By Ali
Moayedian
It is over
four months now since Dariush Zahedi was arrested in Tehran. Zahedi is an
Iranian-American political science professor who teaches at University of
California in Berkeley. He had
traveled to Iran in June to spend time with his family, as he had done in the
past few years.
A
picture of Zahedi taken shortly before his arrest shows him holding his niece
Sathyia.
According to friends, one of Zahedi's reasons for going to Iran was to
see her.
As a political science
professor and researcher, Dariush Zahedi has been very involved and active in
Iranian affairs. This is evident from the following
So it would have been
very natural for Zahedi to take advantage of his trip to Iran to gain better
insight into Iran's current political situation. And this is not out of line
with Khatami's declared policy of "people to people exchange" which he has
emphasized many times as the best way to create mutual thrust between the people
of Iran and United States.
According to the news,
the following prompted Zahedi's arrest:
- He had traveled to Iran
for two years in row right before the anniversary date of the student
protests
- He had met with the
nationalist-religious dissident leaders.
None of the above is a
surprise! Most people take long vacations during summer holidays. This is
especially true of the people in academia. Also, as it was mentioned above, it's
most normal for political scientist to talk to people of
politics!
But as it was pointed in
the previous article on this issue (Dariush Zahedi, an Iranian-American caught in the infighting of
Iran's Information Ministry and Judiciary), the issue here is not
guilt or innocence. The issue is the infighting between the two factions in
Iran. And this infighting has time and again shown itself as disputes between
Iran's Information Ministry and the Judiciary. In Dariush Zahedi's case, the
Information Ministry has concluded that he is innocent and should be released.
However, the Judiciary has claimed ownership of the case and ordered Zahedi held
in solitary confinement. But perhaps solitary confinement is a blessing for
Zahedi, as now the Iranian parliamentarians are warning that, should the
Judiciary's interrogators be set free on Zahedi, another case of Zahra Kazemi
may be in the making (Iran challenged over US
professor).
The big question now is
what's going to happen to Zahedi? It depends on what the Judiciary is trying to
achieve. One possible scenario is the Judiciary wants to make a deal with the
reformist faction over judge Mortazavi who has been accused of murdering Zahra
Kazemi. That probably won't happen as Zahra Kazemi's case is the best
opportunity the reformist camp to settle scores with the Judiciary (Iran
reformists denounce judges), and also the case is being watched very closely
by Canada.
Another possible scenario
is the Judiciary has been holding Zahedi hostage to press for the release of the
Iranian journalists held by US forces in Iraq. In fact Rafsanjani has recently
complained that Zahedi's case is receiving a lot of coverage while the case of
the journalists is being ignored. (This is certainly not true. There has in fact
been a lot more coverage given to the case of the journalists as Zahedi's case
was kept quiet by the family and didn't make headlines until mid October.) But now that the news has come out that
the Iranian journalists have been released by US forces (Iranian journalists freed in Iraq),
if this was the game the Judiciary was playing, then there is a chance Zahedi
will be released in the next few days.
And then there is another
possibility that the very radical hardliners are holding Zahedi hoping to
sabotage Iran-US rapprochement. Judging from the fact that most people who have
ended up in solitary confinement in Evin have eventually confessed to something,
it would be no surprise if Zahedi, breaks, if he already hasn't, and "confesses"
to spying for US! As an
Iranian-American who has been pampered living a comfortable life here, I myself
am ready to confess to anything with the slightest pressure on my thumb! In fact
even the hint of pressing my thumb will do it J
But Zahedi's potential
appearance on the TV screen and confessing to spying for US will only be another
re-run of this often repeated episode, and it will certainly not attract a large
audience. The hardliners need to become more creative to attract better crowds!
But then again the hardliners could care less about crowds. It's been a long
time the crowds have deserted them, and judging from the way the people have
voted, or in the case of the last Council election, not have voted, the demands
of the people have nothing in common with the hardliners views. But the
hardliners continue to hold both hands tightly around the rudder and are
hell-bent on leading the ship to the rocks!
Still it's unlikely that
Zahedi will be kept for long in confinement. He only has a short-term value for
the hardliners, and after he has served his purpose he will be freed. Certainly Zahedi is suffering hugely in
an Evin solitary cell right now. But then again he is a political scientist with
great awareness of what is going on Iran, and even if he was not prepared for
the treatment he is receiving, he must have been aware that there are
consequences for people who take "people to people exchanges" too seriously and
ask too many questions or poke their noses in the "wrong" places.
But there is a plus side
to this for Dariush Zahedi. When he returns to his academia life, hopefully very
soon, he will have first-hand knowledge about the way the Iranian political
factions operate, especially those in the Information Ministry and the
Judiciary! And hopefully that will help further his research in his field
J
As for the Iranian
Judiciary, Zahedi's case will only serve as another minus! Zahedi's case is just
further evidence that Zahra Kazemi's brutal killing by her interrogators was not
an isolated incident and that we should expect more of the same from the
Judiciary as it stands. What the Judiciary will sow out of Zahedi's treatment is
nothing but more shame and disgrace!
About the
author:
Ali Moayedian is an
Iranian-American residing in San Francisco Bay Area.
... Payvand News - 11/4/03 ... --
