More documents about the story of Mr. Boroujerdi |
Amnesty International USA Some Professors and Lawyers (From Iran) United Nations Human Rights Council Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) DW Duke Voice of America Pajamas Medias Politics Central Kenneth R. Timmerman, Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize Nazanin Afshin-Jam Rebecca Witonsky Democratic Republic of Iran Union of Persian Students and Human Rights Activists in Exile Radio Free Europe IRAN PRESS SERVICE The Constitutionalist Party of Iran (CPI) Iran Press News United Nation Human Rights Watch Qantara (Is funded by the German Foreign Office) Open Democracy Christian Forums Appeal to World Oganizations and United Nations Human Rights CouncilDefenders of Human Rights |
Some Professors and Lawyers from Iran (From Iran) March, 2009 In a country where speaking against the political and religious establishment is punishable by persecution, imprisonment, torture and death, one man has consciously stood up and fought for what he believes are basic human rights, despite the dire consequences this has had for his life, the lives of his family, and those who share his views (please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiVOiHWOq0g). What is noteworthy about him and what distinguishes him from many others is that being a prominent cleric himself he has rejected offers from political and religious authorities who have asked him to give up his views in exchange for a seat in the parliament or other high ranking positions. As a cleric in a theocratic republic, he has stood up and fought against the politicization of religion, its abuses, speaking for the separation of religion from the political body. Against the background of religious persecutions, he has honored and fought for the rights of religious minorities- Sunnis, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Baha'is- their freedom to hold and follow their beliefs, free of oppression and torment. He has formally recognized their religious holidays by publicly announcing and sending congratulations and honors (please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK7zl5vn6Yg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8fHDpRnjRQ) . He has taken arms against Anti-Semiticism, publicly referring to the Jewish people as his brothers, in a country where political leaders do not believe in the right of As a man in a patriarchal society, he has stood up and fought for the rights of women, publicly recognizing and praising their significance and vital role in the social body. He has been the voice, shouting in the streets, representing the rights of those who have lost theirs to persecution; stoning, flagellation, and execution (please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoU1ctE81Og). He has developed and established numerous charitable organizations throughout Recognizing the presence of millions of Muslims around the world, he stresses the importance of promoting peaceful interpretations of the Quran. Distinguishing between what he believes reflects real Islam from its abuses; he speaks against any justification of violence in the name of religion. In this he stands in opposition to terrorist organizations that politicize the Islamic faith, leading to a radical Islam as a means to an end. He stands as a powerful voice against interpretations of the Holly Quran that justify violent acts, and promotes spirituality and personal experiences of the Divine devoid of intermediaries. He speaks against dogmatic religions and ideological stances, promoting an arena where differences of religion and opinion can peacefully exist side by side in respect and openness. In the same manner that atomic energy has been misused for destructive means, religion, he says, too has been misused in destructive rather than creative and constructive ways. In his efforts he has called out to international organizations and prominent leaders around the globe to support him in his efforts (please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaX_rdRIr_U and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNGBotdzEwY). He has challenged those in power in his own country to debates on television, and written several books on freedom and religion some of which have been banned from publication. He has been interviewed by various international media, and worked to organize a referendum in the name of freedom and democracy. For his beliefs, efforts, and activities Mr. Boroujerdi has been detained and thrown in prison, where he has been held since 2006 (please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdImhH4uhiQ). While in prison he has suffered through solitary confinement and unspeakable tortures, resulting in cardiac arrest, heart disease, kidney disease, severe Parkinson disease as a result of repeated and severe beatings to the head, and various other ailments. From inside his prison walls he still speaks of peace and human rights when allowed to make phone calls (please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQozom7ytI). His mother and father have also been killed, his son detained and tortured to the point of madness, his wife detained and hence suffering from permanent brain injury, not to mention a stroke, his belongings confiscated and taken away, all because his efforts towards human rights and democracy, the number of people it has inspired and moved to action, presents a real threat to the establishment. To allow Mr. Boroujerdi's voice to be extinguished, is to also silence the voice of all those whom he has stood up for and all those who share his belief in human rights, in freedom of thought, religion, and speech. He has stood up where many have been silenced in fear, and in doing so has given much the courage to stand up behind him. Abusing religious beliefs of society is one of the tricks that are used by religious dictators to restrict political, economical, and spiritual freedoms and to spoil their rights and to convince people about his injustice and violence. This happen as they present religious beliefs, then they conclude in the ways that their benefits to be provided. It means they present their personal purposes as they are on behalf of God. Then they impose them on the society. So, any opposition and comment are interpreted as opposition to God; therefore, they give themselves rights to suppress people. Unfortunately, as it is seen in the past and present history, many people accept this kind of injustices and do not defend their and others rights because they know any protesting and comment as a sin and against and unrespectable to religious beliefs. One of the important and effective acts of Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi is clarification of religious learning. Mr. Boroujerdi, as a well-known cleric, and his books, papers, preaches, interviews and statements have had deep effects on mind and thought of the society. Another reason of Human Rights violation that is a big barrier to reach to universal peace is religious and racial prejudices. He believes from historic times, successful races and nations in past times were not followers or dependant on special opinion or religion. In other words, every nation and race has had its own way of the welfare and we cannot consider any religion or opinion as a factor of humans welfare. Unfortunately, so many humans have encountered difficulty of religious and opinion prejudices. They know their own religion and opinion as the only way of the welfare. So, this kind of thoughts, in many cases is the basis for attack to other nations and to disregard their rights. This problem in ideological regimes such as |
May 20, 2010 On 3 June 2009, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal together with the Chairperson- Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment regarding Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi. Mr. Boroujerdi was the subject of a joint urgent appeal sent by the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health on 30 August 2007, and of a joint urgent appeal sent by the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture on 20 December 2006. The Special Rapporteurs acknowledged receipt of the Governments response dated 12 February 2008. According to the information received: Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in 2007. There are reports that he has been subjected to torture and ill-treatment since his arrest and that he has been reportedly denied adequate treatment for Parkinson's Disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, asthma and a heart condition. He has been held in solitary confinement since 27 January 2009. Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi is an advocate for democratic elections in Iran. On 1 May, he wrote a letter to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, requesting that international observers be sent to Iran, in an effort to assist the Iranian people in holding an open referendum. As a result, he was subjected to beatings on 5 May 2009 and began a hunger strike. Since that day, he has been deprived of family visits, phone calls and communication with his lawyer. 478. In view of his reported conditions of detention, including solitary confinement, the reported beatings he suffered from, and the denial of medical treatment, concern is expressed for Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi's physical and mental integrity. Further concerns are expressed that the reported beatings and denial of further family visits and access to legal counsel represent reprisals for addressing by letter the Secretary-General of the United Nations. |
July 3, 2007 Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeyni Borujerdi has been a vocal advocate of the separation of religion from politics. However, he's known only to a limited number of followers and people who follow developments in Iran and is not considered to be an influential ayatollah. Unconfirmed reports on Iranian websites suggested that Iran's Special Court for the Clergy (SCC) in mid-June ordered the executions. Borujerdi has been in jail for the past nine months, but his strident argument to secularize political leadership in Iran has long upset the country's ruling clerics. Iranian and international concerns grew after the reports hinted that Borujerdi and sympathizers had been found guilty of serious charges including "waging war against God" and sentenced to die. Semiofficial news agencies soon ran stories quoting at least one unnamed official from the special clerics' court rejecting the reports, saying no sentence has been issued and officials are still reviewing the case. Borujerdi was arrested at his Tehran home on October 8 along with more than 100 of his sympathizers after violent clashes with police forces. Most of his followers were later released, many on bail. But Borujerdi remains in jail, with little information available about his condition. 