were born into.

In the Iran that exists, just when I turn 41, there is a brave doctor in Iran’s notorious Evin prison who has been on hunger strike for 40 days and might die any day, and no one is doing anything to save him. There is a journalist who is being deprived of medical care and tied to his bed to die because of his heart condition. There is a web developer waiting in the death row to be hanged any day now, and no one is doing anything to stop the hangman from taking an innocent life. It’s a country where people are starving, because of the ambitions of the rulers. No one dares speak, no one dares try, no one dares live.

And then I look at the ‘world’ I am living in… no one is doing anything to stop the bloodshed. Children in Syria are being murdered, and the world is looking, shaking its head in sorrow, but not doing anything.

And then, I, the advocator of peace and non-violent resistance, think on my birthday, that what the world can do? Does raising war against a regime save innocent blood or shed even more blood? And if war is not the solution what is? What can we do to save Dr Mehdi Khazali from dying in the prison? What can we do to bring Neda’s murdurers to justice? What can we do to stop the bloodshed in Syria? What can we do to stop children dying in Somalia?

I don’t know. All I can do is to raise awareness, and to do what I can as an individual: Speak the truth even if it means death for myself, do not turn my face away from the atrocities in the world pretending that they are not happening, and dedicating part of my income to save a few starving or ill children.

How do we deal with Evil? How do we face a regime, armed to the teeth, rich from oil money, that follows no moral values and respects no international convention? A regime that has not the least respect for human life, for happiness, and for prosperity? How long can we remain silent? I hear from some people here that they have their own problems, there is a recession they are struggling with, and they have to think about the inflation. Why should they care or do anything about another nation’s problems? Why should they spend money to support someone else’s cause when their rulers don’t?

To me, an innocent life is more valuable than all the organizations and regimes and economies and governments in the world. The Security Council is worth nothing if it can not ensure the security of a single innocent person who dies in a prison, by a bullet, are from starving. There is enough food in the world to feed all the children starving and dying. There is enough room in the world for every one to have their say and fulfil their dreams.

Our lives as individuals are worth nothing if there is an innocent life being taken somewhere in the world, and we don’t care, and we turn our faces not to see, and we change our TV channels not to know. Think about it. When was it the last time you did something to save someone’s life? I’m not calling to arms, but when was the last time you wrote a single word on your facebook wall, trying to save an innocent life? If you don’t care, and if you care but don’t do anything about it, your life is a waste.

And on my birthday yesterday, I felt that my life has not been a waste. I cared, and I did something about it. And I have to not let myself fall into the mundane ordeals of everyday life and forget. Forget that there is world out there where innocent people are dying, and I am not doing anything about it…

Arash

Arash Hejazi’s Interview with BBC World – Outlook – Thu, 22 Dec 11

Arash Hejazi — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:22:35 +0000

The doctor who got death threats after trying to save the life of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who became the symbol of the anti-government protests in Iran in 2009.

Listen to the interview here.

Dr Shaheed, what you have presented is just the tip of the iceberg: An open letter to Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Arash Hejazi — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:30:04 +0000

[Read the text in Persian Here]

Dear Dr Ahmed Shaheed,
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran,

I am Arash Hejazi, an Iranian physician, writer, publisher and journalist, and the Doctor who tried to save the young girl shot to death by the Iranian Basij or the pro-government militia, orchestrated by the Revolutiosnary Guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I then spoke up about the circumstances of hear death to the international media and for that I have lost my publishing house in Iran, I have been prosecuted and persecuted, and I have had to go on exile, leaving my family and my life behind.

I read your Special Report with interest, and while I appreciate your efforts on producing an accurate image on the dyre situation of human rights in Iran, I would like to bring to your attention that what you have presented in your report, is just the tip of an immense iceberg of years of undermining human and basic rights of the citizens of Iran.

