In tonight’s program we will pay tribute to the tireless efforts and memory of our dear journalist and sport commentator colleague the late Manook Khodabakhshian who passed away on Saturday.
We all mourn the death of a dear and great friend who loved Iran and its people and died in exile while dedicating his life to the struggle for freedom of his motherland.
He may have left this mortal world but his legacy of offering hope to the millions of young Iranians will live on to shed light on their path to a bright future.
He was born in the province of Khuzestan but his heart to the last minute of his life of public service alway beat for every inch of our country.
He always shared his happiness with others and was the first to rush to share the sadness of them at times of despair.
Along with millions of Iranians inside and outside our country we offer our sincere condolences to Manook’s family for his passing and pledge to follow his struggle for freedom of Iran.
Tonight we will look at the problems that the Iranian people are facing both on domestic and international stages.
As for the problems that the regime in Tehran is facing, it is reported that a member of the Assembly of Experts who has been exposing the corruption among the regime’s top leaders has suddenly disappeared with his brother, but the intelligence and security organs have not said anything about this news.
We will ask why once the leader of the OPEC and producing more than 4 million barrels of oil per day Iran is now begging to be able to sell only 700,000 barrels of oil a day.
Do the so-called reformists in Iran still believe this regime can reform itself for the benefit of Iran and the Iranians?
How does the regime abuse the Iranian people’s religious beliefs during the holy month of Muharam to sustain its politicalpower?
Our guests tonight to discuss these issues are Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh and Mr Sadeq Zibakalam.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
If at the time of the revolution someone had told me that one day a cleric by the name of Ghapanchi and his brother would come forward and deny all the religious culture that the Iranians had had for centuries I would have never believed him.
However, when you turn a religion into an ideology for ruling over your people then this is the social mess that we have in the Iran of today.
In our time before the revolution the holy month of Muharam had a different meaning and people were sincere in expressing theirreligious beliefs. Even the Shah used to attend religious gatherings at theSepahsalar grand mosque.
But today and under this regime religion has turned into a business run by a bunch of corrupt mullahs and the true faithful express their feelings and beliefs at home and in private.
The regime organizes a march to Karbala but itsbenefits go to Ghassem Soleimani.
Sadeq Zibakalam:
If the spread of Shiaism was not the main objective of the Iranian regime, then we can safely say that it is one of its main aims.
However, my question to the authorities is if we were to carry a national survey today can we safely say that its results shows that having spent astronomical budgets on “religious and cultural organizations” our people are more religious than they were forty years ago before the revolution?
Tonight we will look at how the Iranian regime’s nuclear program has taken the country to the brink of economic collapse to the point that it is now asking for a 15 billion dollars of credit line from Western countries during Javad Zarif’s recent visit to France.
However, the loan has been on the condition that the US government agrees with it and that Iran stops any further breach of its commitments of the nuclear deal.
Tonight our journalist/writer colleague Mr Amir Taheri will share his expert views with us on these subjects.
We begin by reporting on the news of the death of a young Iranian inprison under torture in the province of Fars.
Mr Amir Taheri:
This sad incident is in line with what we have seen all these last 40 years from the regime in Tehran, which is a policy of crackdown on any dissent and the opposition groups or anyone who has a different opinion other than the regime’s rulers.
I was speaking at a gathering of the Somali community in London yesterday who seem to have a similar problem that we Iranians have which is facing a repressive regime in our countries.
While more than 5 million Somali people have left their country, 8 million Iranians have fled Iran and are scattered around the world.
This is because the regime in Iran does not have any plans to manage the affairs of the nation at home and does not conform to any international norms abroad.
The rulers in Iran feel free to do anything they want and do not even respect the laws that they have passed themselves and the nation has to pay a price for their misdeeds.
And when the Iranian people demand their rights and ask the regime to be accountable for its actions they are supressed in reply.
This regime is incapable of providing a decent and peaceful life for the Iranian people and the chaos that we see in every aspect of life in the country is the result of its sheer incompetence.
Tonight we will look at the latest news of human rights violations in Iran where two cases of them have been referred to US Federal Courts of Justice.
They are related to the suicide of Siamak Pourzand, the Iranian journalist who had been jailed for many years on charges of espionage, and the case of Abbas Amir Entezam, former spokesman for the post-revolution government of Bazargan.
