Escape From Iran

Wall Street Journal
Monday, July 14, 2008

Seldom does news about Iran give cause for rejoicing, but all who value human rights and democracy can celebrate the recent escape to freedom of dissident Ahmad Batebi.

In July 1999, Mr. Batebi was one of thousands of Iranian students who took to the streets to protest the "reformist" government's disregard for press freedom and other basic liberties. During six days of demonstrations, the government killed multiple protesters, injured hundreds and imprisoned more than a thousand.

Mr. Batebi's "crime" was to be photographed holding up the bloodstained shirt of fellow student Ezzat Ebrahim-Najad, who had been beaten and killed by plainclothes government paramilitaries. When the photograph appeared on the cover of The Economist magazine under the headline "Iran's second revolution?" it became iconic -- and Mr. Batebi's death warrant.

In secret court proceedings, Mr. Batebi initially was sentenced to death for "creating street unrest" and endangering Iranian national security. After international protest, the sentence was reduced first to 15 years and then 10 years in prison. Held in solitary confinement, deprived of sunlight and beaten with cables, Mr. Batebi suffered strokes, seizures, dislocations of his hips and injury to his brain.

This spring the regime allowed him a furlough to receive treatment. Rather than return to Evin Prison, Mr. Batebi escaped to Iraq. In late June, he flew through Vienna to Washington, D.C.

Shortly after his arrival in the U.S. Mr. Batebi gave an interview to the Voice of America, which broadcast it to his homeland. He said: "I wish each and every Iranian could travel abroad, come to the U.S. or go to Europe, for just one week, and feel, smell, and breathe freedom, human dignity, and realize the value of their lives."