Reza Pahlavi
Posted on 08/06/2005 6:55:07 PM PDT by nuconvert
His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan,
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The United Nations,
New York, NY
August 5, 2005
Your Excellency:
Topic: Human Rights conditions and deterioration of the situation of political prisoners and Human Rights activists in Iran.
My compatriots and I are greatly concerned about the ever-increasing violation of human rights conditions in Iran. Various Iranian ethnic groups and women have stood out as targets of the Islamic Republic. The recent brutal murder of the Kurdish activist, Mr. Shwaneh Ghaderi and the imprisonment of Dr. Roya Toloee, a leader of Iranian women’s movement, are vivid examples of such violations. On numerous occasions I have issued statements or sent urgent letters to Your Excellency stressing the dire conditions of my compatriots jailed, maimed or tortured in my country. Allow me now to personally reiterate my deep concern about their dire situation and in particular about the condition of Mr. Ganji a well-known journalist and Mr. Manoochehr Mohammadi a human rights activist who are both near death. But there are many others whose detentions and even executions have not been publicized. The victims include even children and minors.
Many if not all the political prisoners in Iran are brutalized and held in solitary confinement in spite of the numerous specific recommendations of the United Nations to stop and put an end to such inhuman practices. Unfortunately the Islamic Republic of Iran has so far ignored these recommendations as well as all the urgent appeals made by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Despite the threats, human rights activists in Iran continue to fight for their freedom and human rights at the risk of imprisonment, torture, disappearance and death. I salute their courage and dedication.
It is sad to notice that in spite of glaring evidence of all the misdeeds, international pressure on Iran including by the Western world has recently weakened considerably. It is also sad to notice that Western representatives in Geneva have decided, not to call for a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran during the last meeting of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Needless to say, that has led to the general belief that the present reluctance to investigate may be motivated by a desire to mute criticism of Iran while nuclear talks with my country continue.
As we are all aware human rights and fundamental freedoms are one of the sacred basic purposes of the Charter of U.N. - thus I urgently request your Excellency’s kind personal intervention to put as much pressure as possible on the Islamic Republic of Iran to end such practices.
With best regards,
Reza Pahlavi
Yeah, we're all over it. BTW, does your family still own any oil rights over there? Just asking.
Sincerely,
Kofi
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 06 – The head of police in the province of Isfahan, central Iran, said in a gathering on Saturday that members of the Bassij, paramilitary vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were authorised to assist the police in cracking down on dissent.Brigadier-General Hossein Zolfaqari said, “The Bassij forces, acting as agents of the judiciary, in accordance with the law and their particular circumstances can act against apparent crimes”.
“In circumstances when the police are not present or when they require assistance or when they for whatever reason do not wish to carry out their tasks, uniformed members of the Bassij can in accordance with the law act against apparent crimes”, Zolfaqari added.
Last week, the newly appointed head of Iran’s police, or State Security Forces, also announced that members of the Bassij could take part in operations against dissent alongside the police force.
Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam told a police garrison in Mashad, northeast Iran, “The Bassij forces can assist agents of the State Security Forces in their activities”.
In mid-July the new police chief called on the forces under his command to deal “decisively with criminals” and use live bullets if necessary.
Khamenei’s appointment of Ahmadi Moghaddam, a veteran paramilitary commander with a reputation for ruthlessness, was widely regarded as a move to place the law enforcement forces under the control of the Revolutionary Guards.
Moghaddam was the number two in the paramilitary Bassij and commander of the force in Greater Tehran. He is among the top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and has also been a long-time ally of President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The two worked together closely in the military crackdown on Iran’s autonomy-seeking Kurds in the 1980s, when they were both Revolutionary Guards commanders based in Hamzeh Garrison near the north-western city of Orumieh.
This article is basically an admission by the Iranian government that the unrest is so bad that their professional security forces (per se) can't handle it and they're having to enlist assistance. If the paramilitary can't squash this movement, it may signal doom for the mullahs who run that place. If the paramilitary are successful, it may signal one of the worst reigns of terror that we won't hear about in our country.
Are we ever going to hear about any of this in the MSM?
Only if they can figure a way to spin it to make Pres. Bush look bad. In the meantime, there are people there who appear to want to overthrow a theocracy who are not even getting any moral support from us...because we are hearing nothing about it!
Isn't Reza a woman?
The lefties at these so-called HUMAN RIGHTS groups cant be bothered by the slaighter of innocent women and children in Iran. Theres a koran down at Gitmo that might have gotten wet. Now thats ABUSE!
Reza Pahlavi
Don't think so. He is the son of the late Shah of Iran, if my memory serves me correctly.
You're so right about the MSM.
Fortunately, there are more and more websites cropping up and politicians and others speaking out. But having the MSM really get behind the democratic movement in iran would advance the situation tremendously.
The Bassij have been around since the revolution.
No, the regular police and armed forces can't be trusted to control the demonstrators and "dissenters".
Foreigners have been enlisted, too, to control expected large crowds.
And when they feel the need, helicopter gunships are employed to control the people.
"Four helicopters circled the skies of Saqqez shooting at any areas where clusters of protestors. More than 100 of the seriously wounded were rounded up and forced out of hospitals where they had gone to for treatment. They were all taken to unkown locations."
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/2005/08/iranian-helicopters-fire-on-protestors.html
I read that article about the helicopters a couple of days ago. The tragedy of the MSM is that if Bush lifted a single finger to help the Iranians (who, before 1979, were close allies of ours), they'd be all over him for "expanding the war."
So the result will be that a lot of innocent people are going to die.
I think Reza Pahlavi is cute.
