Interviews with Mohsen Sazegara

The government has used the technology, the new technology– in two ways. First, they have used these– these technologies, too. I mean, I´m sure that, you know, for instance, the cameras which are– the traffic cameras in Tehran, which are everywhere, was– and it´s a control room was used by Revolutionary Guard to control the protests in Tehran– in Tehran. Or for their own communications as well.

But the other part of– use of the new technologies was– was right on the other side. I mean, filtering the websites– slowing down the internet speed in Iran, and the– the cyber army of Revolutionary Guard. This is the name of the division in– special division in Revolutionary Guard, which was formed– with $500 million budget. I don´t know how much they have spent so far.

But to– confront the movement, the cyber part of the movement, they started to attack the websites, for instance. My website was attacked by cyber arm of Iran, and once it was toppled down. They– they– you know– took it over.

So the government has used new technologies, and as far as we know, they have hired some experts from outside Iran as well, some hackers from Brazil, from China, some– yeah, some experts from– some Russia companies. And– and some Iranians. They started to use the new technologies to confront the new technologies.

Mohsen Sazegara is a former deputy prime minister of Iran and founder of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who now serves as a leading supporter of the Iranian Green Movement.

In the lead-up to the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Sazegara served as a leading student activist against the Shah. After the Shah left the country in 1979, Sazegara traveled to Tehran from Paris with the Ayatollah Khomeini, joined the government of the Islamic Republic, and helped establish the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Sazegara then served as deputy prime minister and in several other senior positions.

Eventually, Sazegara became disillusioned with Khomeini’s regime and left government to study history. He came to the conclusion that Khomeini’s government was acting in ways that were incompatible with the principles of Islam. Following the publication of his numerous writings in reformist papers and his calls for a referendum on the Iranian constitution, Sazegara was arrested and imprisoned several times. He protested his imprisonment with hunger strikes, which severely affected his health. He eventually was allowed to leave Iran to seek medical treatment.

Sazegara now lives in the United States and is an active supporter of the Iranian Green Movement. He serves as president of the Research Institute on Contemporary Iran and as a visiting fellow at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas.