Interview with CHRR Member Hesam Misaghi

The following is an interview with human rights activist Hesam Misaghi, conducted by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Hesam Misaghi is an activist for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) and spokesperson for the Population of Combat against Educational Discrimination.

In the interview, Hesam Misaghi explains the situation of Baha’is and students who are active in civil and political activities. Misaghi also exposes lies told by Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights council in the judiciary.

Campaign: Mr. Misaghi, you are a member of the Population of Combat against Educational Discrimination. Why did you form this Committee and what is the situation with the Committee members right now?

Hesam Misaghi: This Committee was formed as an independent organization to regain the general right to education. Most of its members were Baha’i students who had been deprived of education, but the committee works to regain the rights of all students deprived from education on grounds such as gender discrimination, suspension, and dismissal orders for critical students, as well as deprivation of education for Baha’i students which has a long record.

This Committee held several meetings last May and June in different Iranian cities with the aim to disseminate information, something which was unprecedented under the oppressive conditions of Iran. The first meeting was held in Tehran. I participated in the meetings as the spokesperson for the organization, so I delivered speeches. Navid Khanjani is the founder and head of this independent organization. The Committee was established as an independent organization to regain the general right to education. Three Committee members were arrested within 24 hours and three other members’ homes were searched.

Campaign: Who are the other committee members who have been arrested or are being pursued?

Hesam Misaghi: Dorsa Sobhani, one of our committee colleagues in Sari is under immense pressure. Her father was arrested by six people yesterday and was interrogated blindfolded and handcuffed while beaten. Eeghan Shahidi, a committee colleague in Kermanshah was arrested early in the morning on March 3rd. Sama Nourani, a Shiraz colleague who has been deprived from her medical engineering education at Tabriz Sahand University, was arrested on March 3rd. I must add that after joining the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, our committee’s central members established the new organization the Population of Combat against Educational Discrimination, and this is how threats and arrests of members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters came to be related to arrests of our organization; which is a defender of the right to education.

Campaign: Were you summoned, too?

Hesam Misaghi: I was summoned on January 2nd. I didn’t show up to Ministry of Information. On March 3rd they invaded my home and the home of Sepehr Atefi, one of our colleagues in the Population of Combat against Educational Discrimination committee and searched the premises. I have to add that we are an independent organization and our only objective was to defend the right to education.

Campaign: What were your group’s objectives regarding the right to education?

Hesam Misaghi: We ask for freedom of thought for university entry.

Campaign: What do you think is the reason for the confrontation with this group? Is it because some of the members are Baha’i? Or is it because the Ministry of Science has consistently denied the “starred student” phenomenon? Or are there other reasons?

Hesam Misaghi: The government deprives applicants and students from their education, as well as arresting people who are activists around this subject. I think the arrests of these individuals is not related solely to their being Baha’i. These individuals were involved in civil activities to defend student rights. The rulers neither approve of their being Bahais, nor their civil activities. Bahais’ joining the Iranian civil society and joining other civil activists working to defend their fellow countrymen’s rights is a very significant development and I think the rulers cannot tolerate this, hence the severe crackdown on these education-deprived students. Dorsa Sobhani was also a One Million Signatures Campaign activist in Sari.

Crackdowns on the Right to Education activists is not unprecedented. Currently members of the Council to Defend the Right to Education are also in prison. Zia Nabavi, Majid Dorri, Saeed Jalalifar, Mahdieh Golroo, and Shiva Nazar Ahari are the ones in prison now.

Campaign: What do you think about the recent remarks by Minister of Science in which he said those who do not share the regime’s views–more specifically those who do not have practical commitment to Islam and Velayat-e Faghih–will be dismissed from universities?

Hesam Misaghi: Such an approach is in contradiction to international human rights standards and shows the short-sightedness of a regime which does not accept any opposite views. In a country where the entire nation think the same way, no progress will be achieved. It is through criticism and challenge that new ideas are heard and progress is achieved.

Campaign: What do you think these remarks could bring student political activists?

Hesam Misaghi: Such statements will only intensify the ruling oppression in the society and will increase pressure on student and civil activists. Consequently, security organizations would also confront harder, as we are witnessing, even though many students are already in prison. Now we see even those who have never been allowed to enter the universities despite their efforts for gaining admission are also arrested.

