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:
There are 20 days before the arrival of Nowruz. I remember the night that I had to leave my fatherland. One of my guests tonight was in prison facing death penalty and another guest was still looking for a way to flee the country.
Both of them have since been fighting for the liberation of Iran from the sedition of Khomeini’s regime.
I welcome Mr Houshang Kordestani who is joining us from our Paris studio. He is one of the last remaining members of the National Front party of Iran and in our London studio we have Mr Mohsen Khatami with us.
Houshang Kordestani:
I left Iran after having been in hiding for three months following the rally of our party’s members in Ferdowsi square as the regime had threatened to arrest us and charge us with heavy sentences.
The last night I was in our beloved country of Iran we pledged to work with ourpeople to win our fight for freedom and one day we could all return to our fatherland.
Mohsen Khatami:
An underground meeting of the party’s members followed the rally that MrKordestani is referring to and I joined them as the representative of the Ranjbaran Party.
We fled the country and arrived in Gatwick airport. I never smoked in my life but after arriving safely in UK I bought myself a large coffee and lighted a cigarette.
Houshang Kordestani:
I have told the young Iranian generation that they must follow the late Mossadeq’s way in fighting for democracy in Iran and not repeat the mistakes of our generation where we followed the religious forces.