Persian Realm

100 Dutch Persians have signed an open letter to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs about the critical situation at Radio Zamaneh. The station is funded by the Dutch government.

The open letter which has been sent to the Dutch media as well seeks the minister Uri Rosenthal to pay attention to the situation of Radio Zamaneh; a Persian-language radio/website that was founded in 2006.

The letter has been published in both Dutch andPersian. Below is its English translation:

_________________

We, the undersiging, are 100 Dutch cizitens of Persian origin. We would like to express our concern about the non-professional attitute of the current director of Radio Zamaneh, the Persian-language radio station in Amsterdam which is funded by Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Since his appointment as the director of Radio Zamaneh has Mr. Arjen de Wolff had a quite negative effect on the content of this media and the editorial team. He also has attended the meetings which are related to groups who are acting against the national interests of Iran's people; among them separatists groups related to the Republic of Azerbaijn who believe Azerbaijn Province of Iran should be separated from Iran.

People of Iran are fighting for freedom and their basic rights, but they do not support any kind of such movements against their national interest.

The Persian (Iranian) coomunity in The Netherlands is proud of having a Persian-lanague radio station in the country. Radio Zamaneh has played a key role in supporting civil society movements and media diversity in Iran but just few months after directorship of Mr De Wolff, Radio Zamaneh popularity has been hugely reduced:

The radio's editor-in-chief, Mr Farid Haerinejad, has resigned from his job because of Mr. De Wolff's behavior; a senior producer of radio, Mr. Pejman Akbarzadeh, is in danger of dismisal because of his resistence against Mr. De Wolff and also one of the online editors, Ms. Asieh Amini has resigned because of the unprofessional bahavior at the station. The current newsroom members in Amsterdam are a small group of amateurs.

We would like to ask you to pay attention to this critical situation at Radio Zamaneh. We believe by rewarding Mr De Wolff a cinsiderable salary and as result the briefly above-mentioned negative effects, is a waste of money paid by the Dutch tax payers.

Thanks for your consideration.

Regards,

Undersiged:

(sent to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs)