انتقاد از رهبر آزاد است؟

نامه جمعی از وبلاگ نویسان ایرانی به آیت الله خامنه ای در مورد مرگ امیدرضا میرصیافی

by Bloggers
12-Apr-2009

به دنبال درگذشت امید رضا میرصیافی وبلاگ نویس جوانی که در درون زندان درگذشت و گزارشگران بدون مرز احتمال قتل او را مطرح کرده اند جمعی از وبلاگ نویسان ایران تصمیم به ارسال نامه ای به آیت الله خامنه ای رهبر و بالاترین مقام جمهوری اسلامی گرفتند. متن این نامه به شرح زیر است:

آیت الله سید علی خامنه ای مقام رهبری جمهوری اسلامی ایران

با سلام

همانطور که مطلع هستید یک جوان وبلاگ نویس به نام امید رضا میرصیافی که به جرم اهانت به شما در زندان به سر می برد و به دو سال و نیم زندان محکوم شده بود چند روز پیش در زندان درگذشت. گزارشگران بدون مرز احتمال قتل او را بر اساس شواهدی که پیوست این نامه است اعلام می کنند. امید رضا میرصیافی قبل از زندان به حکم خود معترض بود و آن را ناعادلانه می دانست و معتقد بود هیچگونه توهینی به شما نکرده است و حتی در رای دادگاه مشخص نشده بود که جملات توهین آمیز ایشان چیست؟

پس از فوت ایشان ما با مطالعه آرشیو وبلاگ ایشان که به دلیل مطالب همان وبلاگ زندانی بود، متوجه نشدیم که کدام مطلب ایشان در مورد شما توهین آمیز بود و مستحق دو سال و نیم زندان بوده است؟

ایشان در یک دادگاه غیر علنی محاکمه شد در حالی که درخواست برگزاری دادگاه علنی را داده بود.

حال سوال ما که تعدادی از وبلاگ نویسان ایرانی هستیم در چند موضوع تقدیم می شود:

1- با توجه به اینکه اتهام امید رضا توهین به شما بود و ما موفق نشدیم مطلب توهین آمیزی در وبلاگ ایشان پیدا کنیم لطفا توضیح دهید که کدام مطلب ایشان در مورد شما چنان توهین آمیز بود که حکومت جمهوری اسلامی، ایشان را مستحق دو سال و نیم زندان می دانسته است؟

2- چرا دادگاه ایشان به صورت علنی برگزار نشد و چرا مفاد اصل 168 قانون اساسی که بیان می دارد متهم سیاسی باید در دادگاه علنی و با حضور هیات منصفه محاکمه شود در مورد ایشان رعایت نشد؟ چرا دفاعیات ایشان در دادگاه به اطلاع افکار عمومی رسانده نشد؟ آیا شما برای متهم سیاسی این حق را قائل نیستید که در برابر افکار عمومی بتواند از اتهامش دفاع کند؟

به غیر از ایشان تقریبا تمام متهمین سیاسی در سالهای اخبر در دادگاه غیر علنی محاکمه می شوند. آیا حکومت به صورت ناعادلانه این افراد را محاکمه می کند که دوست ندارد افکار عمومی شاهد دفاعیات متهم باشند؟

3- آیا شما در جریان اتهام امید رضا میرصیافی و دفاعیات ایشان بودید؟ اگر بودید آیا با حکم دادگاه موافق بودید؟

اگر در جریان نبودید لطفا توضیح دهید که مگر در سال چند نفر به اتهام توهین به شما زندانی می شوند که شما از پرونده این افراد بی خبر هستید؟

آیا این مسائله را نابجا می دانید که ما انتظار داشته باشیم که بالاترین مقام حکومت ، از جریان پرونده افرادی که به اتهام توهین به خود او زندانی می شوند مطلع باشد تا مبادا شخصی بی گناه به دلیل انتقاد از او به زندان نیافتد؟

4- جناب آیت الله خامنه ای در سخنرانی در سال گذشته فرموده بودید انتقاد از رهبر آزاد است حال سوال ما این است ما وبلاگ نویسان باید چگونه از شما انتقاد کنیم که به زندان نیافتیم و عواقب زندان که متوجه چندین زندانی سیاسی در یک ماه اخیر شده است ، متوجه ما نشود؟

