Shiro-Khorshid-Forever

Further to my article “Human Rights Activists in Iran-Working within the Islamic Regime Frame” of August 12th 2008, there have been some recent developments which I feel obliged to share with my readers. In order to situate these developments in context, I must first offer some information of a personal nature that I had not previously thought it appropriate to publish.

In June of 2007 I met, through telecommunication a man who identified himself as Mr. Keyvan Rafiee. Mr. Rafiee is the founder and the President of “Human Rights Activists in Iran” At the time of our initial contact he was understood to be a political prisoner in Evin Prison, and communicated with me by phone. I started working with Human Rights Activists in Iran in June of 2008 and also started a personal relationship with Keyvan Rafiee in November 2008 by phone and computer.

In late December 2007 Keyvan Rafiee left Iran for Turkey so that we would be able to meet in person. I went to Turkey in February of 2008 and we were engaged. My family was aware of our relationship. Due to my growing unease and misgivings both about Human Rights Activists in Iran and Keyvan Rafiee I ended my affiliation with Human Rights Activists in Iran in late February 2008, and ended my personal relationship with Rafiee in June of 2008.

While working with Human Rights Activists in Iran and through Keyvan Rafiee himself, I had become aware of a phone company called Iran Phone Line. This company provided a service by which one could buy a local Tehran telephone number. Arrangements could then be made to have the Tehran number traversed to a cell phone, land line or a computer anywhere in the world. By this means people inside Iran could call the number free of charge.

As indicated in my original article I decided to purchase one of these lines in order to make communication with political prisoners and activists easier. Events following the purchase of this phone line are outlined in the above mentioned article. “Human Rights Activists in Iran-Working Within the Islamic Regime Frame”

On Wednesday September 10th 2008 I received a phone call at my office in Canada, from an individual named “Navid”. He indicated that he was the owner of Iran Phone Line Company, that he had read my blog article and that he strongly disapproved of it. He declared, to use his own words that he had “researched” me and wanted to know whether I would continue writing about Iran Phone Line, because if that were the case he would have to “follow up” as he put it. Navid accused me of having written the article based merely on my own opinion, I objected to this characterization and pointed out that I had written the article based on an email I had received from his own Company.

In response he asserted that he was in “one hundred percent” agreement with the Iran Phone Line email, Navid continued saying that indeed in cases in which the phone line is used for “anti-regime activity” his Company would have only two choices:

1.record the conversations and forward them to the authorities, or

2.to disconnect the line Navid added that he had done me a favour by disconnecting my line, rather than recording and relaying my conversations to Iranian security.

This observation invited a question and I immediately posed it: If the Company’s only two options in the case of dissident activity are to wiretap or disconnect those concerned, did the fact that Human Rights Activists in Iran continued to enjoy his Company’s services mean that Iran Phone Line was recording and reporting all the conversations between political prisoners and Human Rights Activists in Iran?

Navid did not directly answer my question. Instead he stated that he had spoken to one of the Human Rights Activists in Iran organizers and that the organizer had assured him that the Human Rights Activists in Iran activities were within the frame work of the Islamic Regime, and thus that their group was operating legally in Iran. According to Navid, the Human Rights Activists in Iran official went on to say that I had written my article simply because my relationship with Keyvan Rafiee had ended. (This interpretation of events surprised me given the fact that our relationship had died a natural death, following doubts I had conveyed about the appropriateness of claiming to be in Iran when actually residing in Turkey.

I advised Navid forthrightly that nothing he had said would make me back down. I told him that I would write everything he had said during our conversation and publish it. To this end I asked him for his last name and he refused to provide it. Later that evening I emailed Iran Phone Lines to confirm that “Navid” had infact called that day on behalf of Iran Phone Line Company.

The following day I received an email indicating that he was indeed the Iran Phone Line owner, once again however they refused to give me a surname. Minutes after my conversation with Navid, I received two emails from Keyvan Rafiee, from his personal account info@keyvanrafiee.com. Both emails were quite similar in their gist. In the interest of transparency I have decided to reproduce one of the Rafiee emails with a word for word translation. The title of Mr. Rafiee’s email was “fekr kon” meaning “think about it”, attached to this email were sexually compromising photos of me which he had taken during the course of our relationship without my knowledge or consent.

Below you can find the complete email and its translation.

