Cry for help by Iranian thinker

As the gulf widens in Iran between hardline clergy and reformist thinkers both in and outside the clerical establishment, a professor at Tehran University has become the focus of conflict.

Lectures by Abdolkarim Sorush have been repeatedly stopped or disrupted by militants, apparently with the tacit support of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

They accuse Dr Sorush, whose reputation as a thinker and voice of modernism is growing in the Shi'ite world, of attacking "religious sovereignty under the guise of scientific discourse".

With the hardliners whipping up sentiment against him, Dr Sorush has written an open letter to President Hashemi Rafsanjani seeking protection. The following are extracts from his appeal.

TO the honourable president of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

No doubt you are aware that for nearly a year now I have been the target of sensation, violence and destructive intimidation by certain pressure groups and their affiliated press. In addition, the information ministry, by resorting to threats, by setting limits and by serving repeated summonses, pushed me into a corner, violated my rights as a human being, and gave a free hand to my enemies.

The threats of violence against me have intensified to such a degree that I am no longer invited to give lectures. All doors are closing in my face.

At the start of the current academic year, I was given only one subject to teach in Tehran University, which I have had to abandon on several occasions. I am supposed to teach philosophy and social science to the postgraduates in this university ... However, every time I set off for the Faculty of Social Science, I have to face serious threats to my life. Every time I have to pass through a picket line comprising motorcyclists and pedestrians, who block my entry to the university by shouting obscenities. They seem very determined to initiate violence.

I have had to arrive at the university much earlier than the time of my scheduled lecture and often in secret. On a number of occasions I have had to abandon a lecture and leave my terrified students in the middle of the classroom. Sometimes, the lecture is cancelled as I am unable to enter the university.

University officials have tried hard to resolve the problem but they have failed because the assailants enjoy the overt and covert support of various authorities, including the office of the valiye faqih [Ayatollah Khamenei] ...

Mr President: My question, which is in no way aimed at breaking the law or making trouble or creating mischief, to you, who have spoken many times of the sanctity and safety of those who live by the pen, is: How long will the academics in this country be the victims of the unethical behaviour and law-breaking of irresponsible groups and remain silent; sit in a corner and listen to abuse and insults, have their own and their families' safety and security taken away; and see that those who undermine security are free, and those who deserve security are deprived of it?

Mr President: How can I tell my students that there is hope for the future? How can I lecture them on the importance of free research, on being courageous in their thinking and on the existence of an open social climate for the growth of talents when I see that even talking about any of these subjects is now a deadly sin, for which I am being punished by the pressure groups and the philistine mob . . ?

Above all, how can we bear witness to the fact that all these acts of bigotry, treachery, inquisition and imposition of ideas are carried out in the name of the most beloved religion . . . ?

I have now come to you to seek justice, not only for myself but also because of the injustices against the reputation and excellence of this powerful culture and the betrayal of people's cultural awareness; [and] because of the crooked foundation on which scientific-human relations are being built.

Mr President: I am now mourning a university in which a group is celebrating the death of science and the birth of barbarism . . .

This is not only my tale, this is the tale of the country's culture and hope . . .