Street scenes with riot police near Tehran University
00:02:00 Students: With a beard, free thinking is impossible.
Archive - student leader Abdullah Momeni speaking
00:02:18 Students and lecturers, please accept my condolences for the death of thought and for
freedom being led to the slaughter.
00:02:21 Archive Student demonstration
Archive Students chanting slogan
00:02:25 We call the Supreme Leader to account.
Riot police in streets near Tehran Univ.
0:02:27 We call the Supreme Leader to account.
Student leader Razavi sitting at conference table with other students
00:02:31 I think we are in a situation between Reform and Revolution.
Riot police near Tehran University
00:02:35 The political situation inside the Islamic Republic Iran is very tense. The fundamentalist
regime is faced with a growing number of students demanding political and civil liberty.
Archive Students chanting slogan
00:02:51 Khatami resign!
Hazratzadeh sitting at conference table with other students
00:02:56 In his book Revolution and Reform Popper writes that all thinkers and ideologies wanting to
lead people to paradise have led them to hell.
Street mural of Khomeiny
CU Siavash - int
0:03:10 Society of hypocritical murderers, those were the words I used for them, because they kill people very easily and justify it.
Long Shot street mural Khomeiny
Block 1 Personal Experiences
Students on campus
0:03:24 The Iranian students are the vanguard of a young, post revolutionary generation that makes
up two thirds of the Iranian population and wants freedom. But the regime has even increased the repression, using street gangs to beat up students, imprisoning great numbers of them, kidnapping their leaders, and applying torture to produce false confessions.
Photos riot police & arrests & bruised back
Archive Student leader Afshari giving press conference.
00:03:47 I spent 356 days in provisional custody, of which 328 in isolation. They arrested me for a
speech against the establishing of a closed political system, which I held during a protest
meeting at Amir Kabir University.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:07 Ali Afshari was the most popular leader of the Iranian students. He was forced to confess on
state television that the students had been planning to topple the regime.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:19 I was put under psychological and physical pressure, but I will talk about that later.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:25 Set free on parole he gave a press conference where he denounced his confession and explained it was extorted from him by torture.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:33 I apologize. I should not have given in to the pressure. I feel ashamed for the people, but my
opinion remains unchanged, I still hold my old views and Im proud of that.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:50 After his press conference Afshari was arrested again. He is still in prison.
freeze frame Afashari
Music
Political prisoners free!
Archive - Students chanting slogan
Music
0:04:59 Political prisoners free!
Four student leaders on different interview locations
Music
00:05:03 In secrecry we met some of the present student leaders, who are being monitored closely,
to talk about their personal experiences and their view of the political situation in Iran.
Archive - Student demo - Razavi
00:05:24 If dialogue doesn't make you leave, one day a storm of anger will uproot you
Photos of student leaders speaking.
00:05:35 Saied Razavi is a member of the Central Committee and political spokesman for the
organisation of united Islamic Student Unions.
Razavi & student looking at cartoons on wall.
Razavi sitting in Tehran union office
0:05:45 Outside Tarbiat Modarres University a group of men wanted to put me in a car. I asked for their identity papers or a warrant of arrest, but they refused. When I started to resist, 7-8 men forced me into the car.
00:06:00
Photo Khomeiny.
Razavi continued
00:06:16 I was put into a car, blindfolded and driven around for a couple of hours. Then they put me in
dark isolation cell without food and drink.
Sanjari walking on balcony
00:06:30 Kianoush Sanjari is a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front of the secular student unions
Student leader Sanjari sitting on balcony.
00:06:41 In my opinion the worst torture are the isolation cells. Imagine them locking a young person
for 6 months, 8... 10... or even a year, into an isolation cell of 1 x 2 metres. Isn't that the worst torture?
