Those who delve more deeply into the Islamic Republic's structures and instruments of power not infrequently risk their own safety. That is why there are many Iranians in exile who do not reveal their identity for personal reasons. It is different with Faranak Rafiei. She lives in Cologne, works investigatively, especially to make the issue of propaganda visible - and despite personal persecution by the regime, does not allow herself to be intimidated. An interview.
What would you describe yourself as?
I work journalistically and activistically as an investigative researcher on the issues of Iran, the regime's instruments of power and its propaganda methods - from the 1990s to the present day.
Why did you specialize in this area?
It started mainly with the events in November 2019. We Iranians in the diaspora witnessed a bloody massacre in Iran - and its relatively quiet coverage abroad.
At the time, 1500 people were killed in Iran in three days for demonstrating against an announced gasoline price increase by the regime.
That is the official figure. However, independent research by researchers such as Kaveh Madani and other scholars later revealed that there were many times more casualties at the time, around 9000 to 11000 dead. We have also researched this as part of our collective "Iran Fact Records" and talked to eyewitnesses. We can confirm that.
What exactly does this collective do?
We are an international, volunteer network of journalists, activists, and academics that does primarily anonymous and investigative research, focusing on the regime's propaganda abroad. We sit in Germany, the U.S., Turkey, and also Iran, for example, and try to uncover numbers and depict events in Iran as they happened - not as the regime portrays them.
So also have you researched your own numbers on the 2019 massacre?
Yes. As part of our work, we found out more and more what an insanely large scale this massacre was. That shook us at the time - so we tried to invest our grief and anger into something productive, in which we founded the collective to expose these abuses. The results are available in our detailed report "Bloody November" on our collective's website (iranfactrecords.com). We are now very well connected and have our own sources to help us with our research. So we can research with our own resources, check allegations and uncover facts. This is all very intensive and time-consuming - but immensely important.
Why is it so important to verify what is happening around the Islamic Republic (IR)?
We must not rely on the figures of the IR, which manifests its ideology with terror, murder and cover-up. There is no free press in Iran and thus no independent sources that portray a situation as it is happening. Propaganda is the regime's most important tool - at home but also especially abroad. And in doing so, you have to look closely at its history and its adaptation in order to understand it better. That is our topic.
What exactly do you mean by "adaptation" of propaganda?
It is immensely important to understand the approach and methods the regime uses to advance its interests. By "adaptation" we mean the evolution of propaganda over time. In the 1990s, for example, it was still sending targeted agents and hit men abroad to murder people and silence critics. Remember the "Mykonos murders" in Berlin in 1992 or the contract killing of former Prime Minister Shapur Bakhtiar in France in 1991. Today, it is other methods that the regime uses to demonstrate its power outside the country's borders.
Which ones?
In the wake of the reformist wave in Iran, the regime also adapted its propaganda and machinations in the early 2000s, apparently to create a different image of itself abroad. The new tool to subliminally create fear and political dependence was more covert: the regime sold itself abroad as "development-oriented" and open to generate respect and curiosity about Iran. This marks a turning point in propaganda and is unique in its kind.
Can you elaborate on that?
The new instrument of power was installed by the regime supporting communities of interest and organizations abroad that they staffed with their own people - expressing an interest in diplomacy, research and international cooperation. This development gave rise, for example, to the NIAC (National Iranian American Council) in the United States. Actors loyal to the regime and supposed experts influence the West through lobbying, thus directing its image and approach to Iran. NIAC's beginnings date back to the time when the Islamic Republic's future foreign minister - Mohammad Javad Zarif - was UN ambassador, for example, and who was instrumental in nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic.
Disguised diplomacy as a propaganda tool?
Yes. Actors loyal to the regime in various NGOs and think tanks were used all over the world. Later, they were also active for professorships at universities and in academic circles. And a little later still, they also infiltrated the media as journalists and reporters. They worked on this process for more than 20 years - today these actors are active as recognized experts in all kinds of fields all over the world.
What does this infiltration look like in Europe?