'Very Worrying' Borujerdi, like many other political and prisoners of conscience detained at Tehran's Evin prison, has reportedly been denied contact with his family and prevented access to legal counsel. Reports say the ayatollah was not allowed to see his mother, who fell ill and died during his detention. Abdolkarim Lahidji is vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights, which allies more than 100 groups in scores of countries. He says he heard reports that Borujerdi who appeared before the clerical court in June appeared frail, and could neither speak clearly nor stand upright. "We have been informed by his family that the health condition of Kazemeyni Borujerdi is very worrying," Lahidji says. "He suffers from Parkinson's disease, what has added to his family's concerns that he's been denied treatment meaning that they take him to court in this situation, they treat him badly, they take him to court with handcuffs and shackles." Amnesty International said on June 15 that there are increasing concerns that Borujerdi's treatment in custody is endangering his life. The group added that there are allegations that the ayatollah who is also said to suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems was tortured during interrogations. Thorn In Officials' Sides: Several days before his arrest, Borujerdi told RFE/RL that he had been under increased government pressure. He also said that authorities had threatened him with execution. In October, Borujerdi said that authorities had targeted him for what he regards as his traditional interpretation of Islam. "I demonstrate that real Islam is free of political ornaments," Borujerdi said. "It is included in verses whose interpretation is different from that provided by [the authorities]. Its interpretation is from 1,428 years ago. It is about the rule of the Prophet (Muhammad) and how he lived; he was against repression and opposed discrimination. Our divine leaders took food from their mouths and the mouths of their children to give it to the poor. Today, unfortunately, despite the immense wealth of this country, people live in poverty." Borujerdi's view on the secularization transferring power from clerical to civil control could be interpreted as challenging the foundations of the Islamic republic established after Iran's 1979 revolution. Iranian authorities have accused Borujerdi of misinterpreting Islam. Some have also accused him of claiming to be a representative of the Twelfth Imam know as "the Hidden Imam" who Shi'a believe disappeared in the 10th century. Borujerdi has rejected such accusations and claimed he follows "the true Islam." Difficult To Know: Some reports by Iranian news sources suggest the ayatollah and some 20 of his followers were charged with "acting against national security," "waging war against God," and publicly calling Iran's form of "absolute rule of supreme jurisprudence" ("velayate vagih") unlawful. The International Federation of Human Rights' Lahidji says a lack of transparency by Iran's judiciary and the clerics' court makes it impossible to confirm reports of the charges or possible sentencing. He thinks Borujerdi and his followers are being tried and persecuted for their convictions. "Kazemeyni Borujerdi is in favor of non-political Islam, and he's been in prison for more than nine months," Lahidji says. "He and his followers were arrested only because of their ideas ??? they're in prison under very difficult conditions, [and] their families are worried and say they have been mistreated to force them to make televised confessions." Lahidji urged authorities immediately to reverse any sentences against Borujerdi or his followers, whom he describes as "prisoners of conscience." |
(A well-known writer, human rights activist and President of International Children???s Aid and legal counsel to Stop Child Executions) December 15, 2008 The Tragic Story of Ayatollah Boroujerdi : It is unfortunate that the western world has such a negative image of people of the Muslim faith. To most Americans and Europeans the notion of Islam embodies an extreme religion of violence and human rights abuses. Yet, we hear it said that Islam is a religion of peace and that the Islamic extremists we see in Iran and other nations where Shariah law is enforced do not represent the true Islamic faith. Many ask Where are these peaceful Muslim leaders? Why do we never hear about them? Do they really exist In fact they do. One such Islamic leader is Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi who today is held captive in a prison in Yazd in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi is a Shi'a Muslim cleric who supports the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion in Iran. He believes that the government should not be controlled by religion. Thus, he supports the separation of government from the dominance of Islam. Ayatollah Boroujerdi believes that the repressive government of Iran, which purports to exist under the rules of Islam, is not true Islam at all. According to Ayatollah Boroujerdi true Islam is a religion of tolerance, mercy and compassion which is the opposite of the religion of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ayatollah Boroujerdi is the son of Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Kazemeini Boroujerdi who died under suspicious circumstances in an Iranian prison in 2002. His father was one of the leading religious leaders of Iran in the Pahlavi government and published over thirty books. He was widely respected in the western world as well as in Iran and he refused to support Ayatollah Khamenei's efforts to establish the Islamic regime in 1979. As a result of his refusal of support he was persecuted and imprisoned in an Iranian prison where he eventually died. The younger Ayatollah Boroujerdi became openly critical of human rights abuses of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1994. For over a decade he spoke to his supporters about the need to peacefully promote their views and he is opposed to violence in any form. On October 7, 2006 Ayatollah Boroujerdi was arrested along with many of his supporters who had gathered at his home. Although no crime had been committed, witnesses say that they were incarcerated and subjected to torture in section 209 of Evin Prison. The government of Iran has not provided any information concerning his prosecution and conviction. In a special clerical court, without representation by legal counsel, Ayatollah Boroujerdi was initially sentenced to death but due to appeals and international pressure, the sentence was changed to eleven years of imprisonment ten of which are to be in exile in Yazd. Ayatollah Boroujerdi was then coerced, under threat of torture, to give a statement in which he was forced to confess to acts he did not commit. This forced confession was televised nationally in Iran in an attempt to humiliate Ayatollah Boroujerdi and others who share his belief in the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. Since his incarceration in the Iranian prison Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been brutally tortured resulting in serious injury to his vital organs. He has been repeatedly refused medical treatment by his captors and his family and supporters have also undergone torture. His wife has been brought into his prison cell and forcibly raped in his presence. He and his family have been victims of incomprehensible cruelty at the hands of this tyrannical regime. Ayatollah Boroujerdi has committed no crime. He is a peaceful man who does not advocate violence nor does he threaten the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in any way though he supports the separation of religion from government. All he has done is to advocate for the unalienable right of the individual to hold personal religious beliefs and to exercise freedom of speech. For this he has been subjected to imprisonment and torture under continuous threat of execution. Article 56 of the United Nations Charter requires that all member nations pledge to "take joint and separate action in cooperation with the Organization (UN) for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55." Article 55 includes several paragraphs most notably here "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." Article 18 Section 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, provides that: 1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. Article 19, Sections 1 and 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide that: 1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. 2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides in pertinent part: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been denied his rights under each of the above referenced Articles and sections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He has been arrested held in confinement and tortured because of his beliefs and for expressing his views on political matters. On September 24, 2007 Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke in the United States at Columbia University. In response to the introduction from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, President Ahmadinejad said the following: I think the text read by the dear gentleman here, more than addressing me, was an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here, present here. In a university environment we must allow people to speak their mind, to allow everyone to talk so that the truth is eventually revealed by all." "Certainly he took more than all the time I was allocated to speak, and that's fine with me. We'll just leave that to add up with the claims of respect for freedom and the freedom of speech that's given to us in this country. In his words, which have been communicated to billions of people throughout the world, President Ahmadinejad expressed his belief in the freedom of speech and the right of people to speak their mind. Yet, within the nation of Iran people are arrested and tortured for speaking their mind. Now the world is watching to see if Iran will live up to the high standard set by these words of the President Ahmadinejad. Will Iran release Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who has done nothing more than exercise his right to speak his mind, as President Ahmadinejad said, so that truth is eventually revealed by all. What can you do to help free Ayatollah Boroujerdi? If you would like to show your support of this victim of the Iranian terror machine, you may sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/Maat2/petition.html The United Nations has been requested to investigate this case and to assure that Ayatollah Boroujerdi is provided the needed medical attention. If we join efforts to support the release of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, the leaders of Iran will take note. While it may seem a futile effort, it is important to bear in mind that Iran seeks to become a member of the international community. The embarrassment brought about by these abuses when publicized will ultimately compel the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release this honorable man and his supporters. |
November 17, 2006 President George W. Bush calls Iran a "nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite" It is clear from the clerical regime's treatment of Ayatollah Montazeri, Ayatollah Boroujerdi and Hosjjatoleslam Qedimi that the hostages include members of Iran's clergy as well. Before his arrest, Ayatollah Boroujerdi said he believed "people were tired of political religion and they want to return to traditional religion." He said he had written letters to Pope Benedict the Sixteenth, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana complaining of harassment by the Iranian authorities. |
