The Islamic Republic's Killing Fields
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Frank Nikbakht, an Iranian democracy activist. Born in Tehran in 1953, he escaped Iran in 1982 with the help of Kurdish tribesmen, making his way to Turkey and eventually ending up in the United States. He is the founder of the Committee for Religious Minority Rights in Iran, which strives for equal rights for all Iranians.

FP: Frank Nikbakht, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Nikbakht: Thank you for your concern and for having me on the Frontpage. It is nice to see there are alternatives to the traditional left and "liberals" who have abandoned their pretense of defending freedom and equality worldwide and have allied themselves with Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

FP: Tell us about your youth and how and why you ended up escaping Iran.

Nikbakht: Idealism prolongs youth. My youth, therefore, covered a rather long period of struggle to bring about change. Suffice it to say that the Islamization of the 1979 revolution in Iran which fraudulently adopted common, even conflicting, slogans of leftists, nationalists, democrats and ethnic and religious minorities before it, in order to appease and then destroy them all, was an historic shock to a whole generation of Iranians. This deceptive behavior, also called "Tagheeyah", is, by the way, the same thing they are employing today internationally in their diplomacy and forming alliances. The continued self delusion of many idealists and intellectuals in siding with the Islamic regime under the cover of theoretical excuses and tactical expediency was another shock and betrayal of our generation.

By 1981, only two years after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, the lives of all opponents of the regime were in danger due to the gradual establishment and revival of security and intelligence institutions and the alliance of pro-Soviet organizations with the IRI intelligence agencies -- whose stated goal was to betray all anti-regime activists to the government.

As a non-Muslim minority member, my civil rights had already been taken away or greatly diminished following the establishment of the Islamic regime and the passage of its highly discriminatory constitution. Non-Muslims had become “D’himmis”, second class citizens with limited rights, or non-citizens with absolutely no rights, just based on their beliefs. The Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians were given certain rights but their lives were legally valued as less than 1/2 or 1/8th of a Muslim’s life (depending on which source of Shari’a a judge decided to use in cases of compensations for loss of life or limb). They lost their right to testify in court against Muslims and they lost all sorts of imaginable rights to material and social status which might demonstrate any semblance of superiority or power over Muslims.

Killers of D’himmis would not be held to the same standard of killers of Muslims and would only be liable for the lower financial compensation while killers or looters of non-Dhimmis, such as Bahaiis, who had no right s at all, would be immune to prosecution, since according to the new criminal codes, the victims did not deserve to live or function within the “Islamic” society in the first place. Hundreds of D’himmis and Bahaiis were thus executed or just killed and assassinated according to the new laws and imposed social norms. Any minority member who converted to Islam was entitled to all the inheritance in their family, while converting out of Islam was punishable by death. These are just some examples of the highly discriminatory laws in the new regime, almost all of which are still in force.

FP: Tell us some more about the fate of minorities in Iran.

Nikbakht: After the revolution, minorities were leaving the country in their thousands every month and it seemed that the regime was going to stay. Socially, I was witnessing the gradual acceptance by the Muslim masses of intolerance for others, which was and has been the main pillar of the regime’s ideology and propaganda, as tolerance or compassion became symbols of "dishonorable" character, in addition to being a sin and a hell bound way of thinking.

A lot of these zealous characteristics, which had been the basis for the persecution of women and minorities for centuries, had been gradually swept aside during the 20th century, when rulers were admittedly dictators but were overall secular rulers and modernists nevertheless. All my life I had experienced equality to some extent; now suddenly I was faced with the loss of all those rights with the tacit approval of millions of people to whom I had dedicated my life and for whom I had spent years of my youthful energy. This is why I am actively promoting equal rights for minorities in Iran and advocating it (painfully!) even among the opposition who still needs a lot of education in this regard.

At the time, minority communities were being scrutinized, our community properties, schools and centers were being confiscated, our professionals, teachers and scientists were being fired and an atmosphere of fear had replaced our previous feeling of belonging and security.

Hundreds of regime opponents were being executed each day or week and one by one my friends or people I knew about were being arrested and were disappearing. I would witness Hizbullah thugs mutilating women and young people in the streets for not adhering to Islamic codes, Revolutionary Guards shooting demonstrators, searching whole city blocks in search of opponents, books, arms, western music cassettes or alcohol and arrest groups of young students at the local park near the Tehran University.