Our guest tonight to discuss these cases is Mr Ali Harischi, attorney at law, who is representing the Pourzand family in US courts.
We heard through Mrs Mehrangiz Kaar on this program that Mr Harischi has taken up the case of Siamak Pourzand on the grounds that he committed suicide as a result of the pressures that he was under in prison. We would like to know how this case could proceed in an American court of justice.
Mr Ali Harischi:
I have actually filed two cases of complaint for the late Mr Pourzand in US courts, one from Mrs Kaar and another from Banafsheh, his daughter.
There is an international convention on security and legal matters that justice systems of different countries cannot interfere in one another’s legal matters.
However, in United States a new bill has passed that rejects this immunity on the grounds that those countries who support international terrorism and are in the black list of the State Department are exempt from this convention and if they have been involved in an act of terrorism against a US citizen they can be brought to justice in US courts.
We have made use of this law as the case of my clients has been addressed in Iranian courts and the country is in the list of the State Department.
Already several notices and summons have been sent to the relevant sources in Iran through diplomatic channels but as Iran does not have an embassy in US we are still waiting to hear back from them and my guess is this will take a six months time before we could deal with the cases.
Jamshid Chalangi:
Could the Iranian regime use the same channel and claim that a member of its lobbies in US has been “tortured” here and sue the American government, as was the case of the Press TV’s reporter?
Mr Ali Harischi:
Each country has its own domestic laws and act on them accordingly. I doubt Iran has passed any such law to retaliate but I do not know much about their laws.
Today we will look at the latest news of Iran and the Middle East region.
In US today is the Labour Day and we all know that the international workers day actually began in America.
We will compare the plight of Iranian workers withthose of other countries of the world while a group of Iranian workers at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Refinery are still in jail for demanding their overdue salaries.
We will find out what has happened to the Iranian working class since the revolution as well as looking into the latest cases of human rights violations against the citizens of the country.
Journalist Mrs Noushin Jaffari is the latest victim for supporting the open letter of the 14 civil rights activists calling forKhamenei’s resignation.
Our guest tonight to discuss these issues with him is Mr Hamid Reza Amini (aka Ario Barzan), who has spent some time in the regime’s prison.
Hamid Reza Amini:
I had two accounts in Facebook and Telegram and was posting comments and news under my pseudonym Ario Barzan and used to work with Mr Shahram Homayoun’s satellite TV station.
I was arrested together with my seven months old child and we were kept in a detention centre for a week. Sadly when Mr Homayoun found out about my arrest he abandoned me.
I later joined the Green Movement and continued with my social media activities but as I already had a file with the security service I began working under another pseudonym but was once again arrested.
The Basij militias took me to their base but the protesters attacked the van and rescued me and two other people and set thepolice van on fire.
Later I began to work with the exiled union leader Mr Osanlou.
Jamshid Chalangi:
We must note that when a member of our political and opposition groups is jailed and later released these groups would be very careful about how they continue working with them again.
Hamid Reza Amini:
In those days the regime was not in a position to identify and arrest the activists so quickly.
Tonight we will look at the problems that the Iranian people are facing both on domestic and international stages.
The Friday prayers imams of the regime have been commenting about the situation in the country and the possibility of a Trump-Rouhani meeting, while at thesame time repeating their call for the destruction of Israel.
Former mayor of Tehran who had been released from prison is back behind bars as many civil rights activists cannot afford the bail to leave detentions that should not have taken place in the first place.
Our guests tonight to discuss these issues are Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh and Mehran Barati.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
The issue of Diyah and paying a bail have been introduced into Iran’s so-called justice system by this regime and paying them can even lead to the release of a murderer from prison.
This system regards the rights of women as half of those of men. However, the struggle of our women for their human and civil rights act as a dagger in the heart of the despotic regime.
Only corrupt people who have stolen millions of dollars of our people’s wealth can afford these astronomical bails and the workers who have been jailed for protesting against injustice in the country must remain behind bars because they have no money to pay for their bails.
The damage to former mayor of Tehran Najafi has been done as he was going to nominate himself in presidential election. He had happily accepted the murder of his wife and her family took the Diyah money and pardoned him.
So long as this regime is in power we will see the travesty of justice in our country in similar cases.
Jamshid Chalangi:
And yet the European countries that claim to be holding human rights values so dearly welcome the foreign minister of this regime so warmly as though the Iranian regime is the champion of human rights.
