Akbar Ganji: We Lied about the Shah!

An ex-Revolutionary Guardsman Comes Clean!

N. Kamvari's interview with Akbar Ganji (Zamaneh Radio):
Ganji: We Lied!

ما دروغ می‌گفتیم،...
ما به دروغ می‌گفتیم حکومت شاه ۱۵۰ هزار زندانی سیاسی دارد و این دروغ بود، و امروز باید بابت این دروغ، یعنی خودمان و همه کسانی که این دروغ را گفته‌اند باید خودشان را نقد بکنند. ما به دروغ می‌گفتیم حکومت شاه صمد بهرنگی را کشت، ما به دروغ گفتیم حکومت شاه صادق هدایت را کشت،‌ ما به دروغ می‌گفتیم حکومت شاه دکتر شریعتی را کشت. همه‌ی این دروغها را گفته‌ایم، آگاهانه هم گفته‌ایم

Translation:

(snip)

Ganji: We lied. We lied that the Shah's regime had 150,000 political prisoners and this way a lie and today for this lie, namely, ourseleves and all those who said this lie, must step up and say so. We lied that the shah's regime killed Samad Behrangi, We lied that the Shah's regime killed Sadegh Hedayat, we lied that the Shah's regime killed Dr. Shariati. All these lies have been told knowingly and willfully.

Who's Ganji?
Growing up in a poor district of southern Tehran, Ganji was initially enthused by the 1979 Revolution. He became a member of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and worked at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. But after becoming disillusioned with the regime, he took to journalism, becoming increasingly critical of the regime's suppression of human rights.He was arrested on April 22, 2000 after he took part in a conference held in Berlin on April 7 and 8, 2000. He was imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran until his release on March 18, 2006. [1] He holds a Masters degree in Communications.
He is the winner of the 2006 World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award [2] and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression's International Press Freedom Award in 2000. He is also the winner of the 2006 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. [3]