As social dissent grew into mass demonstrations and riots, high ranking Mullahs and government officials announced that it was no longer necessary to arrest and bring to trial the opponents of the "godly" regime and they could be killed on the street or in their homes if their "kufr" or infidelity was known to the Hizbullah gangs or the revolutionary guards. I, like thousands of others, would be stopped and searched several times a day driving in Tehran.

Even though I loved Iran and still liked to contribute to positive change and even though there were still many truly honorable Muslim friends who would give me shelter and refuge whenever I needed, and whose compassion and friendship I could count on, it was time to "get out of Dodge".

The Kurdish regions of Northwestern Iran were safe havens for dissidents from all over the country and the Kurds helped save the lives of hundreds of thousands of their fellow Iranians, including families who just wanted to live in freedom, fearful minorities and others by giving them refuge or helping them cross over the mountains to Turkey. Up until today, the brave Iranian Kurds have been defying the regime in every way.

FP: You lost most of your friends and colleagues to Iran’s firing squads. Can you talk a bit about that? And I apologize for the pain this question causes you.

Nikbakht: Many of my friends were active opponents of the regime, while many were passive and none involved. Some even sympathized with Ayatullah Khomeini, the same way as today's intellectuals and even Western governments and academics are sometimes mesmerized by the likes of president Khatami or some of the reformists within the regime.

In addition, some others were like today's leftists whose lack of mass support leads them to root for "anti-Imperialist" crooks and populists like Ahmadinejad, the Lebanese Hezbullah and even Hamas. In the end, most were killed, executed and imprisoned regardless of the nature and form of their opposition, because the regime was (and still is) more concerned about the potential danger of people who are not part of it.

One of my closest friends from my UCLA days in the 1970s, who was executed in 1982, while not a regime sympathizer, was in fact infatuated with Khomeini because of his populist rhetoric, while another UCLA friend, who was a devout Muslim (moderate by today's standards) was assassinated when he went back to Iran in 1998 to join legal and moderate Islamic opposition to the regime, duped by Khatami’s empty promises of Islamic reform and security for certain dissidents.

The regime has repeatedly eliminated opponents out of the fear that they might become active opponents in the future. The massacre of thousands of political prisoners convicted for minor political infractions (tens of thousands according to some) and serving their time in jail back in 1988 is the most horrific example. Periodical assassinations or executions of hundreds of people for the sole reason of being considered "apostates" or "infidels" and those who were executed mainly to terrorize the Jewish, Bahaii or Christian communities are ongoing examples.

The pain you mentioned, which tends to diminish with time, returns every time I hear about more executions, watch videos of public hangings of young revolutionaries in the streets or stoning of women for adultery, which happens frequently these days.

FP: What lies at the foundation of this terror state?

Nikbakht: The present Iranian regime is a Theocratic dictatorship of a certain sect within Shiite Islam which according to its Constitution has clear imperialistic intentions and views itself primarily as a global entity with a global mission rather than an Iranian national entity. Accordingly, it considers its allegiance to Iranian national interests as incidental to its ideological and global mission. The 29 year track record of the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) against Iranian culture, traditions and antiquities as well as its zealous support of worldwide Islamic terrorism or Islamic movements, confirms its non-Iranian nature, while the massive economic monopolization, export of capital, global influence buying and establishment of intelligence and terrorist bases on all continents, demonstrate its ample imperialist capabilities.

The surprising flexibility of the IRI vis-à-vis domestic and international adversities, sometimes mistaken with the regime’s willingness to change or deserving of trust is only a textbook implementation of the “Tagheeyah” principle (deception, self preservation, cheat and retreat etc…), prescribed by Mullahs for centuries as an often successful way to survive and outlast adversity.

The structure of the Islamic Republic in Iran, is a two tier structure as a result of the regime’s concession to the will of the Iranian people, who naively expected a decent democracy and the Western backers of the “Islamic revolution” who had the Mullahs under their microscopes for establishing a structure capable of competing with Soviet propaganda and proposed alternatives.

