“Traitors and spies”: New Expatriate Group Meets Hardline Opposition

A high council with very low expectations: The masthead for the website of the High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad

“This is a secret scheme created by the opposition and spy agencies,” declared Javan newspaper, referring to the recent formation of the Committee for the Return of Expatriates. The committee, initiated by President Hassan Rouhani on 12 November, is designed “to infiltrate undesirable elements into the country under the guise of Iranian expatriates,” the paper claimed, adding that one of the group’s chief aims was to uncover operations of Iran’s intelligence services.

Javan, which is closely affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, published its reaction a few days after the formation of the committee. It was not alone in its skepticism: the hardliner national daily Keyhan warned that foreign media were “preparing the ground” for the return of political activists who left Iran following the contested presidential elections of 2009 – a group it regarded as being guilty of “sedition”.

“The Ministry of Information and security agencies are in possession of these people’s dossiers.  Even a cursory web search reveals how these traitors pushed the country close to the edge of the precipice and what crimes they committed,” the Keyhan article continued. When the so-called “seditionists” did not succeed, they encouraged “American, Zionist and English officials” to impose paralyzing sanctions. “So the Ministry of Information, the judiciary and other security and intelligence agencies have no right to show negligence towards this counter-revolutionary network.”

Some media outlets claimed that the plot was even more sophisticated, referring to a secret initiative code-named “Firewall”. “Three European countries and one other Western country are expanding their list of contacts with Iranians inside and outside the country”, declared Iran-e Haste’i (Nuclear Iran), a website with close ties to Saeed Jalili, the chief nuclear negotiator under President Ahmadinejad, on 15 July. According to the site, the chief aim of “Firewall” was to ensure that those who fled in 2009 returned to the country.

Conditional Hopes

Following the election of Hassan Rouhani in June 2013 and the hopes that followed, conspiracy theories about Iranians expatriates returning to the country have enjoyed a considerable resurgence.

During the election campaign, Rouhani referred to the dilemma of Iran’s “brain drain” and the necessity of facilitating the return of Iranians to the country. “We will eliminate the fears of the people who did nothing unlawful in 2009,” promised the new information minister after Rouhani’s inauguration. “We guarantee that such people will not encounter any problems.” These were vague and conditional statements – but they raised hopes nonetheless.

Counter-reactions, however, soon emerged. Cases of “escaped seditionists have nothing to do with the ministry of information,” a Keyhan editorial stated the same day. A day later, the judiciary’s spokesman, Mohseni-Ejei, put it in clear terms: “Persons who have broken the law inside the country but have left Iran, or persons who have acted against Iran outside the country, or non-Iranians who have acted against Iran, inside or outside the country, will be prosecuted in Iran.” Those who, in 2009, acted against “the people and the system,” he emphasized, “will be prosecuted if they return”.

The judiciary’s threats did not intimidate the new president, or at least it did not appear to. “It is the natural right of an Iranian to see his homeland, his relations, his city and the beautiful things that his country has to offer,” he said on 2 October following a meeting with Iranian expatriates in New York. A month later, he issued the directive to form the Committee for the Return of Expatriates.

“The Committee for the Return of Expatriates has started work at the Ministry of Information,” the consulate and parliamentary vice president of the Foreign Ministry said recently, adding that he was a member of the committee and that it met regularly at the Ministry of Information. “We have arrived at some good results and we will publish a report very soon,” he declared. He gave reassurances that “no institution is meddling in the work of the committee, which is implementing the president’s directive”.

It’s clear that Rouhani is determined to fulfill his campaign promises. But there are very real difficulties inherent in managing expatriate relations and expectations around them, as was demonstrated during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency.

The High Council of Iranians Affairs Abroad was formed in 2004 under President Mohammad Khatami. But its activities intensified during Ahmadinejad’s second term. As the official chair of the council, which also include eight cabinet ministers, Ahmadinejad addressed two large gatherings organized by the group in New York, during which he made many promises. And hardliners were quick to react.

Liquor & Mixed Dancing

The daily Keyhan was the first to respond and others followed, including hardliner members of parliament. On 2 August 2010, influential MP Elias Naderan confronted Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff, during a public session of parliament, complaining about the “scandalous” gathering of expatriate Iranians. He accused them of being “Savakis” (member of the Shah’s secret police) and counter-revolutionaries who, he claimed, were hoping to receive 30 years’ worth of “back pay” once they returned to Iran. “Liquor was served and men danced with women,” he observed. He called Hooshang Amir Ahmadi, an Oxford academic, Rutgers professor and the president of the American-Iranian Council a “fixer” for the United States.

The accusations were rejected but some MPs would not let the matter go. They passed a resolution to investigate the council, and the following year, they stopped funding the organization. But that was not the end of the story. When Ahmadinejad appointed Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, the secretary-general of the council, to a high-level position at the Foreign Ministry, hardline MPs pressed for the results of the investigation into council activities to be released. And when this failed, they set out to impeach the foreign minister.

Eventually Malekzadeh resigned, but this was not enough to satisfy his opponents. The judiciary ordered Malekzadeh’s arrest and charged him with a number of offences. After two months in detention, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei interfered, ordering Malekzadeh's release. The case was closed, along with the case of the High Council of Iranians Affairs Abroad. Efforts on behalf of Ahmadinejad’s administration to control and protect the council had failed.

Rouhani’s government and hardline members of parliament are not fighting one another at that level yet. But when it comes to the matter of those who fled in 2009 returning to Iran, the same obstacles are in place, with the same opponents making themselves heard, both in the judiciary and in parliament. In recent months, not only has the judiciary refused to cooperate with the government, it has increased pressure on civil rights activists and the families of some activists outside Iran.

During Ahmadinejad’s time in office, efforts at repatriation were aimed at non-political Iranians living outside the country. But currently, whether it’s accurate or not, the Rouhani administration’s efforts are associated with the return of political activists. For hardliners, this is unacceptable, and they have repeatedly referred to the return of political reformists as a “red line” that will not be crossed.

In light of this, it’s clear what the government’s position is overall, especially when the information minister has agreed that “those who have left the country can return, but if they have broken the law, the judiciary will prosecute”.