Host: Noushabeh Amiri Guests: Jahangir Soorassrafi, Mohammad Masoud, Mostafa Mesbahzadeh, Rahman Hatefi, and Oriana Fallaci Music: Sun Workers Anthem Dinner Menu: Bean Pilaf This week's host is Noushabeh Amiri. Ms. Amiri is one of the most renowned Iranian journalists and an experienced voice actress, starting her career over fifty years ago at the age of ten as a voice actor in a children's program on Radio Iran. She always aspired to become the Iranian Oriana Fallaci and entered the press arena as a teenager, being the first Iranian journalist to interview Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris weeks before the revolution on behalf of Kayhan newspaper, alongside a reporter from Ettela'at newspaper. In this interview, she asked Ayatollah Khomeini, 'Some say we are going from under the boot of tyranny to under the sandal of tyranny,' to which Khomeini famously replied, 'Islam does not have dictatorship.' Ms. Amiri's voice in animated television films such as Lucien in 'The Children of the Alps,' Sterling in 'Ramkal,' and Misha in 'Animal Village' is nostalgic for many. She was also one of the editors of the magazine 'Film Report,' a successful and popular cinema publication, which was banned after more than 12 years of publication in 2001. Later, during Khatami's presidency, she collaborated with reformist publications but eventually had to leave Iran due to pressure on press freedom in the country. In France, Ms. Amiri, along with other journalists, launched the online newspaper 'Rooz Online,' which also ceased publication recently after about 12 years. She has published several books and translated many children's stories into Persian. Her latest book is titled 'The Day I Grew Old,' which describes the struggles of families of political prisoners. She lives in Paris, and I have spoken with her over the phone.
Ms. Noushabeh Amiri, welcome to the program. Please tell me which five personalities you would like to invite for the dinner?
Hello to you and your listeners. With your permission, I would like to arrange a press dinner. I want to invite Jahangir Soorassrafi, as well as Mohammad Masoud, then Dr. Mesbahzadeh, and our editor at Kayhan newspaper, Rahman Hatefi, and a foreign journalist that everyone knows, whom you also referred to, Oriana Fallaci.
You will certainly explain to our audience about each of these guests you invited. But before that, please tell me what music you would like to play for these guests?
At first, I wanted to play the song 'Imagine' by John Lennon, as I really liked it, but I thought it would be more appropriate to play the 'Mountain/Sun Workers Anthem.'
Why do you like the Sun Workers Anthem, and what makes it interesting to you?
The sad innocence in this anthem always makes me think about how the era of idealists began and how it ended. It is a song that is somewhat painful for me.
Does it remind you of the days of the revolution?
It reminds me of the days of the revolution, and when I read this poem, I constantly ask myself why these idealists thought that 'the winter has ended.' Winter has never ended in our country. Why did they think that spring had blossomed, which never happened? When did the sun come back? I think about how idealistic these people were and what kind of environment they lived in, an abstract, utopian world. Most of them never saw it and left. But anyway, the poem is so impactful, and its atmosphere reflects a period of idealism that somehow becomes intertwined with the spirit and soul of a person, although it also creates a deep sorrow within.
Now let's return to the guests you chose. You initially mentioned Jahangir Soorassrafi. What do you like about him?
Jahangir Soorassrafi (1292-1326 AH): Iranian journalist of the Constitutional Era, known for publishing the Soorassrafi newspaper. He spoke of freedom and defended the constitutional government and was against dictatorship, which is something that dictators usually do not like. You know that the Soorassrafi publication actually starts from the Constitutional Era. It is one of the first publications that raises the call for freedom and shapes a destiny that seems to become the fate of other journalists in our country. That is, people who enter societies like ours with a political background and political hopes and aspirations, primarily freedom and rule of law, think that they can instill these criteria in a society that has been accustomed to tyranny for years and then face tragic fates. The horrific type of death of Jahangir Soorassrafi, being killed by a tyrant king, namely Mohammad Ali Shah, and then the manner of his death. He was suffocated in the Shah's garden in Tehran, right?
It is much more heartbreaking. As I see in some sources, he was tied from both sides and then stabbed in the stomach with a dagger or something like that. It is one of the most heartbreaking deaths or murders in our history.
What did Jahangir Khan say in his newspaper that Mohammad Ali Shah and the tyrants of that time did not like?
Freedom. He defended the constitutional government and was against dictatorship, which is something that dictators usually do not like. In any authoritarian and dictatorial government, if you create the ground for raising people's demands and questioning the dictators, your punishment is to have your tongue cut off. This has always happened in our history.
Now let's move on to your second guest, Mohammad Masoud, who also did not have a better fate than Jahangir Soorassrafi. The editor of 'Mard-e Emruz.' Please tell us about Mohammad Masoud.
