Amir-Abbas Fakhravar
| Amir-Abbas Fakhravar | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 6, 1975 Tehran, Iran |
| Occupation | political activist, |
Amir-Abbas Fakhravar [1] (Persian: امیر عباس فخرآور, Amir-Abbās Fakhr-āvar, also known as Siavash (Persian: سیاوش), born 6 July 1975 in Tehran) is an Iranian jailed dissident, award winning writer, blogger, and the recipient of the prestigious Annie Taylor Journalism Award. He is the Secretary General of the Confederation of Iranian Students and President of the Iranian Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C.
Currently, Fakhravar serves as Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the Center for the Study of Culture and Security at The Institute of World Politics. Fakhravar was born on July 6, 1975 in the capital city of Tehran. As a gifted student, he started writing at the age of eight and published his first book at the age of 12. He was arrested for his writings and his criticism to the Islamic Republic at the age of 17 when he was still in high school. Fakhravar spent over five years in jail and suffered brutal torture in jail. His treatments in the Islamic Republic jails have been described as first known example of "white torture" in Iran by Amnesty International.
Fakhravar was a writer and a columnist for two major newspapers, "Khordad" and "Mosharekat" in Iran. He had a column called "Who knows better than people" against the repressions of the government on his fellow students.[1]
He was one of the first Iranian activists to call for a constitutional referendum to rescind the powers of the Supreme Leader and Council of Guardians.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Imprisonment
In November 2002, while Fakhravar was still at university, he was sentenced to an eight year sentence in the notorious Evin prison for publishing a criticism of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran, in an article labelled "This Place is Not a Ditch" [2]
In January 2004, he was taken from Qasr prison to a military detention center named "125" outside the official prison system and controlled by the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards,[3] for interrogation about alleged links with an opposition political organization called Freedom Movement of Iran (Persian: Jonbesh-e Azadi-ye Iraniyan).
His treatment in this detention center have been described as the first known example of white torture in Iran by Amnesty International.[4][5] His conditions were described by Amnesty International as:
| “ | His cell there had no windows, and was entirely coloured creamy white, as were his clothes. At meal times, he was reportedly given white rice on white, disposable paper plates and if he needed to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards, who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. He was forbidden to speak to anyone. Amnesty International has been told that "the silence is deafening".[6] | ” |
No one in Iran knows him as a leader of Iranian opposition.
[edit] In United States
In late April 2006, he arrived in the United States from Dubai where he had been greeted by Richard Perle who interrupted his trip to central Asia in order to meet Fakhravar in a hotel.[7] They had been in touch through a contact since 2003.[7] Their meeting in Dubai was recorded and some of it is included in a documentary titled "The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom".[8][9]
Since his arrival, he has called for a unified Iranian opposition to the Islamic government, in order to bring regime change in Iran.[7] He has had several meetings with American officials from the Pentagon to the State Department, as well as with Vice President Dick Cheney.[10]
He also appeared on a hearing titled "Iran's Nuclear Impasse: Next Steps" in July 2006 held by U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs representing Independent student movement, along with Michael Ledeen (American Enterprise Institute), Ilan Berman (American Foreign Policy Council), Ray Takehy (Council on Foreign Relations) and Jim Walsh (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),[11][12] where he called the Iranian reform movement a "dead end" and advocated regime change.[13] In his speech he also condemned military efforts against in Iran:
On military efforts, he said, "No one wants war, neither we nor you. Our greatest efforts have been focusing on own people and forces within our boundaries, without war, to uproot the zealot mullahs governing our country and replace them with a secular, democratic government which respects human rights and freedom."[13][14]
He has met with President George W. Bush and senior administrators in the State Department and The Pentagon and also with American experts and analysts on Iran, like professor Bernard Lewis and others.[15]
In 2006, he made this statement: "Help us to uproot the Iranian regime. Believe in us. Believe that a secular democratic government in Iran will be the United States' best ally and friend."ref>Front Page Magazine 08/24/2011</ref>
"He's a unifying figure. He's strong physically and psychologically. I think he's extraordinarily smart. He's one of the few Iranian opposition figures I've met who can think through the way Westerners look at Iran and help them understand." [16]
[edit] Green Revolution
Fakhravar was instrumental in orchestrating the mass protests in Iran after the 2009 elections[17]. United States congressional research service is recognizing Fakhravar from 2003 until now as one of the most important Iranian Opposition figures. Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses, August 8, 2011: Staunch oppositionists and revolutionaries, many now favor replacement of the regime with secular democracy. Generally young and well-educated, want free and open media and contact with the West. One key bloc in this group is the Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS), led by Amir Abbas Fakhravar, who was jailed for five years for participating in July 1999 student riots. CIS, committed to non-violent resistance, is an offshoot of the Office of Consolidation Unity, which led the 1999 riots.