An organization like NIAC has not been able to establish itself here. Lobbying and freedom of opinion are defined differently in the U.S. than in Europe. Here - in the different states and in their different legal systems - the situation is worse and less clear. Here we are dealing with individual apologists who may not be involved in large organizations like an NIAC - but individually occupy influential posts. It is hard to believe how scattered these players are in all sorts of countries and fields. That's where we face a mountain of research. We've tracked down people in all sorts of places and sectors who install the regime's narratives and thus represent IR interests in their favor.
Do you have a specific example?
The most recent case just happened in early March, when Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock invited, of all people, women's rights activist and Iran lobbyist Sanam Naraghi - Anderlini to present the conception of her feminist foreign policy. Naraghi was a member of NIAC until 2018 and is known for numerous apologetic statements in which opponents of the regime, for example, are insulted as warmongers. During her meeting with Baerbock, she promoted a new nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic and proposed talks, among other things.
So it was a promotion of the IR.
Yes. The active attempt to maintain relations with this inhumane regime and Naraghi's biography are a very clear sign that an adviser is at work here who is trying to exert influence at the political level - and is not representing the interests of the people of Iran who do not want reforms but an end to the regime. This is an extremely distorted image that such apologists deliberately create. In this case, in the person of a women's rights activist - an educated, modern academic with an international presence - who in fact does not oppose the oppression of women in Iran. There is a famous video of Ms. Naraghi nodding her head in agreement when an Iran lobbyist put the Revolutionary Guards and the use of the morality police in Iran into perspective. As a women's rights activist.
Can a direct link of such actors to the regime be established?
We can only speculate on that at the moment, because we are still at the beginning of our research. We are talking about thousands of people who are scattered all over the world in their posts. And these people, too, have to adapt with the developments of the past six months and redefine themselves in the wake of the movement in Iran-but without abandoning their roles. That's an interesting realignment that we're seeing these days. These people are very sophisticated in adapting to the circumstances in this current situation.
Names like Adnan Tabatabai and Azadeh Zamirirad also often come up in this context.
Yes. It has been sufficiently communicated and read about who these reformists are. But these two people also adapt, are regularly invited to events as consultants and experts in their positions, for which they are also well paid. These consultant positions are a special phenomenon in Germany. There is open silence about this - for fear of personal, legal consequences. That is the power of this powerful propaganda tool I am talking about.
What could happen to researchers and critics?
It goes from legal suits to personal threats, persecution, and even kidnapping of people to be executed in the worst case. Recall journalist and regime critic Ruhollah Zam, who was lured from his home in France to Iraq in 2019 and abducted from there to Iran by Iranian security forces. He was executed in 2020. Currently, the abducted German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd faces the same fate. He was abducted in 2020 while on a business trip in Dubai, taken to Iran and sentenced to death there. His execution can take place at any time.
What can be done?
We need to address this issue openly. The regime, through its various instruments, has an insane amount of influence in exile - and at the highest levels. Letting this influence happen cannot be the solution. I would like to put this issue on the agenda, especially for the press, and clarify what kind of power apparatus we are dealing with that deliberately scares critics, activists or journalists into silence. That's why we should raise the issue all the more, so that objective reporting on dubious machinations and actors takes place and journalists don't let themselves be intimidated.
Have you ever been threatened?
Yes. We Iranians in the diaspora are exposed to constant observation and threats from the regime because of our activities. It has its people everywhere. Just earlier this year, it was announced that there was a second attempt to assassinate the most prominent activist Masih Alinejad in the United States. This is news we in the diaspora have to live with if we are too loud. Alinejad, however, will not be intimidated. She is now under police protection and continues to be even louder.
Are you afraid?
No, my family and I have also been under police protection. At the time, it was a matter of imminent threat and persecution by the well-known gang leader Ramin Yektaparast, who is now wanted on an international arrest warrant and has absconded to Iran. Iranians who are familiar with and have grown up with this system know what the regime is capable of. I understand that everyone has to weigh and assess that for themselves when it also involves the safety of their own family. But I continue to research and work to make the atrocities of the Islamic Republic visible. I know that propaganda and persecution are their most powerful tools. And I am not afraid.