Khamenei and Mortezaei's Confrontation with the 'Army of Women' at Masih Ali-Najad's Party

Host: Masih Ali-Najad Guests: Ali Khamenei, Saeed Mortezaei, Mrs. Zarin, Shahnaz Akmali, Nasrin Sotoudeh Music: 'Bardi az Yadam' sung by Delkash Dinner Menu: Kachikilak Khoresht (Pumpkin Stew) with Nazkhatun. This week's host is Masih Ali-Najad, one of the most famous and active journalists after the revolution. She started her career about 15 years ago in various newspapers in Tehran and gained notoriety by writing a famous article about the huge payments to members of parliament, which led to her expulsion from the parliament as a parliamentary reporter. Her other exposé articles in Iranian newspapers caused her problems and she was summoned to court. After the controversial 2009 presidential election, she conducted many interviews with the families of victims of the crackdown on protesters. A few years ago, she launched a Facebook page for 'secret freedoms' against mandatory hijab, which received a lot of attention and angered conservatives in Iran. Masih Ali-Najad lives in New York, but I met her at a hotel in Los Angeles. Masih Ali-Najad: Welcome to the show. Can you tell me who your guests are for dinner? Mr. Saba, you chose the wrong person. I'm not much of a party person. I prefer to invite people to this party who I can at least annoy a bit. Why not? You can invite guests like that! You don’t have to like them. So I invite Mr. Khamenei. I invite Saeed Mortezaei. But I need an army for a fight. There’s an army of women at this party. Who are they? I invite my mother. Mrs. Zarin, known as Zari Khayyat. My mom, known as Zari Khayyat (Shahnaz Akmali), the mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi, one of the martyrs of Ashura, will also come to my party. Then I invite Nasrin Sotoudeh to be with us at the party. I think Mr. Khamenei and Mr. Mortezaei will have a tough night. I hope they don’t leave the party. But before we get to why you chose them and what their significance is, can you please tell me what music you want to play for them? I don’t know if they all like music! My misfortune is that I might start singing, and Saeed Mortezaei and Khamenei might just leave. But if I must choose music, I choose Delkash, but I will definitely sing it for you first. A little sing to see. 'Bardi az Yadam'... let’s put this on. Masih Ali-Najad's guests: Ali Khamenei. Ali Khamenei (born 1939): Iranian politician, famous as the second leader of the Islamic Republic. Reason for invitation: I wanted to ask questions I never had the opportunity to ask him. Very good, the song 'Bardi az Yadam' by Ms. Delkash. Now let’s return to the guests you chose. Your first guest is Mr. Khamenei. Why did you invite Mr. Khamenei to the party? Just say it. Does your head hurt? Throw a party, be happy. Don’t create trouble for yourself. I’m scared right now. When I imagine someone who has always made us stutter is going to be at my party. One of the reasons I want him to come to the party is to see for himself how different he is from our generation. How different. I thought maybe he would see a journalist up close and realize how many questions we had that we couldn’t ask in Iranian newspapers. But in this party, he can come and I can ask him the questions I wanted to ask but never had the chance to. Do you have many questions? The whole nation of Iran has questions. What is your first question for Mr. Khamenei? My first question is what does he think about the song he is listening to? Why have we had to be censored and eliminated all these years just because of the thoughts of a person like Khamenei who is afraid and dislikes such beautiful voices? And I, who am not wearing a hijab at this party... with all this hair! I want to know how he feels when he is afraid of my hair. Recently, he also issued a fatwa that cycling for women is forbidden. I want to know why my presence should scare someone like Khamenei and whether he is willing to hold a referendum to see how many people want him to remain in power, and if the people do not want him, will he leave? I know that these words may not hold much weight for him and he may leave the party, but as a journalist, as I said at the beginning, I’m not much of a party person! I don’t even know how to cook dinner! So instead of throwing a party and having people come and sit around, I want someone to come there to see my life and see what we are afraid of? Masih Ali-Najad's guests: Saeed Mortezaei. Saeed Mortezaei (born 1967): Former judge and prosecutor of Tehran, famous for judging many cases leading to press closures, connection to the Kahrizak case during his time as Tehran's prosecutor, controversial presidency in the Social Security Organization, etc. Reason for invitation: I was once a guest of Saeed Mortezaei. In an interrogation room. Let’s go to your second guest, Saeed Mortezaei. I was once a guest of Saeed Mortezaei in an interrogation room because of an article I wrote about plainclothes agents. I said they are not plainclothes agents, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces sued me, and Saeed Mortezaei interrogated me. His gaze is one that makes you feel naked and exposed sitting next to him. You feel disgusted when you look at this creature. Now why did I invite him? Because my mother is here and the mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi is here, and I’m not afraid of Saeed Mortezaei coming to this party. You’ll hide behind them! I will hide behind them, but Saeed Mortezaei must be here because he is the symbol of all the pressure and oppression that journalists have endured. How many newspapers have been shut down? How many people were killed in Kahrizak? How many people have been imprisoned? I was there because I was his guest, and I was really scared, and my hands were trembling. He told me that I had illicit relations with various men he had lined up. Did he say these things to you directly? Yes! He is a very disgusting creature when he sits in front of you. I want him to come to that party... I suffer, but the misfortune is that my hands tremble too, but I want him to be there so that I can, with the help of the army of women who are with me, annoy him and tell him how much he has wounded us. Of course, the regime seems to be a bit annoyed too. But with the services he has provided, now