Exclusive: More than 50 prominent political prisoners reach out to US president, asking him to seize 'last chance' for detente

Mr President!

We, the undersigned current and former political prisoners in Iran, are writing this letter to bring to your attention the devastating effects of crippling economic sanctions and the intensified efforts to diplomatically isolate Iran in the international community. These efforts are adversely affecting the lives of Iranian people and have resulted in severe constraints in the political life of our country. This letter reflects the serious concerns of the Iranian public about the bleak future that continued conflict between Iran and the United States of America could lead to. We share these concerns.

The conflict over Iran's nuclear program has, in recent years, developed into a perilous contest with the United States and more generally with the West. This conflict has undermined trust and intensified animosity between the two parties.

The conflict has resulted in imposing unprecedented 'crippling' sanctions whose main victims are the Iranian people that have to live under the unbearable pressure of crippling inflation and shortages of basic needs for a decent life. The sad thing is that there seems to be little hope of resolving this conflict.

In the recent presidential election in Iran (14 June 2013), a politician was elected whose campaign promised were moderation and rational decision making in foreign and domestic policies. This administration has promised to pursue constructive engagement in international relations and intends to convey a message of positive change and mutual respect.

We believe the time has come for our two countries to turn a page and start a new era of mutual understanding. In our view, the tenure of this government may be the last chance to bring this conflict to a reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution. It is clear that there are parties and actors in both camps who do not wish the conflict to come to a peaceful end and prefer to see it drag on longer. But reason calls for perseverance in diplomatic efforts with the aim of achieving a faster and less costly resolution to this conflict.

President Rouhani is a politician known to be a firm believer in dialogue and constructive engagement in international relations, and enjoys a solid base of support in Iran. He also has a clear past record of negotiations with the EU troika over the nuclear issue. With the election of this president, the logical expectation is that past policies, and the imposition of economic sanctions in particular, start to change and give way to more constructive relations and mutual respect. Continuing with the pressure track of these past years will strengthen the belief in a significant part of the Iranian public that the United States is not genuinely interested in resolving the conflict.

Recent presidential election: Using the limited opportunity that the Iranian electoral system provides the majority of the people of Iran have expressed their desire for genuine change in all aspects of politics, including the country's foreign policy, and ending the economic hardship that the policies of the previous government imposed on them. We believe that remaining indifferent to this change and continuing with the policies of the last decade, intensification of sanctions and further efforts to cut off Iran's ties to the international community and world markets, will lead a significant part of the people in Iran to doubt whether the Unites States is seriously interested in the diplomatic resolution of the conflict with Iran.

Economic sanctions: Economic sanctions have been the key factor in creating a situation in which the purchasing power of more than half of Iranian households has been significantly reduced over the last two years. The sanctions have adversely affected the manufacturing and export sectors of the Iranian economy and significantly reduced employment and investment in the civilian sectors such as automotive, steel, petrochemical industries and even the construction sector.

Mr President! All Iranian people, including the families of political prisoners and especially the low income groups, are suffering under the burden of rampant inflation and shortages of medical supplies and other basic necessities of life. The sanctions have now turned into a collective punishment imposed on the Iranian people as a whole, not the government only. The national economy has shrunk over the past couple of years and the strength of Iran as a nation-state is being reduced.

The practical outcome of the intensification of sanctions and failure in achieving a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict between Iran and the United States will be further polarization and deepening of animosities. This will further undermine regional and international security.

Continuing along this path, as intended by the proponents of the recent legislation in the US congress will lead to a de facto embargo of Iran which is the first step in declaring a real war. The Nuclear Iran Prevention Act (passed on 31 July 2013, four days before the inauguration of President Rouhani) is the most recent example of these efforts. In such a war, supporters of the cause of democracy in Iran, people like us, who have paid the price of our belief in civil and political rights and liberties with the suffering our families have had to endure and the years of our lives spent in prison, will defend the independence and territorial integrity of Iran. Opposing democrats and popular forces in Iran has been tried in the past by the United States in the 1953 coup d'état against the government of Mohammad Mossadeq, and as a politician well informed of that sixty-year story you know how that regime change effort in Iran has affected relations between our two countries to this day.

