An Iranian intellectual released after four months in jail has admitted he unknowingly acted against national security interests after being manipulated by US organisations, the ISNA agency reported Thursday. "I accepted acting against national security through having contacts with foreigners, but I did not do it intentionally and knowingly," Ramin Jahanbegloo told the agency, hours after his release on bail Wednesday. | “In fact there was a kind of deviation from my philosophical and intellectual research to a political one...” |
"In fact there was a kind of deviation from my philosophical and intellectual research to a political one," added Jahanbegloo, a prominent thinker and writer on democracy and nonviolence.
| “I think that a velvet revolution cannot be carried out in Iran, since the situation in eastern Europe is not comparable to that of Iran.” |
Jahanbegloo, who also holds Canadian nationality, was arrested on charges of having ties with foreigners as he tried to leave Iran on April 25, prompting calls from Western countries and fellow intellectuals for his release. "During my prison term I sensed that American organisations put me in a position that I myself did not want to be in," he admitted. "I used to write articles on some sites which were run by security [intelligence] officials, and did so unknowingly," he said. "I have never undertaken any political activity and I was never a political leader. I think that a velvet revolution cannot be carried out in Iran, since the situation in eastern Europe is not comparable to that of Iran."
| “... at some of the conferences I attended there were a number of American and Israeli intelligence agents...” |
Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie had said Jahanbegloo was arrested over a US effort to instigate a "velvet" revolution, a reference to the peaceful overthrow of communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989. He pointed to a scholarship from the "National Endowment for Democracy" (NED), a US NGO aimed at strengthening democratic institutions around the world through non-governmental efforts. "I was given a scholarship from NED from 2001 until 2002,” he said. “During my work with them, which lasted until 2006, I came into contact with some US State Department diplomats and institutes." He went on to say that "at some of the conferences I attended there were a number of American and Israeli intelligence agents".
| “I was not subjected to any physical and mental pressures...” |
Jahanbegloo said that although it was hard for him to endure his term in Tehran's Evin prison, he was nonetheless not treated harshly. "I was not subjected to any physical and mental pressures. My interrogators were friendly and they told me that I had contacts with such and such and I told them yes... they told me that was against national security, and I told them I was in line with national security," he said. "I felt that many allegations were connected with having contacts with foreigners since I have attended a lot of conferences... I was arrested for having contacts with US organisations," Jahanbegloo added. |