THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 84, April 13, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DISSIDENT WATCH: AHMED BATEBI
By Suzanne Gershowitz
THE IRANIAN POLITICAL REGIME OF HARD-LINE ISLAMISTS -- TYRANNICAL RULE, MISTREATMENT & ABUSE OF DISSIDENTS,
& VIOLENT SUPPRESSION OF THE INCREASINGLY POPULAR MOVEMENT FOR ESTABLISHING FREEDOM & THE RULE OF LAW IN
IRAN: IS THERE ANY REALISTIC HOPE FGR DEMOCRATIC & CONSTITUTIONAL POLITICAL REFORM IN IRAN?
FULL STORY:
On July 7, 1999, the Iranian government banned the popular reformist daily Salam. The next evening, students at Tehran
University staged a peaceful demonstration against regime censorship. In the early morning hours of July 9, hard-line vigilantes,
backed by Iranian police, attacked the students' dormitory, beating many and killing at least one. In the days that followed, students
across the country poured into the streets, demonstrating for freedom and rule-of-law. The international press descended on Tehran.
"Student Protests Shake Iran's Government," The New York Times headlined. [1] "Iranians Oppose Hard-Liners; Thousands
of Students Demand Resignation of Ayatollah," The Washington Post declared. [2] The most famous image of the protests
came from The Economist, [3] its cover featuring a photo of 21-year-old Ahmad Batebi, waving the bloody shirt of a brutalized
peer.
In the ensuing crackdown, Iranian authorities targeted Batebi, whom The Economist had transformed into a potent symbol of
the Iranian freedom movement. Thrown in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, Batebi was condemned to death for soiling the Islamic
Republic's image. [4] His sentence was later reduced to fifteen years in prison.
Batebi is an unlikely hero, thrust into the spotlight by chance, rather than design. "Whether I want it or not, I am in prison as a
representative of the student movement, and I will have to carry this burden as honorably as I can," he told a reporter during a brief
furlough. "There is not a second that I don't wish I was a free man." [5] Batebi's furlough did not last long. Iranian security returned
him to prison, after he spoke with a United Nations human rights envoy. [6]
Batebi has suffered in prison. His lungs have deteriorated, and he has lost some eyesight and hearing as a result of prison beatings.
In an open 1999 letter, he complained:
"They beat my head and abdominal area with soldiers' shoes … [They] held me under [a drain full
of excrement] for so long I was unable to breathe and the excrement was inhaled through my nose
and seeped into my mouth." [7]
After suffering abuse and torture at the hands of the Islamic Republic, the once-religious Batebi has begun to question his faith.
"I learned that I have to depend on myself and no other power to survive." [8]
President George W. Bush has given rhetorical support to Iranian reformers. Speaking before the National Endowment for
Democracy, in November, 2003, Bush said:
"In Iran, the demand for democracy is strong and broad … The regime in Teheran must heed the
democratic demands of the Iranian people, or lose its last claim to legitimacy." [9]
A gap exists between rhetoric and policy, though. Tim Guldimann, the Swiss ambassador who, between 1999 and 2004, represented
U.S. interests in Tehran, has said he did not meet a single dissident during his tenure. Nor have U.S. State Department officials
publicly called for Batebi's release.
There is, nevertheless, some hope for democratic change in Iran. Half of Iran's population is between 15 and 24. Born after the
Islamic revolution, and too young to remember the Iran-Iraq war, this satellite television generation is inclined toward systematic
change. [10] For this generation, Batebi — imprisoned for having his picture taken while demanding democracy — is a cause
célèbre. Unclear, though, is whether Washington will take up his plight.
NOTES:
[1] July 11, 1999.
[2] July 11, 1999.
[3] July 13, 1999.
[4] Azad website, Dec. 11, 1999, in BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, Dec. 13, 1999.
[5] The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2003.
[6] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Nov. 21, 2003.
[7] "Iran: The Case of Ahmed Batebi," Amnesty International, accessed Dec. 24, 2004.
[8] The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2003.
[9] George W. Bush, remarks at the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2003.
[10] The National Review Online, May 25, 2004.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
The Threat of Radical Islam
War & Peace in the Real World
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Suzanne Gershowitz is a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute. The foregoing article by Gershowitz was originally
published in the Middle East Quarterly, Winter, 2005, and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the
Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
April 5, 2005
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