Amir-Abbas Fakhravar ^[1] (Persian: امیر عباس فخرآور, aka Siavash (Persian: سیاوش), born July 6 1975) is an Iranian jailed dissident, award winning writer and the recipient of the Annie Taylor Award.^[2] In 2002 he and Arzhang Davoodi co-founded the Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS), an organization that aims to institute democracy in Iran.^[3] Fakhravar serves as the Secretary General of the Confederation of Iranian Students and President of the "Iranian Freedom Institute" in Washington, D.C. Currently, Fakhravar serves as Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the Center for the Study of Culture and Security at The Institute of World Politics.^[4]

Amir Fakhravar has testified before the Senate Homeland Security committee ^[5] and the House Foreign Affairs ^[6] on U.S-Iran relation, Foreign Policy, U.S. government broadcasting and Iran's Nuclear issues. Fakhravar among his CIS team briefed parliament members at the European Parliament ^[7] and Parliament of Finland,^[8] the Parliament of the United Kingdom,^[9] Parliament of Israel,^[10] Parliament of Germany,^[11] and Parliament of Canada.^[12] He has been a foreign affairs and Iran expert at FOX News, Alhurra, CNN, CBN, VOA, Radio Farda and CBS.

Biography

According to an article in Front Page Magazine, a conservative online political magazine, Fakhravar was born on July 6, 1975 in the capital city of Tehran, Iran. His father "Mohammad-Bagher Fakhravar" was an officer in the Iranian Air Force and his mother "Parvaneh Pir-Dehghan" had a lot of influence on him for his future success. He delivered his first political speech at the age of 17, in 1993, while a senior in high school.^[13] The speech was directed to Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani after which he was arrested.^[13] Fakhravar received his high school diploma in Mathematics and Physics in city of Shiraz.^[13] In December 1994 he gave another speech while attending medical school in Iran’s Orumiya province.^[13] He was immediately arrested and sentenced to a three year jail term which was later partially suspended. ^[13] He was also suspended for two semesters and later transferred to Bushehr University of Medical Sciences.^[13] In 1997 he published his first book titled "سبزترین چشم زمین" (Sabztarin Cheshme Zamin, The Greenest Eyes on Earth). Step by step Amir Abbas Fakhravar becomes one of the Iranian student movement's leader. He was on the frontline of the Iran student protests, July 1999.^[13] Fakhravar was a writer and a columnist for two major newspapers, Khordad (newspaper) and Mosharekat in Iran. He had a column called, "Who knows better than people, کی بدونه از مردم بهتر؟" in which he exposed the wrong-doings of the government authorities against his fellow students, specially about Iran student protests, July 1999, in which he publicized the "atrocities" taking place on campus in the Tehran University. Khordad (newspaper) was closed in November 1999, and its chief editor Abdollah Noori sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.^[14] Furthermore Mosharekat was closed during closure of 17 reformist newspapers in April 2000.^[15] Amir Abbas was arrested among his sister "Mahlagha Fakhravar" during student uprising on August 2000 and bout sent to Evin Prison. Later that year Fakhravar was taken from his home on December 31 by five men in civilian clothing to the Evin prison and tortured heavily until he had to be transferred to "Ghamar-e Bani Hashem" hospital in Tehran for emergency treatment.^[13]

In November 2007, Fakhravar received the Annie Taylor Journalism Award.^[16] Fakhravar is the author of three books, an honorary member of English PEN, PEN Canada, and International PEN.^[17][18][19]

Some commentators have disputed this Fakhravar's account of his imprisonment and experience in Iran. According to an article in Mother Jones, Mohsen Sazegara, an Iranian dissent who was also imprisoned in Iran, commented that Fakhravar was "at best a marginal player whose life story has been exaggerated by his allies.^[20] For instance, no one “escapes” from Evin prison, Sazegara said; instead, Iranian political prisoners can apply for temporary furloughs, and on one of them, Fakhravar simply decided not to go back. Cina Dabestani, a Virginia-based exile who sometimes translates for Fakhravar, told me that Fakhravar attended law school while in prison, and, at Shahbazi’s urging, went awol after an exam. His escape from Iran—which Fakhravar has claimed was undertaken despite an order to have him shot on sight—involved a regular flight from Iran to Dubai, according to several sources." Mother Jones also reported that "Iranian journalists and former fellow inmates also claim Fakhravar was never a political prisoner to begin with, but was locked up for a nonpolitical crime—“unchaste acts” involving fellow students—and then cultivated friendships with student dissidents.^[20]

Imprisonment

From 1993 to 2006, Fakhravar was arrested several times. He spent over five years in jail and suffered brutal torture in Iran. In 2000, his treatments in the Islamic Republic jails during eight mounts Solitary Confinement have been described as first known example of "white torture" in Iran by Amnesty International.^[21] According to Amnesty International, the cells had no windows, and everything was entirely colored creamy white. The meal was white rice on a white paper plate. If he wanted to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. Fakhravar was forbidden to talk to anyone.