با تشکر از وقتی که می گذارید و پاسخی که خواهید داد

جمعی از وبلاگ نویسان ایرانی

امضاها تا اکنون

علی بهرامی http://iranmandegar.blog.de

فریماه کیان زاد http://www.iran-bano.blogfa.com

آرش کیان زاد http://www.iran-bano.blogfa.com

آرش روزبه http://jighodaad3.blogfa.com

علی بیات http://pendarema.blogspot.com

مهرداد بزرگ http://enzeva16.blogfa.com

شهریار ایرانی http://www.shahriar-aachen.blogspot.com

النا تابش http://navidepadeshahi.blogfa.com

آرمین سنایی http://www.noend.blogfa.com

طیبه قنبری http://zaitoun.wordpress.com

مریم رییس دانا http://www.ayandegi.persianblog.ir

تارا نیازی http://www.taraniazi.com

داود تندیس http://www.tandisd.blogfa.com

احمد باطبی http://ahmadbatebi.us

داريوش شاهد http://www.aliveiranian.blogspot.com

علی زمردی http://www.misaghzomorod2000.blogfa.com

محمد شوری جزه http://www.assize.blogfa.com

میثم طهماسبی http://siradmiral.blogspot.com

نوشین پارسی http://beedare.blogfa.com

هنگامه انصاری http://faryadekhamosheman.blogfa.com

بهزاد پیله ور http://www.pilehvar.blogspot.com

محمد علیجانی http://www.tnmp.blogfa.com

پیام یزدیان http://payam.malakut.org/

کوروش جنتی http://www.sooresrafil.blogfa.com

کاوه پاک نژاد http://www.greentea2500.wordpress.com

علیرضا ادیبان http://1blondi.wordpress.com

آریا صادقی http://greenlandhighway.blogspot.com

محمد حسن یوسف پورسیفی http://www.mhyousefpourseifi.blogfa.com

کیانوش سنجری http://ks82.blogspot.com

امیر حسین اعتمادی http://amiretemadi.blogfa.com

سیامک فرید http://belgiran.blogfa.com

صنم کازرونی http://newsiniran.blogsky.com

فرشته قاضی http://fereshteh.blogfa.com

شیوا نوجو http://zananemelli.blogspot.com

عباس معروفی http://maroufi.malakut.org

علی رضا محمد ظاهری http://shampilix.wordpress.com

سمیه جهانگیری http://www.sohreh.blogfa.com

کاوه رضایی http://notes.kaaveh.net/

حمید توکلی http://www.kntoosi.com

شهریار ایازی http://komite-aghwam.blogfa.com

عبدالقادر بلوچ http://balouch.blogspot.com

کریم پورحمزاوی http://ayandema.blogspot.com

بهزاد مهرانی http://www.behzadmehrani.blogfa.com

شایگان اسفندیاری http://gameron.wordpress.com

فریبرز شمشیری http://www.rottengods.com

وحید میلانی http://www.1canadian.blogspot.com

امیرحسین اعتمادی http://navayerahayee.blogspot.com

اختر قاسمی http://akhtarghasemi.blogfa.com

سیامک عبدی http://www.siamakold.blogspot.com

سعید صحرایی http://ssahraei.blogspot.com

مهناز خزاعی http://m-khazaie.blogfa.com

امیر شکیبا http://nedayekavir2.blogfa.com

فضائل عزیزان http://azizanpress.blogspot.com

محمد افراسیابی http://amooarvand.wordpress.com

پیمان روشن ضمیر http://ospeyman.org

علی رضا نوری زاده http://www.nourizadeh.com

جهانشاه جاويد http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/jahanshah-javid

در

Alvand, Hamadan

Changing Our Approach to Regime Change in Iran

By: Reza Bayegan

It is not only the Israeli government or the hapless Neocons in the United States who dream of a regime change in Iran. Every honest, intelligent Iranian wants the same thing but feels unable to bring it about. There are a multitude of individuals, organizations and think tanks outside Iran whose business is supposed to be finding a way of dislodging the Iranian regime. Nevertheless many of these entities are happy holding court where they are in Washington, Los Angeles, Paris and so forth. They are addicted to pocketing the benefits and enjoying the privileges of a virtual kingdom outside the country. Returning one day to a free Iran where they would have to learn the ropes anew and work hard to prove themselves to the local population will defeat their purpose. My words here are not directed to these political impostures and mountebanks.

I am rather addressing the leaders of those political campaigns who sincerely seek to find a way out for millions of desperate Iranians plagued by the double whammy of oppression from inside and the threat of military strike from outside. To these leaders I would like in all humility to offer a few suggestions. Let me make it clear that I have not discovered any political breakthrough or any ingenious military tactics to recommend to these individuals, but rather am offering them a change of attitude that I think might be helpful.

