Trips Abroad & Accidental Events

Iranian blogger, Hossein Bastani, Rooz Online:

Last week witnessed the first trip of Iran’s newly elected president to New York to attend the UN General Assembly annual meeting. During his absence, the Iranian Judiciary and other government agencies under the control of his colleagues did their utmost not to engage in any internally provocative acts. As a result, nothing newsworthy happened in Iran, so the president Ahmadinejad’s international prestige would not be hurt.

This approach is understandable and I would like to use it to demonstrate the kind of atmosphere that existed for the last president, Mohammad Khatami, when he would go on foreign trips. Specifically I will note the domestic atmosphere and events during his trips to New York, Italy, France, Germany, second trip to New York, Japan, Russia, third trip to New York, and Spain. READ MORE

First trip. President Khatami went to New York the first time during the third week of September of 1998 to take part at the UN’s annual General Assembly meeting. Just two days before the trip, Tous newspaper was shut down and an arrest warrant was issued for five of its reporters. The detainees were later released without proof of their charges.

Second trip. About six months later, in August of 1998 Khatami flew to Italy. But just a week before that, reformist cleric and anti-violence advocate Mohsen Kadivar, was arrested unexpectedly. He was subsequently tried and sentenced to 18 months of prison.

Third trip. In Marchof 1999, the president began his trip to France. The Iranian judiciary has selected this very day to begin the trials of Abdollah Nouri, a thinker and former minister of the interior who was also the publisher of Khordad newspaper which had been shut by authorities earlier. Nouri was a critic of harsh policies whose one of the charges were promoting relations with the US and giving publicity to ayatollah Montazeri. Nouri was subsequently tried and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. He was released on November 5th, 2002.

Forth trip. A week before the Khatami left for Germany in June of 2000, news broke out in Iran that the trials of 11 Jews who had been arrested in secret on charges of espionage would begin. The individuals had been in detention for one year before any official news about them was made publicly available. This event eventually lead to the release of the accused, or some very short sentences.

Fifth trip. This was yet another trip to New York for the 2000 UN General Assembly meeting. Two days after the date for the president’s trip, the retrial of Homayun Yahoodian was announced. It was subsequently postponed.

Sixth trip. Two months later in October of 2000 Khatami was preparing for a trip to Japan. And just two days after Khatami left Iran the judiciary began the scandalous trial of attendees of a conference in Berlin, titled “Iran after the Elections”, and organized by the famed Heinrich Boll Stiftung institute. The attendees were Iranian writers and intellectuals who had gathered for a scholarly meeting to evaluate the impact of Khatami’s landslide victory.

Seventh trip. In March of 2001, Khatami made a visit to Russia. The day after he left Tehran, 40 national and religious politicians, including those belonging to the Iran Freedom Movement were arrested, focusing national and international attention on the issue.

Eight trip. Towards the end of 2001, Khatami undertook his last trip to New York to attend his third General Assembly meeting. During the trip, despite intense domestic and international efforts, the judiciary announced that the trials of Iran Freedom Movement politicians, arrested some eight months earlier, would be held in secret proceedings, out of reach of reporters and observers. This court also announced the execution order of an accused person said to belong to the “Mahdaviat” group. Just one day before this trip, the court also found it convenient to begin the trials of those arrested in connection with the Berlin conference.

Ninth trip. This trip took place in November of 2002. One day after the trip, the case that became known as “the polling case” began and on November 4, 2002 Abbas Abdi, a radical student and hostage taker turned moderate journalist, was arrested on charges of “selling information and tempering with polling”. He was subsequently tried and sentenced in December of 2002.

Rather than connecting the events at home with the president foreign trips and the impact of the first on the latter event, I would like to invite readers to reach their own conclusion, ending my piece with “no comment”.