Iran International
Hamed Esmaeilion who resigned from the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy in Iran Friday blames Prince Reza Pahlavi for resisting majority’s organizing efforts.
In an interview with Iran International TV Saturday evening, Esmaeilion who had not directly mentioned the exiled Prince as the reason for leaving the alliance a day earlier, named him as the person with whom he had disagreements and left the group.
Prince Reza Pahlavi has not responded to Esmaeilion’s accusations yet.
Esmaeilion claimed that the “near absolute majority” of the members of the alliance sought the formation of specialized committees and drawing up articles of association for the alliance, but the Prince “resisted” such initiatives and instead demanded that the alliance should only give support to political organizations formed outside it.
“Another problem was that discussions within the group leaked out … The tweets that Mr Pahlavi posted in the past two, three weeks transferred internal discussions outside although we were still discussing the issues,” he said.
Prince Reza Pahlavi said in an April 4 tweet that he had submitted a letter containing the names of additional prospective members to give a voice to those who were unrepresented in the alliance. In another tweet on April 10 he reported that members of the group had not come to a consensus regarding the said candidates.
Calling this a setback, the Prince had also said that he would work with other individuals and groups “to amplify the voices of all Iranians, adding that he would not limit himself “to one group” and stand behind “all groups who believe in ensuring Iran's territorial integrity, who want human rights for the Iranian people, and who believe the future government of Iran should be a secular democracy, the form of which should be decided by the Iranian people.”
Prince Reza Pahlavi has not publicly named his proposed candidates but some of his his supporters who call themselves ‘constitutionalists’ allege that Esmaeilion opposed the inclusion of football legend Ali Karimi at the time of announcement of their association.
They allege that Esmaeilion opposed the inclusion of London-based journalist Amir Taheri and Germany-based musician and activist Shahin Najafi.
There is also the accusation that Esmaeilion resigned because of Prince Pahlavi’s recent trip to Israel.
In his interview with Iran International, however, Esmaeilion denied the allegation that he had announced his resignation Friday, immediately after Prince Reza Pahlavi’s visit to Israel, “to undermine his achievements.”
Some constitutional monarchists seem pleased by Esmaeilion’s departure from the alliance. “From now on fresh blood will enter [the veins] of the pragmatic front of the opposition. This is a very positive development!” one of the supporters of the exiled Prince tweeted.
“Esmaeilion’s departure from the alliance has another aspect, namely, if the project of restoring constitutional and parliamentary monarchy in the future, is realized, it will again result in autocracy,” another tweet said.
It also accused monarchists of not having the capability of cooperating with those in favor of a future republic. “The problem is in the theory of monarchy, which does not prepare the ground for pluralism.”
In recent years, the former crown prince did not lay claim to the throne, and at least on one occasion he said his own desirable government would be a republic rather than a monarchy, but many of his supporters, who always refer to him affectionately as ‘The Prince’ see him as the future king of the country.
NOTE: In the earlier version of this report it was erroneously said that Prince Reza Pahlavi had proposed US-based Amir-Hossein Etemadi as a candidate for the Council.
Dr. Hamid Qarahassanlou (Ghara-Hasanlou), a fifty-four-year-old radiologist, and his wife Farzaneh were arrested in November in Karaj during protests in which a member of the Basij militia, Ruhollah Ajamian (27), was beaten to death by angry protesters but both have denied any involvement in the incident.
Qarahassanlou was initially sentenced to death and his wife to twenty-five years prison, but their sentences were later reduced due to a strong backlash on social media and lack of evidence of their involvement in a second trial.
Yazd and Mashhad, where Hamid and Farzaneh Qarahassanlou will serve their sentences respectively, are nearly 1,000, and 670 kilometers away from their hometown of Karaj.
A statement by the family released on social media Friday, after the announcement of the new sentences Tuesday, said even the footage of the incident made by security agents proves that the couple were not involved in the killing and were only present on the scene on the way home from a protest in Karaj, near Tehran, on November 3.
“He now has to be exiled [to a prison] in Yazd for fifteen years for not having saved the life of that Basiji in the fracas [of the moment] as a humane doctor,” the statement said while describing the very violent arrest of the couple which they say has hugely affected the couple’s teenage daughter.
The large protest rally that turned very violent after security forces attacked protesters was held to commemorate a young girl, Hadis Najafi, who was shot to death by security forces forty days earlier.