Mr Presisdent! We know and appreciate the fact that your administration has been pursuing a policy towards Iran that is both in form and content different from the policies advocated by some hard-line members of the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives. But we see at the same time that the practical results of such policies are reflected in legislation passed by the US congress that you have had to sign as part of larger deals with the republican controlled House related to tax exemptions and sequestration. The Iran Freedom And Counter-Proliferation Act, passed on 2 January 2013 and enacted fifteen days after the election of Iran's moderate president, is the most recent case.

Critical evaluation of the past: Perhaps it is prudent to critically evaluate the flawed policy of the Bush administration towards the government of President Khatami. In addition to complicating the nuclear issue that was much easier to resolve then, the outcome of that policy was strengthening a senselessly extremist political current in Iran and adding huge barriers to the resolution of the nuclear challenge. Today's impasse is, to a great extent, the outcome of that policy. An honest review of the turbulent past decade in the Middle East will make it easier to see that such a policy did not yield positive results. Adopting a failed approach will further complicate the situation and will make the resolution of the conflict even harder to achieve.

Some people might believe that sanctions will promote democratization in Iran. We disagree with such a view. We think democracy is the desired end of indigenous developments. But sanctions and imposing hardship on the people and putting pressure on a new government that is moving, within the limits of possibility offered by the larger political system in Iran, in the direction of strengthening democratic trends is not the right course of action. The outcome of such a policy will, once again, be aiding extremism in indirect ways and weakening the rekindled democratic movement in Iran.

Iran needs stability and hope in order to be able to tread its course towards moderation and democracy inside the country, and reducing tensions and constructive engagement in its foreign relations. The hope and enthusiasm that the presidential election brought about will crumble under the weight of the devastating effects of the sanctions on people's lives and the Iranian economy. The result will be radicalism and more constraints in domestic politics and dangerous prospects for regional security and International peace.

Imposing sanctions and unjustified hardship on the Iranian people and targeting the entire economy and the basic needs of the people violates the fundamental rights of our citizens. We believe that such actions are incongruent with universal human rights principles and the spirit of the US constitution and its amendments.

Mr. President! We believe it is time to replace sanctions with an effort to achieve a mutually acceptable resolution of the nuclear issue. To achieve such an end and given the chronic nature of the deep-rooted conflict, all sides concerned should strive for a dignified solution in which no party will be considered the loser. Such a solution should be based on genuinely addressing international concerns about Iran's nuclear program by the Iranian government on the one hand and acknowledging the legitimate rights of Iran to peaceful nuclear energy, in compliance with international legal standards, by the US and the West on the other.

We, therefore, urge your administration and the new government in Iran to employ all possible means to build trust and ensure the success of diplomacy. We also demand an end to resorting to measures, through legislation or otherwise, that endanger the prospects of fruitful negotiations, reduce the possibility of the effective lifting of sanctions and make impossible the achievement of a permanent solution for the nuclear issue. We believe such a course of action characterized by good will and serious intentions in achieving a negotiated end to the conflict will allow both sides to move towards a brighter future instead of remaining frozen in the dark past. We hope the opportunity created by the Iranian people and reflected in the electoral victory of President Rouhani will be seized appropriately by the United States. We also hope reciprocal good will and adoption of appropriate measures by the new government in Iran will open a new window of understanding and constructive engagement between Iran and the United States in a way that the interests of both nations will be better served.

