Interview with Hajir Attari, USRHR Media committee – Sweden
Q. Dear Mr. Attari. Thank you for accepting our invitation for this interview. As a start can you tell us a little about yourself and political activities?
A. Thank you for your invitation. My name is Hajir Attari born in 1982, graduated from Industrial Engineering, Systems Analysis Dept. from Azad University. I have had more than 15 years’ experience in various occupations, including chemical industry, construction industry and commerce, etc. Since 1997, I have been seriously engaged in politics with the Second Khordad movement, and after entering the university at various stages, trying to obtain the permission of student associations and student publications, and was arrested upon a complaint lodged against me by University Security. From 2010 I was active in Mir Hossein Mousavi campaign in its media department and following the election coup d’état, I was forced into hiding while at the same time writing for various journals. Among my duties in the campaign was to prepare news, reports and interviews and editor of the website.
During this period, for security reasons we were forced to use pseudo names, which continued until the beginning of the year. Following the arrest of one of the journalists, to prevent detainment, I was forced to escape Iran and now reside in Sweden and have been active in the media committee as well as the International relations committee of this organization.
Q. What do you see happening in political scenes in Iran?
A. The current political conditions of Iran is very complex and unique in some ways. The ever-increasing rise of access to the Internet and social networks has triggered a wave of awareness among various segments of society, which in one hand is promising, but on the other hand, Vulgar and superficial. Economically, the situation is very fragile and the Islamic Republic’s incompetence and mismanagement along with the unilateral sanctions of the USA has exacerbated the lower and middle classes of Iranian society.
Q. What do you think we Iranians living outside Iran do to help our fellow Iranians inside Iran?
A. Our organization opposes military attack, sanctions, creating alternatives to regime change externally and any other actions that will hurt the Iranian people, the outcome will not bring democracy to Iran and lead to breakup of Iran. Our focus is to provide clear and transparent information. We want to echo the voices of the Iranian People. A voice that believes in the irrevocability of the Islamic Republic, a voice that rejects the dictatorship of religion and its survival is harmful to Iran and Iranians, and at the same time opposes the war and the sanctions and the return of any individual and divine government, and it is against democracy and Republicans underline the human rights framework.
Q. What about non-Iranians?
A. We want to be an alternative voice, a voice for peace, democracy, rejection of religious and royalist’s governments, a voice that respects all ethnicities a mutual respect with our neighbors. In this regard, our international committee, which I am proud to be a member of, is in correspondence with the progressive and democratic parties and constituencies around the world to show the heads of states and governments that there are better alternatives to the existence of the Islamic Republic or other alternatives such as MEK and [Crown Prince] Reza Pahlavi. The solution is to support the genuine struggles of the Iranian people to achieve a lasting democracy and include the important issue of human rights.
