Interviewer: A Japanese journalist
The Japanese journalist: On behalf of all Japanese people I would like to thank you for this interview. Last year, in Neauphle-le-Chateau we made a short interview with you. This year, however, we would like to present the realities of Iran to the people of Japan in more detail. The Japanese people know little about Iran. Now let me ask my first question:
Question: It is said that you have considered Japan as one of the adversaries of Iran in your struggle against the United States. Is it true or do you think differently?
Answer: In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. First let me comment on this statement that the Japanese people are unaware of what is going on in Iran. Why should the Japanese mass media not report on such a movement with such a great magnitude, and why shouldn't they publicize crimes that the United States has been inflicting upon the Iranian people for the last fifty years? If they had done so, the Japanese people would have known earlier. This leads me to conclude that the American authorities most likely would not allow the Japanese mass media to propagate anything about Iran.
Now concerning the second part of your question, which deals with the Japanese nation, I would like to stress the fact that we would not oppose any nation, neither the Japanese nor the Americans. They have not committed any injustice against us; it is the governments that we oppose. Now we are waiting to see what the governments of the European countries, Asian countries and Japan would do vis-a-vis the crimes that the government of the USA has been committing against us and the unlawful activities that Mr. Carter is engaged in keeping the criminal, and his threat of the economic sanctions and the military intervention. Now we are waiting to see what the European and Asian and Japanese governments will do regarding this hot issue. Will they agree with the aggressors or with the oppressed? Will they agree with our outcry for justice? We would like to see what these governments will do concerning a criminal who has plundered this country for fifty years. Then, we will distinguish between those governments who defend the oppressors and those who defend the oppressed ones. If the Japanese government defends the aggressors, we will not agree with it, but if it supports us, we will not disagree with it.
Q: Since our arrival here in Iran, we have noticed people show a lot of affection towards us, the Japanese. We would like to know whether you would put Japan on the Western camp or would you think it is different.
A: I have already offered an answer by saying that we will not disagree with the Japanese nation as such. Neither would we oppose the American nation for the matter.
However, Carter is making false propaganda by claiming that Iran is against the American nation. This is one of the crimes that are being committed by Carter by giving asylum to a criminal. His other crime is the spread of the false accusation claiming that we are against the American people. Through his action, he tries to make the Americans feel hatred towards us. It is far from the truth, however. We reiterate that we are against Carter, who is keeping a criminal, and who is influenced by the Zionists. We declare that we are against him, we do not oppose nations. Rather, we are friendly with the oppressed ones, among whom are the nations. We are against those who do injustice to their people.
Q: Do you consider Shi`ism a religious as well as a political ideology which is in conformity with today's realities in Iran?
A: Since the advent of Islam, Shi`ism and Shiist Imams have existed. Shi`ism is a socio-political sect. During history, Shi`ism has always opposed all the tyrants such as the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. The reason for the opposition of the Shi`ite leaders with the oppressors lies in the fact that these latter usurped rein of the government and treated people unjustly. The Shi`ite scholars and dignitaries have always opposed such governments. The officials of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties and other rulers constantly caused hardships for Shi`ism. Most of the Shi`ite scholars were Jailed, or exiled. What is of significance is that the Shi`ite scholars are determined to take part in the political activities of the country. Shi`ism tries to stop the aggressors from interfering with the internal affairs of the Muslim countries. The Shi`ite sect is the defender of the oppressed and the deprived walks of society. It strongly opposes tyrants and the arrogant. The Shi`ite scholars have been consistent in their both ideas and actions. They will remain so to the last day of humanity.