Campaign: Can you provide more details about Dorsa Sobhani?

Hesam Misaghi: Dorsa is 20 years old. Her father was threatened by telling him that if Dorsa did not turn herself in on Saturday, they would arrest his wife and their younger daughter.

Dorsa’s father said that two days ago, when he left his home, six men waiting outside his home told him that he had to go with them. They then transferred him to an unknown location. He was handcuffed and blindfolded and interrogated for four hours during which he was threatened. I already told you about threats. Dorsa has to turn herself in on Saturday, otherwise her family will be arrested and her home will be confiscated.

Campaign: Where was Dorsa?

Hesam Misaghi: Dorsa had taken a trip to (…) on the day the officers stormed their home at night.

Campaign: Is she back now?

Hesam Mishaghi: They have told her father that she should return and turn herself in tomorrow. She will most likely be arrested. (Editor’s note: Dorsa Sobhani was arrested and transferred to Evin prison).

Campaign: What is her charge?

Hesam Misaghi: They didn’t say anything about charges. They just said we have a warrant and we will explain the charges after arrest. In my and Sepehr’s cases, they informed us of the same charges as for the other Committee members, meaning “contact with MKO” and “moharebeh.”

Campaign: Are you a Baha’i yourself?

Hesam Misaghi: Yes, I am from a Baha’i family. This was used in a Ministry of Science letter as grounds for my dismissal from Isfahan’s Sanaee University in 2008, after I had finished two terms studying English Translation. I should add that most of my classmates did not know anything about my being a Baha’i, it had never been discussed.

Campaign: How did they find out and expel you?

Hesam Misaghi: Usually Baha’i students are dismissed after a ruling arrives from the Ministry of Science’s Security Department. Ministry of Information has all the statistics on Baha’i families; they identify [the students] and do the expulsion.

Campaign: How do they get their statistics? Do families announce that they are Baha’is?

Hesam Misaghi: Yes. Baha’is don’t conceal their belief because it is forbidden for them. If someone asks them they announce that they are Baha’i.

Campaign: What happens if you object? Is there any source to respond to your objection?

Hesam Misaghi: Over the past years, objections have been registered with Ministry of Science, Evaluation Organization, and The Cultural Revolution Superior Council both in written form and in person. But the authorities do not answer at all and consider themselves not at fault.

Navid Khanjani and I even had a situation when last December 17th we went to Ministry of Science. We were detained in a room inside the Ministry of Science for a whole day. We were threatened and interrogated because we had found a confidential letter which Ministry of Science authorities didn’t want to leave the Ministry and we were not giving them the letter.

Campaign: What was in the letter?

Hesam Misaghi: It was a letter in which it was clearly stated that dismissal of these students was on orders from the Ministry of Science’s Security Department. The letter has been scanned and I can send you the file. I was so surprised when I heard Larijani’s statements. We have heard so many lies during these years but this was really surprising. How far can a government go to deny its actions? We are a generation who has heard years of lies and when we tried to expose the lies we ended up in prison, like Navid, Eeghan, Sama, and maybe even Dorsa…

Campaign: Does the Committee only pertain to education-deprived students or does it also include the starred students?

Hesam Misaghi: We had starred students in our gatherings, too. Our gatherings were a tribune for all education-deprived students from all orientations.

Campaign: Therefore your organization is only six months old and you have endured so much pressure?

Hesam Misaghi: Yes, that’s right.

Campaign: You have been illegally barred from continuing your education. When responding to criticism about imprisoning Iranian Bahais and denying them the right to education, Javad Larijani denied it in Geneva. On the other hand, when you ask the authorities to be responsive, you are summoned and arrested. How does this make you feel?

Hesam Misaghi: With all these problems, and even though my best friends are in jail, I am still not disappointed, because I know people of Iran hear our voices. Iranians’ voices demanding their rights have been heard by the world for a while now. We are people who have never accepted injustice and have fought for regaining our rights until our last breaths.

Translation by: The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Note: The following translation has been edited by Persian2English. In the original translation, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran refer to an organization called: The Right to Education Committee. This is the former name of the newly formed committee called the Population of Combat against Educational Discrimination. Persian2English has used the latter name in the edited version of the translation.