Mohsen Sazegara
Moshen Sazegara is an Iranian dissident and researcher on Iran at Harvard Law school [1].
Early career
Sazegara was a leader of the Iranian Revolution student movement against the shah. During the 1979 revolution, he returned to Iran with Ayatollah Khomeini where he served as a founder of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and the managing director of the National Radio of Iran (1979–1981)[2]. During the 1980s, Sazegara served as political deputy in the prime minister's office, deputy minister of heavy industries, chairman of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, and vice minister of planning and budget[3].
As the decade progressed, Sazegara began to become disillusioned with the government. Following the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 and the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, Sazegara refused further government posts saying that his refusal was in order to continue his study of history.[4]
Studies and reform
Sazegara earned his master's degree in history at Shahid Beheshti University in Iran, and went on to complete his doctoral thesis on religious intellectuals and the Islamic revolution at the University of London 1996 After the 1997 election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Sazegara published several reformist newspapers including Jamee, Toos, and Golestan-e-Iran, all of which were closed by the Iranian regime .[5]
He launched a campaign to hold a referendum on the constitution. His slogan for amendment of the constitution gained strong support among many students. In 2001, Dr. Sazegara became a presidential candidate; however, his candidacy was refused by the Guardian Council, reportedly because his opinions were "not congruent with the wishes of the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader".[6]
Arrest
In 2003, Sazegara was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence (Iran), and held for five days, during which he protested by hunger strike.[7]His arrest was protested by two journalism associations, the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum.[8]
Later that same year, he was arrested again in June, Sazegara went on to spend 114 days in custody and 79 days on a hunger strike. After his release from Evin Prison, he left Iran to seek medical attention in the United Kingdom.[9]
In March 2005, he left the UK for a job in the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as a visiting scholar. Following a six month term, he left the Washington Institute for Near East Policy for Yale University's Center for International and Area Studies. By the end of the educational year he left Yale University to work at Harvard University as a researcher on Iran.[10]
Affliliations
Democracy and Security International Conference, Attendee [11]
Notes
- ↑ Democracy and Security Conference, List of Participants, Accessed 25-February-2009
- ↑ Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 30-March-2005, Iranian Dissident And Political Activist Mohsen Sazegara Joins The Washington Institute As A Visiting Fellow, Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 30-March-2005, Iranian Dissident And Political Activist Mohsen Sazegara Joins The Washington Institute As A Visiting Fellow, Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Sazegara, Mohsen 11-April-2005, Open Democracy, "Iran's Road to Democracy.", Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Sazegara, Mohsen 11-April-2005, Open Democracy, Iran's Road to Democracy, Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Human Rights Watch, Iran, "Access Denied: Iran's Exclusionary Elections.", Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Iran Press Service, "Mohsen Sazegara Freed and Hospitalized., Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Hong, S. H. & Anderson, G. B., 21-February-2003, World Association of Newspapers, To Express Concern at the Arrest of Journalist Mohamed Mohsen Sazegara, Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Iran Press Service, 07-October-2009, Mohsen Sazegara Released, Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Beehner, Lionel, 20-October-2006, Sazegara.net"Sazegara: Strong Talk and Sanctions May Resolve Stalemate with Iran.", Accessed 01-March-2009
- ↑ Democracy and Security Conference, List of Participants, Accessed 25-February-2009
