Respected Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Mr. Ali Khamenei,
After greetings and respects,
In this letter, I wish to speak with you using the language of numbers.
The head of the prison organization recently provided statistics regarding the state of the country’s prisons that are thought-provoking, and I will point to a part of it.
He stated that in the first year following the revolution’s victory, i.e., 1358 [1979], the number of prisoners in the country was 8,557 and the population was 37 million that year. He further mentioned that the number of prisoners in 1395 [2016] was 223 thousand.
In other words, while the country’s population has doubled by 2.1 times over a 38-year period, the number of prisoners has increased 26-fold.
Mr. Khamenei, many people in our country have held various responsibilities over these 38 years, but your powers and responsibilities are incomparable to anyone else’s. Since the beginning of the revolution, you were a member of the Revolutionary Council, the capital’s Friday prayer leader, then served as President for eight years, and for the past twenty-eight years, you have been the indisputable leader of the country.
During your leadership, you have delineated the general policies of the regime.
All military and police forces, intelligence and security bodies, the judiciary, and the broadcasting organization have been under your command.
Through the Guardian Council, you have had supervision over elections, candidates’ qualifications, and parliamentary laws.
Friday prayer leaders, representatives of the Supreme Leader, seminaries, security admins, and Basij bases in all cities, offices, and universities have strived to implement your commands and gain your approval.
Numerous holy shrines like the Astan Quds Razavi with billions of dollars in capital and endowments, as well as many foundations and headquarters like the Executive Headquarters of Imam’s Decree, have been under your leadership, and the companies affiliated with them have even been exempt from paying taxes to the national treasury without any authority allowed to exercise oversight over them.
Criticism of you has been a red line for the press, officials, and people, and has led to severe punishment.
In all hirings, practical adherence to your absolute guardianship has been a principal condition for acceptance.
Whenever extensive legal powers were not sufficient for you, through governmental decrees, you have enjoyed extralegal powers.
With this description and this breadth of authority, what grade should we give you for the tragic increase in the number of prisoners, such that we maintain both fairness and do not displease your gracious presence?
Would you like me to speak with you in one of these subsequent letters about statistics on executions, addiction, divorce, suicide, depression, mental illnesses, child labor, and also judicial case numbers, and to fairly compare your figures with those of the Pahlavi era?
Mr. Khamenei, as a lifelong leader with powers hundreds of times greater than a constitutional monarch, how can we accept such a record from you as you near the end of your leadership term?
Is it appropriate to say that you have provided the necessary recommendations for the country’s improvement, but the officials did not put your recommendations into practice?
Respected Leader, your main duty was proper management and presenting the right program, not merely advising officials who, compared to you, have had minimal authority.
Indeed, I am now imprisoned for writing these words and do not rightly know what the next punishment for me and my children could be for writing this letter.
And truly, how difficult and dangerous it is to criticize and protest someone whose entourage and devotees have always spoken to him in a language of respect and honor, indeed with a language of reverence and glorification!
Respected Leader, the most prudent young people of this country and my dearest comrades rolled in their pure blood so that after them, the people of their country would live with pride and honor.
Was this appalling statistic befitting and worthy of the Iranian people?!
Respected Leader, if you migrate from the realm of rhetoric and speech to the realm of deliberation and contemplation, I would not only kiss your hands every day but consider it an honor to kiss your shoes.
Mohammad Mahdavifar
Deminer and Diver of the Sacred Defense
Seventeenth of Khordad 1396 [June 7, 2017]
Kashan Prison