Iranian Teachers’ Representative Hashem Khastar;s outcry from Mashhad Prison: Is there anything other than dictatorship that is common between the Qajar, Pahlavi, and Khomeini regimes?
According to the Iranian Human Rights Society, on Monday, October 2, 2023. Political prisoner and representative of Iranian teachers Hashem Khastar sent a message from Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. In his message, he first writes: “Oh God, these Islamic rulers want to break my resistance in any way possible and force me to surrender with all kinds of pressures. Help me to either die with dignity in prison or be released from prison by the heroic Iranian nation.”
He then writes about the crisis in Iran: “Today, the country is in the midst of a crisis. And also in the five years that I am in prison, the crises spreaded so much that anything is possible to unravel the Islamic Republic’s scheme.”
A part of Hashem Khastar’s letter (not full text)
Today, country is in the midst of a crisis and in the five years that I have been in prison. Crises have expanded to such an extent that anything is possible and the Islamic Republic’s blueprint could unravel. These crises are the product of Mr. Khomeini’s deception. Initially, he approved a draft constitution that did not mention the principle of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist .
And respected freedom of expression and parties.However, with the strengthening of committees, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Islamic Republic Party, instead of the founders’ parliament, he created the Assembly of Experts, which became the basis for the dictatorship of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, just as the Shah’s dictatorship was the basis for the constitution.
In response to a Lebanese journalist’s question about the difference between his pre- and post-revolutionary statements. Mr. Khomeini candidly admitted that he had deceived people. One of those deceptions was that after the revolution, clergy would not have executive roles in government. And would remain in mosques, but that did not happen.
Hashem Khastar said: I apologize for my previous behavior
Dictatorship means unlimited power that brings corruption, which has no precedent in the history of Iran. To refute my words (that it is not a dictatorship), have they ever criticized the performance of Mr. Khomeini and Khamenei in these 44 years in the Iranian media? So that not only do I remain silent, but also apologize for my previous behavior and declare that the most freedoms and the best democracies are in this Islamic Republic.
Oh God…!
Islamic rulers want to break my resistance by any means necessary and also with all kinds of pressures and force me to surrender. Help me either die with dignity in prison or be freed by the heroic people of Iran.
Hashem Khastar, representative of Iranian teachers
Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad
Mehr 1402 (September/October 2023)
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