Did Reza Pahlavi lie again?

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Did Reza Pahlavi lie again?
by mahmood delkhasteh
21-Jul-2012
 

After I wrote: 

"On June 7th, 2012, Reza Pahlavi gave an interview with the well-respected German weekly magazine, OnLine Focus.(1) A Persian translation was published soon after(2). After this, his office published a statement in Persian which said that there were numerous mistakes in the interview, which it had asked Focus Online to correct.(3) I had, in this time, published a short critical comment about the article.(4) However, after reading the Pahlavi office’s statement, in order to be sure that the translation from German into Persian was correct, I sent both to an Iranian lawyer at the Max Plank Institute in Germany. He wrote back: ‘I read both, and the German-to-Persian translation is correct and exact.’ He then wrote, ‘with regard to Reza Pahlavi, the truth is that when I read the German text, I felt sick. My annoyance and anger at such a low and contemptible political act, which clearly reveals the backwardness of [Reza Pahlavi’s] mind, were so severe that I did not know what to do. I thought to leave a very critical comment (on Focus Online), but I realized that the interviewer knew what she was doing and, in fact, that using the best of methods she had revealed his empty, raw and childlike mind, which is at the same time is filled with meaningless arrogance.”
The cause of his anger was Reza Pahlavi’s declaration that he was the legal king of Iran, and that he can’t wait to sit on the throne. Also, in order to justify his father’s dictatorial rule, he argued that Iranians had not been ready for democracy and that, in effect, they did not deserve it. He suggested that his father had to train them, even saying that ‘some [former] revolutionaries are coming to me and saying that it would have been better if my father had arrested or executed them.’ He also praised the policy towards Iran of the despots of Saudi Arabi, Qatar and Bahrain, and placed himself importantly next to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
As far as I know, it was Mohammad Amini who wrote the first solid critique of this interview. After its publication he came under a barrage of criticism from monarchists who argued that the interviewer has misrepresented the views of Reza Pahlavi. They referred to a letter written by his office to Focus Online, which argues, ‘we need to mention that there are numerous mistakes in its translation from English into German and then into Persian, and that in this text the German-to-Persian translation is not compatible with the language of Reza Pahlavi. […] We request that Focus Online respects the media regulations and publishes the English version of the interview and corrects its German translation as soon as possible.’
Mohammad Amini contacted Focus Online to ask about their view of this statement. He was told that, first, they have not received any request from Reza Pahlavi’s office, and second, that the interview was recorded and that the record is at their disposal.(5)
It is thus safe to assume that the sole purpose of the Pahlavi office’s statement is to deceive Iranians. Why? Because if the office really believed that the magazine did not accurately represent his views, they should have sent a statement to the magazine citing the parts which were misrepresented, rather than issuing a letter of protest in Persian without making the magazine aware. This is deeply unethical on two fronts. First, they have tried to deceive Iranians by making them believe that the letter was sent to the magazine. Second, they have accused the magazine of being dishonest, or at least, of lacking professional ethics, without giving it an opportunity to reply.
The mere fact that the Pahlavi office did not contact the magazine to register their concern suggests that Focus Online had actually conveyed what Reza Pahlavi had said. In fact, the interview was a brilliant piece of journalism by the skilful Andrea-Claudia Hoffmann, who knows the psychology of power-seeking people. As a result, Reza Pahlavi let his guard down and expressed his true self, which is always hidden behind the mask of someone who struggles for freedom and democracy. In other words, he was caught red-handed. He then panicked and, as damage limitation, issued a vague statement in Persian saying that his views were misrepresented.
After posting the Persian version of this post, Siamak Zand wrote, ‘as a journalist who worked at the Shah's press office for the last seven years of his reign, resorting to such lies and deceit was the norm rather than an exception.’
I argued that if Reza Pahlavi believed my arguments were wrong, it would be easy to prove them so by releasing the interview recording or asking Focus Online to publish it."

