Activists

Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, 48, research fellow and visiting lecturer at the Center for the Study of Culture and Security at The Institute of World Politics, is an Iranian dissident. Fakhravar served as the Secretary General of the Confederation of Iranian Students and President of the “Iranian Freedom Institute” in Washington, D.C.

Currently, Fakhravar is the Senate Chairman of National Iranian Congress (NIC) an organization opposing the Islamic Republic regime in Iran.

An Amnesty International press release published in 2004, designates Fakhravar as a prisoner of conscience who was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment for defamation charges in November 2002, because of comments he made on Iranian authorities in his book, This Place is Not a Ditch. The statement further adds sometime between January and February 2004, he was held at Ward 325, where he was reportedly subject to solitary confinement and white torture, before being granted a 2-days furlough on or around 8 February 2004. According to the same release, he was moved to Qasr prison upon his return and on or around 21 March, he was given another leave lasting 19 days for the new year holidays, as part of an annual temporary release of prisoners.

On 17 July 2005, Eli Lake did an interview with Fakhravar while on temporary release to participate in his university exams, in which he said, “I forgot to report back to prison” and that he was going to ignore his arrest warrant. In October 2005, RFE/RL reported that Fakhravar has been on leave since June of the same year, and has told them about his decision to refuse to return to prison and his sister of being informed at the court that government forces are authorized to shoot him on sight.

Fakhravar took a commercial flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Upon his arrival in the USA, Fakhravar was invited as a guest of honor at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) lunch, co-hosted by Richard Perle and Michael Ledeen; and was given office space by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). He called for unified opposition to the Iranian government, to bring regime change in Iran.

In 2013, he established a ‘National Iran Congress (NIC), and drafted a constitution modeled after the constitution of Western countries for future Iran.

On July 20, 2006, Fakhravar testified at U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs representing Independent student movement, where he called the Iranian reform movement a “dead end” and advocated regime change.