You didn’t mention,

The brutal crackdown of the Iranian pro-government militia, the police, and the Revolutionary Guards on the peaceful rallys of millions of people who were simply asking for the recount of the ballots of the presidential elections in June 2009;
The brutal murder of hundreds of unarmed civilans on the days that followed the elections. One of them which was documented, was the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan by a member of the Basij. Mothers of those murdered have tried so hard to get their voices heard, and even they have been persecuted and beaten by the Basij;
That the judiciary system of Iran has done absolutely nothing to bring the murderers of these innocent people to justice. Instead, it has done everything in its power to intimidate and threaten withnesses of these crimes;
The torturing and murder of several protesters after being arrested by the police. Even the government of Iran has admited the murder of three detainees under torture;
Hundreds of students that have been banned from continuing their studies, simply because the have been part of the Green Movement.
The legistlation of capital punishment for bloggers;
The fact that a muslim cleric, called Kazemeini Brujerdi has been imprisoned and tortured for years now, simply because he expressed his opinion that religion should be separated from the State;
The widespread and illegal censorsip on books and other media. I have explained the situation in my article ‘Censorship in Iran’;
The execution of prisoners of consciouns in Iran;
Mistreating political prisoners leading to unexplained deaths;
Undermining the rights of the minority groups in Iran, such as the Kurdish people;
Undermining the rights of the workers and their unions;
Undermining the children rights;
Undermining the rights of the guilds and trade unions;
Persecution and prosecution of the human rights activists.

Dear Dr Shaheed, this is a unique oportunity that destiny has placed on your path to make a difference. It might not be repeated. For the sake of hundreds of thousands of lives that have been destroyed in Iran in the past 30 years, I beseach you to do whatever in your power to reflect the truth, the whole truth, and nothing by the truth.

Kind regards,

Arash Hejazi

O World! Enough hesitation! It’s time to act

Arash Hejazi — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:57:07 +0000

[I first published this post in 30 December 2009, but unfortunately, nearly two years later, the world is just starting to realise the real danger of the regime occupying the maginificent land of Iran. I decided to publish it again without changing a word.]

[Read the text in Persian Here]

[Read the text in French Here]

Hundreds of newspapers have been shut down in Iran; international reporters have been banned; hundreds of Iranian journalists are in prison; internet has almost been shut down; the sophisticated filtering system has blocked the contact of the Iranian people with the world; the police is massacring people in the streets in broad daylight and then blames the violence on the people themselves; the government is giving out lies after lies; all the minority ethnic and religious groups are suffering from the official oppression; prisoners have been tortured, raped, murdered; the Basij militia shoots unarmed civilians in the streets; students have been expelled from the universities because of protesting against tyranny…

While you, people of the world, are celebrating the New Year by embracing your loved ones with joy, while you dance to the Christmas tunes, the young people in Iran are dancing to the macabre music of the bullets and embrace batons and teargas. While you are hugging each other and wishing a happy new year, mothers in Iran are forbidden to shed tears for their children who were brutally murdered by the police trucks running them over. The people of Iran are alone, they are broken, they are tired, but determined to go on.

Do you think this has nothing to do with you? Do you think that you only need to worry about your domestic affairs? Do you think that saying a few words of condemnation will redeem you from your global responsibility towards human rights? Is this the global citizenship you preach?

This is the most dangerous State in the world. Hesitate in acting and you will see how this government, rooted in lies, will destroy your own children. What do you expect? Do you think that a totalitarian regime that does not show mercy to its own children will have pity on your people? Do you think that this beast will stay calm and watch you? Wrong! Hesitate and see.

The people of Iran have spoken with their torn throat and through the last sparkle of life in Neda’s eyes; they have written their vows with their own blood on the pavements in the streets: They want to be global citizens, they resent terrorism, tyranny, lies, wars, nuclear weapons… and they have died the most brutal deaths for speaking out. Why are you watching silently? Do you think you are safe? Do you think that this cancer will be contained inside the borders or Iran? Do you think that the rotten claw of this grim reaper will not reach you? Wrong. Hesitate and see.

It is time to act. There are people drowning in Iran. Do not believe the lies of the Iranian government. This government that denies all these brutalities is the same that denies the Holocaust, that claims that there are no homosexuals in Iran, that Neda Agha Soltan was killed by CIA, MI6 and BBC, and there is freedom of press in Iran.

How to act? We do not want any violence. This government is falling. Just do not support the government. Do not recognise the current government of Iran. Do not negotiate with them – How can any negotiation with someone who tells nothing but lies and is willing to break any promise, be fruitful? Do not be deceived by their lies. Expel the Iranian ambassadors and diplomats. You will lose nothing and will gain everything by supporting the future of Iran. Hesitate, and you will be run over by the evil machines of this rotten government. Hesitate, and you will be weeping over the graves of your own children.

It is time to act. Hesitate, and when you regret your hesitation, it will be too late.

Arash Hejazi, 30 December 2009

Washington Post’s analysis on Iran is ignorant and Naive: There is more depth to what the Iranian people are doing

Arash Hejazi — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:50:28 +0000

An article published in Washington Post on June 16 2011, called ‘In Iran, ‘couch rebels’ prefer Facebook’, claims — based on its interview with three or four Iranians, whose identity (except for Abbas Abdi) is not known — that the Iranian people have given up on their protests that started in 2009, because they prefer ‘playing Internet games such as FarmVille, peeking at remarkably candid photographs posted online by friends and confining their political debates to social media sites such as Facebook, where dissent has proved less risky’.

