Perhaps Saman is the Last of his Kind
The news coming from Iran was no different from earlier ones: banning a person from leaving the country, arresting another one, executing a third one, etc. In this light, the arrest of Saman Rasoolpoor was not really surprising. Nor were the charges against him.
So it is not because of his arrest that I am writing this piece about Saman Rasoolpoor, the human rights advocate, the web blogger, the journalist. I have already written plenty about those, albeit for different people. This is more than that. Here is why.
As a writer for Rooz Online, Saman seldom used any adjectives. At times when we edit the writings of other journalists for professional reasons, we often incite their inner anger when we remove their adjectives such as monopolist, bloody, rogue, hired hands, populist, suppressor, corrupt, etc from their stories. We continue to do this even though we understand their anger. Saman on the other hand never used such language and adjectives. He is against violence and is a true supporter of honest human rights. Human rights to him are not related to ethnic background such as being a Lor, a Baluchi or a Kurd. There is no difference between individuals in different ethnic groups. It does not matter whether a Kurd is and Iranian one or not. He wants each to freely enjoy his or her human rights. He wants all Iranians to enjoy them.
Saman is as clear as crystal.
Who else would write this:
“I am Saman Rasoolpoor. I was born in the town of Mahabad in 1985. Currently I am a member of the executive board of the Organization for the Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan and I also work with Rooz [Online] newspaper. In addition to the reports and the talks that I have organized, I desire to talk about us, the people of my town, those of my country and those in my world.”
Who else would write the following on human rights, the good and the bad:
“During the week that passed, human rights conditions were deteriorated in some spheres while there were also signs of improvement. Signs that were welcomed by human rights advocates and gave them hope that they would improve even further.”
Show me another groom who would sit with his bride at his wedding ceremony all the way till the end of all the rituals, with a zeal and passion, as he continues to this day to write about the children of Mohammad-Sedigh Kaboodvand and Yaser Goli’s mother (Goli is a women’s rights activist and remains behind bars). His writings are gentle and he uses civil words. Show me another 24+year old man who while angry from the cruelty that has been bestowed upon the people of his land at the hands of perpetrators of violence remains uncompromising.
Even if we disregarded these, is it not true that you gentlemen have taken the “last of the civil protestor” to the slaughter house and put him with the “armed” extremists? Is it not true that you openly proclaim to be intolerant of civil discourse and rhetoric? And does this amount to anything other than violence, something that promotes violence and in any case is intolerant of peacefulness?
Gentlemen! Saman Rasoolpoor who writes, “A state that views its civil society to be the agent planning to overthrow the regime, its press to be the fifth column of the enemy, its students to be Westernized and its women to be the facilitators of the enemy will not stop at anything to suppress and destroy its society. Note that Saman is among the last of those will speak with a gentle tongue. When the language of violence and force takes over, the loudest and strongest voices will not be yours. Blood will return blood, as violence breeds more violence. When Iran is void of Saman and the likes of him, the country will be full of Righis. It will be full of those who will tear you apart in front of cameras. And don’t be so sure that only the “unknown combatants” and Passdars will then be the victims of the coming storm. The fate of the likes of judge Mortezavi will not be any easier than those of the unknown Passdars. This I can guarantee. This will be the painful historic eventuality.
My last word in this piece is to Saman himself. You are the young groom who desires a life that is fair and a world that is gentle. Listen my son, the world has not always been this way and will not remain so either. Despite the harsh and violent language and floggings, don’t forget that honest people like you will call the shots in Iran’s future, and not the narrow-minded villains. Continue to be the better of us and stroke your writings without adjectives.