Posted on 03/20/2010 7:40:38 AM PDT by nuconvert
OSLO—Mohammed Reza Heydari always considered himself a loyal official of the Islamic Republic of Iran: He clocked long hours at work as a senior diplomat here in Norway, spent quiet nights at home with his family and observed Iranian national holidays.
That all changed, Mr. Heydari says an interview, when he witnessed up close Iran's effort to crush protests and skew the vote in last year's controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In January, Mr. Heydari, a slight and balding veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, resigned as chief consular official at the Iranian Embassy in Oslo and requested political asylum, citing threats against him and his family.
Mr. Heydari's account of Iran's crackdown, as he saw it unfold from his diplomatic perch in Scandinavia, is one of the first to come from a named Iranian official. Some aspects of his account couldn't be independently confirmed.
In the interview, he alleged that his superiors pressured him to help falsify vote totals in last June's disputed election. He also said he was asked to inform on expatriate Iranians who supported the opposition—including his own 17-year-old son.
"My conscience couldn't stand it any longer. I couldn't serve a government turning its guns not on its enemies but on its own people," Mr. Heydari said.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“He said at least 27 other diplomats abroad and inside Iran have resigned their posts to protest the vote and its violent aftermath. In the past six months, three other Iranian diplomats have requested political asylum: two from Iranian consulates in Germany and one from the embassy in London, according to Mr. Heydari”
Oh I see. NOW it’s gotten too bad for his tastes. That explains everything.
PONG
Yeah, I know. I guess better late than never
Exactly my thoughts! Mullahs have been crushing dissent ever since carter promoted them to power. They have NEVER STOPPED since. Millions have been murdered, raped, disappeared, gunned down, tortured under islamic justices in the most inhuman, sadistic, tyrannical ways. The country itself has been raped and pillaged and taken back to the thirteenth century, and NOW this man’s conscience is awakened??? Give me a break!
For every one “important” person who speaks out, there are dozens, maybe hundreds?, thousands?, of average people who feel the same way. Now they need to take their country back. I pray they are successful.
It just occurred to me that my comment fits equally with the situation in the US.
If only we had government officials of such character in America.
America -- a great idea, didn't last.
Totally agree w/all you said.
But, Iranian and non-Iranian supporters of Islamic Reformists and ehh “pragmatists” (aka “good” and “pious” mullahs of Iran) quietly disagree! Right there we have a HUGE problem (obstacle) for any meaningful transition out of the pathetic and murderous Islamic Republic. But, we have plenty of these Islamic Reformists and co. constantly whining about human rights and what not in Iran...
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