October 8, 2006 The Mullahs' Massacre on the Road to Qom: The news has finally caught up with the ongoing saga of the Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, who has been challenging the legitimacy of the Iranian mullahcracy for many years. Both he and his father who died 4 years ago, and whose grave has been desecrated refused to embrace the Khomeinist doctrine that only a Shiite sage was fit to govern the Islamic Republic. The Boroujerdis retained the traditional Shiite view the one famously held by Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq that clerics should stay out of government and tend to their flock. Anyone who acts against the most fundamental doctrine of the Iranian clerical fascist state is going to have a lot of trouble, and Ayatollah Boroujerdi has had plenty of it. He has been in and out of prison, and repeatedly in front of the Special Court for the Clergy, since 1994. According to Amnesty International, he has reportedly developed heart and kidney problems as a result of torture. His latest round of defiance seems to have started in late June, when he preached to a large crowd in a Tehran sports stadium. A month later, on July 30th, the secret police came to his house, apparently to arrest him. But they found that he was protected by scores of supporters, so they arrested some of them instead. According to Amnesty, one of them had a heart attack and was moved to a nearby hospital. And another said that he was arrested at his home and dragged off to three weeks of solitary confinement and daily threats. They tried again on August 3rd, and were again driven off by his defenders. A month later, Boroujerdi was visited by a government agent, and a tape recording of that conversation has been smuggled out of Iran. It was made available to me by Banafsheh Zand Bonazzi, a leading Iranian-American activist who lives in New York City. The security agent told the Ayatollah that he, too, was a religious man, having attended a seminary after the revolution. He says that his visit is a kind of courtesy call, offering Boroujerdi the chance to surrender in a civilized way and then face trial. There is no escape possible, he says, for one way or another Boroujerdi will face charges of insulting the government and the clerisy, and perhaps even having been an accomplice to murder. Boroujerdi will have none of this. He says that he has already prepared himself for martyrdom (and indeed when he was arrested on Sunday, he was wearing a funeral shroud). He tells the agent that he has already suffered a heart attack, and that he will now contact the foreign press. This enrages the agent, who warns Boroujerdi that no place will be safe for him, even the mosque. He brags that Boroujerdi's father was murdered, and says that he doesn't give a damn about the foreign press, which he calls meaningless. Boroujerdi did indeed contact the media, but you may have noticed there wasn't much coverage until the past few days. Amnesty's press release was dated October 3rd, and there was little coverage of it. He also wrote to such world leaders as Kofi Annan and Javier Solana, to their apparent indifference. The secret police came again for Boroujerdi on the morning of September 28th, again found he was defended, and again dragged off many of his supporters. In its press release five days later, Amnesty demonstrated its celebrated droll sense of humor, writing that there are fears that the Ayatollah may be at risk of imminent arrest. But at least they wrote. Boroujerdi was dragged off to his destiny on Sunday, in a dramatic confrontation that involved thousands of demonstrators, some in Tehran, and some on the road to Qom, where many of the country's most prestigious religious schools and scholars are located. The official news media reported that more than two hundred supporters were arrested at the house in Tehran, but this is the least of it. Two Iranian friends in Europe, and one in the United States, have received reports that speak of more than seven hundred people murdered on the road to Qom. If that, or anything approaching it, is true, it testifies to two important facts. The first is the truly vicious and totalitarian nature of this regime, which will stop at nothing to silence any sign of criticism from the Iranian people. Somebody should tell Richard Armitage about this, since he has yet to announce any second thoughts about his infamous claim that Iran is a kind of democracy. The second fact is widely, in fact compulsively, denied by a plethora of self-proclaimed experts on Iran. And that is the bravery of Iranians who wish to be free to practice their religion and politics as they see fit, rather than as their tyrants insist. Thousands of people stood up to the regimes killers, in defense of a solitary mullah whose crime was to preach traditional Shiite values. That's a major event, especially because Islam is not very popular these days in Iran. Just a couple of months ago an Iranian ayatollah told me that it was not unusual to find the central mosque in major cities like Shiraz and Tabriz virtually empty for Friday prayers. He said that a grand total of five people had shown up in Tabriz one Friday. I doubt most of those poor souls were protecting Boroujerdi out of religious conviction. I think most of them were using his protest to challenge the regime for political reasons, because they wish to be free. There are tens of millions of these people, awaiting their moment and searching for their leaders. If thousands risked their lives for an unpopular cause simply because it was a way to stick their thumbs in the mullahs??? eyes, imagine how many would take similar risks if they received the political support we have been promising, but failing to deliver, for so many years now. UPDATE: I am now being told that the death figure is way too high, as I rather expected, and the most recent details also confirm my suspicion that a lot of the demonstrators of whom there were indeed many thousands, both in Tehran and on the road to Qom were not just defending a popular Ayatollah. Most of the people on the highway were protesting the skyrocketing inflation that has taken place under Ahmadi-Nezhad. The regular security forces (revolutionary guards) were unable to clear the road, since people from various town joined the original protest. There was a very violent confrontation when RG special units were called in. Hundreds were arrested, many are hospitalized, including five RGs, who are in critical condition. I'll have more accurate death figures in another day or two, but I wanted to make this correction quickly. |
(He was nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize by former Swedish deputy Prime Minister Per Ahlmark.) July 18, 2007 Jailed Iranian Cleric Appeals to Pope PARIS -- A senior Iranian cleric, jailed for opposing the Islamic regime in Iran, has appealed to the Pope in a letter smuggled out of Iran by his supporters and made available to NewsMax. "Time is running out for me as I have been sentenced to death," wrote Ayatollah Hossein Kazemini Borujerdi in the letter, obtained this week from sources close to the jailed cleric in Europe. "This is my last plea for help." In addition to the Pope, Borujerdi addressed his appeal to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the president of the European Parliament and to international human rights organizations, asking them to intervene with the Iranian authorities to prevent his execution. Borujerdi was placed under house arrest in July 2006 after addressing a massive gathering of his followers inside Iran. Last October, anti-riot troops stormed his family compound, using water cannons to overpower demonstrators who had gathered in his defense. He was then taken to Section 209 of Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, which is reserved for political prisoners. Since then, he has been beaten and tortured repeatedly, supporters in Europe told NewsMax. He has been denied the right to a lawyer or visitation rights. The senior cleric fell afoul of the authorities for refusing to acknowledge the role of Islam in politics, and for speaking out against the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, absolute clerical rule. In his letter, he called the Iranian regime "unlawful." In a clear attack on Iran's ruling clerics, he wrote, "People who use religion for their own benefits and create their own rules are blasphemous and are destroying the people's belief in their God." Borujerdi belongs to the "quiestist" school of Shia Islam, which rejects the role of Islam in government. Associates say he has received support from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq, and from Grand Ayatollah Sadegh Rouhani, who has been under house arrest in Qom, Iran since 1986 for similarly rejecting the authority of the Islamic regime. Iran's Shiite clergy remains divided between a militant school, headed originally by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the quiestists. Both groups supported the revolution against the Shah in 1978-1979, but they parted ways when Khomeini seized power and established a government ruled by unelected clerics. Over the past 28 years, most senior ayatollahs who opposed the regime have been confined to house arrest and have seldom spoken in public. Borujerdi is the first senior cleric to be actually jailed since 1979, when Khomeini locked up rival Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari. Shariatmadari's son, Hassan, today lives in Germany. Shortly after Borujerdi's arrest, he told the Persian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that many of Iran's top clerics reject any role of religion in politics, but have lacked Borujerdi's courage to attack the regime in public. "Ayatollah Borujerdi has expressed the demand for the separation of religion from politics very openly to a wide audience and with boldness," Hassan Shariatmadari said. "This is something that the establishment doesn't like." Borujerdi was condemned to death last month by the Special Court for the Clergy during a closed hearing without witnesses that lasted just several hours. He was accused of speaking against the Quran, making up a false god, speaking against the Iranian government, holding illegal gatherings, and other crimes. Supporters of the jailed cleric in Europe told NewsMax that the allegations were "an excuse to cover up what the regime wants to do to him." His execution was originally scheduled for June 25, but the regime put it off after protests from U.S.-based human rights organizations. In his letter, Borujerdi said he wanted human rights organizations to visit Iran "to see for themselves how people are being forced to live." He asked that they be allowed to get involved in the judicial proceedings against him "to hear for themselves how I am being treated." The jailed cleric said that he and his family had been tortured since October 2006. "The torture in Evin Prison was unbearable," he wrote. "I was under the regime's sharp razor." The Iranian authorities have stepped up repression in recent months, cracking down on women demonstrators, students, and visiting Iranian-American scholars. On July 10, armed thugs abducted well-known labor leader Mansoor Osanloo as he stepped off a bus in Tehran, shouting to passersby that he was "an enemy of Islam." In northern Iran, a man convicted of adultery was condemned to death by stoning, a particularly barbaric punishment. Hassan Daioleslam, an independent Iranian-American scholar, believes the regime is stepping up human rights abuses as a negotiating tactic with the West, in hopes of getting Western sanctions lifted. "In a nutshell, the message we're hearing from the regime's lobby is that the more the West pressures the regime, the more violent it becomes," Daioleslam told NewsMax. "Hence, lift the pressure" and the abuses will stop. |
(An Iranian-Canadian Human Rights Activist, President and Co-Founder of Stop Child Executions, Singer, Songwriter, model, actress, pilot, former Miss World Canada and Miss World 1st runner up.) December 04, 2008 I am back from London where I had 4 days of jam packed meetings on the situation of Iran's human rights condition. I spoke on women's rights in Iran, at Porticullis House in the Houses of Parliament in London, on a panel launching Tahirih Danesh and Geoffrey Cameron's report called " 'A revolution without rights? Women, Kurds and Baha'is searching for equality in Iran'. It was organized by the Foreign Policy Center and speakers included UK Member of Parliament Mike Gapes, Baroness Afshar OBE, Professor of Politics and Womens' Studies, University of York, Kaveh Moussavi, Head of Public Interest Law, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford and Drewery Dyke, head of Iran affairs at Amnesty International's head office. During my talk I brought up the case of Fatemeh Haghighatpajouh whom I wrote to you about in my last blog. Her case was extremely urgent. Despite raising flags to international organization like the UN, government officials and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth offices about the matter in London, we were too late. I am sad to report that she was executed the following day along with 9 other people in Iran. After my talk, I had to rush over to the Foreign Press Association Awards to present "TV feature of the year" who ended up winning the Journalist of the year award. I was impressed how up to speed Prince Charles was on environmental issues. Supposedly he started activism through the Prince Charles foundation before the trendy wave on "green" issues started. http://www.princes-foundation.org/ One major concern on my mind lately has been the imprisonment of Ayatollah Boroujerdi who is a Shi'a Islamic Cleric in Iran. I had been corresponding with oneof the main campaigerns for his case and I got the opportunity to meet him in London and hear first hand the abuse that Boroujerdi si being subjected to. Simply because of advocating the separation between religion and state, he has been imprisoned for the last couple of years and subjected to torture. His wife was even raped in front of him in prison. Despite being in need of serious medical help, the murderous thugs of the Islamic Republic of Iran will not grant him a doctor. Why would they do such a thing? The simple answer is FEAR. Ayatollah Boroujerdi has hundreds of thousands of supporters and he openly critisizes the constitution of Iran that holds the Supreme Leader (Velayat-faqih) to the highest order. The officials in Iran consider him a threat. He is in imminent danger. Please tell your local media and members of parliament about Ayatollah Boroujerdi so they can enact pressure on Iran to free this man. Peace be with you all |
