Iranian Activist Dr. Farhad Meysami
Iranian activist Dr. Farhad Meysami, who has been imprisoned since July 2018, has written an open letter from Evin prison denouncing Trump’s policies and sanctions against Iran. In early December the US State Department issued a statement demanding the release of Dr. Meysami. In his letter he calls Trump’s sanctions on Iran “inhumane” and adds that these sanctions “have thrown millions of Iranians into poverty”.
Below you can find part of Dr. Meysami’s open letter denouncing Trump’s Iran policy and withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. In another part of his letter Dr. Meysami criticizes the Iranian judiciary system and talks about the injustices he has experienced in his case with the judiciary. According to his lawyer Dr. Meysami was on hunger strike for 145 days. He recently ended his strike. The full Farsi text of the letter is available here.
Part of Dr. Farhad Meysami’s Open Letter:
I was flipping through the papers when I saw an article which shocked me to my core! Apparently, the Trump administration’s Department of State had called for my freedom! I wondered how there can be any possible correlation between “Trump’s State Department”, “Freedom”, and myself.
Before his appointment, Mike Pompeo (Trump’s Secretary of State) had been a strong advocate of the “Bomb Iran!” campaign.
Now, how can a system with such perspective about the concept of “freedom”, be in any way related to the perspective and understanding I have about the concept of “freedom” and I am only one individual among thousands and thousands of Iranians who would die for their beloved Iran.
I would much rather spend all my life imprisoned by a group of my oppressive and ignorant compatriots and try to correct their wrongdoing through reformist action, than to spend a second submitting to the shame and disgrace of support from those who did not follow through with their obligations and withdrew from the rational and peaceful Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) against all principles of morality and international law, and re-imposed inhumane sanctions which have thrown millions of my fellow Iranians into poverty; Especially while I know with certainty that had my country’s rulers given them a share in the theft and destruction of our national resources, they would have easily closed their eyes on not only the imprisonment, but even they would be OK with them butchering and dismemberment of dozens of activists like myself with a bonesaw.
Perhaps it would be more appropriate for us, the nation of Iran, to wish for the “freedom” and “liberation” of the great nation of the United States from this catastrophic reign of ignorance, and hope for their return to the previous period of reason and rationality; As the continuity of this situation is not only disastrous for our two nations, but brings damage and destruction to humanity as a whole.
Of course, I am and have always been thankful for the support from true believers in human rights (both inside and outside Iran); And continue to owe a great deal to both sincere individual activists and genuine legal entities which have put effort into this issue. However, I’d like to ask people like Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton to save their crocodile tears to themselves.
Translation prepared by Parsa Albeheshti.