The real power structure was constructed according to Khomeini’s doctrine of the “Guardianship of the Islamic scholar” as the sole legitimate leadership imposing the laws of “God” whose main structure was to be the Shari’ah as interpreted by Khomeini and his sect within Shiism and as a guardian over the “ignorant and incapacitated” masses.

The second tier, opposed to this day by super fundamentalist Ayatullahs as being un-Islamic, is a complete façade of civil governmental and administrative institutions which are controlled almost entirely by the “Supreme Leader” (Guardian Scholar) through parallel institutions, through careful selection of all candidates for elected posts, and through supra-governmental parallel intelligence, military and social civil organizations. Since operating two parallel governments is an immensely difficult task, once again the people’s defiance as well as factional rivalries find loopholes to operate within, but they have never been able to cross the Constitutional red lines and the Supreme Leader’s interventions and punitive readjustments.

FP: Ok, so crystallize the mission of the Iranian regime.

Nikbakht: The mission of the IRI , as documented in the preamble of the IRI Constitution is to Islamize Iran and then the whole world though ideological indoctrination (there is even a Ministry dedicated to indoctrination or “Ershad”) as well as military means, as such a global task is expressly assigned to the army and the infamous IRGC (Islamic revolutionary guards Corps). Countless official and clerical proclamations and the practices of IRI foreign policy demonstrate the commitment of the successive IRI governments to their Constitutionally mandated mission.

The ‘Islamization” of Iran, has meant the taking away of women’s rights and equality with men (even a woman’s life is, according to IRI laws, valued at half a man’s life in the “retribution” as well as “compensation” laws, women’s testimony is worth half as much and etc….), the reduction of the status and rights of non-Muslims and non-Shiites to second class citizens or less, and to non-citizens in the case of “unrecognized religions and infidels…) which amount to a planned and forced gradual extinction of minority religions and beliefs, the general ban on public and sometimes private expressions of joy, through music, dancing, parties, intermingling of sexes and etc.

Sometimes, even rhythmic display of sadness and religious mourning have been suppressed. It is important to note that the wishes of this regime have often been challenged by the people, by women and youth in particular, who defy the inhuman laws whenever they can, forcing the regime to retreat on many fronts for as long as possible. Needless to say hundreds of thousands are arrested, whipped, imprisoned and fined for such continuing disobedience.

The Islamization of the world, with the Mullah’s Iranian experience as a model, means spending massive amounts of oil money all over the world to conduct propaganda, monopolize the means to express ideas, incite populations and arm and organize like minded people for a long and patient struggle. The activities of the regime in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian areas and the region, are clear examples of the multi pronged efforts which will be exerted globally once the IRI, the Revolutionary Guards and their agents acquire the necessary capabilities and opportunities.

FP: How can the Iranian people free themselves of this despotism?

Nikbakht: The Iranian people have demonstrated their opposition to the regime and its policies in various ways throughout the past 29 years. The majority of the Shiite Muslims of Iran never expected such degree of fundamentalism, dictatorship and extremism from their revolutionary leaders. From grand Ayatullahs to Muslim activists and regular folks, Shiites of all sectors have been assassinated, imprisoned, exiled and forced into submission by the regime who drove them out of power and prevented their ideas from being heard.

Muslim Sunnis, mostly in Kurdish, Baluch and some other regions of the country, who were humiliated and who became second class citizens, have never accepted the legitimacy of the regime and have waged armed struggle, civil disobedience and legal methods against the IRI and have suffered greatly for all of it. Non-Muslims, while meekly opposing their D’himmi status and politely complaining against many policies, have mostly demonstrated their opposition by leaving the country to the tune of 80% in the cases of Jews, Christians and some others.

Ethnic minorities all over the country have ignored the regime in their areas to varying degrees and have joined opposing forces whenever possible. Most educated people, women and the youth in large cities, have constantly demonstrated their yearning for modernism, equal rights, secularism, joy and personal freedoms, while intellectuals, students, political activists of all kinds and millions of regular people have always acted in favor of democracy and suffered massive crackdowns.

FP: Expand for us on the resistance.

Nikbakht: I can confidently say that there have been dozens of major mass uprisings, armed and unarmed against the regime since 1979, during the 1980s, 1990s and the current decade. These were violently put down, tens of thousands were killed and yet, repeated again and again.

