Ladan and Roya established the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (ABF) in 2001, 10 years after assassination of their father, which was allegedly one of the first attempts of Islamic Republic of Iran to eliminate opposition abroad. The Broumand sisters, who have both completed their studies in France and received their doctorate degree in history, established this foundation in the memory of their father and to continue his legacy. ABF seeks to help ensure justice, establish and stable democracy in Iran through education and to empower democratic culture and the promotion of human rights awareness.
Peace Mark Monthly asked Dr. Roya Boroumand, a founder of ABF, one of the oldest Iranian human rights defense organizations, about this historic path to the establishment of human rights organizations and civil society in Iran during recent years.
Let’s go back to 10 years ago; to the time when HRA was a smaller organization compared to today, and when the role of social media networks was not as important. When did you find out about the establishment of this organization, and did you take it seriously at all? Please elaborate on your own feelings.
I cannot exactly recall if I was aware of the establishment of HRA right away, but, in general, I used to constantly follow student and youth activism. As you mentioned, the social media networks were not like today, yet we followed their activism through websites, weblogs, and local news agencies. The reason was that the youth would set the future of Iran; although this is very clear today, it was not clear for all. Therefore, the intellectual and organizational developments and changes in Iranian youth—especially their attention to human rights and laws that violate human rights—were of importance to us. We tried, as much as it was possible, to introduce the demands and news of students in Iran to the public aboard. At this point, I knew about HRA and its founders.
If I have to refer to a particular point when for the first time HRA drew our attention, it was approximately 2007 when HRA published a booklet/report titled “Behind Social Security about the Kahrizak Detention Center.” It was very interesting and important to us that a group in Iran published a relatively well-documented report that dealt with the issues of ordinary people. I am saying this because our experience has been a painful one after the Iranian Revolution; many of the activists, parties and those who were active in Iran did not pay much attention to ordinary people. The imprisonment of student tivists, political activists, etc. were the hot topics, and the fact that a group had reported on Kahrizak, in our opinion, was new and impressive. I was happy and worried at the same time; I even mentioned to my colleagues that this report coul mean that HRA did not just pay attention d have terrible consequences for HRA. I felt relative exhilaration combined with worries.
What specifically do you mean when you say, “paying attention to the ordinary people” and why do you consider it important?
I mean that HRA did not just pay attention to political elites, and the term ordinary people is used in contrast to political elites here. It was of high importance to us that an independent human rights organization had been established by a few young people. Most of the organizations and institutions are connected or dependent on political organizations and, therefore, they support and defend the rights of those who are like-minded. It was great news that a few had gathered and created an organization to defend human rights regardless of their own political beliefs.
Considering that you have been following HRA’s activism for the past decade, in your opinion what is the strength or a positive difference of this organization?
One of the strengths of HRA is that it has shown with time that it is concerned about everyone’s rights, and it does not discriminate. Honestly, as I have mentioned before, my terrible experience of post Iranian Revolution with groups and organizations was that they neglected the injustice towards their opposition groups and even the injustice towards ordinary people. The events in the very first year after the Iranian Revolution had completely changed my view on political activism and the Iranian political groups. The situation did not improve over the following years.
When we started to work, one of our main goals was to try to document the violations of human rights of everyone. Our focus is on capital punishment, yet our goal is not to forget anyone in this regard and not to only focus on the elites. If we want people to understand the importance of human rights and to have a fundamental cultural change, we must show in action how important their dignity and rights are; show that they are important to us because they “exist” not because of “who they are” or “what they do.” Therefore, the changes in this regard and the way that HRA did not discriminate became very important to us.
Another strength of HRA – as far as I know – is that it was not personage driven. In the sense that, unlike what we commonly see, the people who helped HRA’s improvement and advancement worked in silence and without any personal motives. This is very important, and I believe it is very precious in the Iran of today; because if the organizations are personage driven, if something happens to that personage, that is enough for the collapse of the organization.Another positive point is that HRA did not stop trying just because it succeeded. I mean, although HRA had initial successes, and their reports were read and talked about, it did not make HRA believe their work was done; in fact, HRA constantly tries to progress and improve their activism. A good example would be the way they report. In the beginning, for example, if I read one of their reports on an execution, arrest or sentencing, many questions would have come to my mind—questions such as what was his crime, when was he arrested, when was the court hearing held; but now when I read HRA’s reports, I don’t have as many questions, and most of the things that one needs to know about the issue have been mentioned in the report, and this reporting is getting better every day.
How effective do you think HRA has been, particularly, in reporting, which is your specialty as well?