To someone who knows about the undercurrents of the Iranian society, this simple explanation shows how ignorant the Western media, and probably politicians, are in interpreting what’s really going on in the Middle East and the socio-politico-cultural differences in each country. I have seen more that one ‘political’ analysis or opinion pieces in the media that try in vain to compare the successful rebels or ‘revolutions’ in Egypt and Tunisia to Iran and Syria and Libya, while these comparisons cannot be more relevant than comparing the 1917 Revolution of Russia to the Independence wars of America.

First of all, what happened in Egypt and in Tunisia, could not be categorised as ‘revolution’, as what really happened was a successful process of removing a dictator from power, started by an uprising of the people, and then supported by the West. Had not the US forced Mubarak to leave his seat, it would be a much longer process for people to succeed on their own. The root of Mubarak’s power was the enormous support he received from the US. When the US stopped supporting him, it was just a matter of time when the army removed him from power and took full control over the country. Syria and Libya, on the other hand, received no support from the US and the source of their powers were either Oil, or their complex geopolitical arrangements in the region. This is why, after months of rebellion, uprising and civil wars, we can see no progress towards the fall of the dictators in these two countries, despite all the bloodshed and the courageous stand of the people. A real revolution is identified by a fundamental change in power and organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time. It includes complete change from one constitution to another, or modification of an existing constitution, according to Aristotle. We still haven’t seen a change in constitution in Tunisia and in Egypt, only the removal of one person from power.

Iran is not comparable to any of these countries. For one thing, the system ruling in Iran is not a dictatorship (although it is turning into one); it’s a totalitarian regime ruling in Iran, a system, not a single person. I keep being asked by the journalists that the Iranian people can release a sigh of relief once Ahmadinejad finishes his term as the president in 2013. What they don’t know is that Ahmadinejad holds no real power. No single person does. In the Soviet Union it didn’t really matter if Stalin died. The system was designed in a way to be sustainable for the foreseeable future, and was presumably invincible. The presumption was not far from truth. Only someone from within that system could introduce change, a mission that Gorbachev took on. The people could not defeat the system. For the very same reason, in 2009, the Iranians decided that among the approved candidates for Presidency, Mir-Hussein Mousavi was the only person who had the strength, determination tools for introducing this gradual change into the regime. People united behind him for this very reason, despite their varied ideas about the future regime of Iran.

The people of Iran had already experienced the consequences of a full blown revolution. They have witnessed two successful revolutions: The Constitutional Revolution at 1907, and the Islamic Revolution at 1979. Both resulted in fundamental structural and organisational change as well as transition to new constitutions. However, the new regimes that replaced the previous regimes proved a ‘revolution’ to be a poor resolution for the abolishing tyranny. The 1907 revolution resulted in the reign of terror started by a dictator, Reza Shah (who came to power aided by the British), who abolished the new-born democracy in Iran for nearly 70 years. The 1979 revolution resulted in the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the cruelest and most suppressive totalitarian regimes the world has ever seen.

When the people of Iran who had united under the Green Movement to reclaim their votes were brutally suppressed and the international community did nothing concrete to support them, they realised that their hopes for gradual change had come to nought. Now they were facing another dilemma, if there were no hopes for the gradual opening within the context of the Islamic Republic, how could this system be replaced with a liberal-democratic regime in the most peaceful way?

Revolution wasn’t the answer, as it would incur unspeakable bloodshed: The regime has all the military power, the wealth, the bargaining tools with the world, and all the media outlets. On the other side, the only tool that the people have in their hands, peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience, have proven to be ineffective in the short-term against an armed-to-the-teeth regime that follows no ethical or moral values and considers any disobedience and dissent as treason, punishable by death on the spot, torture, long-term imprisonment, and execution without fair trials. The international community hasn’t been supportive either. All the sanctions imposed on Iran has been fruitless in stopping Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions, and still, the Iranian oil is too precious to the western world to be sanctioned. The oil provides the regime with almost all of the budget it needs to suppress its own people and to sponsor terror around the world.

A few weeks ago, a prisoner attending her father’s funeral was beaten to death in front of peoples’ eyes; a week later, a political prisoner on hunger strike in protest to the crime, was beaten to death inside the prison. Right now, there are 12 Iranian political prisoners on hunger strike. The government of Iran is ready to go the full distance, as it feels that there are no consequences for what they do: ‘Let these 12 prisoners die too, who really cares in the world, or if they do care, what can they really do? They still want our oil, and as long as they do, they will work with us, no matter what.’