At the time of those riots, most of the students had been strong Mohammad Khatami supporters but turned against him for not being enough against the hardliners. The crackdown killed four of the students, who were attempting, with mixed success, to gain support of older generation, labor, clerics, village-dwellers, and other people. CIS supports imposition of severe sanctions against Iran, including a total oil sale embargo, to deprive the regime of the funds that it needs to pay its security forces.[2]
[edit] Political views
Fakhravar advocates change of regime in Iran; he was one of the first of the democratic opposition in Iran to call for a constitutional referendum.[2] He says that he is a "republican" (Persian: جمهوریخواه) but that he respect Reza Pahlavi and would support the people of Iran if they voted for a constitutional monarchy.[18]
In the 2005 Iranian presidential elections, he supported boycotting the elections in Iran, claiming that the regime has no legitimacy and that the presidential elections should be turned into a referendum, a claim also supported by Abbas Amir-Entezam, the longest serving political prisoner in the middle east.[19]
Fakhravar strongly opposed president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's attempts of a "second cultural revolution," such as appointing hardliner clerics such as Amid Zanjani, famous for his work as a religious prosecutor, as chancellor of Tehran University.[20]
While he was on hunger strike in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York with Akbar Ganji to highlight the plight of Iranian political prisoners, he was interviewed by Jahanshah Javid, owner of Iranian.com. In the interview, he denied that he is a monarchist or in favor of war with Iran; he prefers an internal revolution.[21]
In March 2007, speaking at the Secular Islam Summit in St. Petersburg, Florida, he called for the US to help to overthrow the government in Iran by supporting the "silent army" (the internal opposition movements in Iran) via encouragement through media, along with tough economic sanctions on Iran.[22]
In an interview with Ynet Fakhravar said that if the West launches a military attack on Iran, "The top brass will flee immediately. People will come out onto the streets protesting, why are we being bombed? Many of the regime' mid-level officials will shave their beards, don ties and join the (civilians) on the streets."[15]
[edit] Books
- Hanooz ham; varagh parehaye zendan (Still, the scraps of prison), 2005.
[edit] Trivia
- In a 2004 documentary called Forbidden Iran was a video of Fakhravar in his house talking to his mother and preparing her as he believed that his execution was imminent.[23][24]
[edit] See also
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Amir-Abbas Fakhravar |
[edit] References
- ^ Various spellings of the Persian name can also include: Amir Abbas Fakhravar, AmirAbbas Fakhravar, Amir-Abbas Fakhr-Avar, Amir Abbas Fakhr Avar.
- ^ a b c Eli Lake. Ganji Is Near Death in Iranian Prison, a Dissident Reports, The New York Sun, July 18, 2005. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ Helping to break the Silence: Urgent Actions on Iran, Amnesty International, April 1, 2004.
- ^ Cathy McCann Student/Journalist Ill-treated in Jail, NEAR International, March 17, 2004.
- ^ Sarah Baxter. Fugitive pleads with US to 'liberate' Iran, The Sunday Times, May 21, 2006. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ "Please let Amnesty know that we gave your son leave from prison": the case of Amir Abbas Fakhravar, Amnesty International, 1 April 2004. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b c Eli Lake, Iranian Dissident to Seek Support For Opposition, The New York Sun, May 9, 2006. Retrieved on April 08, 2007.
- ^ Sharon Weinberger, The World According to Richard Perle, April 18, 2007.
- ^ America at a crossroads, Public Broadcasting Service, April, 2007
- ^ Eli Lake. Iran Dissident Plots Escape to Freedom From the Mullahs, The New York Sun, October 3, 2005. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ Iran's Nuclear Impasse: Next Steps Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- ^ Laura Rozen. Has Washington found its Iranian Chalabi? , Mother Jones, October 6, 2006. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ a b Fakhravar's testimonyPDF (23.3 KiB) at the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, July, 2006. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ Testimony in Persian
- ^ a b Yitzhak Benhorin. Iranian student leader: Ayatollahs will run if Iran attacked, Ynet, January 20, 2007. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ Toby Harnden, Ex-student hailed as Iran's hope, The Daily Telegraph, July 2, 2006. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
- ^ Front Page Magazine 08/24/2011
- ^ Fakhravar, I am a Republican, October, 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
- ^ Safa Haeri interview with Fakhravar. The Islamic Republic has no legitimacy, Iran Press Service, April 7, 2005. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ Jason Lee Steorts, Message from Underground, National Review, December 5, 2005.
- ^ Jahanshah Javid. The republican prince (Interview with video clips), Iranian.com, July 17, 2006. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
- ^ Art Moore. Silent army can overthrow Iran's mullahs, Worldnet daily, March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2007
- ^ Forbidden Iran, Public Broadcasting Service, January 2004. Retrieved 09 April 2007.
- ^ transcript, Public Broadcasting Service, January 2004. Retrieved 09 April 2007.
[edit] External links
 |
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Amir-Abbas Fakhravar |
- (English) Fakhravar.com - Official website
- (Persian) (امیرعباس فخر آور (سیاوش - Official blog