Mirror image of Sanjari
Top shot cars in street
High rise apartment buildings
Student leader Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:07:08 We heard the sound of breaking glass and suddenly, without the front door being opened, a
group of men appeared in the room with pistols aimed at us. They hit us with the pistols and clubs and threw us on the floor. Our eyes were sprayed with teargas to prevent us from recognising them
Zarezadeh sitting in chair
00:07:38 Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir is a member of the Central Committee and spokesman for the
Democratic Front. He also founded the Committeex for the Release of Political Prisoners.
Photos student leader Tabarzadi.
Zarezadeh sitting in chair
00:07:53 When they arrested me they beat me for 2-3 hours and then threw me on the floor of the car like a ball of old paper.
Riot police near Tehran University
Siavash walking around in living room while talking into his mobile
0:08:08 Good news from all Iranian universities...
Siavash is a writer, a journalist and a prominent secular student activist.
Siavash sitting in living room
0:08:18 I saw cars parked near the front door. Flashing lights were placed on the roofs and there
was shouting. Thief! Murderer! Hold him! I started running through the streets and alleys. On Martyrs Square they fired eleven times at me. Two bullets narrowly missed my head.
Home video Siavash in prison clothes
Siavash continued
00:08:34 In court I complained about this. They should aim at the legs not at the head. Later a men who drove me between prison and court told me they had orders to shoot to kill. They even showed the written order to my mother. He was an intelligence officer and said: We wanted to kill you, but it was too dark and you moved too much, otherwise a bastard like you would have been dead and we would not have to bother driving you around.
Block 2 The Crucial Events of 1999
Girl students in chador on campus
Cleric walking on campus
00.09.06 In 1997 the absolute power of the fundamentalists was challenged by a reform movement emerging from their own ranks.
Veiled girl student on campus
Photos Students holding photos of Khatami
0:09:21 President Khatami and the reformers were elected in office with crucial support from the students.
Shots of people at news stands
0:09:29 For two years Iran enjoyed some freedom. But the fundamentalists wanted to regain full
control. They blocked reforms and deprived the Iranian people of independent information by closing down the free press.
Photo Students protesting the closing of newspapers
Man leafing through photo album
Photos: students protesting
Girls holding newspapers, lips sealed
Protesting students
00:09:46 In July 1999 students took to the streets of Tehran to protest the closure of newspapers.Their demonstrations were the biggest public protest against the system since the revolution. But they were beaten down with violence.
Siavash sitting at home
00:10:04 Because I had experience in the operation room, First Aid asked me to do some sewing up. I
went downstairs and saw around hundred students sitting with their face towards the wall, all dressed in pyjamas and covered in blood.
Photo: student in wrecked room
students holding bloody t-shirts
Photos: bloody student
Siavash cont.
00:10:24 Their condition was serious, as if they had returned from a war. Behind them stood soldiers,
stamping their boots and beating their clubs into their hands. The students were very frightened.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
0:10:45 In reaction to the student demonstrations, a group of professional, violent streetgangs that
previously had attacked newspapers, cinemas, cultural centres and meetings, invaded the
student dormitories on the campus.
Music
Photos molested students
Siavash sitting at home
00:11:14 While I was stitching I recall making 12 stitches in one head, so violently they had lashed out I asked what had happened. They said that Ansar Hezbollah in combination with riot police had invaded their dormitories, pulled them from their beds and had beaten them with iron rods, chains and sticks, very violently.
Photos wrecked student rooms
Sanjari sitting on balcony
Siavash cont.
00:11:35 Unfortunately student Ezat Ebrahimnezad was killed at this event.
Music:
Hand leafing through photo album
Photo sequence: Demonstrations confrontation students & police
Zarezadeh sitting in a room
00:12:11 In the next two weeks the ministry of Information, following a predesigned plan, arrested
thousands of students. Over ten thousand people were arrested. All prisons and police cells were full, even in the mosques and the prison prayer rooms no place was left. They were pressed in, beaten and interrogated one by one. Because there were too few interrogators, they let prison guards do the interrogations and assemble the files.