After nearly a month he gave his response and here you can see his response and my response to his:

However, after more than a month’s silence, he has stated in an interview that his associates contacted the magazine requesting a copy of the interview, that the magazine declined, and that he is thus taking the magazine to court to begin a legal process.(6)
There are a number of things that should be noted in this regard.
First, Mr Reza Pahlavi is well aware that one of the main tasks of the press office which he has at his disposal is to record and archive any interview he gives, so that it could be referred to in times like this. I am therefore requesting that he asks his press office to release the record if, for inexplicable reasons, the German magazine refuses to do so. Why, instead of doing that, does he want to assume the hefty financial burden that will be necessary for legal action?
Could he release the letter that his office wrote to Focus Online, in which he asks the magazine to release the record of the interview? If not, why not?
Why has the letter written to Focus Online not been translated from Persian into either English or German?
What is the nature of the case upon which his lawyer is taking the magazine to court? Is it defamation, libel or something else?
Could he release the legal letter which was written by his German lawyer? If not, why not?
To which German court has he applied? Releasing this information would enable us to learn more about the nature of the complaint itself. If he is unwilling to supply us with this information, why is this so?
More than 40 days after the interview, Mr Pahlavi has still not explained which part of interview was falsified or misrepresented. In another interview last week, he said that he did not remember being asked if he wished to be crowned, which legally speaking is not a denial that he had been asked such a question. What is the reason for such a slow response, and such vagueness?
Finally, I would like to argue that the reason Mr Pahlavi is so slow to respond and vague about the interview is that he realises he has said all these things and is now discussing legal action in order to buy time. Why? He knows well that it can take months, if not years, for such cases to go to court (if he really has taken the magazine to court) and has calculated that with such longevity the whole issue will be forgotten. I have to inform him that he could not be more wrong. The life expectancy of lie is very short when it burns with the oxygen of freedom.
Again, I ask Mr Reza Pahlavi to release the letters, and to release the recording of the interview. If he has nothing to hide, he should have volunteered this information himself. We are still waiting.
(1): //www.focus.de/politik/ausland/krise-in-der-a...
(2): //www.irandarjahan.net/%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%...
(3): [1] //www.rezapahlavi.org/details_article.php?per...
(4): //iranian.com/main/blog/mahmood-delkhaste...
(5): //news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2012/06/14...
(6): //www.youtube.com/watch?v=ockU8QVvwEg&feature...

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more from mahmood delkhasteh
 
مآمور

vacation time

by مآمور on

due to economical down turn, of which the office of the Prince has not been immune, the administration of the Pahlavi dynasty has decided to lay some of its staff off. Prior to this decision, the 'press office' of the prince had two staff members and one was let go!! the other staff member who is left hanging with the sheer size of requests from prince's fans has been suffering from work related stress and has gone on stress leave!! as soon as the staff member gets better he will release the memos regarding the real thoughts and believes of the prince!!

just be patient!!

 I wear an Omega watch


Banafsheh Zolfaghari

The disgracefull incompetence of the opposition makes me sick !

by Banafsheh Zolfaghari on

Not sure what the nonesense is all about as the nit-picking in my view is much ado about nothing ! 

Just a bunch of old ideological zealots of yesteryear, worried about having caught (or not) reza pahalavi "II" in a "lie" about his being a 'legal king' or not ! 

Honestly who cares? 

Is reza pahlavi or any one of his incompetent detractors that relevant to the problems at hand to deserve this massive avalance of child's talk? 

Frankly, who gives a rat's ass about him or those who think they cought him in a lie!

Shame on the self-absorbed "exiled opposition" that is so blind that it fails to realize how irrelevent it is. 

Visionless, anemic and self-absorbed the Iranian opposition in exile is completely clueless about what it's all about and stands absolutley not a chance to play the slightest role in the liberation of Iran from the suckling grip of the Islamic Dictatorship of Clerics in Iran.

It is frustratingly quite humorous, but also very, very, sad to see these toothless, old bags still fighting battles of yesteryears. 

Sorry guys, but the writing is on the wall; has been for a while!  Give it up and fade into the sunset as you are one big catastrophic failure. 

This goes to those who were in power (including any claiming heir) as their massive incompetence handed our glorious country to a bunch of un-educated mules!  The greater failure in my view goes to the very opposition at the time (jebhe melli, mossadegh-ollahi's, intellectuals and leftists) which was clearly so incompetent and ignorant that 'Agha' and his infested coterie hoodwink and bambooozle [you] into the grand loosers you have all turned out to be !

