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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 a look at the behind the scene reasons for some of our friends criticizing us for organizing the recent Washington Conference.
Interestingly enough, since that Conference several other conferences by various Iranian opposition groups have been held but none has been the subject of any attention, let alone being criticized at all!
We only had 12 speakers in our Conference who all supported the idea of a united Iran. We neither appointed nor elected any king or president and our only aim of getting together was to send a message to President Trump that we can free Iran ourselves and do not need the support or intervention of Washington or London to do this mission for us.
Furthermore, we never advocated the partition of our fatherland and will always defend Iran’s national sovereignty.
In that regard, we have now asked Kiomars Naimie, a prominent Iranian opposition figure and participant of that Conference to share his independent views with us about the event.
Kiomars Naimie:
I began my struggle against the Islamic republic regime back in 1980 by being involved in a military coup to topple it. Over the last three decades I have been associated with the struggle of Prince Reza Pahlavi to free Iran from the claws of the dictatorial regime.
I did take part in the Washington Conference as I regarded it a platform through which we can all achieve Iran’s freedom.
However, only one of the speakers who said he was representing the people of Ahwaz suddenly started to speak about partitioning Iran, which was met with harsh reaction of the audience.
My point is that how can we talk about fighting for democracy in Iran while in the free world we cannot tolerate someone who has a different point of view to us, regardless of if he is right or wrong.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
After the Green Revolution of 2009 and the crackdown of activists thousands of our compatriots were imprisoned. But now we have had the bazaar revolting against the regime.
The regime wants to execute the protestors and here in the free world we want to silence people who have a different point of views to us.
Kiomars Naimie:
We have to be different from the dictators who rule over our country.
The head of Iran’s judiciary has said that merchants who have closed their shops more than three days will be executed.
I am sorry to see that some of us still do not behave like democrats that we claim to be. Achieving democracy for Iran requires unity of purpose and avoiding any unfair criticism that can divert us from the path of freeing Iran.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
We must also note and remain cautious that the regime in Iran has got many of its agents who are based abroad and will always try to infiltrate our opposition groups and cause division among us so the regime can continue with its criminal existence.
Stay with us for this edition of A Window to the Fatherland and share it with your family and friends.