In general, the effectiveness of human rights activism is not measurable. Let me explain it this way: we always think, “What if HRA did not exist?! If HRA’s reports were not published, would the human rights violators have violated human rights even further? I believe they would have; I mean this kind of publicizing limits the violators of human rights and limits their freedom to violate. I have to mention that from the time that HRA began its reports till this day, it has been the only source for much of the news, including the prison reports and executions. This proves that HRA has a special place as the source of human rights violations’ reports. ABF, as well as other organizations, often use the reports by HRA; even though some of them do not mention HRA as the source. Yet, there is no doubt that without HRA, human rights reports in Iran would be incomplete. I have seen that even the foreign activists and media cite “Human Rights Activists in Iran’s News Agency (HRANA).” Therefore, I believe if HRANA doesn’t exist, it would be missed as it has become one of the main news archives and sources on Iran.
And there always will be criticism; I would even criticize our own work. We can’t expect HRA to have to not be criticized.
In my opinion, you have an emotional bond to HRA and similar organizations; if you think so, could you please tell us where this sympathy and compassion stem from?
Yes, this emotional bond does exist. We began our activism and brought up and experienced issues to help and motivate youngsters like you and your colleagues so that this kind of work would be continued. Seeing that these kinds of organizations are established warms our hearts and brings hope. Those who have funded HRA or are reporting for HRANA or are collaborating with HRA could have and still can, just like many others, care more for their own life and work. Yet despite the hardships, arrests, imprisonments, and exiles, HRA has continued its activism, and that is admirable. People like us, considering our age, do not have much time; indeed, we need hope for the future. HRA has brought us this hope and joy because they let the world hear of the violations of human rights that happen in silence.
It’s worth mentioning that HRA has built itself a backup and did not lose hope after the blow it took a few years ago; this should be applauded. The fact that HRA is not personage driven (as I mentioned before) is very precious to me personally, and this reinforces the emotional bond.
You mentioned the crackdowns on HRA in March 2010. At the time, how did you analyze such attacks and widespread crackdowns on human rights organizations?
At the time, as we believed students and the younger generation, the majority of the Iranian population, are our hope for the future and what happens to them is of great importance, we collected everything from the reported student activism, their demands and their organized movements to university disciplinary actions or intelligence services and judiciary punishments to keep as a record for ABF (not necessary for publication). We collected these events on Excel files. From this information and numerous reports that number in the thousands during 2007-2008, it was easily observable that there was a change in Iran because the punishments from university disciplinary were now mostly taken to the judiciary and they were increasing in numbers every day. Considering all this, honestly, I was not highly surprised by what happened to HRA. I always said these youngsters are really daring and brave and, even though they are in Iran, they still point at such things as deaths in the detention centers. The transparency that HRA had at the time (for example, publicly announcing how it was accepting members) was too optimistic for the atmosphere then in Iran. Therefore, the attacks and oppressions were somewhat expected, and it was not only HRA, although HRA did take a harder blow.
At the time, we were mostly worried about what would happen next. When a group or organization is attacked by the enemy (those who fight with the people who are revealing the violations of human rights are the enemy in my mind, and I cannot describe them any other way), especially when the enemy is a lot stronger, naturally there will be hatred, and everyone will look to find the guilty one. It always happens. During these thirty plus years, we have seen many organizations that were established with great hopes, but after a while they disappeared, and we never heard their names again. When HRA took that blow, I wasn’t sure whether it could stand up again and continue its work. But it was made clear that, by perseverance and endurance, it survived the crisis—this is no small matter.
What would you like to say to the colleagues and friends who have supported HRA for the past 10 years?
First, I would like to thank them for their hard work, for not losing hope and for continuing their activism despite the numerous problems. People such as the members and colleagues at HRA are the hope for the future of Iran, and if they lose hope, there will not be a beautiful future.
Second, keep honesty as a principle of your work, because not letting your politics and political interests interfere with documenting violations of human rights is a very important matter. The truth is what we hold against the enemy and human rights violators; not more and not less. That is just the way it is, and that is the only thing that our opponent cannot fight against. In this regard, HRA has done greatly, and I hope they will continue this way and will always have this principle in mind.
Third, people who document human rights violations in Iran are numbered, considering the tragedies that have been happening in the past few decades in our country. Therefore, we have to try to work together so that we all carry a little bit of this heavy weight on our shoulders. I understand that, indeed, there will be a little competition between organizations and that is just natural. But I also hope that colleagues at HRA will always remember that a competition should not interfere and damage collaborations.
Last, but not least, I believe any organization should constantly distance itself from its work so that it can see what it does best, in what sections there are more possibilities, and which part of its work is more essential; to see what needs to be done, and what’s not so important. This is essential because routine and hard work makes a person confused and bewildered; we are constantly running, and we are always behind. It is my personal experience that we forget to distance ourselves. This is the advice I give any human rights organization—particularly HRA because of its wide range of activism.
At the end, I want to thank you and your colleagues and wish you best of luck.