Photo slogans at demonstration
Photo confrontation police officer & masked student
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:12:47 Members of the streetgangs who had attacked and battered the students at the university,
walk around freely in Tehran and instead of them innocent students are in jail.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:12:59 I believe this attack, and all attacks on cinemas and newspapers in previous years, were not spontaneous but planned and organised.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:13:18 The reason for this extensive suppression was to stop the student protests. For several months a suffocating atmosphere was created in Iran. Together with the conservatives the reformers were also active in this, as an easy way to penetrate the power and strengthen their position. This collaboration made the situation even worse.
Cover Economist: protesting Iranian student
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:13:46 For the student movement, hoping for great changes after the victory of the reformers, this was unbelievable and shocking.
Photos protesting students
00:13:58 Bitterly disappointed the Islamic Student Unions turned their back on the reformers and joined the opposition.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:14:06 The reformers made many promises to the young, but they were not able to do anything. They could not use their legal authority and in fact did not dare to take any risk. So all their promises have remained slogans.
Block 3 The System
Participants reformist party meeting in hall
Poster with party name
Participant singing along in hall
Poster imprisoned party member
00:14:27 What we have noticed of the extensive activities of the students during recent months, is a sign of maturity of this movement. The programme of those in power is the creation of small scale riots that are easily containable in order to say that the land is in danger and demands the state of emergency and pressure to silence the reformers.
Mr. Tajzadeh speaking to girls in headscarves
00:15:09 Tajzadeh: As long as we have a democratic interpretation of Islam, the constitution and the state, our youth and society will be satisfied with the present situation. But if they feel that the conservatives oppose their opinions and demands in the name of religion, I think the young, while still religious, will distance themselves from political religion, and opt for a secular system.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:15:44 The Iranian people are faced with a cage surrounding religious republic that originates in the 1979 revolution. According to its slogans at the time and its promises to the people, this state should be based on the standards and principles of a republic and the human rights should be respected. But in time a group infiltrated this state and changed the course of the revolution. What the Iranian people had expected after 100 years of struggle, a republic, a true democratic state, has not been accomplished unfortunately.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:16:52 From the start the regime of the Islamic Republic wanted to indoctrinate everything with their ideology: economy, culture, politics, art. From the first class in primary school onwards they told pupils what to read, how to dress, how to behave, what to listen to and what not. But if you look at the current Iranian society, at the street scene, at how young people live, then you find no traces of the rules and regulations the regime imposed on them. They crossed all boundaries. You can say they put up a form of passive resistance against the ideological
standards and rules.
Siavash standing in living room
00:17:27 I did not vote for the Spiritual Leader, nor do I respect the bodies under his authority. We pretend to be a democratic society, where it is not at all. So I only accept people and bodies for whom I and the majority of the people voted.
00:17:46 The students, including the Islamic Student Unions, demand a separation between religion and politics. This demand is backed by the majority of the Iranians, especially the young.
Even innocent music is regarded as a threat to Islamic values by the authorities, as a source of moral pollution.
Crawling text: Next day's concert was forbidden
Razavi sitting at conference table with some male students
00:18:33 What does it mean that the Islamic Republic is Gods state? Can anybody show me God governing, writing laws, executing them and punishing violators?
Hazratzadeh, a law student at the table
00:18:46 The final authority over all processes is in the hands of one person, even over the peoples referendum, over the powers of the president, the parliament and the unelected bodies. But that person is accountable nowhere and to nobody. Nowhere in the constitution you will find that the Supreme Leader as the head of the system should answer to the people.
00:19:25 If Islam is an eternal religion which I should obey always and in every situation, then it should contain a mechanism or dynamic principle to renew itself during every period of time. But some criminal laws of Islam are not contemporary, like cutting off hands, flogging, throwing people down from mountains, and such.
Student in Chandor on Campus
00:20:05 Like society prescribes, I try to avoid conversation when I meet a male fellow student outside the campus for people hold different views of that. Personally I don't have any problem
with relations in society. But the view of others is very important.you should not let that worry you. You should not pay attention. But we live together with them.