(A writer, political analyst, and advocate for global human rights and freedom, especially in Persia and the wider Islamic world.) February 16, 2010 Mr. Boroujerdi supports a referendum to enable the Iranian people to freely and peacefully remove the Islamic regime and replace it with secular democracy: An Iranian democrat friend of mine here in the USA and I were talking about how we both think the Islamic regime in Iran is trying to kill off Ayatollah Boroujerdi before the regime falls. The goal of this post is to draw attention to the horrific plight of Ayatollah Boroujerdi and to encourage all supporters of Iranian democracy to speak out for Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Ayatollah Seyyed Hussein Boroujerdi is known for speaking out for separation of religion and state. In 1994 he began expressing his opposition to the notion of Shi'ite clerics running the government in Iran. He opposes the notion of Velayat-e faqih - or Ayatollah Khomeini's notion that a Shi'ite Islamic government should be led by a Supreme Jurist from among the Shi'ite clerics. More fundamentally, he opposes the entire structure of oppression on which the Islamic regime is built. He believes this regime is built on a profound and brutal misinterpretation of Shi'ite Islam. Instead he adheres to the many centuries of Shi'ite Islamic quietism under which Shi'ite clerics argued that since the 12th Imam disappeared the clerics should not be allowed to rule the government. He argues that this regime's oppressive interpretation of Islam has turned many Iranians against Shi'ite Islam. He supports a referendum to enable the Iranian people to freely and peacefully remove the Islamic regime and replace it with secular democracy. His compassionate opinions are well worth reading, even for Iranians who have abandoned religion or covnerted to Christianity or Zoroastrianism. In 2002, his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Boroujerdi, died under suspicious circumstances in a Tehran hospital, and his father's mosque was confiscated by the Iranian regime. Once Ahmadinejad took power, the regime's persecution of Ayatollah Boroujerdi escalated. In October 2006 he was arrested by the regime while up to 1,000 of his followers surrounded his mosque in an unsucessful attempt to protect him. The regime arrested 172 women and 225 men who gathered to protest his arrest. He was initially sentenced to death by the Special Clerical Court. This sentence was commuted under international pressure to 11 years in prison, 10 of which must be served in exile in Yazd. He has been kept in solitary confinement in Evin Prison, and he is being denied medical care for his health problems including heart, respiratory, and vision problems. He has lost 80 pounds in prison. His physician Dr. Hesham Firoozi was arrested as well. His mother was arrested in 2006, and she died from the stress of her son's captivity in 2006 shortly after her own release from prison. He was denied the right to visit his dying mother and to attend her funeral. His oldest son and two of his other sons were also arrested. His wife was brought into his cell and raped in front of him. The chronicles I receive from his followers are genuinely heart-rending and suggest that his life is in grave danger. It is sadly obvious that he will not be released as long as this regime remains in power. But urgent action is needed to draw attention to his case and to keep him alive until this regime falls. The regime has targeted Ayatollah Boroujerdi for special persecution. He has been brutally tortured, causing damage to his vital organs. The regime also threatened his life on December 13, 2009 when he went to phone his family by dropping a cement block right near his feet. On Dec 21, 2009, he fell on his bed, severely injuring his foot which turned black. On January 13, 2010, the regime arranged a forged fight between Ayatollah Boroujerdi and another prisoner. Ayatollah Boroujerdi is threatening to go on hunger strike to protest this fight. In addition the regime has denied Ayatollah Boroujerdi any access to a phone since December 31, 2009. The regime is also creating intolerable living conditions for all the clerics in evin Prison. The regime is starving the clerics in the Evin Prison - by giving four prisoners two loaves of bread, a teabag, and one small meal that is not enough for one person. on January 21, 2010, the heating and water system was shut off for the clerical section of Evin Prison, forcing the prisoners to take a cold bath in the depth of winter. I appeal to all supporters of Iranian secular democracy to support Ayatollah Boroujerdi and call for his release. It is essential for Iranian secular democrats to recognize that many clerics such as Ayatollah Boroujerdi have been unjustly persecuted by this regime. It is unfair for secular Iranian democrats to ignore the plight of Ayatollah Boroujerdi simply because he is a cleric. |
January 14, 2010 Should Ayatollah Boroujerdi become the symbolic leader of Irans opposition: It is clear as day that Ayatollah Boroujerdi is the only true religious leader in Iran who represents all that is good in Islam and defends to the death, the human rights, dignity and the true will of the Iranian people. At least three generations of right minded religious leaders whom all supported the separation of religion and politics. With all due respect for the current opposition leaders, they have horrible human rights records while they were in positions of power, they still support Khamenei, whom is ultimately responsible for, and could stop with but one order; the arrests, beatings, rapes and murders of our brothers and sisters, and lastly, they still believe with all their heart, in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the greatness of its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini. While we respect the opposition leaders in Iran; Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami, we believe that they can't lead to ultimate victory. The triad of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (including son, Mojtaba), Leadership of the Revolutionary Guard and the Ahmadinejad bloc (Hojjatieh) are firmly in control and are completely unwilling to compromise or negotiate. The triad is well aware that giving in to any of the demands by the oppositon will not only weaken their individual positions of power, but will, over the long term weaken the Islamic Republic, and probably lead to its eventual demise. The experience during reformist President Khatami's two terms (1997-2005), in which his policies of reform led to repeated clashes with the hardline and conservative elements within the government, of which almost all Khatami lost, sealed the fate of the reform movement in Iran. A reform movement that the regime at the time allowed (many believe they helped to create) in order to be a release valve for the steam of growing public discontent, so as not to allow a boiling over into the streets. The reform movement was never going to be permitted to flourish into a major political bloc. This became very clear in the Parliamentary elections of 2004, when the Guardian Council ( which applys the will of Supreme Leader) banned most of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front party from running. This led to the conservatives winning at least 70% of the seats. The triad has been and will continue to purge the reform movement until their voice is but a faint whisper. Eventually, the combination of the protestors more radicalizing demands and some window dressing offered by the regime will probably bring them back into the fold. As they are not prepared to see the Islamic Republic go down in flames. And by the way, they all worship Khomeini as if he were a prophet. But, the movement does owe much to the oppositon leaders, as without them, it would probably have perished long ago. Although, since the Ashura protests, it has become clearer that the movement and the current leaders are on ever diverging paths. While it should continue to support these individuals, a singular figure that the majority of the movement could identify with and galvanize around (just as Khomeini was during the Islamic Revolution), someone who clearly symbolizes the desires of the movement, and has sacrificed everything for peoples freedom could be a powerful symbol and deliver the movements message to the regime loud and clear. If it is separation of mosque and state, individual freedoms along with, open, fair and free elections that are the movements ultimate goals, we can only find one man who can fit the bill, Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi is a Shia cleric who is currently imprisoned in Yazd. He advocates the separation of religion and government. He opposes the concept of Velayat-e faqih ( rule by islamic jurists ) by which the Islamic Republic of Iran is based. He first expressed his opposition to the Islamic government of Iran in 1994. He said Iranians are tired of the religion of politics and political slogans. The Iranians believe that they are loyal to the fundamentals of the true religion and the Prophet's mission, but they are opposed to the politicization of religion and its exploitation by a group that has nothing to do with true Islam. Islam is the religion of tolerance, forbearance, and mercy, to the point where [the Qur'an] emphasized to us that there is no compulsion in religion. For more than a decade, Boroujerdi defied the regime and was summoned several times before the special court for the clergy. Over the years, he has been arrested, imprisoned and tortured on numerous occasions and his mosque has been expropriated. Still, he continued to lead prayers in his home, and as the crowds grew, he then moved the services to his fathers mosque, Masjed-e Nour. By July 2006, the mosque could no longer accomodate the masses who were coming to hear his sermons, so he started to hold services in stadiums. The regime was beginning to feel threatened, so they turned up the heat. Many of his followers started to camp outside his home in order to protect him. For more than two months the regimes threats escalated, and on more than one occasion they tried to arrest him, but his followers prevented this. The regime finally issued a warrant for Boroujerdi and the many supporters of the Ayatollah who had been living at his home in order to protect him. On October 7, 2006 a crowd of 1,000 or more supporters, including many women, gathered around his house, clashed with, and prevented his arrest by security forces. Many were injured, but they also captured several security agents, although they eventually released them. The security forces returned the following day, October 8, 2006, and after heated battles with Boroujerdi's supporters, finally arrested him and several hundred of his followers ( reported to be 172 women and 225 men). He and 17 followers were initially sentenced to death, but the death sentences were later dropped. On 13 August 2007 he was sentenced to serve one year in prison in Tehran, followed by ten years in prison in Yazd. In addition to his sentence of 11 years imprisonment, Ayatollah Boroujerdi was also defrocked (banned from wearing his clerical robes and thereby from practicing his