A Window to the Fatherland/Dr. Nourizadeh/December 20

We begin tonight’s edition of A Window to the Fatherland with Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh reading one of his poems from the book of his collected works.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

We continue the program with talking to our special guest of every Thursday, Dr. Mohsen Sazegara, who would share with us his expert views about the latest news and developments of Iran.

I remember the day Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Price and immediately decided to print her picture on the front cover our Rouzagere Now magazine.

She has dedicated her life to defend the rights of the Iranian people, especially the political prisoners.

Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:

When I was in prison Ms Ebadi had voluntarily gone to see my wife and told her that she was happy to become my lawyer free of charge and did that for me and many other prisoners.

She has been at the forefront of fighting for the rights of the Iranian women and sadly when she returned from receiving her Nobel Prize I was sick and could not go to the airport but she was welcomed by thousands of her supporters who appreciated what she had achieved for the country.

However, Khatami’s negative comment about her prize that “it was not that important” led to the opening of a barrage of criticism and condemnation of Ms Ebadi by the rightwing press and the conservatives who wanted to stifle the voice of dissent in Iran.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

Now we have had the news of Revolutionary GuardCommander Ghodratullah Mansouri committing suicide. There are all types of rumors about his death and some say he was suffering from cancer and had already been in coma for many days.

Dr. Mohsen Sazegara:

If you watch the satirical movie about the death of Stalin you will see so many similarities between the Soviet Communism and the Iranian regime. Nothing is as they seem to be in them and the level repression and security measure in the closed societies always lead to rumors.

Of course one would expect from the Iranian regime to be involved in murdering its internal opponents and purge them.