Friday, February 10, 2006

A Letter from Iranian Students to the Freedom-loving People of the World

600 Student Activists, Rezapahlavi.org:
In the name of God, the Supreme Goodness
In the names of Love, Iran and Freedom

Iran is my land. Although her name has espoused history since ever, the world has forgotten her since 27 years ago. Nowadays, my country’s name is back on everyone’s lips for a threat, bigger than ever, emanating from the idiocy of those theocrats who govern us, is hanging above us all. A looming menace that, with the sagacity of our people, we are determined to turn into an opportunity for awakening.

As I write you these words, those with whom I used to play in my childhood are climbing the walls of the Danish Embassy, chanting and blaring, setting the foreign mission ablaze. Commanded by the ignorant who rule over my land, those innocent kids with whom I played hide-and-seek form today a human chain around the nuclear facilities. Smuggled into my country by Pakistani traffickers riding their donkeys, the technology being guarded by its human shield is now presented as a national pride by those same idiots who surf the tide provoked by the Danish cartoons. As if vociferating insults and pyromania could prevent the nuclear issue from reaching the UN Security Council!

Having taken over my land first, the chaos is now menacing world peace. What anarchy, what confusion!

We, the innocent generation making up 70 percent of the population of today’s Iran; We, who had no say whatsoever in the 1979 revolution; With all due respect for all peoples on earth, we shall here present our grievances to the world:
  • for a quarter of a century you have forgotten us, a noble people known once for the beauty of its high culture abandoned to its misery;
  • instead of being educated in a culture of love and science, awful beasts crushing themselves against the towers of the modern world are our little sisters and brothers who are taught, in what is supposedly a classroom, to be flattering hypocrites, merciless and hateful of others; Taught to despise whoever thinks differently from their “Supreme Leader” or their school principal; Taught to consider foreigners as heretics and ignorant people deserving nothing but the worst kind of death;
  • they falsify the history they teach them omitting to tell them that, had it not been for the perspicacity of the world back in 1953, we would be dealing with ideologies far more stupid than what we have today in this godless labyrinth which our land has become;
  • in schools, they talk of “independence but confuse it with the conditions of the stone age cave dwellers, ignoring that all peoples of the world need each other and it is this very mutual dependency that paves the road for mutual understanding, respect, peace and healthy relationships;
  • throughout these years, they darkened the immaculate mind of our children with superstitions and gossips on the inexistent qualities of those governing us and the wonderful attributes of their so-called “Supreme Leader”, supposedly leading the entire world leaving no place for the nation;
  • these story-tellers blackened the pages of our history books saying that our children died in defence, not of our land, but of their “Supreme Leader”, thus making the slightest utterance of the world homeland, a crime in our schools;
  • those who speak so eloquently of “federalism”, we wish they could come for a snap visit to our schools and listen to the gibberish nonsense that is being taught here, thus seeing for themselves that in today’s Iran federalism is equal to separatism; Perhaps in the future, when our children will have learned once again the discourse of love and patriotism, federalism would become the progressive, consensual world it is supposed to be. But, until then, let us not forget that those who govern us have consistently lied to history, ignoring that history doesn’t lie.


We now address the peoples of the world,

The real crime going on in our country is the systematic brainwashing of our children whose innocent minds are put under the perfusion of devilish ideologies. The danger of the brainwashed millions, enriched in classrooms turned into ideological centrifuges, is far greater that millions of atomic bombs.

North Korea, Syria, Lebanon and Sudan are in no better shape than we are. Believe us! Long before you became the victims of terror, terrorists themselves had become the first casualties of the foolishness of their satanic rulers.

Rulers who, in order to secure their own survival, turn innocent children into moving bombs, killing and spreading terror. Now that you are alarmed by the nuclear crisis, we beg you not to abandon us once again in the hands of the jailers oppressing us for nearly 3 decades, when the atomic issue is resolved.


We look forward to the extended hands of our sisters and brothers, to those of the children of Adam and Eve, those of the noble peoples of the world, to come to our rescue in helping us regain our due place in the concert of the civilized nations. Our nation is on the verge of annihilation and would welcome any measure or economic and political sanctions that would accelerate the downfall of the mullahs!

The great people of the United States withstood 444 days of captivity for their children in the hands of this regime. Their anxiety is still alive. Think of us then! Think of an entire nation that has been for nearly 10 000 days the hostage of a few who, just recently, dropped their mask, thus showing their real fearful face to the world. READ MORE

We now address the people of Iran,

There will be no miracle! Regardless of what kind of regime will be put in place tomorrow, let us unite our forces today on the basis of our common principles and draft our own charter founded on the pillars of the world’s most noble treaties. It is not up to us to determine what form of governance we want. Tomorrow, in a free Iran, it will be up to the people of this country to decide what they want, thus making it an obligation for us all to submit to their collective will.

We, the Student Freedom Lovers of Iran, invite all those thriving towards the immensely difficult task of achieving freedom to participate to the “Congress for the Freedom of Iran, putting aside their differences and thinking instead of our children.

You who are conscious enough not to let your own kids be disturbed watching violent movies, think of our sisters and brothers who are taught by their religion or literature instructors how to activate a bomb and welcome death on their way to heaven by invocating the saints in a mystical trance.

Enough hesitation! It is time to wake up! If you do not want us to remember tomorrow that today you privileged your factional political agenda over the survival of an imprisoned nation, then you have to open your arms and let us for once taste the sweetness of peace and security.

