Mohammed-Reza Heydari was once proud of his job. His eight siblings all went into private business, but Heydari said he was proud of his work for the Iranian government. “I was helping others, not only myself and my family,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
At his last post at the Iranian Embassy in Norway, he helped Iranian citizens deal with the bureaucracy involved in expat life: he registered births, notarized divorce papers and issued passports. Iranian expatriates in Oslo said he is known for his diligence and willingness to help, reported the Journal.
The tide turned when Heydari counted ballots for the June 12 election. He counted 650 votes in Oslo, and 540 of them supported Mir-Hossain Mousavi. Heydari said other embassies reported a similar leaning towards President Ahmadi-nejad’s political rival.
“The will of the people was clear,” Heydari said. “I signed my name to the report saying it.”
But Heydari said his superiors pressured him to record results that favored Ahmadi-nejad. The Iranian embassy spokesman, Jamshid Parvisi, confirmed that Heydari supervised voting, but said he was not asked to change the results.
Heydari also alleges the head of the Iranian embassy in Oslo ordered him to watch filmed footage of protestors in front of the Oslo embassy. He was asked to identify them, since he had contact with many in the local community by virtue of his job.
Parvisi denied these allegations. He said there was only a small group of activists in front of the embassy. “There is no need to record them. We already know who they are,” the spokesman said.
In mid-July an embassy official showed Heydari a film of a protest and pointed out Heydari’s 17-year-old son. Heydari said the official threatened disciplinary action from Tehran if he couldn’t control his son’s support for the opposition movement.
Heydari said he supported his son’s activism and would not regret being fired over this butting of heads. He said his work and family life greatly stressed him by December.
“At dinner, we’d talk and [my eldest son would] tell me … [that] his friends saw me as the face of a repressive government,” Heydari said.
Finally, in reaction to the killing of protestors on Ashura December 27, Heydari resigned. “I couldn’t serve a government turning its guns not on its enemies but on its own people,” he said.
He was told to return to Tehran, so he and his wife began to pack.
A Norwegian TV reporter heard about Heydari’s resignation letter and published a piece called “The dissenting diplomat” on January 5. Two days later, Heydari said a four-man delegation came to Oslo to tell him that he would only be able to return home safely if he flew home with them and recanted his resignation on Iranian state TV.
Parvisi rejects that story. He said Heydari was told to return home since he finished his post, but Heydari asked to remain in Oslo. Heydari said he did not request to remain in Oslo.
Mrs. Heydari told her husband to be more neutral because she didn’t want to endanger relatives back in Iran. He told her it was too late to turn back and applied for asylum in Norway January 12. The Norwegian Immigration Directorate (UDI) granted Heydari and his family asylum. UDI has not explained why he was granted asylum as the details of individual cases are private.
Of 499 Iranians who sought asylum in Norway last year, 168 applications were accepted. If only a third of asylum applications are approved, one could assume Norway has fairly strict standards for accepting political refugees.
Now, the Oslo police accompany Heydari and his family 24 hours a day because Heydari said he received phone calls threatening his children’s safety.
Heydari said two of his brothers in Iran have been called in for questioning. He alleges the basij have vandalized his mother-in-law’s home in Esfahan. An Iranian official denies that the government has taken any action against Heydari’s relatives in Iran.
Mrs. Heydari said she is fighting with depression due to homesickness.
“We don’t ski. We don’t speak Norwegian,” she said. “I belong to Iran. But there is no road back there for now.”
Heydari is a little more optimistic about his mission in Oslo.
“I tell myself that if I went home quietly, then the government would be free to keep their crackdown going,” he said. “At least now, I have the option to talk, and talk loudly, to make sure everyone knows what is happening.”