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Following are excerpts from an interview with Hossein Alizadeh an Iranian diplomat who defected in Finland. The interview aired on Al-Arabiya TV on October 2, 2010.
Hossein Alizadeh: When the presidential elections were rigged last year, and following the heinous crimes against the defenseless and innocent Iranians, I felt that I could no longer be part of the Iranian regime, and therefore, I defected from the regime of the Islamic Republic.
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I considered defecting a short while after the elections, but I thought that I had better remain within the regime, because as the No. 2 man in the Iranian embassy in Helsinki, I was privy to important information, which I could leak to the opposition and to the Green Movement. This is the reason I remained within the regime, in my position at the Iranian embassy in Helsinki. With time, I began to feel that I was in great danger, and so I defected.
We expect other Iranian diplomats to do the same thing. They should remain in their positions, wherever they may be, until they feel that they are in danger, and then they should defect. What is important to us is the leaking of information.
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We want to show to the world that the current Iranian regime does not represent the Iranian people. The Iranian people – including the most senior diplomats – support the Green Movement.
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