Mohammad Masoud (1280-1326 AH): Iranian writer and journalist, known for publishing 'Mard-e Emruz.' He was someone who wanted to be a journalist, and his intellectual origin was freedom and breaking away from an authoritarian society. He wrote about political and social issues and had a very powerful and sharp pen. He also, you know, had his intellectual roots in the Constitutional Era. Then he started the 'Mard-e Emruz' publication, which initially he wanted to name 'Mard-e Azad' but was not allowed. In any case, his newspaper was banned and he was pursued. There is a story that is like a tragedy that constantly repeats in our history. He wrote a protest article, and then when he was coming out of the printing house, he was assassinated. The story of his assassination is also really unclear, and various things are said. Again, like other things in our history, everyone approaches it from a different angle, but information is always scarce. The important thing is that what remains in memory is that a person who wanted to be a journalist and whose intellectual origin was freedom and breaking away from an authoritarian society ultimately fell victim to an arrow that ended his life. Mohammad Masoud, like Jahangir Soorassrafi, had problems because of his newspaper articles. The demands they raised were not pleasant for the rulers. He wrote very sharp articles about political and social issues. He had a very powerful and sharp pen. He targeted all political groups, especially politicians and brokers. His troubles continued for a long time until he was arrested and a case was filed against him, which lingered in various courts until he was ultimately killed.
Your third guest is Mostafa Mesbahzadeh, the founder of Kayhan newspaper, where you worked before the revolution. Please tell us about Mr. Mesbahzadeh and what kind of manager he was at Kayhan?
Mostafa Mesbahzadeh (1287-1385 AH): Iranian politician and journalist, known as the founder of Kayhan newspaper. He was the founder of a modern thought in press management. He was interested in the press and knew it well. He lived with news and was someone who was present in the newspaper from morning till night. He envisioned a large and modern world for journalism. I can say more about Mr. Mesbahzadeh because I knew him closely. I was sent to Kayhan from the faculty he established because he believed that fresh blood should regularly flow in the veins of Iranian journalism. An interesting point about this faculty is that from that time, they accepted students fifty-fifty, boys and girls, which is also a sign of Dr. Mesbahzadeh's enlightenment and foresight. That is, a press manager who perhaps I can say has had no equal until today. He was the founder of a modern thought in press management. He was interested in the press and knew it well. He lived with news and was someone who was present in the newspaper from morning till night. He encouraged the kids. From the name he chose for the newspaper, it is clear that he had the French newspaper Le Monde in mind. In fact, he envisioned a large and modern world for journalism.
Ms. Amiri, do you think that Mr. Mesbahzadeh's being a senator helped Kayhan perform better, or did he try to steer Kayhan towards supporting the Shah's government?
Not at all. He did not do that at all. He used that opportunity to present his ideas to society in a prudent manner. It was Dr. Mesbahzadeh who encouraged us to go after news and interview different people. And then it was Dr. Mesbahzadeh who took care of all those who were banned from the press for any reason or imprisoned. He sent salaries to the homes of the banned journalists. Even during the revolution, when we were supposedly on strike, he paid our salaries.
It is very interesting for me to tell you that we would go to the streets to protest and then return to the Kayhan newsroom to eat, and then we would go back to protest, and we would be paid our salaries, and they would constantly ask what the news was. For this reason, perhaps Kayhan was, in a sense, more of a stronghold for people who either belonged to leftist thought or national thought.
Ms. Amiri, I must also ask you this question. You went to Paris on behalf of Kayhan three weeks before the revolution and the arrival of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran and interviewed him, asking that famous question about whether the sandal of tyranny would replace the boot of tyranny. Was Mr. Mesbahzadeh aware of this interview, and did he agree that it would be published uncensored?
No, Mr. Mesbahzadeh had already left Iran by that time, but he was in contact with me through his son and paid for all my travel expenses, meaning it was paid for as Kayhan, and they were following everything with great enthusiasm.
Your fourth guest is Rahman Hatefi, whom you mentioned was your editor at Kayhan and later lost his life during the Islamic Republic. Please tell us about Mr. Hatefi and what kind of personality he had.
Rahman Hatefi (1320-1362 AH): Iranian journalist, known for being the editor of Kayhan newspaper on the eve of the 1979 revolution. He was, in terms of personality, one of the most beautiful human beings I have known in my life. In a sense, he was our mentor, a mentor to many because of his open and democratic personality. He took all the various intellectual groups under his wing at Kayhan. Rahman Hatefi was, in a sense, the embodiment of all those journalists who have come from Soorassrafi to this day, meaning all those who were killed and had their mouths sewn shut. All those who lost their lives, those who were genuinely concerned about their homeland, meaning I have not seen anyone more patriotic than Rahman. And those who were concerned about freedom and the people, and those who were idealists in the purest sense of the word. After seeing Mr. Khomeini in Paris, I returned to Iran so hopeless and sad that really, if I had not been alongside Rahman Hatefi and my husband Hoshang Asadi, I don't know what other path I would have taken. But alongside these individuals, especially Rahman, you became a pure passion and a pure love for the revolution and the abstract concept of revolution and freedom and all that.
In the end, while he was a great journalist, I mean I have not seen anyone like Rahman Hatefi who had this expertise in headline writing, in news detection, in news sense, but alongside all this, he also had political activity and ultimately became a victim of this issue. He, like those previous journalists, suffered a horrific death in a prison that, after all, no one knows about, the terrible torture he endured and the astonishing resistance he showed.