Freed Academic Haleh Esfandiari: 'Iranians Want Evolution, Not Revolution'

Renowned journalist and academic Haleh Esfandiari used to fly from Washington, D.C., to Tehran every Christmas to visit her elderly mother. This pleasant routine changed dramatically in 2007 when Esfandiari was arrested and charged with plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, with a little help from the United States. The soft-spoken intellectual (and grandmother of two) spent months in Evin Prison, sleeping on the floor and enduring harrowing interrogations, until an international outcry hastened her release.

Yesterday I spoke with Esfandiari at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where she is the director of the Middle East Program.

At 67 years of age, you were put in solitary confinement in a Tehran prison. The physical stress was horrendous. I'm curious about the mental stress -- was your age a plus or a minus?

Haleh Esfandiari: It was a plus, because whenever I thought about my wonderful life and family and friends, I knew I had already experienced everything a person could wish for. I had a wonderful childhood in Iran. I enjoyed going to college in Austria. I was successful, I think, in my career. So I thought, "If worse comes to worse, and I am sentenced to life in prison...so what? I have had a beautiful life."

Even so, sometimes you daydreamed about being rescued by your husband, Shaul. When he accompanied the rest of your family on a vacation to Kennebunkport without you, did you feel abandoned?

I begged my family to go to Maine. We had planned this vacation together. I told them that if they really loved me, they would honor my wish. My husband, who is Jewish, couldn't come to Iran anyway. The authorities would have arrested him at the airport, and made a showcase out of both of us.

Tell me about the day you received a single white rose in prison.

One morning, one of the female guards walked into my cell, still wearing her veil. From underneath the veil, she pulled out a white rose and silently handed it to me. I was fighting back tears.

You're fighting back tears now.

Yes, just remembering her moving gesture....it really was amazing. I love flowers. I put the rose in a paper cup along with a leaf I had found on the prison grounds. When the rose faded, I placed it between the pages of the one book I had in my cell.

Iranian women once enjoyed so much more freedom than they do today, it's no wonder they poured into the streets to protest the election results. But weren't these women taking a huge risk?

When the Islamic Revolution took place 30 years ago, the new government suspended the Family Protection Law -- the pillar of women's rights. This law covered the age of marriage, the right to seek a divorce, the right to work, and so on. When it was suspended, men once again could take as many wives as they wanted, could take away the children in case of divorce, could stop women from leaving the house. At that moment -- the moment their rights were taken away -- Iranian women started protesting, and they have been a major force ever since. The movement culminated three years ago with the launch of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Some of the campaigners had been jailed, but not deterred.

More than 100 post-election protesters have been arrested for plotting to overthrow the regime -- the same bogus charge you faced. In your case, a tsunami of high-level international support hastened your release. Without global intervention, what will happen to these jailed demonstrators?

I'm very worried about them. I'm especially concerned about Kian Tajbakhsh, the Iranian-American who was in jail with me two years ago. Kian was freed a month after I was, but he opted to stay in Iran. For some reason the authorities have decided to go after him again. As far as I know, Kian has kept a low profile. They must be rehashing old charges, which is a worrisome development.

A number of the more than 100 people who are being put on trial are elite members of the Islamic Republic. They don't want to overthrow the regime, only to open up the system. I hope there will be serious international condemnation of this show trial. I hope the European Union will protest as a bloc.

Many Iranian expatriates would love to speak out against the mass trial, but they're afraid of endangering family and friends back home.

They can convey their fears, unhappiness, and concerns to their congressmen. Luckily, Iranians have representatives in Congress so our voices can be heard. At least, we hope our voices are heard.

In your beautifully written memoir, you said that two decades of authoritarian rule have turned a generation of students into outright revolutionaries. How convinced are you that the Green Wave is home grown, and not the work of foreign agents?

I'm 100 percent convinced the Green movement is home grown. First of all, it was an accidental movement. Mousavi was campaigning in the provinces when a young man came and put a green shawl around his neck. Mousavi thought the effect was beautiful, so he started wearing green, then his wife started wearing green, pretty soon everyone was wearing green. I truly don't believe this was a color revolution like the rose revolution of Georgia, or the orange revolution of Ukraine. This was a grassroots movement for one purpose only when it started -- to support Mousavi and get him elected the next president of Iran.

Yes, the Bush Administration allocated millions of dollars to promote democracy in Iran, but that effort failed. The people of Iran were upset about the money because they wanted change from within.

Students in Iran are surprisingly quiet right now.

They're scared. A mass trial will do that.

Every two or three years, there has been a wave of protests like this in Iran. But this time I think there has been a fundamental change. I don't know how the government is going to gain back its credibility. I'm stunned by the mass trial, which will hurt the regime more than they think it will.