Hazratzadeh at conference table
00:20:36 Our penal code regards women as animals. Their testimony is not accepted in court. Following an Islamic legal provision I have the right to murder my wife. According to another article a man can divorce his wife whenever he wants. Women only have half the rights men have, but their punishment is often more severe. And there are many more articles like that. But nowadays women know their rights and demand them.
Students in chador
00:21:16 We hardly ever go out, for what we want for going out does not exist. In our town we have only one street where young people walk up and down during the weekend.
Block 4 What do they want to change & How?
00:21:36 Only fundamental changes in the governing system can satisfy the students. Their opposition is peaceful, but eventually it may cause the fall of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:21:49 We don't want clerics in special religious positions to obtain privileges for holding political functions, to reap economical benefits and amass wealth. If you call that secular, then we are secular.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:22:19 Religion is being abused by the authorities. Thats why people consider religion with suspicion, even though it's our own religion.We think religion should be removed from political power and return to the private sphere. Clerics should not mix with politics.
Siavash sitting at home
00:22:34 We want a divorce between religion and politics, and a secular republic of which the people elect the head and all people in key functions.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:22:46 The constitution must be changed, for it was altered at the end of the 80s, when the function of Supreme Leader was added and also a number of controlling bodies which did not exist before.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:23:01 In the first place we want a democracy, more social freedom and with other students a new definition of values and standards that is not at odds with modern life, or at least does not obstruct it.
00:23:19 Modern life, thats exactly what the large majority of Iranian youth wants.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:23:36 The Third Generation which was formed in Iran, the young people living in Iran, want to enjoy a modern life like in western civilization. They cant live in this situation.
00:23:49 But developing an effective opposition is very difficult under the brutal state repression in Iran. Communication of ideas Is made almost impossible, Leaders, activists and intellectuals have been arrested.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:24:05 We advocate active resistance. We continue our resistance in all manners, but only non-violent. Our sole criterion are human rights.
Sanjari:
00:24:15 We are willing to pay a price for using our right to demonstrate and protest. Although we have always been oppressed and our friends have paid a high price, like imprisonment, torture and dismissal from university, we do not give in to this oppression. We will not put one step backward.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:24:48 Taking much risk we can only distribute pamphlets in the night, circulate illegal publications among the people or use internet sites.Thats all we can do now.
00:25:11 With most of their leaders in prison and a lack of unity, the student opposition still misses the effectiveness to change Irans political system.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
0:25:25 Slowly all parties are coming together and I see the day when even the reformers will draw the conclusion that any movement aiming at reforms is impossible within this undemocratic system.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:25:39 Everybody came to the conclusion that unity is very important, for if we dont form a strong front we cannot be successful. A referendum is the only way to liberate the people.
00:25:53 The opposition at large demands a referendum, for the Iranian people to decide what kind of state system it wants.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
0:26:12 We can determine our form of government by referendum. Although we do not believe in a religious state, we are willing to let the outcome of a referendum decide about it.
Razavi in Tehran union office
00:26:27 We often said that the Islamic Republic was founded by referendum. The constitution was also ratified by referendum.
Siavash standing in living room
00:26:33 In a letter to Khatami I told him that I did not vote for this system, just like 80% of the present Iranian population that did not take part in the two elections on which the legitimacy of this system is based. Apart from our opinion we were too young to vote at the time. Just ask us now what we want.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:27:06 We want to go to the future and have decided to defy all waves, and even with other students storms with courage.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:27:24 If they continue to prevent the young from breathing, they know that a collapse from within will follow, with a scream, with a revolt.
Super: Saied Razavi is isolated in prison since July 9
Super: Hassan Zarezadeh is isolated in prison since July 6
Super: Siavash is serving an 8 years prison sentence
Super: Kianoush Sanjari is serving a 5 years prison sentence
00:02:00 Students: With a beard, free thinking is impossible.
