An Open Letter to the New President of the Islamic Regime

Translated and edited by: Banafsheh zand

Excellency, Dr. Hassan Rouhani, 

Greetings. I offer you my congratulations in your new position as president of the government. I commend this letter of grievance to contemporary history of our land, Iran, so that it is placed in the record of political Islam.

 Though I am a religious leader, my seven years of incarceration betrays the real identity of this regime that lays its claim to canonical law. I have been charged with opposing the merging of religion in politics. I surrendered my prime, my health and wellbeing, and have been witness to the total ruination of my family. As I pen this painful petition, I draw ever closer to death. 

So I ask you, who is said to espouse righteousness and broad-mindedness: is the promotion of apolitical religion, supporting freedom of thought, defending humanity and honor, a crime that deserves years of incarceration within high security wards, all the while, enduring torture, fair? To make matters worse, I am also prohibited from receiving my prescribed medication. 

Are you, esteemed Sir, able to reform things from within the framework of this ruling regime? Will the dynastic monarchy of the Supreme Leadership permit you to regard the innocent people of Iran with compassion? Will the cruel leadership allow you to freely offer your hands to the nation?

The key that you exhibited when you were elected, was a gesture which represented the opening every door and unbolting every lock; but entrance to the secured parameters of the Supreme Leader is absolutely forbidden. 

Will the ravaged people of Iran forget? And what of the thirty four years of opinions put forth by theoreticians of the Guardianship of the Jurist, who have claimed over and over again, that society is the pasture of the Supreme Leaders where the populace are nothing more than cattle and Khomeini and Khamenei, as the Supreme Guides, are the shepherds?

Were the heads of previous administrations able to move ahead of the Supreme Leader, that now, somehow, you can, as well?

In a regime where the first and last word are that of the Supreme dictator, the word, as well as the nature of the office of president is nothing more than an agitprop and a joke, manipulated by the hanger-ons elite of the ‘court’. Who is it that dares to plunder the God-given property of this nation, except those ‘be-turbaned’ masters? 

I wish you all the virtue and good health in order for you to be able to bring all your winning slogans to fruition for society.

Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini-Boroujerdi

Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran

July 2013