On the other hand, Ahmadinejad, once the favourite of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has now apparently fallen out of favour, after disobeying a few direct orders from the Leader. The Supreme Leader cannot even tolerate the empowerment of his own puppet president and let him run the country. The Parliament is now closing down on Ahmadinejad, and the direction of the events implies a rapid transition from a totalitarian regime to a dictatorship: Ayatollah Khamenei wants to hold all the power, something unprecedented in the past 32 years, when the power was balanced between a few who would do anything to support the regime despite their variety of opinion.

This is why the Iranian people have now decided to slow the movement down, and take it to a deeper layer. The social media are still their only way of communication, where you can see real polyphony among Iranians. The people in Egypt wanted Mubarak to go and were united under this single slogan. The people of Iran want a democratic, liberal, and economically dynamic society, and before fighting to achieve it, they are debating it, so when the right time comes, they all understand democracy and freedom in its truest sense. This reflects the maturity of a nation who does not act on impulses, but on intellect; a nation who is closely observing the events, and preparing itself. Let’s hope that everything will work out fine for the Egyptians and Tunisians, but when change comes to Iran, it will be real and intrinsic change, not a short-term facelift.

The Iranian Police Killed the Daughter of an Iranian Dissident at Her Father’s Funeral

Arash Hejazi — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:58:08 +0000

Iranian activist dies in scuffle at her father’s funeral

Haleh Sahabi, daughter of veteran dissident Ezatollah Sahabi, reportedly clashed with security forces

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 June 2011 11.18 BST

The daughter of a prominent veteran Iranian dissident has died after reportedly scuffling with security forces at his funeral.

she was holding a picture of her father to her chest and fell when security forces tried to take it from her.

Haleh Sahabi, 54, also an opposition activist and women’s rights campaigner, had been allowed out of prison to attend the funeral of her father, Ezatollah Sahabi, on Wednesday. She fell to the ground in the scuffle and died of a cardiac arrest, according to the opposition website Kaleme.

The semi-official Fars news agency confirmed Sahabi’s death but denied there had been a clash with police and accused the opposition movement of seeking to politicise the incident.

“Fars reporters present at the funeral service said there was no clash between the mourners and security forces,” it said.

Alireza Janeh, head of security matters at the Tehran governor’s office, said there were no clashes and that Sahabi had died of heart problems exacerbated by stress and hot weather at his funeral.

Sahabi’s death is likely to anger women’s rights campaigners and supporters of Iran‘s opposition movement, whose massive street protests after the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 were crushed by the government and whose leaders have been put under house arrest.

Sahabi was arrested during the post-election crackdown and was given a two-year jail sentence.

“Security forces tried to interfere in the carrying of the body, she objected and security forces confronted her and other people present,” Kaleme said, adding that Sahabi was pushed to the ground. Another opposition site, Sahamnews, said security forces punched her in the stomach.

Kaleme said she was holding a picture of her father to her chest and fell when security forces tried to take it from her. “She fell and did not get up,” it said.

Read More

Chief of the ‘Moral Security’ Police in Tehran: Not observing the Islamic cover for women, using satellite dishes and dog-walking are infringing the civil rights!

Arash Hejazi — Tue, 10 May 2011 09:31:24 +0000

Aftabnews.ir 09/05/2011
َ

The highlights of General Roozbahani’s interview with Aftabnews on Monday 09 May:

– The police will enter the war with West’s cultural invasion and moral corruption with all its might.

– We will strictly prohibit dog-walking after the legistlation is passed through the parliament. Dogs creat insecurity for the citizens and sometimes they bark!

– Not observing the Islamic Hijab (cover) is against the civil rights.

– The usage of satellite dishes has created problems for the country and is against the civil rights.

More than 150 Iranian prisoners killed or injured during clash with the Guards

Arash Hejazi — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:17:21 +0000

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRNA), 16/03/2011
According HRNA, 150 inmates of the Ghezel-Hessar Prison near in Karaj, Iran, have been killed or injured by the security guards last night, after protesting to the imminent execution of 10 prisoners. According to reports, the prisoners shouted: ‘Stop Executions!’ and they broke down the gates to the wards. At 9pm last night, the security forces attacked the wards which resulted in bloodshed.

The reports claim that live bullets were used to control the prisoners which led to 80-150 casualties.

All the communication between the prisoners and outside has been cut off.