Believe us! We are tired, exhausted! During the past 4 years in jail, they handicapped my leg and broke under torture the arm with which I am writing these words. In between these lines, you should hear the voice of Arjang Davoodi, who has lost his sight and hearing under torture and must endure 15 years in jail in the hands of these criminals in the southern city of Bandar Abbas. Can’t you hear it! Can’t you hear the sound of the droplets of blood falling off the dead body of Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad, the martyr of the Tehran University campus? The sound of the exhausted breath of Syamak Poorzand and Abbas Amir-Entezam? That of the tears of the wife and daughters of Akbar Ganji? The sigh of the mother of the Mohamadi brothers? The sweet voice of the daughter of Mehrdad Hadirpoor? The groaning of the teenage martyrs of the 1980s, the voices of Tabarzadi, Zar-Afshan, Jookar, Batebi, Bakhtiari? The last moaning of girls being stoned to death? The voice of youngsters weeping before the execution scaffold? The sound of the boots of poverty-stricken men forced to join the regime’s security apparatus and to endure the pain of blisters inflected upon them by ruthless repression, year after year? Can you hear the voice of an entire hostage nation, the people of Iran, imprisoned in a jail vast as Iran, turned into a forced labour camp? We are here, tired but hopeful!

Hear the voice of my father and that of our fathers whose flesh makes up the land of Iran, the land we all love. Hear it and put your differences aside so we can once again love each other, for Iran and for all Iranians.

We have all paid a huge price. Perhaps, none of us will ever forgo the bitter memories of the years of torture and jail, nor those of oppression, bloodshed and fear. Despite all the sadness however, we have all learned to love other peoples of the world and that peace and security can not be achieved by building atomic bombs but by loving each other.

Neither I nor any of my jailed companions, none of us could be entangled in partisan politics, be it republican or monarchist, socialist or anything else for that matter. So long as our people are oppressed, our children raised as barbarians and taught to live as cave dwellers, we are Iranians aspiring to love and freedom.

The new Iranian year of 1385 is approaching. We shall call this New Year the Year of Freedom. We shall call upon all Iranians to set up with the help of international organizations, the “Congress for the Freedom of Iran” on March 22, corresponding to the 9 900th day of captivity of the Iranian nation in the hands of a few mullahs.

Time is short! Let us gather our collective effort so that the 10 000th day of our captivity become the first day of our liberty.

Iran will never die!

Signatories:

1 - Amir Abbas Fakhravar (Law student, writer, journalist, member and founder of Central Council of Iranian Freedom Movement and secretary of Students Independent Movement. Secretary General of Scientific Association of Payam Noor University. Political prisoner, sentenced to 8 years )

2 - Manuchehr Mohammadi (Law student and Secretary General of National Union of Students and Graduates. Political prisoner, sentenced to 15 years)

3 - Arjang Davoudi (Writer, political activist, member and founder of Central Council of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 15 years. Exile to Bandar Abbas)

4 - Akbar Mohammadi (Social Science student and member of National Union of Students and Graduates. Political prisoner, sentenced to 15 years)

5 - Mehrdad Lohraseby (Political activist, political prisoner, sentenced to 15 years)

6 - Iman Sammizdeh (Member of Students Independent Movement and international spokes person for Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

7 - Sam Aria Ariamanesh (Student and political activist, domestic spokes person for Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

8 - Payman Aref (Political activist and Political Science student in Tehran university)

9 - Mehrdad Heydar Pour ( Secretary of Workers New Movement, member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 3 years)

10 - Ali Alemzadeh (Member of Students Independent Movement, secretary to Eastern Europe Organization. Political prisoner, sentenced to 1 year)

11 - Amir-Heshmat Saran (Secretary General of National Front Union. Political prisoner, sentenced to 8 years)

12 - Mah-Lagha Fakhravar (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 2 years [sentence is pending])

13 - Franak Zabetian (Political activist, Secretary of National Union Organization and Iranian Freedom Movement)

14 - Pegah Farzaneh (Student, political activist and member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

15 - Arya Ajorlou (Student, political activist, member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 1 year)

16 - Mojtaba Vatani ( Political activist, member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 1 year)

17 - Saeed Yarigar (Political activist, member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 1 year)

18 - Shahla Mahmoodi (Political activist, member of National Union Organization and Iranian Freedom movement)

19 - Setareh Namdar (Student, member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

20 - Sayeh Namdar (Student, member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

21 - Nahid Nariman (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

22 - Majid Nariman (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

23 - Rozita Raad (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

24 - Farokh- Lagha Fakharavar (Student, member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political prisoner, sentenced to 1 year [sentence is pending])

25 - Arash Iranpour (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

26 - Irandokht Bagheri (Student, member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

27 - Arvin Kaveh (Student and political activist, member of Iranian Freedom Movement and Students Independent Movement)

28 - Elahe Behnia ( Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

29 - Mojtaba Taghipour (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

30 - Amir-Hossein Fakhravar (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

31 - Shervin Sadiqi (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

32 - Naghmeh Amani (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

33 - Abdullah Tayebzadeh (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

34 - Simin Bahari (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

35 - Esmaeel Behboudi (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

36 - Helia Kangarlouii (Member of Students Independent Movement and Iranian Freedom Movement)

37 - Abdulsamad Karimi (Political activist, member of Iranian Freedom Movement. Political & security prisoner, sentenced to 4 years)

38 - Assad Shaghaghi (Member of National Union Organization. Political prisoner, sentenced to 4 years)

39 - Esmaeel Ahmadi (Member of Iranian Freedom Movement)

And 560 other activist students