So please stop your stale score-settlings !

My generation -- whome you have failed -- long ago lost respect for you and your continuous naterings.


maziar 58

........

by maziar 58 on

Mr . still waiting

WHY don't you please ask the German Focus directly in English or German to release the audio video script ?

BTW morgh kiloyi 4800 tooman

tokhmesh 5000 a dozen.

Maziar


Faramarz

A Rerun of an Earlier Blog

by Faramarz on

 

 

This blog is a complete rerun of the blogger's July 1 blog with the same typo (Saudi Arabi) and with some new paragraphs, but the old content. 

The only significant difference between this blog and the earlier blog is that the blogger finished the earlier blog by saying, "I am waiting." And he finished this one by saying, "We are still waiting!"

It would be greatly appreciated if in the future, and when the blogger has nothing new or of substance to discuss, maybe he should go back to his earlier blog and under the Comment section just say, "We are still waiting!"

That will definitely get the message across and will save some good people some precious time. Thank you.


pas-e-pardeh

Thank you anglophile

by pas-e-pardeh on

for pointing out at least one falsehood in this so called article.

Fact is, RP is suing the interviewers to release the original interview.  Why doesn't the author demand the people who are holding the tape hostage, i.e., Online Focus release a copy of the original?

Anyone genuinly interested in getting the facts in this case would demand this (you would think).  


Darius Kadivar

I've Got Evidence of Brutal Torture Under Pahlavi Rule !

by Darius Kadivar on

Iran " مصاحبه قاطبه با شاگرد ممتاز "

Jaafar Ghaatebeh interviews the Honor student


alimostofi

MD: Simple questions.

by alimostofi on

MD: Simple questions.

Why don't you just simply state "I don't like CM".
Why not be positive and state your opinion politically.

I have, for a lot longer than you, critisized HIM because his job is hard to do. His job is to preserve the cultural heritage of Iran. He sees it founded on Human Rights as did Cyrus the Great.

What is your solution for Iran?
State your position and then we can take you seriously.
Otherwise you will be part of thousands of other communists who revel on hating nationalism and think nothing is sacred.

No one is perfect. But Iran is.

@alimostofi
FB: astrologer.alimostofi


Cost-of-Progress

del-e tu, va sardard-e man

by Cost-of-Progress on

baba velemoon kon baa in RPII. Nobody cares.

Just think about what life would have been like had there been no (2nd) eSSlamic Takeover of MY ancestral land.  


anglophile

False assumption results in false conclusions

by anglophile on

Mr Delkhasteh

 

Your morbid obsession with this case is a tried and failed strategy. You, and your colleauges Rezaei, Amini and Moshiri have been proven to be incorrect, flase and legally speaking defamatory,  beyond a reasonable doubt, in your (and their) previous assertions but as is the quintessential charcteristic of morbidly obsessed individuals, you cannot quit. I understand but this but I cannot help you.

For your benefit only, I articulate your false (some people prefer to call it lying) assumptions and allegations which have lead you to these naturally false conclusions. Here is the evidence in you own words:

 

"First, Mr Reza Pahlavi is well aware that one of

the main tasks of the press office which he has at his disposal is to record

and archive any interview he gives, so that it could be referred to in times

like this.  I am therefore requesting that he asks his press office to

release the record if, for inexplicable reasons, the German magazine refuses to

do so. Why, instead of doing that, does he want to assume the hefty financial

burden that will be necessary for legal action?"

 

Here (shown in bold) you start off by making a flase assumption that the job of the press office is to keep a recording of any and every interview. This assumption is at best false and at worst a lie. Either you are totally ignorant of the issue of the proprietary laws governing the copyright of an interview or you pretned to be ignorant, in the hope of misleading your readers. Depending on the jurisdiction under which an interview is carried out and/or private agreements between the interviewer and te interviewee the ownership of an interview differs vastly from one interview to another. Therefre, it is not as simple and as clear as you pretend it to be. For your benefit I refer you to read the following on-going debate over this issue. But I know that true to your morbid obsessive nature (and believe me I am speaking from a scientific point of view) you will not give up. May the God of your mentor,Mr Bani-Sadr, help you.

 

Roger and out! 

//www.rightsofwriters.com/2011/01/who-owns-interview.html