First of all my dear campaign leader for regime change in Iran, please give poor Machiavelli a break and beware of applying his ideas to your activities. ‘The Prince’ is not a recipe book for concocting fast political food. Instead of looking for some self-serving quick fix, invest in the loyalty of the people you are working with. Earn their respect and rely on the kindness and sympathy of those you are trying to liberate. Remember that the art of leadership does not consist of setting man against man. If you think of people as numbers, pawns and vehicles, this attitude sooner or later becomes evident in the conduct of your campaign and the way you organize and direct your regime change activities. Instead of bringing people together you then have the opposite effect of tearing them asunder and making yourself despised by everyone.

Learn to take personal responsibility for failures in your campaign and generously distribute amongst your team members the credit you receive for victories. Your struggle against a regime that has dug its claws deep into the lives and consciousness of Iranian society will face many hard battles. You have to learn to tackle a multitude of obstacles with a great deal of wisdom and grace. Fight with courage and fight with what you have instead of waiting for what you ought to have. No great leader whose country has been under attack has ever tarried for the alignment of all favourable circumstances before marching on to face the foe.

Keep in mind the words of Colin Powell who said, “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” The way you deal with everyday problems of your regime changing campaign is a pattern and microcosm of what you have to offer the whole country. In other words your approach, your attitude, and the daily performance of your duties is part and parcel of the ultimate victory you are trying to secure. Remember that actions speak louder than words.

Enlist the help of intelligent, stable people and don’t waste your resources and the valuable campaign time with prima donnas and nincompoops. No one of course expects you to surround yourself with geniuses. Geniuses are few and far between in any nation’s human stock. Nor should you worry about finding doctors or holders of honorary degrees. Iranian people have seen enough of characters like Dr Ahmadinejad, Dr Kordan etc to last them a lifetime. Only remember that after thirty years of being dished out heavy-duty balderdash Iranians have trained noses to smell baloney from a mile away. So raise the standard high for what you are offering them.

It is not sinful to receive help from the international community as long as you don’t forget who your constituency is. You want international help to fight a campaign for the liberation of your country and not the other way around. Remember that Bush and Blair shall pass away but the support of your own countrymen is what ultimately determines your success or failure. So when you go behind the microphone remember that the real audience that matters to you are in Shiraz, Tabriz, Dezfoul and Savojbolagh and not in Paris, London or New York. Learn from Charles de Gaulle and his fight for a free France. He was able to work with the Allied Powers and at the same time convince his countrymen that he was not an American or English puppet, but first and foremost a French patriot.

Once and for all stop the vicious circle of tribalism and factionalism that has wreaked havoc in your country since time immemorial. Don’t give in to the ingrained habit of dividing your compatriots into those who are with us and those who are against us. The tendency to compel people to conform to one’s image of what an Iranian should be is a dangerous moral disease of tyrants. Don’t hyphenate your people as nationalist Iranians, religious Iranians, communist Iranians and so on, but love and respect them as daughters and sons of the same land, all entitled to the same equal rights and privileges.

Take heart in Barack Obama’s election, or if you can’t, at least don’t eat your heart out. Even Shimon Perez the Israeli president thinks his election is a positive event for the whole of the Middle East. Don’t worry about the American government sitting down with Ahmadinejad or his puppeteers around the same table. Are you worried they might fall in love and the Americans will waltz with the mullahs into a new horizon and forget about you? Let’s hope they do. For the day the Americans pull the plug from the Iranian opposition, will be the day the Iranian people will have the opportunity to see who is able to stand on his own two feet and who can not. And if you still can stand up and fight after such an event, your countrymen will respect you and love you for it. Something they have been unable to do in the past three decades.

So believe in yourself and in the rightness of your stand. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and fight a good fight with all your might. Good luck.

Babak Zamanian

Around the Clock is a special page of the Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.


Babak Zamanian is a 23 year old mining student and spokesman of the Muslim Students Association at Tehran polytechnic Amir Kabir university. He was amongst students who heckled Ahmadinejad when he visited the Amir Kabir university in December 2006 and shouted "Death to dictatorship and dictator go away". In April 2007 he was arrested for demonstrating in a small group in front of the university dormitories. He was thrown in Evin prison and kept in isolation in the notorious section 209 (reserved for political prisoners) and tortured. He was subsequently freed on bail (after 40 days I think). During his freedom he has talked to some foreign radios and given interviews to the international media. This has made the case against him even harder. He has even been accused of having contact with a member of Dick Cheney's family.