clerical duties), and his house and all his belongings were confiscated. One of the charges against him was mohareb (warring against God), sounds familiar, doesn't it? His grandfather was one of the leading religious leaders for five decades in pre-revolution Iran. He also believed in the separation of mosque and state. He eventually became the leading religious figure in Iran and was highly respected by Iranians. To this day, many of the elder Iranians have his picture hanging on their walls, as does my father. In the mid 50s, Ayatollah Khomeini tried to recruit Boroujerdi in the campaign that was raised against the Bahai's, but he refused. His death in 1961, left a leadership vacumn, in which gave rise to Khomeini. His son, the current Boroujerdi's father, was also widely respected and he refused to support Ayatollah Khomeini's efforts to establish the Islamic regime in 1979. As a result of his refusal of support he was persecuted and imprisoned where he eventually died in 2002 under suspicious circumstances. His followers and his son secretly buried his body in Masjed-e Nour, which then became a focal point for prayer among his many followers. Shortly thereafter, the regime ordered the desecration of his grave and the Masjed-e Nour mosque was taken over by the state. On 1 May 2009, Ayatollah Boroujerdi wrote a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, requesting that international observers be sent to Iran in order to assist the Iranian people in an open referendum on the system of government. Apparently in retaliation for this letter, Ayatollah Boroujerdi was subjected to beatings on 5 May. He went on a hunger strike to protest the beatings and the suspension of his rights to make phone calls to his family and lawyer. It is clear as day that Ayatollah Boroujerdi is the only true religious leader in Iran who represents all that is good in Islam and defends to the death, the human rights, dignity and the true will of the Iranian people. At least three generations of right minded religious leaders whom all supported the separation of religion and politics. With all due respect for the current opposition leaders, they have horrible human rights records while they were in positions of power, they still support Khamenei, whom is ultimately responsible for, and could stop with but one order; the arrests, beatings, rapes and murders of our brothers and sisters, and lastly, they still believe with all their heart, in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the greatness of its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini. |
December 20, 2009 We would like to inform you that Mr. Boroujerdi has been detained since Oct 8, 2006 for more than three years. He is suffering from heart, eye, tooth, respiratory, bone, kidney problems and Parkinson's disease. These diseases that are because of deprival of access to necessary medical facilities and unsuitable condition of health and food in prison, have caused his weakness and losing weight as he has not balance in standing and walking. He has recently fallen down and hurt several times, for example on Oct 10, Oct 12, Nov 17 and was in coma for minutes. He was exiled from Evin prison in Tehran to Central prison in Yazd on Nov 23, 2008 and again was transferred to Evin from solitary confinement in Yazd on Aug 19, 2009, because of intensification of his physical gravity. It should be mentioned that Mr. Boroujerdi not only has not been hospitalized in any hospital in these times, but also has been deprived of sick leave too. It is noticeable that Mr. Boroujerdi has spent more than 820 days in general sections and 320 days in solitary confinements of Evin prison and Central prison of Yazd from Oct. 8, 2006 until Nov. 21, 2009. As one day in solitary confinement is equivalent to 10 days in general section, this clergy who is opposed to religious government, has totally spent 4020 days in prison that is equal to 11 years imprisonment; therefore, his condemnation has come to end and Iran judicial system must release this prisoner of conscience in Iran. Regime has tried to murder him many times such as the attempt up on his life on Dec. 13, 2009 that he went to the telephone cabin in the yard of the prison to phone his family; suddenly a big cement block of the high wall of the region fell down and shattered beside his feet. This event was so unusual and strange that all prisoners in special section for clergy protested. In reply to the prisoners protest, the authorities only sufficed to call that as an unexpected event. At the end we would like to remind you that this prisoner of conscience has been deprived of access to an independent lawyer, physician and an open court too and Iranian judicial system has presented no formal explanation on the reason of his detention and using rough actions about him and some of his followers. We hereby ask Human Rights Watch of the United Nations to follow up his critical condition by passing a special statement. |
October 06, 2006 PRAGUE, October 6, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A dissident Iranian cleric who advocates the separation of religion and politics, Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, is accusing officials of persecuting him and his followers. Boroujerdi claims dozens of his supporters have been arrested and taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison in recent weeks. The ayatollah told RFE/RL that he has appealed for help from international figures that include the pope and EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana. Ayatollah Boroujerdi says that in the past 14 years, he has been summoned on numerous occasions to the Special Court for Clergy and spent months in prison. He claims he still suffers from health problems stemming from torture he was subjected to in prison. "I was in prison in 1995 for several months. Then, in 2001, I was also arrested several times -- they confiscated two of my mosques," Boroujerdi says. "It's ridiculous -- an establishment that says it is Islamic confiscates an active and open mosque. In 1979, the marjah [source of emulation] at that time, Mr. Golpayegani, put me in charge of the Hematabad mosque. Only a few people used to go to that mosque -- but in 2001, when they took it away from me, many people were coming there. We always faced a lack of space for prayers." Nipping A Threat? The Shi'ite cleric says pressure has increased significantly since the summer, following a gathering he held for his supporters. He claims that thousands of people attended his June 30 religious meeting in Tehran's Shahid Keshvari stadium. "About 2 1/2 months ago, there was something similar to a coup d'etat against me -- because our last meeting was such that it shook the city and it made the establishment think that if they don't stop me, then there will be millions of people [supporting me]," Boroujerdi says. "So they began harassing me; they surrounded my house for two months." "Ayatollah Boroujerdi has never polluted religion with politics." Ayatollah Boroujerdi claims that many of his supporters have also been targeted. He says in recent weeks, more than 100 people have been arrested and tortured in jail. He says some have been fired from their jobs, and others have been under pressure to campaign against him. Iranian officials have been silent on the topic. But earlier this week, Amnesty International reported that at least 41 of Boroujerdi's followers were arrested in his courtyard. The rights group has warned that the cleric could be at risk of imminent arrest. State And Religion: The ayatollah says his belief in the separation of religion from politics and his refusal to support "political religion" have drawn the ire of Iran's leaders. Iran's Islamic establishment is based on the principle of "velayat-e faqih," or the rule of the Islamic jurist. Reports have emerged in recent years of other clerics and dissidents who have criticized the velayat-e faqih principle being persecuted in Iran. They include the late Grand Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, an influential Iranian cleric who was placed under house arrest in the 1980s. Shariatmadari's son, Hassan, lives in Germany. He told RFE/RL that some 27 years after the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iran, many of the country's clerics have realized that the involvement of religion in politics subjugates religion to the will of the state. "The political establishment forces them to accept its demands and interpret the religion in accordance with the establishment's needs," Hassan Shariatmadari says. "Most clerics have realized this, but because of the heavy price of opposition to the regime, most of them do not have the courage to express [that view] publicly. Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been able to express the demand for the separation of religion from politics very openly -- to a wide audience and with boldness. This is something that this establishment doesn't like." Shariatmadari says he thinks Iran's leadership feels threatened by Ayatollah Boroujerdi because they are concerned that other clerics could follow his example. Not Remaining Quiet: Boroujerdi told RFE/RL that the authorities have threatened him with execution, and told him that the clergy should speak in a united voice Boroujerdi has written letters to Pope Benedict XVI and to EU foreign-policy chief Solana noting what he calls the "suspicious death" in 2002 of his father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who was also a prominent cleric. He claims Iranian authorities expropriated the mosque where his father had preached and destroyed his father's grave. But Boroujerdi remains defiant. "I demonstrate that real Islam is free of political ornaments," he says. "It is included in verses whose interpretation is different than that provided by [the authorities]. Its interpretation is from 1,428 years ago. It is about the rule of the Prophet [Muhammad] and how he lived; he was against repression and opposed discrimination. Our divine leaders took food from their mouths and the mouths of their children to give it to the poor. Today, unfortunately, despite the immense wealth of this country, people live in poverty." 'People Have Turned Away From God' Boroujerdi says many Iranians have lost faith in religion because of the worsening economic situation, including high inflation and unemployment. He argues that under the shah's regime, people's faith in Islam was much stronger. He thinks belief in God has actually fallen victim to Iran's theocracy. "When people lose their income, they directly blame the establishment and they become angry at God," Boroujerdi says. "I've said many times that we should help people worship their God again and make peace with God. Today we are in the month of Ramadan, [but] many people have turned away from God because of repression, discrimination, and pressure." One of the ayatollah's devotees, Hamid, told RFE/RL that Boroujerdi's views and defiance have won him support from Iranians of different classes. "Ayatollah Boroujerdi has never polluted religion with politics," Hamid says. "He has not become involved in politics, and he has always supported the needy. He has always said, 'I'm a supporter of the wretched.' This is, I think, one of the reasons for his popularity." Hamid says he is ready to support the ayatollah even "until martyrdom." |
October 10, 2006 According to Iranian political analysts, the arrest of Ayatollah Broujerdi, the first after that of Grand Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari soon after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 is a confirmation of the present Government to return to the early values of the Revolution. Shariatmadari's son, Hassan, lives in Germany. He told the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that some 27 years after the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iran, many of the country's clerics have realized that the involvement of religion in politics subjugates religion to the will of the state. "The political establishment forces them to accept its demands and interpret the religion in accordance with the establishment's needs", Hassan Shariatmadari says. "Most clerics have realized this, but because of the heavy price of opposition to the regime, most of them do not have the courage to express [that view] publicly. Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been able to express the demand for the separation of religion from politics very openly -- to a wide audience and with boldness. This is something that this establishment doesn't like." Shariatmadari says he thinks Iran's leadership feels threatened by Ayatollah Boroujerdi because they are concerned that other clerics could follow his example. |