Signatories

1. Mohsen Mirdamadi, chairman of the national security and foreign policy committee of the sixth Iranian parliament, general secretary of Iran's Islamic Participation Front

2. Mohsen Aminzadeh, deputy foreign minister under the reformist government of President Khatami

3. Mostafa Taajzaadeh, deputy minister of the interior under the reformist government of President Khatami

4. Faezeh Hashemi, Sixth Majles deputy and head of the Women's Sport Organization

5. Abolfazl Ghadyaani, political activist and senior member of the Islamic Revolution's Mojahedin Organization

6. Seyed Alireza Beheshti, former secretary of the cabinet and senior advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi

7. Alireza Rajaie, political activist (National-Religious Current) and secretary of the Iranian Journalists' Union

8. Abdollah Mo'meni, Spokesman of the Organization of Iranian University Graduates (Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat) and head of Mahdi Karroubi's Free Citizen election campaign

9. Mohammad Amin Hadavi, former member of the Representatives of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce

10. Feyzollah Arabsorkhi, deputy minister of commerce under the reformist government of President Khatami

11. Masood Pedram, political activist (National-Religious Current), political researcher

12. Mohammad Sadegh Rabbani Amlashi, former deputy chairman of Iran's Nuclear Energy Agency

13. Jiela Baniyaghoob, journalist and civil society activist

14. Narges Mohammadi, human rights activist and secretary of the Center for Defenders of Human Rights

15. Isa Saharkhiz, journalist and political activist

16. Bahman Ahmadi Amooyee, journalist

17. Keyvan Samimi, political activist (National-Religious Current) and journalist

18. Mehdi Mo'tamedi-Mehr, member of the political Bureau of Iran Liberation Movement

19. Emad Behavar, political activist and senior member of Iran Liberation Movement

20. Hasan Asadi Zeydabadi, senior human rights expert, member of the Organization of Iranian University Graduates (Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat)

21. Bahareh Hedayat, member of the central committee of Iran's Student Union (Tahkim-e Vahdat)

22. Omid Kowkabi, PhD graduate of nuclear physics from Texas University at Austin

23. Farshid Fathi, Christian pastor

24. Masood Bastani, journalist

25. Mehdi Mahmoodian, political activist

26. Mohammad Seddiq Kaboodvand, CEO, Kurdistan Human Rights Organization

27. Mehdi Tahaghoghi, political activist, university professor, member of the Islamic Revolution's Mojahedin Organization

28. Seyed Ahmad Hashemi, former director general under the reformist government or President Khatami

29. Siyavosh Hatam, senior member of Iran's Student Union (Tahkim-e Vahdat)

30. Mostafa Nili, student activist

31. Mostafa Badkoubeyee, poet and critic

32. Rahman Ghahramanpour, university professor and researcher at the Strategic Studies Center, Expediency Council

33. Hosein Ronaghi Maleki, human rights activist, critical blogger and member of the Countering Censorship in Iran

34. Abolfazl Abedini, human rights activist

35. Ali Khodabakhsh, press activist and former deputy Agriculture Jahad minister

36. Mehrdad Sarjooyee, journalist

37. Mohammad Hasan Yousefpour Seyfi, human rights and children's rights activist

38. Mehdi Khodayee, human rights activist

39. Mansoor Taghipour, human rights activist

40. Amin Chalaki, political activist

41. Alireza Seyedian, Christian pastor

42. Mostafa Bordbar, Christian convert

43. Ali Nazeri, Dentist, head of the Green Civil Society

44. Seyed Mahmood Bagheri, Teachers Guild activist

45. Mehdi Tajik, student activist and social protestor

46. Jafar Ganji, political activist

47. Ebrahim Banoli Zeydi, cultural activist and social protestor

48. Hosein Zarini, social protestor

49. Arash Saghar, journalist

50. Mostafa Rismanbaf, student activist and social protestor

51. Mohammad Ebrahimi, social protestor

52. Behzad Arabgol, social protestor

53. Kamiyar Parsa, university student and social protestor

54. Hamid Karvasi, social protestor

55. Nader Jani, social protestor