“The crime [for which they were punished] was and is nothing other than participating in Hadis Najafi’s 40th day memorial,” the statement said.
Two young protesters, Mohammad Mehdi Karami (22) and Mohammad Hossein (39), were executed over Ajamian’s death in January after a hasty trial which human rights activists have called a travesty of justice.
All of the accused, including Qarahassanlou, were reportedly severely tortured to obtain “confessions” and the hardliner Judiciary assigned lawyers despite several prominent lawyers volunteering to defend them.
The lawyers assigned by the court did very little to defend the accused according to family members.
The convictions were not based on a criminal charge related to the murder per se, but they were charged with ‘moharebeh’, meaning “war against God”, a vague religious concept. The Islamic Republic applies the charge to people who might get into a confrontation with security forces during protests.
The first two hangings triggered strong international condemnations and hundreds of lawmakers in Europe and Australia began sponsoring Iranian detainees in danger of execution to generate publicity and impact their fate.
Twelve other protestors have been jailed for up to 15 years for the Basij agent’s death.
The couple were badly beaten during the arrest and later in detention. Qarahassanlou underwent surgery three times for several broken ribs and damaged lung and the family say he has partially lost his eyesight as a result of the beatings.
The couple who belong to the persecuted Sufi Gonabadi Order were known for active involvement in charitable efforts including building schools for underprivileged children.
In a post entitled “Report to the People” Friday, Canada-based activist Esmaeilion announced that he has left the alliance. The council consisted of the exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi , US-based author, journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad, actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi and Secretary General of the Kurdish Komala Party Abdullah Mohtadi and Esmaeilion.
Boniadi recently deactivated her social media accounts without any explanation and appears to have withdrawn from the alliance too. Alinejad, Mohtadi, and Ebadi have so far not commented on Esmaeilion’s resignation.
The alliance announced its existence in a February event at Georgetown University and issued its charter, the Mahsa Charter, in early March and its members said they had agreed on “minimal positions” that could create the most consensus among the opposition.
Esmaeilion said he joined the opposition in exile council hoping to help create a platform for dialogue and cooperation among various opposition factions but the lack of democracy and transparency in the council and the “domination” of one member over the others disillusioned him.
He claimed that he had tried to keep away from “conflicts, pressures and illogical demands” but was impeded by “pressure groups from the outside” who kept trying to impose their own views on the coalition by “undemocratic methods".
Supporters of Esmaeilion, Alinejad, and Mohtadi have long been accusing the supporters of the exiled Prince of harassment on social media and efforts to defame them. Prince Reza Pahlavi has on some occasions advised his supporters to be more tolerant of others but the disputes and attacks on social media only got worse. They often accuse Prince Reza Pahlavi’s supporters of trying to present the him as the only legitimate leader of the opposition.
Supporters of the Prince who call themselves ‘constitutionalists’ are staunchly against establishing a republic of any form in Iran, particularly federalism, seek the revival of a constitutional monarchy and the Iranian Constitution of 1906. They allege that others, Esmaeilion and Alinejad in particular, have views that will lead to the loss of Iran's national integrity.
Constitutionalists have been particularly angry recently because they believe that Esmaeilion and possibly Alinejad have prevented the Prince from including some opposition figures close to him in the coalition– particularly London-based journalist Amir Taheri, the US-based Amir-Hossein Etemadi, a member of the Frashgard group, and Germany-based musician and activist Shahin Najafi.
"Imposing opinions is not democratic, and the consensus of a group’s members, not just one member, is a precondition of a democratic movement," Esmaeilion wrote without naming Prince Reza Pahlavi directly while further suggesting that there have been efforts to “eliminate” others and impose certain views on others.
He also opined that the opposition abroad should only help to empower the people of Iran, their networks and organizations and that he would personally continue helping young pro-democracy Iranians abroad to organize and work on “unrestricted internet and several other projects” with them.
His critics respond that the six-member council was self-appointed, and no one got elected to block others from joining.
Some social media users have also suggested that the reason for Esmaeilion’s departure from the alliance at this time could have been his opposition to the Prince’s recent visit to Israel.
“Timelines are filled with Esmaeilion’s worthless tweet exactly when articles and tweets must focus on the important and taboo-breaking Israel visit of the Iranian monarch, Prince Reza Pahlavi, and the impact of this visit today and after the reclamation of Iran [from the Islamic Republic]. Isn’t it interesting?” one of the Prince’s supporters tweeted.