May 02, 2008 Mr. Boroujerdi is only great shi'a clergy and religious leader who interviewed openly with liberal fighters (in exile) and mass media out of Iran and exposed liberalism and loving of justice of Iran nation in his speeches, interviews and writings. He averted religious punishments for crimes which do not have private complainer (crimes those are between God and men). He called the founder of Islamic Republic of I ran and the current leader of Iran as religious dictators, devils and heretics. He knows power-thirsty clergies as leaders of religious regime full of tyranny and appropriators of Mohammad prophet's podium and altar; therefore he did not accept to pray for them in his unique gatherings in Iran to prepare the stability of his gatherings. According to photos Recorded films and other available documents and evidences he is the most popular clergy and also the fighter of religious and ideological freedom in Iran. It is worthy to notice that in June 2007 President George W Bush praised Ayatollah Kazemeini Boroujerdi for his resistance against a self-styled group in I ran which know themselves representative and speaker of Islam world (leaders of Velayat-e Faqih). |
Iran Press NewsJanuary, 31, 2007A statement by a group of student supporters of Ayatollah Seyed Hussein Kazemeini-Boroujerdi reads: He is one of the clerical leaders of the campaign against polluting politics with religion. He who has refused to cooperate with the Mullah royalty over the years has endured the worst kinds of offenses, put under unspeakable pressure and received the most horrifying threats, propaganda and torture, now needs international attention in order to assist in ejecting the tyrants ruling over Iran. This dissatisfied champion has many friends and supporters across the country. Though this spiritual man who has been viciously abused by the dictators and has stood up to the regime, for the nation, is being put under a sort of censorship and media prohibition; the ministry of information and security has categorically prohibited all domestic news outlet and member of the press from publishing any news about him or his actions. All of this nonconformist scholar???s scientific, spiritual and public relations activities was shut down by force, threats of guns and massacre which clearly shows the ruling Mullahs fear. This action also clarifies the fact that they have absolutely no support among the people and that the public acceptance of critical scholars and activists is definite and decisive. The regime agents stormed his house on Sunday, July 30th, 2006 in order to arrest and kill this independent figure; however they were confronted with people who defended him and that was a clear sign of their failure. From that day, his house took the shape of a military garrison and he came under the protection of the people. As a result, at the order of the supreme leader, the disciplinary and plain-clothes Basiji forces, armed with various kinds of guns and modern weaponry attacked this spiritual mentors??? house, on October 8th which coincided with an evening during the month of Ramadan; they invaded the premises and massacred a large number of his supporters who were fasting as an observance of Ramadan. All of this has been covered up by the Islamic regime and has been put under a kind of news censorship. Even those individuals who were informed of this via news from the Voice of America or the Radio Voice of Iran (which is broadcast from Los Angeles) came to this spiritual mans aid; the regime even banned those media sources in order to prohibit any assistance. Mullah Kazemeini-Boroujerdi has been detained in the infamous ward 209 of Evin prison which is controlled and supervised by the guards and agents of the ministry of intelligence and security and has been under the most horrifying of tortures and threats; they want to force him into making false confessions in front of their cameras, saying that he is ashamed of his actions, that he is not a cleric and that he was out to bamboozle people all along. We hereby request that the world assist us in preventing the bloodthirsty Islamic regime from carrying out it's evil plans to murder Mullah Kazemeini-Boroujerdi; we ask for the safety and security of this home-loving champion and call on all those who are against tyranny to support the ejection of the dictatorship that has gripped Iran. Censorship and the suppression of the news has prevented any free action and proper mention of the facts; and at the moment the Islamic regime has taken to it's usual form of Taghiyeh*. Therefore we hope that fair observers and critics will come to the aid of this selfless activist by dispatching the news and events to others. We ask for the cooperation of all those who support the way to freedom for the people of Iran. * Taghiyeh is the sanctioned "holy lie" or dissimulation, encouraged for the purpose of defending Islam and misrepresenting it if necessary for infidels; from the verb Etteghu, which linguistically means, to dodge the threat. Politically it means simulate whatever status you need in order to win the war against the enemy. This is an absolute methodology of the Islamic regime. |
Geneva, October 25, 2006 Tehran's popular police chief, Brigadier General Morteza Talai, has resigned in protest over the arrest of a well-known religious leader. Talai, whose resignation was finally accepted by the Chief Commander of Law Enforcement Forces, last week, reportedly quit office over the Oct. 8 arrest of Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi and some 300 of his loyal followers. He had written letters of protest to Kofi Annan, Xavier Solana and the Pope as well as to Ayatollah Khamenei and chief justice Ayatollah Shahroudi. Wrote letter to Pope: In his letter to the Pope, Kazemeini had claimed to be the leader of the biggest independent religious society in Iran and of having been harassed by the Islamic regime for years for advocating separation of religion and state. "My only crime is that I don't want to mix politics with religion and lose my life in the hereafter for the sake of life in this world," he wrote in his letter to the Pope. "My house has been under siege by government forces for 50 days now. The orders to shoot me and my followers have been issued," he wrote, adding that his followers were being tortured in prison. Throughout the country the clergy has come under strict regime control. All Friday prayer leaders are appointed by the state and any opposition to the state by clerics, politically or religiously, is severely punished by the Special Court for the Clergy, an extra-constitutional body that tries clergymen and has the power to sentence them to anything from defrocking to death. Kazemeini, who had earlier refused to attend a hearing of the same, was arrested under a warrant issued by that court. |
2007 Persecution of Ayatollah Boroujerdi in Iran, The State Fears the Traditional Clergy: The case of the traditionally oriented but politically critical Ayatollah Boroujerdi shows that the alliances among the clerics in Iran are becoming increasingly fragile. The calls for a separation between state and religion are getting louder. By Ghasem Toulany. A prominent Iranian cleric is under threat of execution. Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi has been in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran since October 2006. According to a statement by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Ayatollah Boroujerdi and seventeen of his followers were sentenced to death on June 10th by a "Special Court of Clerics." Over the last few days, many Iranian bloggers have reported the death sentence against Ayatollah Boroujerdi. But the semi-state news agency ILNA quoted a spokesman for the Special Court, denying reports of a death sentence, and saying that the court had not yet handed down its verdict on the Ayatollah and his supporters. Secularism unwelcome: If it is indeed true that Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been sentenced to death by his fellow-clerics in the Islamic Republic, it would be due to the fact that he has fundamentally called the rule of the Mullahs in his country into question. Since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the country has been ruled by the Ayatollahs, and clerics who want to see a separation of religion and politics have found their views unwelcome. This is not the first time that clerics who are critical and "traditional" have been pursued by the Islamic state. Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, for example, whom Ayatollah Khomeini once named as his chosen successor, has been under house arrest for the last 16 years. A few days before he was arrested, Boroujerdi said that he wanted people to be able to pray to God and praise him without any political involvement. The kind of non-political Islam he supports is officially seen as a kind of heresy. Islamisation of politics, politicisation of Islam: Even before the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini had already laid out his doctrine of the "rule by religious scholars" ("Velayat-e Faqih"). According to the doctrine, any government which is not approved by the scholars, who are the representatives on earth of the "hidden Imam" (the twelfth Imam of the Shiites), is illegal and not Islamic. But in fact, Shiite religious tradition is opposed to any mixing of religion and politics. As a result, directly following the revolution, Khomeini's "Islamisation of politics" was greeted with little enthusiasm among the Ayatollahs. But after the establishment of the Islamic Republic Khomeini and his supporters were able to impose their views on rule by religious scholars. Supporters of a separation of politics and religion have since then often been brutally repressed. Especially since the election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as president two years ago, the regime has been particular tough against religious groups and communities which support a non-political kind of Islam. Warning against creeping secularization: Now, 28 years after the revolution, the calls for a secular order in Iran are becoming ever louder. Ayatollah Ahmad Chatami, a radical cleric close to the country's supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei, and a leading member of the Council of Experts which chooses the country's supreme religious leader, recently warned in a speech in Tabriz in the North-west of Iran against the idea of a separation between politics and religion, which, he said, was widespread among "certain Mullahs." Hasan Shariatmadari, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, who was a supporter of a non-political, traditional Islam, describes this warning as a sign of the crisis of legitimacy in the Islamic Republic. Speaking to the Persian-language radio station, "Radio Farda", he said that, throughout its 1,400 year old history, Shia Islam had always held to its principle of the independence of religious schools and the separation between religion and politics. "With their theory of the rule of religious scholars," says Shariatmadari, "it was only Khomeini and his followers who turned the government into a matter of religion, and religion into a matter of the state." Lost reputation: While there is always lively protest at home and abroad among opposition groups and activists whenever a figure from the political opposition is arrested in the Islamic Republic, the case of Ayatollah Boroujerdi and his supporters has scarcely been noticed. The fact that a large part of the population- avbove all students and activists in political groups- have turned their backs on the clerics and religion seems also to be a result of the totalitarian rule of the Mullahs. Ayatollah Boroujerdi, who calls the Islamic Republic a "dictatorship by the clergy" and speaks of a separation of religion and politics, is now trying to win back "the lost reputation of religion" in Iranian society. While Mohammad Chatami was president, reformers tried in their own way, but in vain, to achieve "independence of religion from the government," in that they tried to achieve a "religious government" (or "Islamic democracy") instead of a "state religion." Return to traditional religion: At the same time, the separation of politics and religion would mean the end of the Islamic Republic in its current form. The ruling Ayatollahs have evidently recognised the problem. With Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the Ayatollahs have permitted a non-cleric to be elected to the presidency for the first time. Before that also for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic they had entrusted the post of speaker of the parliament to Golam Ali Hadad. This could have been intended to prevent the clerics from further losing respect as symbols of religion, even though, according to Hasan Shariatmadari, it is only a small group of Ayatollahs which are privileged to be involved in state matters. "Many clerics in Iran miss freedom of thought and opinion," he says. "They do their best to defend a return to traditional religion." But attempts to re-establish the independence of the Shiite clerics, could mean that some of them, like Ayatollah Boroujerdi, may have to pay a high price. |