Mehran Barati:
European governments have never condemned the abuse of human rights in Iran. It is mainly the MPs in their parliament or the humanrights bodies that do so.
European governments have always been very careful to maintain their relations with the regime in Iran for economic reasons and leave the question of its human rights violations to others, unless their relationship have faced a difficulty.
Tonight we will look at the latest news of Iran and the world, plus what is going on between the two factions of the regime who operate under the rule of the supreme leader.
Some observers believe the Iranian regime has reached the end of its life and to extend it is now sacrificing some of its own founders by accusing and jailing them on corruption cases.
The tension between Iran and US still continues as Javad Zarif visits Europe to rally support for the regime in its confrontation with Washington.
Will Iran dominate the talks in the G7 summit at this weekend?
Our guests tonight to discuss these issues are Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh and Hassan Shariatmadri.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
This regime’s foundations are on deceit, divisions and political maneuvering. If it were not for these tactics it would not have survived.
For almost ten years Khomeini was the absolute leader and would slap at the mouth of anyone who disagreed with his orders.That is why organizations like the Mujaheddin of Islamic Revolution and theMuslim People’s Republican Party were banned and many of their members were arrested, jailed, tortured and executed.
Khomeini did not even allow the loyal Islamic Republic Party to continue with its activities when they were about to divide into two factions.
He did not even tolerate the Combatant Clerics Group because he did not agree with their policies.
When Khamenei came to power at first he did nothave any power. However, he then brought the intelligence and repressive organs under his command and once he felt secured enough he launched his campaign of terrors and purges. There is a long list of people who fell victims of his tyrannical rule and some of them like Abdullah Momeni and Nasrin Sotoudeh are still alive to testify to this.
I believe we should expect more confrontations between the regime’s factions in the coming weeks.
Hassan Shariatmadri:
All Dr. Nourizadeh’s points are quite right. Further more, we must also look at the issue of the so-called fight againstcorruption in Iran from a different angel.
Behind this current lies the hand of Khamenei who is following a number of objectives. It is the case of the most corrupt eliminating the lesser corrupt.
The reason for these purges is that this regime is an ideological one and its absolute ruler can only be surrounded by his most loyal stooges and the moment a rival begins to compete with its power or wants to take away some of his wealth then he will react and annihilate them.
In tonight’s program we will look at the economic cost of the Iranian regime’s regional policy for the nation;
The spat between the top clerics of the regime has been brought into open with each one accusing their rivals of corruption and cronyism;
The cleric Alam Ulhoda has said the regime’s supreme leader must have claim to being the leader of the entire human populatiotgn of the earth;
In the first part of the program we will also look at the life and tragic death of the veteran journalist Siamak Pourzand who was a role model for many of Iran’s younger generation of journalists and writers in the 1970s for his pieces about the world of cinema and Hollywood.
Siamak was arrested and tortured on fabricated charged including espionage and finally under severe duress committed suicide.
Now his widow the women’s rights activist and journalist Mehrangiz Karr has lodged a formal complaint at a US court against the regime in Iran and is asking for justice and compensation.
She is here as our special guest tonight and would tell us more about this case.
Mehrangiz Karr:
I have long been seeking justice for the death of Siamak. In Iran I had taken his case to courts of justice but none would want to listen to me as they all referred to an article which barred them to enter cases that had a political angle to it and dealt with issues of national security.
I had provided the courts with concrete evidence that Siamak had been abducted and taken into custody during which time he had been subjected to torture, against all the rulings of their own laws.
Cleric Mehdi Karoubi was the Majles speaker at the time and had agreed to take up the case within the justice system but had been silenced by the security and intelligence organs of the regime with the excuse that hearing the case publicly was “against the national security”.
All Siamak “confessions” were false and he was even forced to write and sign a letter before his death that he disagreed with my complaint against his arrest and imprisonment as he had “admitted” his charges.
Cleric Karoubi had once said that he knew about how the Revolutionary Guard had tortured Siamak and threatened to reveal their crime, which he never did.
Tonight we
will look at the1905 Constitution Revolution in Iran on its anniversary and
find out what benefits it brought to our country, from the point of view of
Iran’s historians like Ahmad Kasravi and Fereydoun Adamiat.
Tonight we
will find out how the rising cost of living and corruption in Iran is affecting
the lives of the citizens as thecountry’s nuclear program has started again.
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