Iran's Road to Democracy

Fascist Mullahs must change, says former Iranian government minister, Mohsen Sazegara. The former loyal lieutenant of Ayatollah Khomeini turns on Irans ruling Mullahs, and demands a new constitution.

(PRWEB) April 13, 2005 -- Sazegara narrates a unique journey -- from his arrival in Tehran on a plane with soon-to-be--leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, to imprisonment, hunger strike and flight from Tehran under threat of death in 2004: the extraordinary story of the cruel disenchantment of the generation of the revolution."

In a major statement published on openDemocracy.net Sazegara asks for worldwide support for a referendum to change the Iranian constitution:

We need democracy, but not by means of invasion. We must grow it ourselves" he says. I realized that there were big mistakes underlying the ideas of the revolution. I saw a kind of fascism at work in the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Reform in Iran is impossible, he concludes, with the present constitution.

Sazegara opens an important new debate on openDemocracy.net - Democracy and Iran - which will examine Irans options at this critical moment in her history.

Twenty-five years after revolution the reform movement seems to be defeated. But the young, web-savvy, culturally and politically literate population wants democracy and George Bush has Iran in his sights. Which way will the mullahs turn? Can a democracy movement head off the threat of American military intervention?

Read the full article: http://www.opendemocracy.net/entry_points/sazegara.jsp

Iranians from around the world debate the referendum and Irans political future on www.openDemocracy.net

Visit the debate: http://www.opendemocracy.net/entry_points/iran.jsp

For more information email Caspar Melville

caspar.melville@opendemocracy.net or call + 44 (0)207 608 200

openDemocracy was founded in 2001 and has 45,000 members. It offers a unique global space for democratic debate and high quality journalism.

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