Open DemocracyOctober 3, 2006 An ayatollah under siege:28 September 2006, 8am, Avesta Street, Tehran: seven women and thirty-four men, aged between 23 and 60, leave the modest house after having spent another cold night in its courtyard guarding Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi - a cleric who has become a thorn in the side of the ruling ayatollahs in Iran. Unbeknownst to them, they are each followed by a number of plain-clothed agents and security officers. Once they reach their individual destinations, they are ambushed separately and taken to section 209 of Evin prison. A further thirty-three people were arrested the following day. These seventy-four individuals are among hundreds of followers and supporters who have been shielding the ayatollah from arrest by the security forces since 30 July, when his house was attacked, his relatives arrested and tortured for twenty-one days in Evin prison. Indeed the security forces returned to the house on 3 August to arrest the holy man himself. But the ayatollah's devotees forced them to retreat. Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, born in Tehran and educated in Qom, is the author of numerous books and treatises on ethics, spirituality and the Qur'an. The ayatollah adheres to the official state religion in Iran, "twelver" Ja'fari Shi'a Islam. This form of Shi'ism is founded on the concept of the twelve imams who were the rightful spiritual and political leaders of Muslims following the death of the Prophet Mohammed. It is believed that the twelfth (or "hidden") imam, known as the Mahdi, lives in "occultation" but will one day return and resume the leadership of the faithful. Until that moment arrives, Bouroujerdi and fellow traditional Shi'a believe that political and religious authority should remain separated. Kazemeini Boroujerdi, speaking under conditions of siege, maintains: "There is only one individual who has not erred and has no flaws. He is the lord of the age, the imam Mahdi. Only he has the legitimate competence to rule and pass judgment." In other words, in the absence of the Mahdi, a theocracy such as the one ruling Iran today is illegitimate both ideologically and theologically, and as such all religious laws are null and void. In fact, many Shi'a religious leaders and their followers in Iran have opposed the fundamental tenets of the present political system, established following the 1979 revolution. As a result, they have been imprisoned, tortured, publicly humiliated and put under house arrest. For many years little was known outside religious circles about the treatment inflicted on these individuals. Meanwhile, as divisions between the traditional religious hierarchy and those in power intensified, the wider public gradually became aware of this schism, turned away from the state's prescribed version of Islam and took increasing refuge in traditional Shi'a Islam. A claim of tradition: Kazemeini Boroujerdi first took a public stance against the ruling clerics in 1994. Until then he had kept his defiance private. But as he witnessed the loss of respect for religion - caused both by worsening economic and social conditions and the pervasive institutional and financial corruption that benefited senior officials and their relatives - he decided to act. It happened when - as he led the celebration prayers to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and in the tradition of the eighth Shi'a imam, imam Reza - he dressed himself in a white shroud and carried a sword as a sign of protest against the injustice of the clerics in power. Kazemeini Boroujerdi first took a public stance against the ruling clerics in 1994. Until then he had kept his defiance private. But as he witnessed the loss of respect for religion - caused both by worsening economic and social conditions and the pervasive institutional and financial corruption that benefited senior officials and their relatives - he decided to act. It happened when - as he led the celebration prayers to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and in the tradition of the eighth Shi'a imam, imam Reza - he dressed himself in a white shroud and carried a sword as a sign of protest against the injustice of the clerics in power. The problems that he identified then have persisted. Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in oil revenue, the per-capita income of Iranians today is 30% less than in 1978 - the year preceding the revolution. Unemployment is high and inflation rampant. According to Jahangir Amuzegar, the distinguished Iranian economist and former member of the International Monetary Fund's executive board, the list of nationwide social ills is getting longer by the year; it reportedly encompasses twenty-five categories, including violent crime, drug addiction, abused children, runaway girls, dysfunctional families, increasing divorce rates, growing prostitution, rising suicides, and even slave-trading. Kazemeini Boroujerdi insists: "the most afflicted victim of this theocracy has been God. Injustices perpetrated by the ruling clerics in the name of God have forced people to turn away from Him in droves." Between 1994 and 2001, the defiant ayatollah was summoned on numerous occasions before the special court for the clergy. This court was established in 1987, and is charged (according to Amnesty International) "with investigating and trying crimes such as counter-revolution, corruption, immorality, unlawful acts, anything which might damage the prestige of the clergy and acts committed by pseudo-clergy." Boroujerdi has been arrested, imprisoned and tortured on numerous occasions, and his mosque has been expropriated. Nevertheless, each time he was released he continued leading prayers from his home; and as the number of his adherents increased, he began to deliver his sermons at his father's mosque, Masjid Nour. Kazemeini's father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Kazemeini Boroujerdi, was a well-known figure in pre-revolutionary Tehran for more than fifty years. Along with many of his contemporaries, and like his son, he condemned the theocracy in Iran. The older ayatollah died under suspicious circumstances whilst in hospital in 2002. His followers secretly buried his body in Masjid Nour, which then became a focal prayer-point for the believers and another point of contention with the regime. This mosque too was expropriated and the grave of the older ayatollah was desecrated. On 21 September 2006, Kazemeini Boroujerdi was told in no uncertain terms that according to orders issued by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, he had to move his father's grave to a location outside of Tehran. He was threatened that unless he abided by the order, the Masjid Nour would be destroyed and replaced with a shopping-mall. A call to the world: Despite being monitored and put under pressure, the defiant ayatollah has succeeded in spreading his message across a wider field. His followers come from all walks of life and political beliefs. By July 2006 he was communicating with them via 100 land and mobile lines, and had begun leading prayers in stadiums which could accommodate the many who wished to worship with him. On 7 September, a representative of Gholamhussein Mohseni Ezhei, Iran's minister of information, visited the defiant ayatollah. During the meeting - which included heated exchanges - the ayatollah was ordered to either present himself before the special court of clergy or face dire consequences. Kazemeini Boroujerdi protests: "the regime is adamant that either people adhere to political Islam or be jailed, exiled or killed. Its behaviour is no different from that of Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar." Now, the ayatollah is appealing to Pope Benedict XVI, Kofi Annan and Javier Solana for assistance. "This is not about me. It is about the freedom of worship. We hope that the international community supports Iranians' right to follow their traditional faith. We pray for the day when the United Nations Security Council passes a resolution in support of freedom of religion in Iran." Ayatollah Kazemeini Boroujerdi insists that his demands are not political but rather humanitarian. "I do not wish to get involved in politics. But at a time when Iran is engulfed in so much chaos, the regime has to realise that now is not the time to create yet another crisis." |
October 08, 2006 Shots were being fired around the Ayatollah's home at Sard (cold) Park, Avesta Avenue, Sard Street #9 close to Freedom Square. Fires are springing up in the region at major intersections. Ambulance sirens scream futiley as Tehran citizens pour toward that address blocking streets to prevent Security forces from getting close but also blocking the paramedics and ambulances. Distress calls from wounded men and women fill the air waves as what they describe as total war is erupting. KRSI, which covers all of Iran, constantly broadcasts calls for the populace to rise up, urging them to make the most of this opportunity. Said Ghayem-Maghami, the announcer of KRSI repeatedly urges all provinces, cities, professions to revolt against the current regime. He also broadcasts live all suggestions provided by Tehran citizens to wake everyone up and let them know something is up. Ayatollah Boroujerdi, blockaded on the roof of his home, has used the phone contact broadcast with KRSI to declare that anyone in the Security forces who respects him as their spiritual source should lay down their arms and not harm anyone. Other Ayatollahs like Mehdi Haeri have come on live to urge the people not to set gas stations on fire or do other damage as these sugestions phoned into KRSI come from the Security forces agents. Ayatollah Haeri added that fasting during this crisis in the month of Ramadan is not required, giving the example of the urgency of a house catching on fire compared to a lower urgency of fasting. He insisted that religion and politics has to be separate and that the populace should support the brve efforts of Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Meanwhile Mohssein Ejai, Minister of Information and Security (MOIS), has promised Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he will bring him Ayatollah Boroujerdi's severed head before dawn. In the first serious clash with the old guard Mullahs, the Hojatieh fringe sect of the Ahmadi-Nejad administration sent security forces around 10 a.m. (Tehran time) Saturday, to arrest Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazeymeni Boroujerdi, son of the Ayatollah of the same name, killed by the Khomeini Islamic regime. His father was so respected by the late Shah of Iran that when questions about religion arose for which the Shah wanted advice, the monarch would drive down to the holy city of Qom to speak to the Ayatollah instead of ordering him to Tehran. The younger Ayatollah Boroujerdi recently declared that the national Administrative Government of Iran should be separated from the Clerics and become purely secular. Religion and Politics must be separated he said, live on KRSI. The current Islamic regime's reaction was to issue death warrant for him falsely claiming apostasy by him because he was said by them to have claimed to be the 12th Imam, who disappeared down a well 1300 years ago and will return to redeem the world. His followers resisted the efforts of the Security Agents sent during the afternoon to capture the Ayatollah and the on-going confrontation has resulted with multiple arrests,s estimated by the Ayatollah himself in a live phone interview as being several thousand people. His people, who rushed to protect him also took several security agents hostage, finding bottles of acid in their pockets, intended to disfigure demonstrators. The mostly foreign, generally Arab national, Bassiji paramilitary forces, whose total role is to suppress any street demonstration and have been recently equipped with over $500 million of equipment and weaponry and appear in both civilian clothes and uniforms, attacked on motorcycles but were repulsed and several of their motorcycles set on fire. They brought in eight tanker trucks that propel boiling water onto demonstrators but streets were soon blocked and their efforts curtailed. Currently, regime forces have surrounded the area and blocked major access. Clashes at crossroads initially drove security forces back but reinforcements managed to set up a cordon and hold it. One panicked caller to KRSI at around 2:15 a.m. (TT) screamed that he had been spotted by the regime mercenaries and had been given refuge inside a nearby house but that the agents were kicking in the door. He pleaded with KRSI to give out his name and remind people that he was about to be arrested and might never be seen again. Several of those wounded and finding refuge in Ayatollah Boroujerdi's house were women. One an Armenian woman, not a Moslem, called on minorities and specially Armenians, to rush to the Ayatollah's support and to come into the streets. Another woman, a baby in her arms, a club in her hand was seen standing guard at Ayatollah Boroujerdi's ready to face anything the regime would throw at her. Including confiscating the bread and food that those at the residence required to break their Ramadan fast. Calls by Tehranis demanded Ahmad Hossein Khomeini, the Islamic regime founder's grandson and Ayatollah Montazeri, should join in the resistance and defend Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Other calls wanted the late Shah's son Reza Pahlavi to join the fray and call on the West to provide tangible support to his countrymen in their time of need at this moment of opportunity. Another caller mentioned that every single one of about 300,000 Bahais in Iran had been recently identified and listed, including their addresses, and wondered if this was an indicator that a slaughter of these thorns in the side of the Hojatieh as about to happen. Bahais claim to follow their spiritual leader is the 12th Imam, who has already returned. Meanwhile, in a dramatic gesture of defiance, Ayatollah Boroujerdi carrying his burial shroud and a sword paces the roof of his home. Observers and analysts hope that if the resistance can survive through the night, in the morning, people who sleep unaware of what is going on will join the uprising. Some of those woken up at random by phone calls showed very little interest, responding that replacing one Mullah with another gets them nowhere, so why risk their lives. |
In the name of great God, who is the creator of peace and its gaurdian. Greeting to the world's peacemakers, as I have great respect for the persons who devote their valuable life to reform and also I esteem victims of violence and crime. From inside my prison cell, I express my utmost gratitude for those who fight for human rights. Please accept my greetings from the confines of my dreadful cell within the infamous Evin prison located in the north of Tehran, the capital of Iran. While my days are extremely difficult in this prison, helping to promote peace by cooperating with liberals and defenders of human rights remaif my delights. Only my God is informed of the hardships I have suffered or how, during the past 14 years, I have spent my life in the service of peace and liberalism. I have opposed oppression since I was a child. Battling tyranny has always been my aim. I could never remain silent against oppression imposed by the ruling regimes, just as I could not close my eyes towards discrimination or violations of individual freedoms. Nor could I turn a deaf ear to the complaints of the helpless or the homeless. I have always been eager for justice, so I have chosen to devote my life to combating dictators and violators of justice and the rights of humans. I worship a God that has not sent prophets to promote or create fury and harshness. The God that I worship does not issue orders that cause fear and horror. I accept a religion that is gracious and does not tolerate despotism or tyranny by religious leaders. I believe justice is the spirit of society; when the human spirit becomes disturbed insecurity and chaos arise and spread throughout the world. I believe freedom to be the very essence and core of society, and when one's freedom is violated, his very core, his very essence will be ruined. Attention to and respect for human rights is the most essential service of all societies. Humans should have the freedom to release themselves from any and all systematic forms of bondage and oppression. Any ruling body that tries to annihilate or restrict individual freedoms through its legal system -- whatever form that system may be -- in fact commits treason against humanity and must be discharged from its seat. I believe that peace is even more essential than rain for people of the earth. I believe common injustices are more abhorrent than starvation for the human kind, for in times of natural disaster humans find the spirit of generosity, and come to assist one another to reduce the results of the disaster. Conversely, in violation of nature and the rights of humans, there is no power and no permission for collective protests and the ability of people for demanding their rights become suppressed. I condemn the historical violations of human rights. I condemn rulers who have and continue to damage their societies and disturb the lives of the people to fulfill their own ambitions of expansionism and power. I denounce governments, past and present, that oppress their own people in furtherance of their evil ambitions and annihilation of generations only to reach their animal and inhumane goals. I do not believe in any religion that calls for or promotes oppression of any kind, nor do I accept dogma of any kind that prevents freedom of though or the establishment of a just and merciful legal system that respects the rights of all individuals. As human are superior to all created by the divine, any kind of violation to human identity and existence are against God's will. Indeed, people are the real owners of their governments and the rulers are their servants. Any governor who fosters any intention to exploit the people is a farse, and, as such, does not have the right to continue its governance. Colonialists in every position and seat whose intentions are to plunder humanity have in fact declared war against all humans. Humans of every race, creed, color, ethnicity, nationality are all partners, and they are entitled to share all that is bestowed upon them on this earth by the divine. The existence of hunger in the world is nothing less than a historical mark of disgrace upon the wealthy persons who had the means to aid their fellow humans, and their failure to do so amounts to abhorent acts cruelty and an unfortunate lack of conscience. All people in the world have the right to enjoy the natural sources and products that the divine has provided for them. Expansionism and avarice are signs of the absence of prudence and balance; they are the cause of enmities and aversions, which threaten the poor and the innocent, and force them into bloodshed and violence. Thus, we must abstain from every act and instrument that provides a fertile ground for conflict among humans and nations. As conflict and enmity are the first steps towards acts of agression and war, we must establish kindness and friendly communication among nations and religions. Only through open dialogue and benevolence can we establish peaceful and effective international relations, increase fraternization among all people throughout the world, and prevent various forms of prejudice and discrimination. I am a preacher of peace. I have offered the years of my youth to serving a benevolent God in furtherance of peace and justice. As a progressive theologian, I have paid a heavy price for my views. I have long devoted my family and life to reverence for freedom. I am a strong advocate of democracy throughout the world. In my opinion, there are no differences among religions as any religion that takes us closer to to God brings happiness. I believe weapons contradict human interests and nuclear bombs not only annihilate human populations, but the very essence of humanity. Similarly, the competition for producing, increasing and selling weapon of war destroy environmental cleanness and jeopardize the health and safety of humans everywhere. As such, I condemn nuclear proliferation, as I condemn all things that disturb the peace and prosperity of humankind. Societies must make great effort to establish and implement systems in which prisons will no longer be necessary. Governments must establish rule of law in a way that would maximize happiness and prosperity of the governed. Taxes, tolls and penalties must be moderated and peoples' ability to pay what the government demands of them must be carefully considered. I respect all persons who strive for human rights, and from the confines of my dark prison cell in Iran, I warmly embrace all those who work relentlessly to spread the message of peace. I had been invited and recommend to leave my country many years ago, but I refused to leave my people, despite all the risks and dangers to which remaining in my country subjected me and my family. With all my heart and soul, I chose to face all the brutalities that I knew I would face by remaining in my country because of nothing else other than my deep sympathy for my countrymen and their need to defend their legal and rational rights. Now, I have no security nor justice of any kind. My family faces continuous threats and abuse on a daily basis. Notwithstanding these hardships, however, I continue to tolerate prison, exile, torture and abuse by my government merely based upon my deep and unvawering support for human rights, as well as the greatness and importance of peace and justice. As God and history are my witnesses, I have abstained from engaging or promoting any act of violence, oppression or injustice throughout my life. I have loved my mankind, have helped the poor and the deprived, and have never abused my high profile or high social positions for any personal gain. Even when armed governmental forces raided my house to arrest me, I personally greeted them and refused to confront them in a manner that could potentially lead to violence or bloodshed. Now I refer to myself a freedom preacher and a human rights defender, and ask the international community and human rights organizations throughout the world to join and assist me in furtherance of the sacred goal to free my people of oppression and tyranny, and assist me to obtain immunity in my country at least in proportion to my role as a leading voice for peace, rule of law, and freedom. Thank you Seyed Hosein Kazemeini Boroujerdi |