In November 2002, Fakhravar was sentenced to an eight year sentence in the notorious Evin prison and Qasr prison for his role as one of iranian student leaders during July 9, 1999, student uprising, his writings and speeches against Islamic Regime. His main charge was criticism of the Supreme Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his book called "This Place is Not a Ditch".^[21] In January 2004, he was taken from Qasr prison to a military detention center named "325" in Evin prison outside the official prison system and controlled by the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards,^[21] for interrogation about alleged links with an opposition political organization called Freedom Movement of Iran (Persian: Jonbesh-e Azadi-ye Iraniyan). His treatment in this detention center have been described as the first known example of white torture in Iran by Amnesty International.^[22][23] The organization designated him a prisoner of conscience.^[24] His conditions were described by Amnesty International as:

His cell there had no windows, and was entirely coloured creamy white, as were his clothes. At meal times, he was reportedly given white rice on white, disposable paper plates and if he needed to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards, who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. He was forbidden to speak to anyone. Amnesty International has been told that "the silence is deafening".^[25]

In United States

April 28, 2006, Amir Abbas Fakhravar escaped from Iran while he was at a temporary release for three days from Evin Prison. Less than 24 hours after his arrival in Dubai, the former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, interrupted his trip to central Asia to meet with him at Le Méridien Hotel. They had been in touch through an Iranian-American lady in Los Angeles, "Manda Shahbazi", since 2003.^[26] Their meeting in Dubai was recorded and some of it is included in a documentary titled "The Case for War:In Defense of Freedom" in 2007. The film was broadcast by PBS in their series America at a Crossroads.^[27] This meeting was a reminder of another similar event when Richard Perle met the ex-Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky in 1986. Like Sharansky with the Soviet Union, Fakhravar was making an appeal to the world to support the cause of Iranian freedom.^[26]

Since his arrival, he has called for a unified Iranian opposition to the Islamic government, in order to bring regime change in Iran.^[26] Daily Telegraph called him "unifying figure"in July 2, 2006; "Amir Abbas Fakhravar, 30, has become the poster child of some of the leading neo-conservatives in Washington and, less than two months after leaving Iran, the former medical student who spent five years in jail and still bears the scars on his youthful face, is being championed as the person who can unite his country's fractious opposition." ^[28] Also, Michael Ledeen, an AEI scholar and Iran expert who co-hosted the lunch with Mr Perle, said of Mr Fakhravar: "He's a unifying figure. He's strong physically and psychologically. I think he's extraordinarily smart. He's one of the few Iranian opposition figures I've met who can think through the way Westerners look at Iran and help them understand." ^[28]

Amir Abbas Fakhravar has met with President George W. Bush several times. September 6, 2007, Washington Post in an article "Bush & Fakhravar: Fates Entwined" wrote about it; "George Bush isn't talking to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he is speaking to Iranian student dissident Amir Abbas Fakhravar." ^[29] He met American officials from the Pentagon to the State Department, as well as with Vice President Dick Cheney.^[30] July 20, 2006, Fakhravar testified at U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs representing Independent student movement, along with Michael Ledeen (American Enterprise Institute), Ilan Berman (American Foreign Policy Council), Ray Takehy (Council on Foreign Relations) and Jim Walsh^{[disambiguation needed]} (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),^[31] where he called the Iranian reform movement a "dead end" and advocated regime change.^[32] and senior administrators in the State Department and The Pentagon and also with American experts and analysts on Iran, like professor Bernard Lewis and others.^[33]

Fakhravar attended numerous conferences in the US and Europe to discuss the situation of young Iranians, jailed journalists, and political prisoners. He is a regular speaker on the current situation of Iran on college campuses, and the international stage. Fakhravar spoke at a panel with Vaclav Havel, Natan Sharansky and Jose Maria Aznar at the Interantional Democracy and Security Conference in Prague in June 2007.

Fakhravar's Historical tripe to Israel, 2012

Amir Fakhravar along with Erica Kasraie, CIS spokesperson, and CIS team were in Israel for a week on January and February 2012, speaking with Israeli high government officials, members of parliament and opinion makers. ^[4] Mr. Fakhravar has been invited to address the 12th Annual Herzliya Conference, which will be held on January 30-February 2, 2012, at the Campus of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, in Israel. The Herzliya Conference is Israel's foremost global policy annual gathering, drawing together the most senior Israeli and international participants from government, business and academia to address pressing national, regional and global strategic issues. He will discuss the topic "Iran: Will Sanctions Work?" ^[34] Amir Fakhravar was keynote speaker at the Israeli Knesset briefing hosted by Israel parliament members on January 31, 2012. </ref> Parliament of Israel, ^[10] The trip had been noted in several articles in the Jerusalem Post and other national Israeli Media. Channel 2 TV- Jerusalem - Amir Fakhravar's Interview with Ulpan ShiShi on prime-time news. Several campaigns were started on Facebook and Social media after this interview with the direct message of this interview : We (the Iranians) Love Israel. Israelis Love Iranian, Iranian Loves Israel. ^[35]

Islamic Republic's government was very sensitive about this trip. Mullah's regime propaganda machine made a lot of noise about this trip. Iran's state TV and several major newspaper and official websites had their focus on it. Here is Iranian State Tv's prime-time news about this trip. </ref> Parliament of Israel, ^[36]

2009 Iranian Green Movement

The students’ leader, Amir Fakhravar, was imprisoned and tortured for five years for his leadership in the July 1999 demonstrations. Fakhravar has shown an increased effort in making the Washington rounds and educating policy makers. Testifying before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee in July 20, 2006, Fakhravar encouraged the United States to help the student movement: “We need means of communication within Iran and with the free world. We need cell phones, cameras, printers to print our books, fliers, and magazines, we need web pages.” Following the purported elections of 2009, with the help of Facebook and Twitter, Fakhravar’s friends outside and inside Iran were able to organize a widespread, sustained demonstration throughout the country. Back in 2006, Fakhravar remembers the subcommittee’s skepticism of a revolution armed with “cameras, cell phones, and the Internet,” but as the demonstrations showed, it is quite an effective strategy. In June 2009 remarks to the Center for Security Policy, Fakhravar stressed the importance of not losing this moment: “this demonstration is much bigger,” than 1999 because, “we couldn’t talk to the world…we didn’t have any media coverage and we felt alone.” ^[37] April 8, 2009, two mounts before start of Green Movement, Fakhravar wrote an article for school of Law, the University of Pittsburgh about that revolution to come: "However, the speed with which Iranian weblogs are growing raises the hope and prospect that, with the help of weblogs and satellite media, the young generation will have the means for establishing a "free and democratic Iran" in a revolution yet to come." ^[38]

United States Congressional Research Service is recognizing Fakhravar from 2003 until now as one of the most important Iranian Opposition figures. Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses, August 8, 2011: Staunch oppositionists and revolutionaries, many now favor replacement of the regime with secular democracy. Generally young and well-educated, want free and open media and contact with the West. One key bloc in this group is the Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS), led by Amir Abbas Fakhravar, who was jailed for five years for participating in July 1999 student riots. CIS, committed to non-violent resistance, is an offshoot of the Office of Consolidation Unity, which led the 1999 riots. At the time of those riots, most of the students had been strong Mohammad Khatami supporters but turned against him for not being enough against the hardliners. The crackdown killed four of the students, who were attempting, with mixed success, to gain support of older generation, labor, clerics, village-dwellers, and other people. CIS supports imposition of severe sanctions against Iran, including a total oil sale embargo, to deprive the regime of the funds that it needs to pay its security forces.[9]

Iran Democratic Transition Conference

Amir Abbas Fakhravar as Secretary General of CIS, hosted Iran Democratic Transition Conference I (IDTC 1) at The George Washington University and United States Congress on January 22-24, 2011 and June 19, 2011. This conference was sponsored and coordinated by the Institute of World Politics and Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS). Iran Democratic Transition Conference takes a pragmatic approach to exploring the prospects of political change in Iran and to paving the way for the establishment of a secular, pluralistic, democratic government in Iran. A host of expert Iranian panelists, Iran scholars, and U.S. law makers will discuss policy, strategic, and social issues to establish a shared vision of liberty. Key Topics at this conference were: Transition to Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities; New Media: Cyber Revolution and Individualism; New Generation: Demands, Abilities and Political Vision; Secularism: Ideology and Alternatives; Sanctions: "Behavior Change" or "Regime Change"?; Oppositions Leadership: In Exile or from Within?; New Constitution: "Reform" or "Regime Change"; Iran and the World: Mutual Commitments; Remembering Neda, The Face of the Iranian Green Movement, on her Birthday. ^[39]