The government is trying to stifle any opposition voices especially anti-Ahmadinejad's voices within universities and therefore the judiciary has passed a two year sentence against Zamanian and re-arrested him. There are numerous other students who suffer from the same fate. His situation is particularly worrisome and needs special attention.

Reflections on Iranian-American Dialogue

By: Reza Bayegan

An Iranian friend was saying that every time he has had the opportunity of meeting with American politicians, he has been impressed by their courtesy, humanity and their concern for taking the right and honourable path in relation to our country. Contrary to the rhetoric dished out to the Iranian public by their rulers, Americans are not after destroying Iran. In meeting with various Iranians they try hard to find out what to do with a country whose fanatical rulers by no means represent its forward looking and peaceful population.

As far as the official position of the Iranian government is concerned, meeting with Americans is heretical. American politicians are branded as evil and to dialogue with them is to betray our national interests. Nevertheless, in order to save their own skins, Iran’s dictators have in the past talked covertly to the Americans and even had secret dealings with their arch enemy Israel during the Iran-Iraq war. Accordingly their refusal to talk to Americans like the rest of their positions is a matter of expedience and not principal.

For the sake of argument however, let us assume that there are hardliners within the Islamic Republic who sincerely (not expediently) believe that talking to Americans is harmful to Iran’s earthly interests (And here of course I am not addressing those people who think that talking to the "great Satan " will contaminate them and bar them from entering into the kingdom of heaven).

Such hardliners are ignorant of the fact that international relations are not about demonizing or romanticizing various countries. International negotiations are governed by well-defined rules and well-established ethics. Within those rules one has to be able to manoeuvre and strike a profitable bargain for the country one represents. One also has to start from the premise that one’s counterpart or counterparts are after protecting their own interests and securing their own objectives.

The intellectually indolent Iranian fundamentalist who is averse to clear thinking finds it convenient to refer to all Americans as imperialists and shuns the idea of any contact with them. He has lived in an atmosphere where decisions are made by edicts and not through discussions and debates. Dictatorship has eroded his capacity for dialogue and any meaningful exchange of ideas.

‘Dialogue Among Civilizations’ was an idea proposed to the United Nations by Mr Khatami, the former president of the Islamic Republic. Ironically it was during the watch of this same president that a score of Iranian intellectuals were slaughtered and a number of dissenting university students were murdered and thrown out of their dormitory windows. In spite of all his smooth talking what he understood and meant by dialogue was that we talk and everyone else sits at the bottom of the pulpit and listens.

The psychology of an Iranian fanatic (like any other fanatic) is the psychology of fear, and exclusion. Exclusion of those possibilities of life, which require judgment and moral courage. An Iranian fanatic not only is afraid of Americans, he is also in a state of consternation about anything that entails making a choice one way or the other. He cannot trust himself to look at any girl beyond the age of puberty without a dirty motive so he makes it a law that forces all females to cover themselves up and refuses to shake hands with a woman for fear of being corrupted. He cannot trust himself to hold his own vis-à-vis an American or British official and therefore pigeonholes them all as evil and considers any meaningful contact with them reprehensible.

A healthy courageous mind has nothing to fear from encounters and engagements. A self-confident Iranian understands that when we meet Americans and people of any other nationalities with trust in our own abilities to talk to them on an equal footing and endeavour first and foremost to protect our own country's interests, there is nothing to be frightened of.

Some well-meaning Iranians who argue that we should go it alone and that we don’t need to talk or consult with anyone in bringing about liberty and democracy to our country also suffer from a variation of the same malady. They can be compared to a person who is trying to learn how to ride a bicycle and by stubbornly refusing everyone’s instruction invites all sorts of dangers. Imagine what would have happened if the Americans had refused the helping hands of foreigners like Thomas Paine or General Lafayette in securing their independence. The truth of the matter is that the cause of justice and liberty enlists all men in a universal effort and no one is asked to produce a passport in helping his or her fellow-human beings to rid themselves of oppression and tyranny anywhere in the world.

Finally, how do we answer the oft-asked question of some Americans regarding whether or not they should talk to the Islamic Republic? The reality of it is that Iranian rulers are clever enough to know that talking to Americans and the representatives of the free world would only expose their own moral and intellectual flaws and would deprive them of their best excuse to keep the country closed and isolated. The moment they let down that guard, there goes their raison d'être as missionaries of anti-Americanism and their role as the godfather of international terrorism. They would lose their control over a population impatient for democracy meritocracy and change.

Around the Clock is a special page of Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.

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Ekbatan Exchange is a new addition of Ekbatan Observer seeking expert opinions on Iranian politics.