Outstanding letter by Mr. Pahlavi! Good post nuconvert.
<< My compatriots and I are greatly concerned about the ever-increasing violation of human rights conditions in Iran. >>
Yair.
It's beginning to take on the shape and stench of life under Mr Reva's dad and his murderous Savak.
Must be making the pretender to the peakock throne and his every homy shudder in his shoes!
Under tyranny the best you can expect from the MSM is a onesided story. When the media becomes balanced on Iran, we should expect a legitimate change if not a full blown regime change to follow shortly after.
But somtimes the side of the story the MSM can give is an important lesson in itself. Unless someone posted this and changed the title, freepers and the blog "Regime Change Iran" missed this recent article about the people doing the oppressing in Iran.
###
The Eminem Fan Who Polices Tehran's Morals
Enforcing the strictures of the mullahs doesn't preclude a taste for Slim Shady and Fox News. Meet the new Basij
By AZADEH MOAVENI/TEHRAN Posted Friday, Jul. 29, 2005
Hossein Rahimi does not wear a beard, not even the ten o'clock shadow de riguer for even the casually pious. He prays five times a day and bemoans what he calls "social corruption," but gels his hair, listens to Eminem, and doesn't look away when pretty girls pass. And that's not exactly typical of an activist of the Basij, the clerical regime's volunteer paramilitary force tasked with enforcing its strictures on personal and social behavior.
The Basij are on a roll right now, having organized the get-out-the vote effort that propelled hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a landslide victory in last month's presidential election. The militia, whose name means “mobilization” in Persian, was created by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s to recruit young men to fight against Iraq. But a decade later, they took on the role of an official morality police, becoming better known for raiding parties than for raiding the Iraqi frontline. June's election, however, marked the first use of the Basij as a mobilizing tool in electoral politics, a role in which it proved devastatingly effective.
So is the suave Hossein Rahimi the new face of the Basij? Not really. As the son of an advisor to the defense minister, he is drawn to hardline politics out of family loyalty. But like many children of the revolutionary elite, class privilege sets his lifestyle apart from the Basiji rank and file. He watches Fox news, and discovers old friends on www.orkut.com. His favorite movie is "A Beautiful Mind," and he lives in a well-heeled neighborhood of north Tehran rather than in the working-class quarter of Naziabad where his Basij is based. "Not only do I like Eminem, I have the entire collection," he brags, checking his mobile phone for missed calls.
Unlike Rahimi, most Basij members are poor. Their sleeves reach their wrists, their shoes are scuffed, and they're unlikely to know of Eminem. Many eke out a living by renting motorbikes to work as messengers or bike taxis; hordes of them idle sullenly on their bikes near Tehran's grand bazaar. With that sort of work, it will take them an epoch to raise enough money to get married. The Basij might give them a small stipend and help cover holidays at the Caspian Sea, but it cannot buy them an apartment or sustain a life. Embarrassed by their unpolished answers to a reporter's questions, they call the better-educated Rahimi from the mosque to speak for them.
Despite the difference in their status and prospects, what Rahimi and his comrades share is their romance with the notion of Iranian power. Rahimi can rattle of the range of the Shahob-5 missile, and fantasize about what closing the Strait of Hormoz would do to U.S. oil supplies. "We really should not have signed the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty," he laments. "Iran's legitimate right to nuclear technology should not be checked by the West's politics."
Ahmedinajad won the loyalty of the Basij, and the voters who responded to their campaigning, by promising to relieve the grinding poverty that remains the lot of the majority a quarter century after the Islamic Revolution. Piety and a hawkish foreign policy might be enough to retain Rahimi's support, but for most of his Basij brothers, the new president may be judged on whether he is able to make their lives more like Rahimi's.
###
PBS has had some of the best reporting on Iran's democracy movement and FOX has done a bit, but it's ultimatlely up to expats with real conections inside Iran to get the news from their contacts and share it with the world. The more they do, the more we will all know and the more the MSM can cover.
That's where blogs come in... What's sad is that this guy, Hossein Rahimi, is a northern Terhranee rich enough to be a likely blogger. Many of the Kurds who are being harrassed by the likes of Hossein Rahimi can't afford to blog their stories. I wish someone or some group could figure out a way to support Iranian Kurds as well as other Iranians struggle for democracy.
I was expecting someone to bring up Iranian royalty in a positive way so that I could show my American angst for all monarchy, but a positive reference isn't in this thread. No one brought up monarchy; most importantly Mr. Pahlavi didn't sign his name making reference to his historic ties to royalty. If RP doesn't consider himself as a prince... why should we. He's a familiar face with an important and relevant message, nothing more or less.
If you've noticed a problem with his letter, I'd like to hear it but introducing the idea of an Iranian monarch will only serve to focus the conversation on the past... In my opinion we should be looking to the future. Do you agree?
<< No one brought up monarchy ... >>
I did.
<< Mr. Pahlavi didn't sign his name making reference to his historic ties to "royalty." >>
Such is the arrogance of Mr Reva and his homeys they simply assume his "royalty" a given.
Yes you did. I meant in a pro-monarchy way.
"Such is the arrogance of Mr Reva and his homeys they simply assume his "royalty" a given."
The monarchy was ousted but the history of Iran will forever include the Pahlavi name. RP is like a living part of Iran's history. There are a handful of people on FR, among other places who enjoy attaching the title "prince" to RP. Is that who you are refering to when you say RP's homeys? What's strange is that their language is often much less democratic than RP's.
Crown Prince Pahlavi is a honest man and he is well-liked among Iranians.
I hope he can lead the freedom movement more effectively in the days ahead.
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