Farhad Meysami, a longtime civil activist who protested the mandatory hijab, was released from prison on Friday, February 10th.

“The greatest power mankind has is non-violence.” This quote was written on the first page of Farhad Meysami’s latest book, which was a Persian translation of The Nonviolence Handbook, a Guide for Practical Action written by Dr. Michael Nagler—a famous scholar of non-violence and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Meysami dedicates this book to all activists who have suffered including prison and exile, dismissal, salary cuts, and all kinds of social exclusion.

Dr. Farhad Meysami is an Iranian doctor, teacher, translator, civil activist, and human rights defender. He was born in Tehran on November 17, 1969. He has spent two decades of his life extensively studying and practicing non-violence and human rights, social effort, and civil struggle.

His career focused on non-violence stands in stark contrast to his upbringing in a community where violence was ubiquitous.  “I grew up in a subculture where violence was not only a basic element, but also a valuable tool at my disposal. In terms of personality type, I was quite capable of raising it,” he said. He studied medicine at the University of Tehran after achieving a high rank in the national entrance exam in 1986.

Meysami preferred being a teacher over a doctor based on his own assessment of society’s basic priorities. After completing his general doctorate studies, he abandoned his pathology specialization course, and after some private teaching, he founded the Andisheh Sazan Cultural and Publishing Institute. The institution published a variety of books, including poems and novels, but became famous for its textbooks and classes to help students pass the university exam named “Conkor”.

He focused his activities on writing and publishing educational help books for thinkers and the institution’s management after a short teaching period. It was a unique record to publish more than six million books for entrance exam candidates. However, according to some of his friends, he did not abandon his civil activities during this period. As part of the institute’s work, he also organized programs such as tree planting and blood donation on the sidelines.

Closure of Andisheh Sazan 

Despite the financial success of Andisheh Sazan, Meysami made the decision to close the institute in 2005. Meysami stated that he was unsatisfied with the organization because its contributions were primarily limited to the entrance exam field rather than the cultural field. From the remaining income and capital of his institute, Dr. Meysami opened an office on “Enghelab” street to engage in cultural activities of his choice. During these meetings, he discussed philosophy, science, theater, and history in small groups.

Dr. Farhad Meysami also set up his home library here. His office was where he conducted research and communicated scientific and cultural information. Following the protests of 2009, he asked the prisoners to provide him with a list of books or the names of any books they wanted. On the first day of school, Meysami would visit the children with gifts of stationery, bags, and books, according to the family of one of these prisoners.

The question of whether or not government reform is achievable is fundamentally misplaced according to Dr. Meysami, and is intended to reverse the problem, since active reform is the product of a nation’s historical and unconquerable will that brings about change with its irresistible efforts. As part of the same framework, he supported the girls of Enghelab Street in their “non-violent civil activity.” 

As a result of his opposition to mandatory hijab, Meysami was arrested. 

The Ministry of Information agents arrested him after entering and searching Meysami’s office on July 31, 2018. The agents seized images with the text “I do not agree with the mandatory hijab” and “I object to the mandatory hijab,” several covers of the book “Small Actions of Standing”, and Mohammad Jaafar Puyandeh’s book “On Human Rights”. After his arrest, Meysami immediately began his hunger strike.

After 19 days, his mother and friends learned about his hunger strike. The first hunger strike of Farhad Meysami lasted for a long time. In protest against Reza Khandan’s arrest, the husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, and until his release, he announced a “dry food strike” in which he stopped drinking water and other beverages, on the 37th day of his strike. He also called for the cancellation of the summons, interrogation, and investigation of Zhila Makvandi and Davood Farhadpour. 

His dry hunger strike greatly worried his family and a group of activists. Numerous letters, statements, and requests were sent to try to dissuade him. Nasrin Sotoudeh, human rights activist and imprisoned lawyer, joined Meysami and refused to eat from September 3rd. His health and the dangers that threatened his life concerned many political, cultural, and civil figures. 2,222 doctors, publishers, academics, and graduates of the country expressed concern over Meysami’s health on September 29, 2018.

A Twitter storm of cyberspace users, which was carried out with the hashtag #Jan_Farhad, underscored people’s demands for his release, which were echoed by a UN rapporteur and Amnesty International. People across the world joined in expressing concern for Meysami’s wellbeing. 

Four American university professors (Francis Fukuyama, Larry Diamond, Michael McFaul, and Abbas Milani) published an article in the Washington Post newspaper on December 14th, urging citizens, activists, human rights organizations, and democratic governments in the world to speak to Iranian leaders.

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