Archive - student leader Abdullah Momeni speaking
00:02:18 Students and lecturers, please accept my condolences for the death of thought and for
freedom being led to the slaughter.
00:02:21 Archive Student demonstration
Archive Students chanting slogan
00:02:25 We call the Supreme Leader to account.
Riot police in streets near Tehran Univ.
0:02:27 We call the Supreme Leader to account.
Student leader Razavi sitting at conference table with other students
00:02:31 I think we are in a situation between Reform and Revolution.
Riot police near Tehran University
00:02:35 The political situation inside the Islamic Republic Iran is very tense. The fundamentalist
regime is faced with a growing number of students demanding political and civil liberty.
Archive Students chanting slogan
00:02:51 Khatami resign!
Hazratzadeh sitting at conference table with other students
00:02:56 In his book Revolution and Reform Popper writes that all thinkers and ideologies wanting to
lead people to paradise have led them to hell.
Street mural of Khomeiny
CU Siavash - int
0:03:10 Society of hypocritical murderers, those were the words I used for them, because they kill people very easily and justify it.
Long Shot street mural Khomeiny
Block 1 Personal Experiences
Students on campus
0:03:24 The Iranian students are the vanguard of a young, post revolutionary generation that makes
up two thirds of the Iranian population and wants freedom. But the regime has even increased the repression, using street gangs to beat up students, imprisoning great numbers of them, kidnapping their leaders, and applying torture to produce false confessions.
Photos riot police & arrests & bruised back
Archive Student leader Afshari giving press conference.
00:03:47 I spent 356 days in provisional custody, of which 328 in isolation. They arrested me for a
speech against the establishing of a closed political system, which I held during a protest
meeting at Amir Kabir University.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:07 Ali Afshari was the most popular leader of the Iranian students. He was forced to confess on
state television that the students had been planning to topple the regime.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:19 I was put under psychological and physical pressure, but I will talk about that later.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:25 Set free on parole he gave a press conference where he denounced his confession and explained it was extorted from him by torture.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:33 I apologize. I should not have given in to the pressure. I feel ashamed for the people, but my
opinion remains unchanged, I still hold my old views and Im proud of that.
Archive press conference Afshari
00:04:50 After his press conference Afshari was arrested again. He is still in prison.
freeze frame Afashari
Music
Political prisoners free!
Archive - Students chanting slogan
Music
0:04:59 Political prisoners free!
Four student leaders on different interview locations
Music
00:05:03 In secrecry we met some of the present student leaders, who are being monitored closely,
to talk about their personal experiences and their view of the political situation in Iran.
Archive - Student demo - Razavi
00:05:24 If dialogue doesn't make you leave, one day a storm of anger will uproot you
Photos of student leaders speaking.
00:05:35 Saied Razavi is a member of the Central Committee and political spokesman for the
organisation of united Islamic Student Unions.
Razavi & student looking at cartoons on wall.
Razavi sitting in Tehran union office
0:05:45 Outside Tarbiat Modarres University a group of men wanted to put me in a car. I asked for their identity papers or a warrant of arrest, but they refused. When I started to resist, 7-8 men forced me into the car.
00:06:00
Photo Khomeiny.
Razavi continued
00:06:16 I was put into a car, blindfolded and driven around for a couple of hours. Then they put me in
dark isolation cell without food and drink.
Sanjari walking on balcony
00:06:30 Kianoush Sanjari is a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front of the secular student unions
Student leader Sanjari sitting on balcony.
00:06:41 In my opinion the worst torture are the isolation cells. Imagine them locking a young person
for 6 months, 8... 10... or even a year, into an isolation cell of 1 x 2 metres. Isn't that the worst torture?
