A Letter to Ali Khameini

A Letter to Ali Khameini. By PARVANEH VAHIDMANESH
Your daughter and I are both Neda's age.
The Wall Street Journal, Jun 29, 2009, p A11

Dear Ali Khamenei,

You may not have heard of me, but your daughter knows me well. For eight years, I studied with Boshra at the Refah school in Tehran. The Refah School is where Ayatollah Khomeini resided during the Islamic Revolution. On its roof, leaders from the Shah's regime were executed. Sound familiar?

Boshra and I played volleyball together. I remember how she always arrived at school in a white Toyota with three escorts. And I remember how favorably the teachers treated her.

I will never forget the time when every class was asked to raise money to send to Bosnia during the Serbia-Bosnia crisis. The class with the highest amount of money raised would be awarded with a field trip to Lavasoon, a city near Tehran.

The next day, we all emptied our piggy-banks and brought our money to school. All together, the school raised between 4,000-5,000 tomans, the Iranian unit of currency. The competition boiled down to a 10-20 tomans difference among all the classes. In the midst of this, your daughter suddenly appeared and handed in 30,000 tomans to her class on behalf of you. The game was over and her class won the contest by a huge margin. We all objected to the result, complaining that the contest was between the money gathered from students' own pockets, not from their fathers. But no one really took notice of us, and Boshra's class was declared the winner.

I have many similar stories, but I am not writing here to share my memories. Rather, I am here to confess that we, Boshra's classmates, are now part of those disruptive demonstrators you refer to during your speeches.

Neda Soltan, the young innocent girl who was killed on Karegar Avenue, was the same age as me and your daughter. She came to the demonstrations with no weapons or knives. All she carried with her was her voice, a voice that cried out in protest against your regime.

Who said the response to such cries is a bullet? You, just like the shah, silence the voices of protestors with gunshots. But don't forget that the shah's harsh methods undid him and caused his regime to fall. Neda has died and her voice will no longer call out to disturb your slumber. But I beg you to consider if the prophet lived his life the way you have? Islam permits irreligious or secular rulers. It does not permit tyrants. I pity you. All the blood you've spilled has forever stained your 70 years of worship and piety.

While you may not hear the nation's shouts of Allahu Akbar! (God is great) every night, I am sure your daughter hears them. Since you have violated and abused your countrymen's trust, they are now calling out to the only God they know for refuge. A nation that once was great is now called villainous because of people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So the Iranians vehemently cast their ballots on election day to oppose him, only to have their rights trampled upon.

If you, contrary to what I believe, are not aware of what's going on in the streets of your country -- if tear gas hasn't burned your eyes and the sounds of gunfire haven't pierced your ears -- then Boshra can direct you to some of the information available on the Internet. Ask her to show you the photos of Neda's last moments in the street. Neda, just like Boshra, has a father and a family who deeply loved and cared for her. Like Boshra, Neda cherished a thousand dreams in her heart.

Ali Khamenei, if you pursue the path you have been following, our people's anger will take a different form. It will turn you and your family, as it did the shah's and his, into forlorn and helpless individuals with the word "exile" stamped across your foreheads.

Before it's too late for you and your family, realize that Neda's voice is here to stay.

Ms. Vahidmanesh is an Iranian human-rights activist living in Washington, D.C.