In prison you wrote a children's book to keep from losing your mind. Tell me about the plot.

I wrote the book in my head, because I had no paper in my cell. It's the story of a fairy princess who was born in a castle, where she lives a beautiful life. Then one day she becomes lost in the woods, and stumbles upon many different animals. In the story, I describe her encounter with each animal. Her mother is a fairy, too, and a wonderful woman who watches over the princess throughout her journey. The story ends when the princess arrives back at the castle, bringing all of the animals with her. She puts them in a boat that looks a little like Noah's Ark, which she floats on a lake near the castle.

It was very soothing for me to write this story, because I could imagine telling it to my two granddaughters one day. This mental image kept me going.

After everything you've been through, do you still love Iran?

Yes, I love the mountains...the sea...the blue sky. I love my Iranian family. I love the Iranian people. Every country has good and evil people -- it's impossible to get through life without stumbling over evil people.

I wrote a book about my experience because I believe I would not have been arrested -- and the demonstrators would not be facing trial -- if the United States and Iran had diplomatic relations. It will be difficult to start this process now, because of recent developments. The Ahmadinejad regime does not have legitimacy inside Iran and as a result, they may feel too weak and vulnerable to sit at the negotiating table at this time.

Haleh at age six, wearing her first piece of "real" jewelry -- a brooch from her mother.

* * *

Haleh Esfandiari's memoir of her months spent in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison is called My Prison, My Home. It will be published on September 1st.

Diane Tucker's other posts on the situation in Iran can be read here, here, here, here, and here.

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Comments

[Aryamehr]

ZOROASTRIAN REPUBLIC OF IRAN
==========­==========­========

This is probably the best of time, when the young Iranian population should bring forth a revolution to transform Iran back into a Zoroastrian Republic.

Zoroastrian Persia was a civilization without parallel. Once Zoroastrian Persia/Iran ended in 7th century, Persia/Iran just became an ordinary country, a lost civilization, with no significance in the world.

It should take example from India and China, the Asian superpowers, on how to preserve the 5000 years old civilization in a continual way without getting subjugated.

It is observable how the Iranian population still follow, even now, the ancient way of their great Zoroastrian empires/ci­vilization­.

Once Iran becomes Zoroastrian Republic of Iran, the whole world will view it in a different way, in a unique way. Economics and politics will take a completely different turn towards the betterment of Iran, once again bringing Iran into the first ranks of civilization.

==========­==========­========
ZOROASTRIAN REPUBLIC OF IRAN

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

Today on Aljazeera.net: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he has no proof the leaders of the post-election violence in June were backed by foreign states. "I do not accuse the leaders of the recent incidents to be subordinate to the foreigners, like the United States and Britain, since this issue has not been proven for me."

Here's the link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/200982784942708215.html

NOW will the regime stop forcing phony confessions at the "show trial"?

[joabear]

Join us Saturdays in the park

From: www.mournfulmothers.blogfa.com

Iran’s Committee of Mournful Mothers is formed by mothers who have lost their children- killed, imprisoned or disappeared- during the peaceful demonstrations protesting the declared result of 10th presidential election on June 12th 2009.

The Committee of Mournful Mothers of Iran has publicly stated the following:

We, the Mourning Mothers of Iran are law-abiding citizens and will continue our civil rights struggle till the release of our Children and prosecution of all those responsible for the killing, disappearance and imprisonment of our children.
http://iranian.com/main/node/78447

[PresidentRobertBooth]

It doesn't really matter what the Iranians want.

It matters what the theocratic old men who rule the country want.

[breakfast]

I would assume, and hope, that most would prefer evolutionary change over revolutionary change. But when there is no sign of change being possible and when all the powers that be are aligned behind the status quo, and as the pressure builds for progress but none is allowed, then revolution comes, whether it be in Iran, or even in the USA.

[MARNIE2]

The Iranian govt ,ISLAMIC REGIME [LAWS] are written by old men [for] old men !
Islam can't move forward in the 21 century in fear of losing it's identity & control over women and their rights . God should never be about the [show] but the only HEART !

[Macready]

Thank you for this interview with Haleh Esfandiari . . . I agree the showtrial must be condemned . . . but more sanctions and force are not the answer . . . the evolution must and will come from within foreign intervention would only cause more harm to the protesters and their families and entrench the regime further . . . let the Iranian evolve their own path to greater internal freedom. Outside intervention only causes more harm . . . just look at what bringing US style democracy did to Iraq.

[Tavbash]

All paths for change or reform has been blocked by the regime. People have been murdered, imprisoned,raped, and disappeared from the face of the earth. If Iranian people were asking for change before, they are changing thier minds very quickly about where this movement should go. I won't be surprised if we start seeing different political groups start an armed uprising. The regime is falsly confident that they would win that kind of confrontation.

