Iranian Dissident: Iraq War Hurting Our Hopes for Democracy

Posted on Jul 17, 2006

From alikhaligh.com

Iranian journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji

Tehran’s most prominent journalist, Akbar Ganji, said that America’s actions in Iraq are harming Iran’s reform movement by giving the regime an excuse to stifle dissent.

AP:

Iran’s most prominent dissident said Sunday that the war in Iraq has hurt his country’s reform movement by giving its regime an excuse to stifle dissent.

Journalist Akbar Ganji said in an interview that the West can best promote change in Iran by lending moral support to the country’s democratic movement.

“We do not want the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, this is our problem. Any intervention by any foreign power would bring charges of conspiracy against us,” he said. “What has happened in Iraq did not support our movement in any significant way.”

Instead, he said, it gave Iran’s regime an excuse to crack down on dissidents, accusing them of colluding with the U.S. and promoting an invasion of the Islamic republic.

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