From: Keyvan rafiee
To: Sayeh Hassan
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:40:13 PM
Subject:

fekr kon bebin adame bi aghl tanha to nisti ke mitoni abroye man o berabi o baram moshkel besazi man ham onghad ahmagh nabodam o nistam ta alan har chi jasosi kardi o etelaat be in o on dadi man kari bahat nadashtam chon paye khodam tanha vasat bod vali alan dige dari baraye kasayi ke hich rabti be mozoate ma nadashtan o nadaran ijade moshkel mikoni o roye jayi ham dast gozashti ke midani baraye man cheghad ba arzeshe yani zendaniha niyazi nist to negaran kasi bashi , behtare farsi sohbat kardan yad begiri o kami az dard mardom iran o bishtar befahmi , man modaiye chizi nabodam , mobarez ya mozdor , babate hich kodomesh ta alan kasi na 1$ poli be man dade va na kasi tashakori karde ke hala bekham moshtaghe in basham ke az man be onvane ghahremani yad beshe aslan man mozdor to mobarez , jayizash ham male to man khake paye in mardom bodam o hastam , alanam chizi nistam joz ye farari mesle melionha adame dige ,mesle khodet man ba neveshtehaye to kari nadashtam ta alan ama dige dare moshkele bozorgi mishe , sherkate be ma 24 saat forsat dade baraye inke to neveshteat o bardari az roye bloget , ya edit koni , esme sherkat o bardari , onha hich rabti be mozo nadarand hala telefonha ghaat shode mitone kheyli khoshhal bashi az asibi ke resondi va hamintor sayere moshkelati ke ijad kardi vali paye afrade digei vasate ke man nemikham onha varede in bazi bacheganeye to beshan , pas neveshtat o bardar ya eslah kon , onja ke neveshti man etelaati hastam o bozorgesh kon vali esme sherkat va sayerein ro bardar, in dige bazi nist jedi begir chon in dafe dige lajbazit gheymatesh bala khahad bod fash kardane etelaati ke to yek roz bekhatere ertebate ma be dast avordi be hamon kasifiye ke man in aksa ro baraye fox o babat o dostat befrestam , hatman kare kasifi khahad bod , va man chenin chizi nemikham faghat mikham dast az sare man bardari o bezari zendegim o konam in bache baziha ro tamom kon khoda laanat kone on kasi o ke to ro gozasht to damane man.

My English Translation:

Look you stupid person, You are not the only one who can ruin my reputation and create problems. I was not and am not that stupid. Until now what ever information you gave to others I did not say anything because it was just about me. But now you are creating problems for people who had nothing to do with us. You have put your finger on a very important area for me, the political prisoners. There is no need for you to worry about anyone, its better you learn how to speak Farsi so that you can understand more about the problems of Iranian people. I never claimed to be anything, either an activist or working for the Regime and until now no one has given me $1 for either one of these things, that I would expect people to treat me like a hero now. I am the bully and you are the activist and you can take the prize. I am nothing but a person who has run away just like millions of people, just like you. Until now, I have not said anything about your writings but now it’s becoming a major problem. The phone company has given us 24 hours in order for you to remove your article from your blog, or to edit it and remove the name of the phone company, they have nothing to do with anything. (Editor’s Note: If nothing is going on why is Iran Phone Line so distraught about one single critical article?) Now the phone lines have been disconnected and you can be very happy about that, and about other problems you have created, but others are involved and I don’t want them to be mixed up with your childish game. So either remove your article or edit it, you can enlarge where you wrote I am with the Ministry of Intelligence (Editor’s Note: My article contained no such content). But remove everyone else’s names. This is not a game anymore, take it very seriously otherwise this time your stubbornness is going to cost you. Divulging information which you have as a result of our relationship is as dirty as me sending these pictures of you to your dad, your boss, your friends and others… I don’t want to do it, I just want you to leave me alone and end your childish games. (Emphasis Added)

Despite Mr. Rafiee’s demand I shall not remove the article from my blog. The reason for this is quite simple: The article is based on evidence that I developed from the Iran Phone Line Company and from careful observation and reliable sources. It is a conscientious report of associated matters presented out of a concern for the safety of dissidents who might inadvertently come to rely on questionable contacts and channels.

My assessment is made on the merits of available evidence, and as far as humanly possible, without personal bias. In any event should the publication of the article that you are reading trigger the release of aforementioned photographs readers will be able to reach their own conclusion about those mentioned above.

Taken together these events have raised certain questions in my mind. For example what was it about my original article that sparked the reaction that it did from both Iran Phone Line and Human Rights Activists in Iran? What exactly is the relationship between Iran Phone Line and Human Rights Activists in Iran? Why are they trying so hard to keep everyone in the dark about this issue? The events chronicled above are greatly disappointing and troubling. Why should those of us living in free and democratic countries find our right to speak jeopardized by campaigns of personal vilification and even black mail? Like so many in today’s Iran we, too, must stand up to intimidation and demand answers.