IDTC Speakers: U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), U.S. Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), U.S. Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), Mohammad Reza Heydari and "Abolfazl Islami" (Former Islamic Republic of Iran's Diplomats from Norway, Finland and Japan), Amir Abbas Fakhravar (Research Fellow at Institute of World Politics, award winning writer and jailed dissident), Dr. Kenneth Katzman (Senior specialist, Iran and Middle East Affairs at the U.S. Congressional Research Service), Dr. John Lenczowski (President of IWP), Kambiz Hosseini (TV host, VOA-Parazit), Dr. Walid Phares (Special advisor and Co-Chair of Middle East and North Africa for U.S. Presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney) ^[40], Mahtab Farid (Senior journalist and public diplomacy officer of State Department), Dr. Michael Waller (Annenberg Professor of International Communication at the Institute of World Politics), Dr. "Juliana Pilon" (Professor at the Institute of World Politics), "Alireza Noorizadeh" (Director of the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies), Caspian Makan (Photographer, Neda's fiancé, Canada), "Mehdi Saharkhiz" (Citizen Journalist, Son of Isa Saharkhiz, former head of the press department at the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Education and jailed dissident), "Roozbeh Mir-Ebrahimi" (Jailed blogger, Journalist, NY), "Potkin Azarmehr" (Award winning blogger and Iran expert, London), "Behnam Nateghi" (Journalist and TV host, VOA-NY), Afshin Ellian (Professor of law and philosophy, Islam, and Middle East scholar, Netherlands), "Ramin Asgard" (Director of VOA Persian Service), "Mashaallah Abbaszadeh" (former Iran Election Headquarters chief, Canada), "Solmaz Sharif" (Journalist, NY), Ivan Marovic (Serbian Student Leader, Belgrade), "Jane Kokan" (Award winning documentary filmmaker, Canada), "Shayan Arya", (member of Board of Directors for the Constitutional Monarchy Party), Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, (comedian and satire writer), "Amir Golalipour", (CIS board member and executive member, Mir-Hossein Mousavi's presidential election campaign), "Farhad Sabetan", (Bahai community spokesperson), Nahid Kalhori, (executive director of Confederation of Iranian Students), "Amir Shadjareh", (President of Pars International TV), "Zia Atabay", (founder and president of National Iranian Television in Los Angeles), and representatives from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI). ^[41]

The "Iran Democratic Transition Conference II" with the title of "Remembering Neda, the symbol of Freedom and Democracy in Iran" took place on the anniversary of the day her life was brutally taken as she was peacefully participating in a people's march in Tehran, giving rise to what has since become known as The Iranian Green Movement. Since then, the Movement has inspired other young people in undemocratic nations in the region, who are rising up to the call for freedom. This conference will examine the dynamics of the Green Movement, the role of secularism versus religion in the political life of Iran; the question of religious freedom in an Islamic society; the role of the media; and the implications of the Green Movement for U.S. policy. (IDTC 2) followed the highly successful conference (IDTC 1) held at the George Washington University and the U.S. Capitol in January, 2011. Participants included Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), and Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), as well as representatives from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI). The conference engaged students, non-governmental organizations, academics, and others, both inside and outside Iran, for the purpose of contributing to a better global understanding of the needs and desires of the Iranian people as they seek greater liberty of expression and political engagement. The present conference carries on the momentum and the spirit of that event by reaching out to the civil society of Iran. ^[42]

Political views

Amir Abbas Fakhravar advocates "Regime change" in Iran and replace the Islamic Republic of Iran with the secular, democratic "Republic of Iran".^[43] February 4, 2003, he wrote an open letter to the world and asked international communities help Iranians for their fight for Freedom and Democracy; "We call on our brethren to join us in a complete and total boycott of all elections - unless it is a free and fair referendum on the type of the future regime. This collective boycott will demonstrate to the world the level of the regime's unpopularity. And also call on the international community to support our goal, namely, a referendum with United Nation's observation." this letter was published by International Pen when he was still in Evin Prison and under torture.^[44][45]

