Security forces officer stands guard in Tehran on Monday.Hossein Esmaeili/The Globe and Mail
Marina Nemat is the author of Prisoner of Tehran, After Tehran, and Mistress of the Persian Boarding House, which will be released in July.
In 1984, at the age of 18, I was released from Evin Prison after more than two years. About five years earlier, I had watched from my window as the Iranian revolution of 1978-79 had unfolded. Demonstrators yelled slogans in support of Ayatollah Khomeini, demanding an Islamic Republic and wishing death upon the king, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
When the shah was forced into exile, people danced on the street. Khomeini had promised to make the lives of Iranians better, as if freedom and democracy were miracles that he could magically bestow.
Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, and by then, mass arrests, torture, and arbitrary executions had become the norm. I hoped that his death might weaken the iron grip of the regime, but instead, Ayatollah Khamenei took his place as the supreme leader and continued as a dictator like his predecessor. He relied upon the Revolutionary Guard to be the scaffold that has since upheld the Islamic Republic, at the cost of the lives of Iranians.
On Feb. 28, the United States and Israel attacked Iran, bombing various cities. Soon after, it was announced that Ayatollah Khamenei had been killed. Many Iranians danced on the streets – just like they had when the shah had been exiled close to half a century earlier.
Like many other Iranians, both in the diaspora and in Iran, I have mixed feelings about the attacks. I’m happy that the Iranian regime has been weakened, but innocent civilians have been killed, and I do not believe that the United States has begun this war for the well-being of the people of Iran. Iranian history is filled with foreign powers meddling in its affairs for their own gain.
In January, with the wave of new mass protests in Iran, during which the Iranian regime massacred thousands of its citizens, many Iranians expressed their hope that this might finally be the end of the Islamic Republic and the beginning of a better future. Having learned many lessons from the Islamic revolution and the events that led to it, I hope that this time, opposition leaders clearly draw out goals and strategies to achieve them. When the Islamic Republic falls – which will be sooner rather than later, it seems – what should take its place? And exactly how?
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Many friends tell me I ask too many questions. They say that we should get rid of the current regime, and the rest will fall into place. I do not agree with them. After decades of dictatorship and the horrors that Iranians have lived, there are too many grievances, disagreements, and divisions in the country; they will threaten the possibility of a democracy. As a result, a clear, strategic plan that most of the opposition groups can agree on is a must. And if there is going to be a transitional government, its mandate must be spelled out clearly.
For now, I do not feel happy, at least not yet; I’m cautiously hopeful. Maybe my reservation is because I don’t believe that foreign powers can gift democracy even if they want to, or maybe a part of my soul is still trapped in Evin. Most of us who have survived have many scars. This grief will never leave me, and I have come to terms with it. However, I have not and will never allow my sadness to turn into hatred and contribute to the cycle of violence that turns victims into torturers and torturers into victims – an all too familiar cycle that has been repeated throughout history. Members of the Revolutionary Guard and government officials who have blood on their hands must stand fair trials and be treated justly and with respect to human rights.
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Following the success of the Islamic revolution, there were many promises made about giving Iranians more freedom than they had enjoyed under the shah. Instead, Iran’s new leaders chipped away at those freedoms. For example, the Islamic Republic made the hijab mandatory and any form of criticism of the new regime became branded as being against God and therefore severely punishable. Many Iranians believed the regime when it told them that protesters were the enemies of God and Iran. But the truth can only be manipulated, buried and denied for so long.
My greatest hope for the people of Iran is to take the lessons of their history to their hearts and to never forget that even though Ayatollah Khamenei is dead, his enabler and killing machine – the Revolutionary Guard – is alive and well.