Letter to IRIB, in response to Ahmadinejad’s interview with PBS(8 October 2009)

Karoubi’s letter in response to Ahmadinejad’s interview with PBS.

In the Name of God,

[a poem: if the first bricks of a wall are placed askew, the entire wall will go up askew]

Dear Brother, Mr. Zarghami,

The Honorable head of IRIB,

Greetings,

As you are well aware, on Tuesday Mr. Ahmadinejad’s interview with Charlie Rose was broadcast on Channel1. When speaking of post-election events, the host of this American TV network pointed to the subject of rape in prisons. In response, Mr. Ahmadinejad said: it is Mr. Karoubi who has made these allegations and when the three member team from the judiciary refuted his comments, he grew very angry and had nothing to show for it.

It is quite unfortunate that the culture of lying has become an inseparable part of the executive branch. I don’t know what it is about New York that brings out this personal attribute of the president’s twofold. It is also unfortunate that the Islamic Republic’s broadcasting service has also been transformed to a medium that spreads this vile culture and the result is the lack of trust people feel towards this public medium.

Karoubi goes on to deny Mr. Ahmadinejad’s claims and to clarify the issue for the people of Iran, he writes:

“I want the dear people to know that some very shocking news was reported to me about the state of the children of this nation who were in legal and illegal detention centers for simply demanding their legal rights. It was my religious, legal, national and human obligation to say something and not to allow the violation of people’s rights and the trampling of their honor to become a norm in the Islamic Republic. After the members of the judiciary team were announced, we had some productive meetings, and I gave them my documentation while trusting that these individuals were intent on following the cases and punishing those who were responsible. But suddenly, instead of pursuing the cases, traitors viciously attacked me and they shut down my personal office and the office of my Etemad Melli party and another copy of the documents was in the hands of the officials. The accusations made in that interview [Ahmadinejad’s] are pure lies and I am still actively pursuing those cases – stories which hurt the conscience of any free human being. I ask the so called national media to give me or one of my representatives a third of the time they gave to those judiciary members so I can convey the extent of these atrocities to the people. So that the nation, the real owners of this land, can place themselves in the place of a jury and judge my words and yours. The late Imam [Khomeini] said that he would sacrifice his life for the people of this nation, so why are these same people now considered become outsiders and why do they not have the right to hear of what is happening to their own children via their own medium?”

Mr. Zarghami,

I know you to be an honest, intelligent individual. That is why I recommend that you bring down this great wall of mistrust that has been created between the people and their national media, which, today, more resembles the officials’ personal media. The interests of the people and the nation lie in their being informed of events. And there’s no one around these days who doesn’t know that because of the existent technologies, despite all the efforts, borders have been broken and people have access to information.

I ask the lord for your health and well-being,

With Thanks,

Mohammad Taqi Karoubi

Oct 8, 2009