I think Khamenei, I don’t think he can think like any other politician in the world. I think he has this problem of political paranoia; and he sees as a battle between good and evil, and the Armageddon of the whole grandiosity and the whole pack of paranoia.
A lot of people in the political structure in Iran, very top levels, they think rationally. And I think, first of all, if we can realize the people’s will and the people’s voice, that people can build their own networks and can protest the way they did and also show that you use this potential with different people from different aspects of society: people in the oil industry, people in electric transportation, infrastructure, even army. They just come with the opinion that, right now, they are expressing in their blogs.
If there is assistance to turn all of this to public news in Iran, and you face the government elite, saying that the way you go is headed nowhere. They’re corrupt; they have a lot of private investment in or outside Iran. I think one of the greatest concerns they have is the safety of their investments. If they see that the regime is on the verge of collapse – if you can really paint this image for them – they would probably act more rationally, they would be more ready to compromise.
I think Khamenei, like Qaddafi and like many others, will keep power until the last moment. He’s not ready to compromise anyhow because he doesn’t see, as we read the politics, he doesn’t understand the balance of power and stuff. He’s saying, “I have a Messiah mission. I have been born for this, and one day, I would like to stand against the whole evil, and I will win.” This was the case with Slobodan Milosevic; this was the case with Qaddafi or Saddam Hussein.
But Khamenei is not alone. I think the last election shows Mousavi, Mousavi supporters. If somebody goes through Iranian politics, from the very insider view, you see the very, very famous big names in revolutionary guard commands, they publicly support Mousavi.
So, you have to see where this breach started, where it comes from, where the first separation in KGB happened. How did this machine get split; and if you find out this mechanism, then you can invest in that and you can help Iranian public with that. And then you can explain to these people, who are just waiting before choosing this or that way, that this is the way of the people, this is the way for a secure, peaceful Iran for the future. And many of them are going to go there. And then, for Khamenei and his supporters, the circle will become narrower and narrower and at the end, he will be lonely there.
I think this is the way it works in many other places, and it’s going to work in Iran. The good thing here is that you don’t have to spend any budget to make the Iranian public believe, for example like Poland or somewhere, that a free and democratic Iran is good for them because they already know it’s good for them. They were on the streets, they were standing against bullets and shooting because they wanted a free, Western-friendly and American-friendly Iran.
I think that even people who are not in politics, they saw it on ABC News, and they saw it on CNN: an Iranian girl, 16-years-old, getting beaten and defending herself with her hands against a very well-equipped army officer.
Nima Rashedan was among the first Iranian cyber-activists. Born in Tehran in 1974, his father was a leftist opponent of the government headed by the Shah, so the family was forced into exile in the United States but returned to Iran after the 1979 revolution.
Upon his return, Rashedan became a member of student organizations and worked as a journalist, becoming one of the first writers to publish articles in Farsi on the Internet. In the late 1990s, after the election of President Khatami, he began writing pro-democracy articles.
In 1998, Rashedan was arrested and served time in prison, including a month in solitary confinement. After his release, Rashedan immigrated to Switzerland. He now lives in the Czech Republic and continues his work as a cyber-journalist and advocate. A frequent focus of his work is the similarity between the methods and objectives of the current Iranian regime and those of the former Soviet Union.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s only remaining theocratic state, in which political leadership is vested in religious authorities. The Islamic Republic was created in 1979 following a revolution against the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Although many elements of Iranian society led the revolution, ultimately Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers gained control of the country. In December 1979, the country adopted an Islamic constitution providing that “all civil, criminal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political and all other statutes and regulations be in keeping with Islamic [law].”
Following adoption of the new constitution, Khomeini became the “Supreme Leader,” the ultimate political and religious authority in the country. Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hoseyni Khamenei has been Supreme Leader since Khomeini’s death in 1989. The Supreme Leader is selected by a body of Islamic scholars called the Assembly of Experts. The Supreme Leader is responsible for the military and security concerns of Iran and has the final say on all issues. The president of Iran, who is elected by the public from a list approved by the Guardian Council (a body comprised of clerics and jurists), is nominally responsible for administration of the executive branch and is subject to the authority of the Supreme Leader.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005. Ahmadinejad was viewed as an ultraconservative and his views a stark contrast from the relatively reformist policies of his predecessor, President Mohammad Khatami. Despite promises of equality and fighting corruption, Ahmadinejad and his administration cracked down on civil liberties and more strictly enforced religious-based morality laws.
Ahmadinejad was reelected in 2009 in an election widely viewed as fraudulent. Following the June 2009 election, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in the largest protests in the country since 1979, which came to be known as the “Green Revolution.” The government responded to the peaceful protestors with a massive campaign of intimidation, violence, and limits on freedoms. Universities were closed down, media outlets and internet resources censored, and rights to assembly restricted.
In June 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected President and replaced Ahmadinejad. Rouhani has a reputation as a relatively moderate reformer and has promised additional freedoms and rights. It remains to be seen whether or not these promises will be fulfilled.
According to Freedom House, Iran is one of the least-free countries in the world. In its most recent report, Iran received a score of six in both the political rights and civil liberties categories, where one represents most free and seven represents least free. Iran has been the subject of numerous resolutions at the United Nations condemning the country’s human rights record. Among other things, the government uses summary arrest and execution against its political opponents. The death penalty is applied even for nonviolent crimes, including adultery. Radio and television broadcasting are under the control of the government and provide only government-approved content. Women are denied equal rights in marriage and other areas.