I have spent six years in prison, the last six years. Even if I was outside the prison, how much actual space was there for an investigative journalist to do his work in Iran?
It is like living with your wife, with whom you are in love and you are intensely involved in, but you also have tensions. And their position is that they want to deny that these tensions exist.
It is not clear what they have bought, how many secondhand materials they have bought. I am very worried that something like Chernobyl will happen to Iran.
We have two kinds of oppression. Oppression that is universal – everyone in Iran is subject to it. But everyone has also their own, unique way of experiencing this oppression.
They obviously collected a lot of votes, but these monies could not solve the structural problems that these people face. But the only result, the only consequence, was that a big sum from the budget was wasted this way.
When I talk about secularism, I’m talking about theories today. To give you for example, one example: Those who consider themselves followers of Mosaddeq today are adamantly against federalism.
In a totalitarian state, the state views any act of an individual to be political in nature. For example, the clothing that a person wears in a modern state is a private affair whereas in the Islamic Republic all women are forced to wear the hijab (Islamic attire).
I could witness that as a result of Ahmadinejad, they lived in a dream. They believed that paradise is around the corner and that all their demands shall be met.
![Akbar Ganji Quote - The number of the opposition has certainly increased [in Iran].](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/the-number-of-the-opposition-has-certainly-increas-683x1024.jpg)
![Akbar Ganji Quote - The issue has two dimensions. One is the legal dimension and the other one is the issue at the realpolitik. [In the] legal realm.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/the-issue-has-two-dimensions-one-is-the-legal-dime-683x1024.jpg)