Ethnic minority regions are still semi-autonomous areas as a result of some of these uprisings and their ongoing non-violent as well as armed struggle. There have been thousands of workers’ strikes, mostly with political as well as economic demands, and are ongoing today. There have been hundreds of major student demonstrations and even massive student uprisings throughout the IRI existence, namely the great uprising of 1999, 2003, and the reorganized demonstrations of 2007 and 2008. Civil disobedience, women’s defiance and cultural rebellion of all kinds are beyond government control and comprehension. On the more violent side, even desperate terrorism has taken a big toll among regime leaders and IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) forces. Finally, religious moderation has had its share of attention from Iranian Muslims who yearn for a humane and tolerant version of Islam and oppose the Theocratic dictatorship which has tarnished their image of Islam.

The main internal factor, hindering success in all of the past and present efforts, has been the lack of coordination and unity among all the factions, preventing the convergence of various demands of the people. The violent crackdowns by the regime, can only be considered as a secondary factor, since even regime forces and militias have repeatedly joined the people (their own families or “folks”) during massive uprisings.

Externally, it is clear that the legitimacy given to the IRI by major powers who have kept it afloat militarily, economically and diplomatically, has infused confidence among regime supporters and despair among the opponents. We cannot expect a humiliated and disempowered people to confront a strong regime, supported by yet stronger foreign powers, and succeed.

FP: What activities are you involved at present to help free your country?

Nikbakht: My activities are currently centered around the equal rights issues, not only in regards to the discriminatory rights of the IRI but also regarding the opposition forces who are also lacking in this department.

In the end, the same intolerance behind the minority discrimination in Iran is also behind the intolerance towards other political, social and ideological beliefs. Even though equality of all Iranians irrespective of their beliefs can be attained by a regime change and a new constitution, but even so far, we have been successful in forcing concessions from the regime.

Saving the lives of many Jews, Bahaiis and Christians were possible only after international outcries and pressures while the 2002 decision to equalize the value of life between Muslims and three specific minority religions (even though the implementation has been doubtful) was due to the Minority Assembly members’ warning to the regime that people like us were “using the issue to tarnish the regime’s image in the west”.

My other activities include encouraging smart and selective sanctions on the regime in Iran in order to level the playing field in favor of the people of Iran, who need a weaker regime to confront or to topple.

FP: What advice would you give to the U.S. and West in terms of helping liberate Iran?

Nikbakht: The first thing that comes to my mind, is that the US must make up its mind about whether or not it wants the Iranian regime to go. We have repeatedly been told by successive State Department people and reminded by successive US Presidents, that the US policy is to force or convince the IRI to “change its behavior”, meaning mostly its international behavior.

I personally don’t see how this can succeed, knowing the intentions and the psychology of the regime leaders, but while the US is sticking to this policy, and while they are only intent on promoting mild opposition to the IRI, sanctions which really weaken the regime and empower the people should be implemented in full.

We know that most sanctions in place have never been fully implemented. I would also strongly recommend specific pressures, sanctions or what have you, in specified cases of human rights violations in Iran such as the practice of stoning, public hangings, arrests, crackdowns and etc. We know that these conditional sanctions (a separate issue from the main sanctions) do work, and we have been thankful to the US for saving lives following certain specific pressures and sanctions in the past. The successful efforts of the (Bush & Clinton) State Department in forcing the IRI to free the 13 Jews of Shiraz 1999-2001, the efforts of Congressman Sherman in California in this and in other regards, and more recently, the efforts of California Assemblyman Joel Anderson which was partially responsible for putting a stop to public hangings in Iran were all due to specific sanctions as well as the threat of sanctions, along with unbridled publicity. Such specific sanctions, by the way, can also be effective if they would include the massive investments in and immigration of families of major IRI leaders to the United States, who can certainly be pressured into human rights policy changes in Iran.

On the other hand, once the US decides that the only way is a complete regime change in Iran, and once the US allies stop throwing lifelines to the regime, then there will be many ways to help the Iranian people topple this regime in short order.

FP: Frank Nikbakht, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Nikbakht: Thank you for promoting the case for democracy, freedom and secularism in Iran.

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