Iranian student is not afraid to mock the mullahs

Sean Penn, The San Francisco Chronicle: A short sidebar we missed a few days ago.

After my brief photo op with Hashemi Rafsanjani, I headed to the University of Tehran, which on Sundays is in full swing.

We hit the campus about lunchtime. There were many students, socializing, eating lunch, laughing. We approached a small group, a young man and two young women, sitting on a bench. "May we talk to you?" I asked. Hearing our English, the good-looking, angular young man turned to us, "Where are you from?" he asked.

"The United States of America," I said. He responded, "The big evil, huh?" clearly mocking the mullahs who refer to the United States as the "Great Satan," and to Britain as the "Little Satan."

The young man's name was Arya. He was 21, an undergraduate student in political science. I asked him about the needs of his peer group. "Young people in Iran need some freedom, they need some human rights. ... We need democracy, and the basis of democracy -- it takes a long time. READ MORE

... I think the big problem here in Iran is the religion. People are so religious, and it's a big problem here because in the deep of their hearts they feel something about religion and they do something unreasonable, I think. ... I want to see a separation of religion from politics. ... (In the past few years) a lot of things changed, people realize that they can say their opinion, it's not a big deal that you have a different opinion from the others, and it's a good thing, and everybody started to express their feelings and beliefs. But as you know we have a lot of political prisoners, that's a big problem. .. . There's always a red line -- don't go over it. But I think it's gradual, democracy and the knowledge in people is a gradual thing that's step by step. . .. Now, it's not a good environment, there's a lot of mental problems -- and a lot of things -- you have to hide your love, you have to hide everything, you have to wear masks; to have jobs, to have everything you have to wear masks, several masks. You have to change every mask you go everywhere."

What about young people who did not agree with that point of view?

"They're affected by the wrong expression of religion," he said. "They think religion is just to fight, in Islam especially; you have to fight with everybody, with anyone who says something against you or doesn't believe your thoughts -- and it's a wrong idea. You can have your opinion, you can have your own beliefs, everything, and you can live with other people."