[joabear]

Senior Iranian cleric calls system a dictatorship

Ayatollah Montazeri:

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's most senior dissident cleric on Wednesday criticized the ruling system under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a dictatorship in the name of Islam, the most serious attack on the country's top official following the disputed presidential election.

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said the ruling system showed its true nature with the violent crackdown against the hundreds of thousands who protested President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election and the torture of detainees that led to at least three deaths.

"The biggest oppression ... is despotic treatment of the people in the name of Islam," Montazeri said in a written response to some 300 activists that was posted on his Web site. "I hope the responsible authorities give up the deviant path they are pursuing and restore the trampled rights of the people."



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran

[joabear]

Thank you Diane for shining a spotlight on Kian's plight.

Release Kian Tajbakhsh!
Those who love him are pained to see him used as a pawn in a power struggle
http://iranian.com/main/2009/aug/release-kian-tajbakhsh

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

If there's anyone out there who STILL doesn't believe these confessions are forced, boy oh boy, do I have the link for you. Saeed Hajjarian, a hero of Iran's reform movement who is partially paralyzed after an assassination attempt, was propped up in court yesterday, where he proceeded to renounce his entire career as a reformist.

The Ahmadinejad regime hits rock bottom? Here's the link, from ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8405369

[Etta Dickerson]

Thank you for posting this story. Surely they are all very tired and want the Revolution to grow into a painless Evolution. As much as it all looks staged to us, maybe the process is not so different as a Congressional Hearing here in the US has been known to be, especially on a sensitive or contentious issue..i think Iranians seek to accommodate the Clerics for the sake of more free expression in daily life, obviously. So important to keep sharing and shining the light on their brilliant and SPONTANEOUS example !!! Seriously, why is it so important to Ahmadinejad and friends to expose a "velvet revolution" that was cooked up? Because the reality speaks to change that would exclude him--he needs time to recast himself and i hope he is soon satisfied and ready to move forward with the Clerics in opening Iran to the rest of us so that we can enjoy our friends there without worry. Thank you, Daine. Best, ~etta

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi Etta,

RE: "Why is it so important to Ahmadinejad and friends to expose a velvet revolution?"

I've been told Ahmadinejad fears a velvet revolution more than a military attack. Why? Because under military attack, Iranians would unite against a common foe. But if a velvet revolution should take place, Ahmadinejad is out of a job.

Ironically, by not realizing the protesters were calling for reform, not revolution, Ahmadinejad seems to have accomplished what foreign governments could not: he's planted the seeds for a homegrown velvet revolution.

[joabear]

Ayatollah Khamenie:


Your request is being processed.­..



Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran Protests Not 'Foreign Backed'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/2009/08/27/iran-protests-not-foreign_1_ws_270184.html


White washing the Islamic Republic murderous behavior and likening it to ^^"Congressional hearing"** is not going to contribute to change from within.

If you like the regime to be toppled from within,

If you don't want Iran bombed in the next few years,

Please do not undermine the efforts of those who are trying so hard to fight these monsters. If you don't want Iran to be a democracy and to stay backward then continue your silence and your demoralizing comments.

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

Here is the latest on detained scholar and urban planner Kian Tajbakhsh. To no one's surprise, the government is putting silly words in his mouth:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104533&sectionid=351020101

[Dolmance]

They're all nuts.

[JerryLevy]

How would we know what the Iranians want---if they speak out they are arrested, killed, or disappeared. In fact, every election brings votes against the mullahs and in every election the mullahs disqualify thousands of candidates. Saying the Iranians want "evolution" is the blather of the intellectual chattering classes in Paris, London, Boston, New York, etc. During the cold war, many academics said the Russian and Eastern European people did not want capitalism but some sort of third way. They did not know this, but it was PC and enabled them to criticize the Russians but not support the west. It turns out they were very wrong and I would guess this academic is too.

[monelis]

Look what happened to Russia, from super power status to second-class citizens. They blindly without knowing too much about capitalism follow the theory like little sheep and today Russia is a disaster. No industry, no job, no future and Russia is the only country in the world that is losing population.

Iranian needs to take it easy with this so called (Evolution­/Revolutio­n) and for God’s sake they don't need to get a small hole and fall into Manhole.

[who38]

The problem is that most Americans have an attention span of 20 minutes; they cannot be expected to wait for evolution. The rest are ADD.