Q: This journalist says that he has read your book called the Islamic Government in France, which is also called" wilayat-e faqih". He says he has read in your book that Islam is the religion of pardoning and clemency. But in a referendum, held in France 79 percent of people believed that your struggle against the Shah stems from your personal hatred and revengefulness towards him. What is your opinion regarding this? Please make a commentwhose reign our country was ruined. Rida Khan and his son were imposed on us by the superpowers. We are repeating that we have been robbed of our wealth. Now we want him here to be tried and forced to return to the country the wealth and assets that he has illegally taken from this land. He has killed many youths of ours. We cannot take revenge on him fully. Therefore, no body is said to be after taking revenge. He has killed more than one hundred thousand people. How can we take revenge on him? We want to take back our stolen wealth. We want him here to determine who the real criminal was. We want to recognize who it is that made the world turbulent. We want to find out which governments have been instrumental in such horrendous criminal processes. We want to know how these cases of injustice have taken place. We want to see who have been the agents for these crimes. If this is termed the logic of taking vengeance, then their logic is different from that of the oppressed. This has been the case that during the whole history the logic of the tyrants has always been different from that of the oppressed. Remember Islam is the religion of pardoning. But the logic of Mr. Carter and his likes is different from this logic. Our logic leads us to prosecute a criminal for his wrongdoings. We want to take back the wealth that he has taken. We would like to know in what banks our assets are being kept. Mr. Carter keeps him and his assets. At the same time, our people are faced with hunger. Our logic tells us to try the Shah in a court of justice. But in the logic of Mr. Carter, this is called `taking revenge' and so do other governments obedient to Carter. But in the logic of the oppressed, this is not taking revenge. Their logic tells Mr. Carter not to keep that man and not to blockade our possessions.
Q: Your Reverend: In the views of many experts, the Iranian government has been deteriorating constantly after the Revolution. What is your comment?
A: This is the logic of the pillagers and plunderers. In order to see the difference, we should compare the Islamic Revolution with other revolutions in the world. Did they have rules and regulations immediately after the revolutions? When our revolution occurred, we were connected to the world. All political parties were free to act. These parties were free for the following five months. Iran has its normal ways of life. The chaos and plundering which took place in the October Revolution, for instance, did not occur in Iran. Even now everything is in order in Iran since it is the people who observe peace and quiet. The Islamic Revolution was staged by the Muslim people, and they themselves, without the interference of the government, execute order. When the Revolution occurred there were some turbulences at first, but people took control of the situation within a short time. The nation itself is responsible for order. Our nation agrees with the Islamic government. They have unanimously voted for this government. Our nation would prefer to act in accordance with the Islamic rules. One of the principles of Islam is keeping to rules. People themselves are after rules and discipline. When they say the government is deteriorating, they are mistaken. Rather, the government is improving. We have been under the pressure of superpowers for centuries; now, we are liberated and headed for a bright future. This is the excellence of our nation. We do not see excellence and progress in filling our stomachs with food. We see eminence and elevation in the advancement of our religion. We are happy to declare that we are now advancing our school of thought. How can one claim that are we deteriorating? They see excellence in the filling the stomachs, but man is not a beast. He is a human being; a human being who observes and respects al human issues. And man wills observer regulations. Our country is advancing, not deteriorating. These misleading claims are made by people like Carter. In their logic, exultation means our giving away our oil and our being only bystanders; and deterioration, in their conceptualization, are stopping them from plundering our oil reserves. But we are not deteriorating. We will advance our country and we will cut the hands of the foreigners short from interference with our internal affairs. And this is excellence and not deterioration.
Q: Your Reverend: While you were in Neauphle-le-Chateau, you promised to secure freedom and to expand it, but we saw that after the victory of Islamic Revolution, there were some demonstrations against women and some ethnic minorities, such as, Kurds were under pressure, and the political parties and their newspapers were banned. Could you please comment on these contradictions?
A: These turbulences were caused by Carter and his likes. We should find out who is behind these political turmoils. Who is bringing up the issue of Kurdestan? And who is eager to solve this issue? Who is trying to protect our Kurdish brothers against the numerous tyrannies, which they had been subject to? We will do our best so that all walks of our society be in a welfare state. Our Islam stipulates that nobody should be subject to injustice and neither should anybody involve in injustice. This is an Islamic issue. We are after such an issue. From the very first day of our Revolution, there were all sorts of freedoms, and everybody was free to engage in any political party. But then conspiracies began. They made use of pens to mislead our nation. They were, in fact, the mercenaries of the deposed Shah, the United States and others. We gave them five months and after that we located the conspirators. We identified those who wanted to establish the foreign domination over us. We consequently found out that most of them had their roots in the Israeli conspiracies. They were heralds for Israel or the United States; of course, in disguise. It is one of the rights of a nation to destroy those agents who desire to demolish it entirely. Otherwise, our nation is a freedom lover: freedom of all sorts, but it hates conspiracies. It does not defend corruption. The women who staged the demonstrations were not the right ones. They were the women who were termed by the Shah as" liberated women" and corrupted by him. These women wanted to engage in debauchery. They wanted to carry out some actions against chastity and were disillusioned to see that the government was not ready to accept their wrongdoing. They were the ones who took to the streets and acted in a terrible manner. Or else, freedom is not banned in our system. People are free to the extent that they would not get involved in corruption.
