To the Esteemed Ayatollah Khamenei, the Respected Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
After greetings and expressing respect,
Recently, at dawn, when I woke up for morning prayers, I heard moaning and shouting from one of the beds. Hearing prisoners’ moans in their sleep was not new to me. I found the source of the sound among the three-tiered beds. It was a young man with the same name as mine.
I knew he had nightmares. I woke him up to save him from the nightmare and so that the kids in the room wouldn’t be disturbed or sleepless by his moans.
Mohammad, whose crime I knew was murder, thanked me for waking him. He said he was dreaming that he was being taken away to be executed. I did not ask him how many times he had seen this nightmare.
Dear Leader, for some days now, I have been curious to know whether you, like my cellmate, have any experiences of nightmares at night?
Do you also experience frightening nightmares while sleeping and become scared and anxious?
Generally, what scenes in dreams can frighten someone in your position and rank?
I think the most significant thing that could cause a leader in your position to have nightmares is the widespread protests of the people against you.
I believe that those who have severe concerns in wakefulness cannot be free from disturbing nightmares in sleep.
It is not without reason that Your Excellency has ordered the IRGC, Basij, police forces, and the Ministry of Intelligence to suppress any gathering anywhere in the country as severely as possible and to nip it in the bud, even though Article 27 of the Constitution permits people’s protests and gatherings.
It is not without reason that you arrest the organizers and participants of labor and political gatherings and punish them severely, taking these matters seriously with no concession to anyone or any group.
For us, a divine and clerical nation, is the Constitution more important or the tranquility of the Leader?
It is clear that the Leader’s tranquility is more important to us; what kind of question am I asking?!
It is obvious a managing and prudent leader who steers the ship of the revolution through the storm of events like an aware captain in these sensitive conditions needs peace and calmness to continue his life.
If we are to overlook people’s gatherings, even if slight, they can suddenly turn into a turbulent flood of the population, and this very flood of people can head towards the Supreme Leader’s residence, possibly putting us in a position where we have to build a barricade of bodies around the streets of the Leader’s residence.
Generally, in these gatherings, initially, people’s slogans and demands are peaceful, but later it reaches a point where people want to know why an ordinary person, in whose selection they had no role, has become permanently and perpetually dominant over their lives, properties, and honor and considers himself answerable to no one about anything; for instance, having imprisoned and placed under house arrest two men and one woman, who are nearing 80, without any trial, since about 10 years ago, disregarding the country’s laws which 80 million Iranians are obliged to follow!
It’s not at all unlikely that these protesting people, if they got to you, would ignore your character, age, and respect and shout out, “Oh lifelong leader, do you know that despite the propaganda you’ve unleashed through the media, poverty, misery, corruption, addiction, discrimination, injustice, oppression, sanctions, devaluation of national currency, and the spread of hostility towards governments and nations are the result of 30 years of your absolute leadership and governance over this land?”
Dear Leader, if we take the matter lightly, I am sure that these people, as they continue their protests, will demand your resignation and withdrawal from power and, subsequently, will not settle for anything less than your trial. I know these people. I live with these people. If the IRGC commanders and intelligence experts have told you otherwise, they have provided you with incorrect information and have wronged you in this regard.
Dear Leader, I also believe that the method Your Excellency has adopted in repressing people’s protests and gatherings is the only possible way for the continuation of your leadership and blessed life.
Your devoted follower,
Mohammad Mahdavifar
Deminer and diver of the Iran-Iraq War
Isfahan Central Prison
19th of Dey, 97 [January 9, 2019]