Iran Letter: An Imprisoned Blogger Writes the Supreme Leader

Hossein Ronaghi MalekiHossein Ronaghi Maleki, who blogs as Babak Khorramdin, was arrested in December 2009 for his dissemination of anti-blocking software for Iranian Internet users.

Ronaghi Maleki spent ten months in solitary confinement inside the Revolutionary Guards' Ward 2A at Evin Prison. He was sentenced in October 2010 to 15 years in prison for “membership in the Iran Proxy internet group", propaganda against the regime, insulting the Supreme Leader, and insulting the President.

On Saturday, Ronaghi Maleki, who has declared he is on hunger strike, wrote an open letter to the Supreme Leader, posted on the opposition website Kalemeh:

Your excellency Ayatollah Sayad Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic,

With respect and greetings:

Those who listen to the word (good and just), then follow the best of it, those are they whom God has guided, and those are the men of understanding.

Considering your very busy schedule, allow me to start without any further ado to remind you of your speech on the first day of the [Iranian] new year in [March] 2009:

I am a supporter of just actions, I say we should be fair, let us look at the actions, this has nothing to do with the election, it is about just and unjust. Supporting those who serve the country is not only my duty but is everyone’s duty.

I support and welcome all good deeds, good actions, good progress, those who serve the people, those who help and offer compassion towards the needy, those who stand against injustice and tyranny.

I thank anyone who has accomplished these deeds, be it a person or a government, this is my duty.

Surely no fair-minded person could disagree with this statement, but against the guidelines of your viewpoints, I, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki and the other political prisoners, and even the leaders of the Green Movement, Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karroubi and Mrs. Zahra Rahnavard, have been imprisoned and have suffered tortures for seeking freedom, justice and for standing against oppression and despotism and for our concern for the future of Iran.

Alas, not that no one offered us any gratitude, but much ingratitude was offered to us.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei,

Surely you remember that Ayatollah Khomeini had stressed in the past, “It is not permissible for one to understand and not to speak up, when one understands, one must speak up. This supporter whomever he may be, this dissident whomever he may be.”

Your Excellency had likewise pointed out that, “If people are aware and alert, if they see and recognize any signs of over-pride, arrogance and selfishness of the rulers, they must benevolently protest, and if felt that the ruler does not intend to eliminate these diseases, they should stand up to him and object, this will certainly cure these diseases.”

The reality is that most of us have not acted outside of these guidelines. Even beyond that, many of us believed that what we have done are beyond and above our national duty, moral and religious duty.

But unfortunately, what we witness in Iran today, is nothing but despotism, lawlessness and oppression against those who love Iran and freedom and those who stand up for their rights, those who took a stance of good will and protested the existing unjust situation.

Your Excellency, Ayatollah Khamenei,

Security and intelligence apparatuses such as Sepah’s [the Revolutionary Guards'] Intelligence and the Intelligence Ministry are under the impression that they can force us to surrender to their illegitimate demands by threats, arrests and by intruding on the privacy of our homes.

Against religion and against the law, these security apparatuses, attacked defenseless protesters, mercilessly beat them, injured hundreds of them, arrested thousands, martyred tens of them, arrested and imprisoned political activists, civil activists, critics and dissidents.

They imposed naked and overt censorship on all the Iranian press. With total control over Seda and Sima (National Radio and TV) and all other pro government media, distorted the facts and published outright lies.

They know very well how to create psychological and mental dilemma for the dissidents and the critics with various torture methods. So much so, that now even the Bureau of Prisons is complaining about the arbitrary actions of these security apparatuses.

Leader of the Islamic Republic,

We must admit that judicial independence is not possible with the existence of so many intelligence and security entities.

We must admit that the society is facing a great explosion, and the current superficial peace is basically due to oppression, intimidation, imprisonments and suppression.

We must know that the thoughts of freedom seekers can not be enchained! Ideologies can not be tortured! Truth can not be suppressed!

We must accept that confronting the people of this land is day by day becoming more inhumane and unbridled. It knows no boundaries and limitations. Every critical act, every critical word is confronted with repression and arrest.

We must look at Evin Prison and remember the words of Ayatollah Sayed Hassan Tabatabaei Ghomi:

I know the prisons of this country are filled with political prisoners, however, the arrests of the freedom seeking people continues.”

We must see and hear and, like Ayatollah Khomeini, validate the fact that, “Some of the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards), in parts of the country, overstep the boundaries of their statutory mission, and unduly interfere in matters of courts or other institutions.

It is incumbent upon the Heads of Pasdaran through out the country to intervene in these unlawful, and contrary to the Islamic ways, acts and to stop them.

Your Excellency, Ayatollah Khamenei,

Just as you became disturbed over the Tehran University dormitory and Kahrizak detention center events [after the 2009 Presidential election], and ordered an investigation, I hope that you at least pay attention to my dire situation, status of the political prisoners, our families, the illegal detention centers, and the manner of their conduct.

I protest these illegal practices by launching a hunger strike as of May 26, 2012, and protecting my life is the responsibility of the officials of the Islamic Republic.

The hunger strike is:

- To protest the abuse and interventions in judicial matters by the Sepah Intelligence Corps, and the Intelligence Ministry;
- To protest the loss of independence of the Judiciary Branch;
- To restore the Constitution, Judicial procedures, judicial independence, and;
- To restore the rights of political prisoners and their families (rights such as, use of furlough, use of telephone and visitation rights.).

I am of the belief, every human being’s silence against oppression and injustice is a betrayal of the innocent blood of the martyrs of this land.

I believe that my blood is not any bluer than the blood of the likes of Neda and Sohrab [Neda Agha Soltan and Sohrab Arabi, killed by security forces in June 2009], and neither is the suffering of my parents above the suffering of their parents. We all know that these institutions exploited the decency and tolerance of the political prisoners.

This time, with patience, I will stand by this action, and perhaps I may find my place beside the late Hoda Saber who lost his life in prison.

I will repeat a quote from the Exalted Prophet Mohamad: “The land and government will survive under blasphemy but will not last under oppression.”

With Regards,

Sayed Hossein Ronaghi Maleki
Ward 350 – Evin prison
May 26, 2012