Houshang Asadi – born in 1950 - is an Iranian writer and journalist. He was a member of the Tudeh Party of Iran and jailed during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and Ali Khamenei. He was a deputy editor of Kayhan newspaper until 1979. After the Islamic Revolution he was forced to leave his job. In 1981, Asadi was arrested and sentenced to death, and then 15 years of prison. Now he lives in France, where he has written his latest book: Letters To My Torturer”. His torturer, "Brother Hamid", became an Iranian diplomat, but after the book publication, was recalled into retirement. For this publication Asadi received in Vienna the Human Rights Book Award 2011.
The International Society of Human Rights Germany supports Houshang Asadi and presents the workshop called “Zero tolerance for the new censors: Internet, blogging and the right of free speach“, Wednesday, 22 June 20011.

Life in the Purgatory

Houshang Asadi by his own words:

My whole life as a writer and journalist has been in the purgatory. At one end of this life lies heaven: comprising of creation, poetry, story, cinema and music and as a journalist live by news, reports, and interviews.

All of these directly relate to the essence of life. They relate to man, love, relationships, society and politics. But these are possible only if and when there is freedom.
Just one step away from this heaven lies hell. The screeching sound of car breaks at midnight when you are busy peacefully writing something can be the signal that security agents have arrived at your doorstep. They may ring the doorbell, or they may not. They may break the door to get in for you. They may even take you away. But worse than that is if they confiscate all your writings.

Luis Bunuel and his famous movie Tristana always remind me of prison. When as a student I went to a movie theater to see this film for the first time, I innocently and without any purpose hesitated in getting up from my seat when the national anthem began to play which required that everybody stand up in respect to the tune. I was immediately arrested and spent that night in prison.

Even such trivial events could result in long-term detentions, exile or even execution. The number of Iranian thinkers – writers, poets, journalist and….- who have spent long years in prison, exile or have been executed is not short by any standards.
Many Iranians have to travel to Paris, Geneva or Berlin to see the graves of Iranian pioneers of story writers, play writers or cinema leaders. During the last hundred years, Iranian intellectuals have been living in this purgatory. This purgatory can be split into two parts from a historic perspective.

The first period was during the modern despotism, between 1906 and 1978. During this period when secular laws ruled the country, intellectuals were viewed with suspicion by
the regime. The security apparatus was under a phobia that intellectuals were against the Shah. The only civil organization that intellectuals had was the writers association, but it was never officially allowed to operate.

The period of religious despotism began soon after the 1979 “Islamic revolution” and continues till today. The political doctrine of the Islamic revolution is based on hate for intellectuals. Theoreticians of the Islamic regime believe that Western culture has been brought into Iran by Iranian intellectuals. Because of this, they are fundamentally against intellectuals and see a fully fledged enemy in each thinker.

The paradoxical reality is that the body of Iranian society is modern and looks more like a European country rather than a core Middle Eastern one. The regime that rules over this body carries views that are older than even the Middle Ages. Almost all Iranian intellectuals, writers or artists are under this regime dictatorship. So we must search for ways to enlighten with democracy.

www.igfm.de