Mirror image of Sanjari
Top shot cars in street
High rise apartment buildings
Student leader Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:07:08 We heard the sound of breaking glass and suddenly, without the front door being opened, a
group of men appeared in the room with pistols aimed at us. They hit us with the pistols and clubs and threw us on the floor. Our eyes were sprayed with teargas to prevent us from recognising them
Zarezadeh sitting in chair
00:07:38 Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir is a member of the Central Committee and spokesman for the
Democratic Front. He also founded the Committeex for the Release of Political Prisoners.
Photos student leader Tabarzadi.
Zarezadeh sitting in chair
00:07:53 When they arrested me they beat me for 2-3 hours and then threw me on the floor of the car like a ball of old paper.
Riot police near Tehran University
Siavash walking around in living room while talking into his mobile
0:08:08 Good news from all Iranian universities...
Siavash is a writer, a journalist and a prominent secular student activist.
Siavash sitting in living room
0:08:18 I saw cars parked near the front door. Flashing lights were placed on the roofs and there
was shouting. Thief! Murderer! Hold him! I started running through the streets and alleys. On Martyrs Square they fired eleven times at me. Two bullets narrowly missed my head.
Home video Siavash in prison clothes
Siavash continued
00:08:34 In court I complained about this. They should aim at the legs not at the head. Later a men who drove me between prison and court told me they had orders to shoot to kill. They even showed the written order to my mother. He was an intelligence officer and said: We wanted to kill you, but it was too dark and you moved too much, otherwise a bastard like you would have been dead and we would not have to bother driving you around.
Block 2 The Crucial Events of 1999
Girl students in chador on campus
Cleric walking on campus
00.09.06 In 1997 the absolute power of the fundamentalists was challenged by a reform movement emerging from their own ranks.
Veiled girl student on campus
Photos Students holding photos of Khatami
0:09:21 President Khatami and the reformers were elected in office with crucial support from the students.
Shots of people at news stands
0:09:29 For two years Iran enjoyed some freedom. But the fundamentalists wanted to regain full
control. They blocked reforms and deprived the Iranian people of independent information by closing down the free press.
Photo Students protesting the closing of newspapers
Man leafing through photo album
Photos: students protesting
Girls holding newspapers, lips sealed
Protesting students
00:09:46 In July 1999 students took to the streets of Tehran to protest the closure of newspapers.Their demonstrations were the biggest public protest against the system since the revolution. But they were beaten down with violence.
Siavash sitting at home
00:10:04 Because I had experience in the operation room, First Aid asked me to do some sewing up. I
went downstairs and saw around hundred students sitting with their face towards the wall, all dressed in pyjamas and covered in blood.
Photo: student in wrecked room
students holding bloody t-shirts
Photos: bloody student
Siavash cont.
00:10:24 Their condition was serious, as if they had returned from a war. Behind them stood soldiers,
stamping their boots and beating their clubs into their hands. The students were very frightened.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
0:10:45 In reaction to the student demonstrations, a group of professional, violent streetgangs that
previously had attacked newspapers, cinemas, cultural centres and meetings, invaded the
student dormitories on the campus.
Music
Photos molested students
Siavash sitting at home
00:11:14 While I was stitching I recall making 12 stitches in one head, so violently they had lashed out I asked what had happened. They said that Ansar Hezbollah in combination with riot police had invaded their dormitories, pulled them from their beds and had beaten them with iron rods, chains and sticks, very violently.
Photos wrecked student rooms
Sanjari sitting on balcony
Siavash cont.
00:11:35 Unfortunately student Ezat Ebrahimnezad was killed at this event.
Music:
Hand leafing through photo album
Photo sequence: Demonstrations confrontation students & police
Zarezadeh sitting in a room
00:12:11 In the next two weeks the ministry of Information, following a predesigned plan, arrested
thousands of students. Over ten thousand people were arrested. All prisons and police cells were full, even in the mosques and the prison prayer rooms no place was left. They were pressed in, beaten and interrogated one by one. Because there were too few interrogators, they let prison guards do the interrogations and assemble the files.