he is a bit imprisoned... no. Saeed Mortezaei, when Kahrizak was closed, they summoned him. But Saeed Mortezaei is the symbol of oppression that the government brings out whenever it needs to, and whenever it has to respond to public opinion, it shows that we are punishing him. But what punishment? It’s not real punishment. Saeed Mortezaei is allowed to leave now. He went to Karbala. Saeed Mortezaei lives in that same country. But those who have done nothing wrong are now in prison. Sometimes the regime, to save itself, puts aside some of its pawns. Khamenei is still there. That’s why I invited both of them to say that we know you brought a pawn, suppressed him, and now you leave him quietly. But let the people judge him. We know that the wounds inflicted on several generations will not heal even if this pawn is set aside. Masih Ali-Najad's guests: Mrs. Zarin. Mrs. Zarin: Mother of Masih Ali-Najad. Reason for invitation: I learned from my mother not to throw away the stories of my life. Our entire life in Iran as a woman has been secretive. But I learned from my mom not to throw away the secretive, to make it public. To speak about it loudly. Let’s move on to your third guest, your mother, whom you must love very much. You know, I really thought about bringing someone to the party who has been a role model for me. In my youth, like many other journalists, I wished to be Oriana Fallaci. At one time, I wanted to write stories and wished to be Isabel Allende. But I became none of them. I looked around and realized I had become my mother. My mother is my Isabel Allende. Isabel Allende always wrote the stories of her life. A famous Latin American writer who turns her letters to her daughter into a novel. When she writes about her grandfather, she turns her monologues into a novel, and her books are published in 35 living languages. I saw my mother with her old tape recorder in the kitchen, talking to her aunt. She would read poems for her aunt and record it. She never threw away the stories of her life. I learned from my mother not to throw away the stories of my life. Our entire life in Iran as a woman has been secretive. But I learned from my mom not to throw away the secretive, to make it public. To speak about it loudly. My mother had become my Isabel Allende. Regarding my journalism, I was once invited to a farewell dinner for Mr. Khatami. My mom kept calling and wouldn’t let go of the deal. Then she said, 'Give the phone to Khatami, I have business with him.' It was a time when I was expelled for exposing the salary slips of parliament members. My mom said she wanted to talk to Khatami. I was under heavy pursuit, and my mom was very scared. She said, 'Give the phone to Khatami.' I gave it to Khatami. She started speaking in her northern dialect, 'If even one hair is taken from my daughter’s head, I will wrap your cloak and turban around your neck!' It’s clear that people from Rasht understand Mazandarani well! I felt that my mother lived in a village and was not a journalist. But she questioned so bravely and told Khatami that he was responsible. My mother was a questioner. My mother was not afraid. When all my brothers went to the front, my mother stood behind us and said, 'Don’t be afraid.' I learned from my mother that when I am afraid, I should go into the heart of danger. I learned from my mother not to throw away the stories of my life. How long has it been since you last saw your mother? I haven’t seen her for seven years. Now Khamenei is here. Well, at least my mom can grab Khamenei’s collar... and say, 'Why can’t I see my daughter? Why? What have I done?' It’s been seven years... Rouhani should have come too. He also promised that Iranians abroad should return. One by one, they returned and went to prison. In fact, in this party, my mother can at least grab Khamenei’s collar and say, 'You caused our children to be distanced from us.' Masih Ali-Najad's guests: Shahnaz Akmali. Shahnaz Akmali: Mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi, a victim of the 2009 protests. Reason for invitation: She taught me that we should not just be a nation of mourning and lamentation. We should move. She even taught me that the history of murder and slaughter did not just start from 2009. It came and multiplied and became the throat of her son. Besides your mother, there is another mother at this party. The mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi, one of the martyrs of the 2009 election protests. Now ask why the mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi? Why her among all mothers? I chose my mother because I learned many things from her. But my mother stayed in the kitchen and in the rice fields in that village and was sewing. She was an independent and strong woman. But I wanted my mother to go, to get up, to move and multiply. It saddened me that my mother should only stay in the kitchen. I got to know the mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi during Ashura 2009 when they killed people one by one. I had no one. My mother was brave, but she wouldn’t go find people. The mother of Mostafa was a grieving mother. She got up and went from city to city. She found the families of the nameless martyrs one by one. She taught me that we should not just be a nation of mourning and lamentation. We should move. She even taught me that the history of murder and slaughter did not just start from 2009. I didn’t listen to anyone who said it. I didn’t learn. But this mother taught me. She went after mothers who had lost before the 2009 election. She found the mothers of the 1980s. She found mothers in the villages that I couldn’t find. That’s why I think I want the mother of Mostafa Karim-Bigi to be next to me. Because she doesn’t just sit in one place; she moves and multiplies. Back then, I found the mother of Sohrab Ebrahimi, and when I interviewed her on the phone, I cried. But I saw she wasn’t crying; she was shouting and strong. Then I said, 'Why am I so weak!' Gradually, I reached the mother of Mostafa, who, with a camera she didn’t even know how to start a Facebook page with and at first didn’t know how to have an email. But gradually she came and multiplied and became the voice of her son. And the voice of many people who... That’s why the mother of Mostafa should be at this party. Because I know I might cry, but we...