Iran’s President Makes A Vague Promise Of Freeing More Prisoners
Finding itself under pressure, the Islamic Republic may be ready to make some concessions to protesters at home and to Western countries whose citizens are held hostage in Tehran.
Finding itself under pressure, the Islamic Republic may be ready to make some concessions to protesters at home and to Western countries whose citizens are held hostage in Tehran.
Reports from Tehran say that French-Iranian dual national academic Fariba Adelkhah has been released from jail. Adelkhah was sentenced to five years in 2020 on national security charges that she denied. Reports say that there are still several other French nationals in jail in Iran who are in essence Iran's hostages.
For decades, the Islamic Republic has been arresting foreigners and dual nationals on vague and trumped-up charges, keeping them in prison until it can make a deal with Western countries either for money, diplomatic concessions or freeing its agents convicted abroad.
Speaking on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told an NPR correspondent that an agreement to swap dual national prisoners with the United States is on the table.
He said that releasing Iranian-American Siamak Namazi is pending some technical measures on the part of the United States. However, he did not elaborate on the nature of those measures.
Amir-Abdollahian also tried to sound optimistic on the nuclear issue, as Iran finds itself under more isolation and the pressure of sanctions. He said that there is still a window of opportunity for all sides to return to the JCPOA.
Meanwhile, the violation of human rights by the Iranian regime during recent protests, and Tehran's involvement in Moscow's war against Ukraine have made the situation more complicated, making it difficult for the United States and Europe to make a deal with Iran.
On the domestic front, while according to political activists only around 150 of the prisoners "pardoned" by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were actually released from jail until Friday, reports came in Saturday morning about more political prisoners being released from detention.
One of them was Farhad Meysami, whose heart-wrenching pictures were released last week following a long hunger strike. Meysami who was sentenced to five years in jail, was freed only four months before the end of his sentence.
While reports in Tehran indicated that President Ebrahim Raisi was going to make a “very important” announcement in his revolution anniversary speech on Saturday, his remarks contained nothing other than the usual unfounded claims about the Islamic Republic being the top power in the region, having achieved great success in many areas.
After the speech however, Iranian media sources quoted Raisi as having said that all students, cultural and athletic figures and media activists in jail are also going to be pardoned. Raisi tried to portray the amnesty as a measure championed by his government rather than the Iranian Judiciary Chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, who had called for a partial amnesty.
More than 90 Iranian journalists and a dozen athletes are said to have been detained during the protests since September, and many have already been released.
It is still not clear how many of the "tens of thousands" of prisoners who were to be freed based on Ejei's request are still remaining in jail and how many have been released.
Raisi’s promise to release more detainees was also vague. He did not mention how many prisoners would be included in the amnesty. However, he said the "fatherly amnesty" is a measure to confront the enemies who sow discord in Iran.
He also promised that the government is planning to facilitate the return of Iranians living abroad including those who have possibly acted against the law, but declined to elaborate. He only said that people will be notified of the measures "soon".
In the past few months, protesters on the streets have been looking up to some leading opposition figures abroad, particularly the exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi whose father was ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when he was still a teenager.
Many have hoped that the exiled prince and others, mainly activists and celebrities who have been campaigning against the regime, would form a united front, coordinate moves against the regime, lobby with western powers, and eventually assume the leadership of the revolution when the time comes.
Having to look up to the diaspora is in fact a situation imposed by the Islamic Republic which has practically eliminated, or forced into silence, any strong opposition figure or group inside Iran that could pose a danger to its existence.
Five months after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini sparked widespread protests in Iran, the opposition in diaspora seems to have come to an agreement to work together. Leading opposition figures – including exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi and seven others at an event Friday in Washington DC expressed their views and their vision of the future and said they are drawing up a manifesto for the revolution.
Meanwhile, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was a presidential candidate in 2009 and has been under house arrest since 2011, said in a statement a week earlier that fundamental change was required to “save Iran” and proposed elections to appoint a constitutional assembly to decide the future form of government and a referendum on the new constitution.
Mousavi’s rejection of the reform option in the Islamic Republic which puts him in the same boat as the diaspora figures has been met with admiration and antipathy alike. Many agree that declaring that the Islamic Republic is no longer reformable was a brave move on the part of Mousavi, a staunch believer in the Islamic Republic who served as its prime minister in the 1980s.
When asked by BBC Persian about the possibility of collaboration with Mousavi at the event Friday, Prince Reza Pahlavi said the diaspora opposition aims at “maximum participation” in the struggle against the regime and welcomes anyone who wants a secular Iran, not a reformed Islamic Republic.
“Reza Pahlavi’s response about Mousavi’s statement was diplomatic. In a way, he tried not to cause animosity…I hope his supporters will agree that Iranian politics is multi-faceted,” Mojtaba Najafi, a France-based academic tweeted referring to the many Pahlavi supporters’ strong objection to Mousavi and other reformists.
The former crown prince and the former prime minister in the Islamic Republic say the future form of the government should be decided by the people of Iran through the free election of a constitutional assembly and referendum.
In his short statement, Mousavi also called for cooperation among all political forces and figures who believe in preserving the country’s “territorial integrity” and “non-violence” to decide the transition from the Islamic Republic.
But differences between the political views of Pahlavi, other activists and Mousavi also run very deep, probably on many issues, as long as the former official has not acknowledged his responsibility in the misdeeds of the regime in the 1980s.
At the event, for instance, Prince Reza Pahlavi brought up an issue which could potentially be divisive: Relations with Israel.
When speaking about water crisis as one of Iran's major problems, he said Iran could seek assistance from “the best of Israeli experts”. He also referred to the former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who “wanted Israel not to exist at all” which implied he favors normal relations with Israel.
Mousavi and his supporters are now in agreement with the diaspora opposition that the people should decide the future form of government through a free vote, but although they may not call for Israel’s annihilation like Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, they are more likely to champion the Palestinian cause and be opposed to recognizing Israel.
However, Mousavi is not the leader of the young protesters in the streets, who seem to oppose a revolutionary foreign policy and favor good relations with regional countries.