In the 2005 Iranian presidential elections, he supported boycotting the elections in Iran, claiming that the regime has no legitimacy and that the presidential elections should be turned into a referendum, a claim also supported by Abbas Amir-Entezam, the longest serving political prisoner in the middle east.^[46] Fakhravar strongly opposed president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's attempts of a "second cultural revolution," such as appointing hardliner clerics such as "Amid Zanjani", famous for his work as a religious prosecutor, as chancellor of Tehran University.^[47]

While he was on hunger strike in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York with Akbar Ganji to highlight the plight of Iranian political prisoners, he was interviewed by "Jahanshah Javid", owner of Iranian.com. In the interview, he denied that he is a monarchist or in favor of war with Iran; he prefers an internal revolution.^[48] In March 2007, speaking at the Secular Islam Summit in St. Petersburg, Florida, he called for the US to help to overthrow the government in Iran by supporting the "silent army" (the internal opposition movements in Iran) via encouragement through media, along with tough economic sanctions on Iran.^[49] In an interview with Ynet Fakhravar said that if the West launches a military attack on Iran, "The top brass will flee immediately. People will come out onto the streets protesting, why are we being bombed? Many of the regime' mid-level officials will shave their beards, don ties and join the (civilians) on the streets."^[33]

Books, Awards and Honors

Books

• Hanooz ham; varagh parehaye zendan (Still, the Scraps of Prison), 2005.^[50]

• This Place is not a Ditch, September 2000.^[18]

• The Greenest Eyes on Earth, February 10, 1998.^[51][52]

Awards and Honors

• Senior Journalists Seminar 2010.^[53]

• Prestigious “Annie Taylor Award” November 16, 2007.^[2]

• “Day of the Imprisoned Writer,” International PEN, November 15, 2004.^[18]

• “Honorary Member” of the PEN Canada, March 2004.^[19]

• “Prisoner Of The Month,”English PEN," February 2004.^[17]

• “Honorary Member” of the English PEN, April 2003.^[17]

• Fakhravar's novel “This Place is Not a Ditch" was short listed for Paulo Coelho Literary Prize in 2000.^[18]

• “National Journalism Student Award” Iran, Tehran, June 1989.^[16]

Documentaries

• Fakhravar's trip to Israel, IRIB Islamic Republic's state TV made a documentary about Fakhravar's trip to Israel and called him a breaker of Iran-Israel taboo. February 2, 2012.^[54]
• "Iranium" is a 2011 documentary film that explores the Iranian nuclear program as it pertains to strategic threats against the West, and Islamic fundamentalism in Iran. Amir Abbas Fakhravar is one of the experts in this movie.^[55]
• Student uprising July 9, 1999, Unfinished Story Islamic Republic's state TV made a documentary about July 9, 1999 and pointed at Fakhravar as the master mind of that Student uprising. July 6, 2011.^[56]
• "The Case for War:In Defense of Freedom" in 2007, Amir Abbas Fakhravar participated Richard Perle presented this documentary articulating his view of the challenges facing the U.S. post 9/11, and debating with his critics including Richard Holbrooke, Simon Jenkins, and Abdel Bari Atwan. The film was broadcast by PBS in their series America at a Crossroads.^[27]
• Forbidden Iran in 2004, Fakhravar's story and his organization was one of the main parts of this documentary about Iranian Student Movement and July 9, 1999.^[57][58]

Controversy

Fakhravar is a controversial figure within Iranian exiles. According to an article published in Mother Jones: "In interviews with more than a dozen Iranian opposition figures, some of them former political prisoners, a different picture emerged—one of an opportunist being pushed to the fore by Iran hawks, a reputed jailhouse snitch who was locked up for nonpolitical offenses but reinvented himself as a student activist and political prisoner once behind bars."^[59]

Fakhravar and his supporters vehemently deny such allegations, saying that the attacks are motivated by petty jealousy and a vendetta by Fakhravar’s enemies on the Iranian left.^[59]

References

External links

• Template:En icon Fakhravar.com - Official website
• Template:Fa icon (امیرعباس فخر آور (سیاوش - Official blog
• Template:En icon IWP - Institute of World Politics
• Template:En icon International Pen - International Pen
• Template:En icon English PEN - English PEN
• Template:En icon Facebook - Fakhravar's fan page on Facebook
• Template:En icon Twitter - Fakhravar on Twitter

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