[DaveKimble]

Haleh Esfandiari certainly did more than see her elderly mother when she was visiting Iran. On the back cover of her book "Reconstructed Lives: Women and the Islamic Revolution" it reads : "Through a series of interviews with professional and working women in Iran - doctors, lawyers, writers, professors, secretaries, businesswomen - Haleh Esfandiari gathers telling accounts of what has happened to their lives as women in an Islamic society. She and her informants describe strategies by which women try to and sometimes succeed in subverting the state's agenda."

So she wasn't just visiting her mother, she was liaising with people who were subverting the state's agenda. This is what she was arrested for in 2007. In her video confession (which she later admitted was true) she admits as much. Her activities are entirely in line with the US administration's intention to foment regime change in Iran. Of course she wont admit it publicly. More at http://www.peakoil.org.au/news/index.php?esfandiari.htm

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

RE: "Her activities are entirely in line with the US administration's intention to foment regime change in Iran."

I don't agree with that statement, Dave, particularly the word "entirely.­" There's a difference between "cultural change from within" and "regime change."

Millions of women in Iran want their civil rights back. Can you blame them? That's why so many voted for Mr. Mousavi, who supports expanding women's rights. Voting doesn't subvert a state, it's a peaceful way to accomplish change from within.

[DaveKimble]

Women in Iran want their civil rights back, yes. But since when did the US administration care about the civil rights of the people in countries they manipulate ? Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan, for example. It is the utter hypocrisy of the "Freedom and Democracy" US Government that I take issue with. Esfandiari is exploiting the womens' rights issue in order to paint the clerical regime as out of touch and worthy of being overturned. It is her career. Do you think she would have a plush office on Pennsylvania Avenue if the Government didn't think she was worth it ?

Robin Wright, who works for Esfandiari at the Wilson Center, and Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, wrote this paper which show the real motives:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/Ning/archive/archive/108/usandiran.pdf
The U.S. and Iran: An Offer They Can't Refuse?

... Economically, Iran's gas reserves are second in the world, and its significant oil resources make it a pivotal player in the energy markets. Before the 1979 revolution, the United States was one of the Islamic Republic's top three trading partners---a relationship that supported thousands of U.S. jobs and $2.7 billion in annual export revenues for America .... Today, Iran represents a potentially important market for American goods and technology, particularly in the oil, aviation, and computer industries, ... Iran also offers some of the most economically viable transit routes for oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia and the Caucasus, now freed from Soviet control.

[Khirad]

This charge of foreign spies has been around since the Sassanid dynasty, possibly earlier. Of course, there is much legitimate reason to be paranoid, but it is also abused. To ignore that is to become a collaborator in spirit with the hardliners. Imagine this: you're Khamenei, you see another authentic movement for change [and after Khatami, 2003, you don't want to let that to grow again] that may ultimately threaten your favored camp's mandate [regardless of who won or not]. Since the IRI constitution gives the right to have free associations and public demonstrations (ostensibly) - UNLESS they threaten the principle of velayat-e faqih, or "Islam" - what would you charge them with for expediency's sake? In this case, the state's agenda is to subvert women's rights, so what of organizing to subvert their extreme interpretation of shari'a in return?

Damascus has been a pilgrimage, not for Zaynad, but the departure site for massive brain drain. Perhaps anyone coming back is either homesick, crazy, or must be a spy; after all, those who can, often leave. There's a twisted, self-aware reasoning in that, from the Mollahs. This story just doesn't happen to high-profile Iranians.

According to some of the logic in the article, Mossadegh, because he had Qajar blood and exiled himself abroad, would today be considered a spy. Blaming everything on others is easy; looking yourself in the mirror takes true courage -- accountability Khamenei-nejad have largely proved unable to demonstrate.

[Khirad]

Clarification: I was referring to a particular baseless accusation of an ancient spy, not referring to those of the Greco-Persian Wars during the Achaemenids or later. Merely referring to populations held in suspicion. One of those great key indicators of what kind of state?

[wereeverywhere]

"She and her informants describe strategies by which women try to and sometimes succeed in subverting the state's agenda."

Good for her. What rational Iranian woman wouldn't be subverting the state's agenda? What would you call someone who sides with the reactionary IRI and attacks political dissenters who face prison and torture?

[Khirad]

That was what my long-winded comment was trying to get at. Typical pretzel-logic article - it leaves out more than it 'alludes' to nefariously.

"The idea that the world of politics revolves only through the agency of plots and conspiracies is dangerously misleading"
- Michael Axworthy, Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran.

[joabear]

Thank you. Anyone with any decency would want Iranian women to subvert the medieval Islamic Republic of Oppression. Can you blame them for not wanting to be stoned to death? Can you blame them for not wanting to be married off at 9-years old to men much older than themselves??

Can you blame them for not wanting to be considered as half a human being?

Can you blame them for not wanting their husband to marry or have sexual affairs in form of sigheh with other women??