Q: The issue of hostage taking of the personnel of the American Embassy makes many countries worry. They think hostage taking will become a common practice. Are you of the opinion that by taking these fifty hostages you will be able to bring the Shah back to Iran?
A: You seem to have the same concept of" countries" as Carter does. The superpowers consider the governmental organizations as the" countries". So, in their conceptualization, when the government does not like something," the country" does not like it, either. But compared to the nation, the government is nothing but a drop. Now let us see what we have done. If our actions are justly introduced to the people of the world, we will find out who will support us and who will oppose us. Which number is greater in the world, the number of the tyrants or the number of the oppressed ones? When you study the status of the world population, you will find out that the number of the oppressed is greater. The number of the tyrants is few, but this few are equipped with all sorts of satanic weaponry. This has always been the case during the history of mankind. If by" worry", you are referring to that" few", you are right. This is because the tyrants are the friends of the tyrants. If the world realizes our situation, definitely the tyrants will oppose us. But those who approve of our work are in fact defending the oppressed. When you say" the countries" are worried, I will conclude that your logic, too, is the same as the super powers'. You have been influenced by those superpowers who define a" country" as a collection of parks, huge mansions, and the castle-dwellers. And they would not consider as a country those who live in slums or in adobe huts.
If this is the case, then we will separate these two issues and declare that those who worry because of our actions are the castle and mansion dwellers and the armored superpowers. The other groups are the nations. A nation is like a roaring ocean. Nations agree with us. Our issues are the problems of the oppressed. They will be with us if the oppressors let our voice reach them. Our issues encompass the deprived versus the tyrant and the slaughtered versus the slaughterer. We want our country to be ours. We want to remain independent. We want to be free. We want our mass media to be free. We wish our pens to be free. We want to spend our assets on ourselves. We would like to feed the hungry, to dress the naked, to shelter the homeless. The tyrants do not like this. The cruel ones do not like our Muslim youths to capturing the espionage den of a bunch of spies. They want spying to spread and the espionage dens to be established in the countries of the oppressed. However, the logic of the oppressed is different from this. The logic of the deprived who make up the majority of people of the world, dictates that each countries should be independent, that the assets of a country should be spent on its own people. But the logic of the tyrants says that they should be allowed to plunder others because others are not human beings! These superpowers will never care for us. They would not consider the deprived as human beings. When they refer to human rights, they have in mind the rights of the tyrants. Human rights will allow them to plunder our oil reserves and give us nothing instead. The benefits will go to them. Every nation is supposed to obey them. So, this is the logic of the tyrants, who are in minority. Therefore, they should be worried about what is going on in Iran. This is because we now announce that the tyrants are in danger and will be destroyed. The countries should be of the deprived. God, the Almighty, has decided to grant the deprived with the earth and annihilate aggressors and the arrogant. Now we are the first who has up risen. We will support the oppressed nations, and the oppressed nations should destroy the tyrants and drive them out of history. The tyrants oppose us severely. They are, however, in minority. The oppressed will be delighted to hear what we have done to this den. In those countries where the story of our endeavors has been circulated, the oppressed have already expressed their delight. They have denounced the United States, but were stopped by the police. If the bayonets are removed all the oppressed will up rise. In the logic of the oppressed, this espionage den should be closed down, but the arrogant are of the view that it should be there. But it is the oppressed whose rights have been denied and should be compensated for. However, the arrogant would claim that the oppressed do not have any rights. All the institutes of the human rights are formed to exploit mankind. The whole Security Council, which was convened last night with Carter's permission deals only with the hostages, but it, has to keep silent when it comes to the Shah. Neither should the Security Council say anything on the assets, which have been stolen from us. It has been informed to talk on the hostages, but remain silent regarding The Shah. Carter knows if the issue is taken seriously, he would be in deep
trouble and would be inflicted by the same disaster that the Shah faced to. Therefore, he has stated that his servants in the Security Council should discuss the hostage crisis. We will never recognize the Security Council as a valid international body, however.
That is all, and peace be with you.