Photo slogans at demonstration
Photo confrontation police officer & masked student
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:12:47 Members of the streetgangs who had attacked and battered the students at the university,
walk around freely in Tehran and instead of them innocent students are in jail.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:12:59 I believe this attack, and all attacks on cinemas and newspapers in previous years, were not spontaneous but planned and organised.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:13:18 The reason for this extensive suppression was to stop the student protests. For several months a suffocating atmosphere was created in Iran. Together with the conservatives the reformers were also active in this, as an easy way to penetrate the power and strengthen their position. This collaboration made the situation even worse.
Cover Economist: protesting Iranian student
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:13:46 For the student movement, hoping for great changes after the victory of the reformers, this was unbelievable and shocking.
Photos protesting students
00:13:58 Bitterly disappointed the Islamic Student Unions turned their back on the reformers and joined the opposition.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:14:06 The reformers made many promises to the young, but they were not able to do anything. They could not use their legal authority and in fact did not dare to take any risk. So all their promises have remained slogans.
Block 3 The System
Participants reformist party meeting in hall
Poster with party name
Participant singing along in hall
Poster imprisoned party member
00:14:27 What we have noticed of the extensive activities of the students during recent months, is a sign of maturity of this movement. The programme of those in power is the creation of small scale riots that are easily containable in order to say that the land is in danger and demands the state of emergency and pressure to silence the reformers.
Mr. Tajzadeh speaking to girls in headscarves
00:15:09 Tajzadeh: As long as we have a democratic interpretation of Islam, the constitution and the state, our youth and society will be satisfied with the present situation. But if they feel that the conservatives oppose their opinions and demands in the name of religion, I think the young, while still religious, will distance themselves from political religion, and opt for a secular system.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:15:44 The Iranian people are faced with a cage surrounding religious republic that originates in the 1979 revolution. According to its slogans at the time and its promises to the people, this state should be based on the standards and principles of a republic and the human rights should be respected. But in time a group infiltrated this state and changed the course of the revolution. What the Iranian people had expected after 100 years of struggle, a republic, a true democratic state, has not been accomplished unfortunately.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:16:52 From the start the regime of the Islamic Republic wanted to indoctrinate everything with their ideology: economy, culture, politics, art. From the first class in primary school onwards they told pupils what to read, how to dress, how to behave, what to listen to and what not. But if you look at the current Iranian society, at the street scene, at how young people live, then you find no traces of the rules and regulations the regime imposed on them. They crossed all boundaries. You can say they put up a form of passive resistance against the ideological
standards and rules.
Siavash standing in living room
00:17:27 I did not vote for the Spiritual Leader, nor do I respect the bodies under his authority. We pretend to be a democratic society, where it is not at all. So I only accept people and bodies for whom I and the majority of the people voted.
00:17:46 The students, including the Islamic Student Unions, demand a separation between religion and politics. This demand is backed by the majority of the Iranians, especially the young.
Even innocent music is regarded as a threat to Islamic values by the authorities, as a source of moral pollution.
Crawling text: Next day's concert was forbidden
Razavi sitting at conference table with some male students
00:18:33 What does it mean that the Islamic Republic is Gods state? Can anybody show me God governing, writing laws, executing them and punishing violators?
Hazratzadeh, a law student at the table
00:18:46 The final authority over all processes is in the hands of one person, even over the peoples referendum, over the powers of the president, the parliament and the unelected bodies. But that person is accountable nowhere and to nobody. Nowhere in the constitution you will find that the Supreme Leader as the head of the system should answer to the people.
00:19:25 If Islam is an eternal religion which I should obey always and in every situation, then it should contain a mechanism or dynamic principle to renew itself during every period of time. But some criminal laws of Islam are not contemporary, like cutting off hands, flogging, throwing people down from mountains, and such.
Student in Chandor on Campus
00:20:05 Like society prescribes, I try to avoid conversation when I meet a male fellow student outside the campus for people hold different views of that. Personally I don't have any problem
with relations in society. But the view of others is very important.you should not let that worry you. You should not pay attention. But we live together with them.
