Iran: Former Tehran Chancellor Maleki on Detention & Green Movement's "Forgotten Children"

Mohammad Maleki, the former chancellor of Tehran University, was detained on 22 August. Suffering from ill health, he was finally released on bail on 1 March as he awaited trial.

Maleki, imprisoned before the 1979 Islamic Revolution for five years and arrested again in 2000, spoke with Radio Zamaneh this week:

MALEKI: Yesterday, I was told by my lawyers that they have met with the judge and have obtained his consent. They had taken with them documents related to my medical condition which proved the need for my ongoing treatment. Therefore, the judge agreed to postpone the trial and said that we will be informed of the new date.


RZ: You mean, during the time you were detained, you were not informed of your charges?

MALEKI: No, I did not see the charges. I have been charged with insulting the Supreme Leader and acting against national security, but I have not seen the indictment or its contents. The lawyers and the magistrate have said these are my charges.

RZ: Mr. Maleki, you have said that you will not take part in a closed trial. Are you not worried that this will have a negative effect on the case and will result in a heavier sentence? What are the reasons for your decision?

MALEKI: Attending or not attending will not make a difference. There should come a day, when this country at least respects its own constitution. Things cannot remain the same; 30 years after the Revolution one of the most important parts of the Constitution is still not respected. The Constitution says explicitly that political charges should be tried by jury in open trials with the presence of media.

Back in 2000, when I was arrested with national-religious activists, I said that I would not take part in the trial because I considered the trial to be illegal. Therefore, I think this matter should be resolved once and for all. We either have to respect the constitution in its entirety or just keep those articles that please us and guarantee the interests of the regime. The constitution has provisions that guarantee the rights of the people and must be respected.

I won’t even mention that these rights are not respected during arrests and interrogations under the usual pretext that political crime has not been defined by the law. Why should this be my problem as the accused? Since the Revolution I have been arrested 3 times for being anti-revolutionary. Anti-revolutionaries are those who break the law which, according to their own words, is the birth child of the Revolution. Therefore, how can I attend the trial? Yesterday, a hearing was supposed to be held and yet I have no knowledge of the indictment and have not been allowed to read what has been written against me.

RZ:Mr Maleki, when you were arrested you were in a bad physical condition; you were ill throughout your detention and were hospitalized for a while. How is your condition now?

MALEKI: My physical condition is the same. During the 6 months I was there, I was not able to receive the injections I need, and suffered burning and pain as a result. Since my release I have been injected twice and the burning and pain is reduced. I feel, however, that since I have come out my psychological condition is worse than before.

RZ: Can you tell us why your emotional state is worse now compared to when you were in prison?

MALEKI: Because I keep worrying for those kids; there are so many unknown and anonymous students in prison and no one is thinking about them. No one remembers that they are the children of this country. What crime have they committed? One day this matter must be addressed. Unfortunately, not only this is not the regime’s concern, but I have scarcely seen the Green Movement friends come strongly to their defence. Make a decision about them, they have a life and studies they need to go back to; their families keep waiting for them outside Evin. These are the things that hurt me more than cancer.

RZ: Mr. Maleki, you were not active during the election. You had said you did not believe in it and therefore did not participate. Yet, your arrest was related to post-election events. What is your current view of the election?

MALEKI: As you said, I was not at all active during the election because first of all, I was sick, and secondly, I don’t believe in an election where you have to vote for a few candidates chosen by the Guardian Council. I was arrested on 22 August, so I was in prison when most of those events happened. I was in solitary confinement for the first 3 months without access to newspapers or television. Until I was taken to the general ward, I was unaware of what was happening outside prison.

When I was taken there (to the general ward), I got some information, but since my release, I have come to the realisation that all the old problems continue to exist. The insider/outsider divide remains. No one is thinking about these kids. What I noticed about the supporters of the Green or reformist movement is that their behaviour towards others has not changed a lot. They have held on to their outsider/insider culture. They welcome those who are one of their own but others remain outsiders to them.

In the one and half months since my release, I have maybe gone out 10 times, mostly to the hospital or my doctor. I have tried to have little contact and have not been interested in what is happening. Our people have not fundamentally changed during this time, we are the same people we were before. Our elite have kept their egocentric and selfish culture.

RZ: Dr Maleki, it seems like you are disappointed with the green movement leaders.

MALEKI: I am extremely disappointed. Those imprisoned kids are not getting the attention they deserve, especially the unknown students. I know many of them and saw them in prison, but there is no mention of them on websites. They have been in prison for months and some of them have been handed 4-5 year prison terms for no reason.

Sometimes they (the Green Movement or reformists) refer to them, but they never defend them strongly. The type of defence Mr. Sahabi --- God bless him --- demonstrated a few days ago, I really enjoyed. His letter tells the painful story on behalf of all of us. We have some years behind us (a reference to being old) and have suffered both before and after the revolution. We have seen the Shah’s prisons as well as those of the Islamic Republic. These kids are our children. They haven’t come from another country. They are the children of this country who had something to say and said it. Even if they shouted their words inside or outside universities, this does not warrant the treatment they have received.