Hazratzadeh at conference table
00:20:36 Our penal code regards women as animals. Their testimony is not accepted in court. Following an Islamic legal provision I have the right to murder my wife. According to another article a man can divorce his wife whenever he wants. Women only have half the rights men have, but their punishment is often more severe. And there are many more articles like that. But nowadays women know their rights and demand them.
Students in chador
00:21:16 We hardly ever go out, for what we want for going out does not exist. In our town we have only one street where young people walk up and down during the weekend.
Block 4 What do they want to change & How?
00:21:36 Only fundamental changes in the governing system can satisfy the students. Their opposition is peaceful, but eventually it may cause the fall of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:21:49 We don't want clerics in special religious positions to obtain privileges for holding political functions, to reap economical benefits and amass wealth. If you call that secular, then we are secular.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:22:19 Religion is being abused by the authorities. Thats why people consider religion with suspicion, even though it's our own religion.We think religion should be removed from political power and return to the private sphere. Clerics should not mix with politics.
Siavash sitting at home
00:22:34 We want a divorce between religion and politics, and a secular republic of which the people elect the head and all people in key functions.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:22:46 The constitution must be changed, for it was altered at the end of the 80s, when the function of Supreme Leader was added and also a number of controlling bodies which did not exist before.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:23:01 In the first place we want a democracy, more social freedom and with other students a new definition of values and standards that is not at odds with modern life, or at least does not obstruct it.
00:23:19 Modern life, thats exactly what the large majority of Iranian youth wants.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:23:36 The Third Generation which was formed in Iran, the young people living in Iran, want to enjoy a modern life like in western civilization. They cant live in this situation.
00:23:49 But developing an effective opposition is very difficult under the brutal state repression in Iran. Communication of ideas Is made almost impossible, Leaders, activists and intellectuals have been arrested.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:24:05 We advocate active resistance. We continue our resistance in all manners, but only non-violent. Our sole criterion are human rights.
Sanjari:
00:24:15 We are willing to pay a price for using our right to demonstrate and protest. Although we have always been oppressed and our friends have paid a high price, like imprisonment, torture and dismissal from university, we do not give in to this oppression. We will not put one step backward.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:24:48 Taking much risk we can only distribute pamphlets in the night, circulate illegal publications among the people or use internet sites.Thats all we can do now.
00:25:11 With most of their leaders in prison and a lack of unity, the student opposition still misses the effectiveness to change Irans political system.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
0:25:25 Slowly all parties are coming together and I see the day when even the reformers will draw the conclusion that any movement aiming at reforms is impossible within this undemocratic system.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
00:25:39 Everybody came to the conclusion that unity is very important, for if we dont form a strong front we cannot be successful. A referendum is the only way to liberate the people.
00:25:53 The opposition at large demands a referendum, for the Iranian people to decide what kind of state system it wants.
Zarezadeh sitting in room
0:26:12 We can determine our form of government by referendum. Although we do not believe in a religious state, we are willing to let the outcome of a referendum decide about it.
Razavi in Tehran union office
00:26:27 We often said that the Islamic Republic was founded by referendum. The constitution was also ratified by referendum.
Siavash standing in living room
00:26:33 In a letter to Khatami I told him that I did not vote for this system, just like 80% of the present Iranian population that did not take part in the two elections on which the legitimacy of this system is based. Apart from our opinion we were too young to vote at the time. Just ask us now what we want.
Razavi sitting in Gorgan union office
00:27:06 We want to go to the future and have decided to defy all waves, and even with other students storms with courage.
Sanjari sitting on balcony
00:27:24 If they continue to prevent the young from breathing, they know that a collapse from within will follow, with a scream, with a revolt.
Super: Saied Razavi is isolated in prison since July 9
Super: Hassan Zarezadeh is isolated in prison since July 6
Super: Siavash is serving an 8 years prison sentence
Super: Kianoush Sanjari is serving a 5 years prison sentence