“ When they murder me, your film will become famous. » Herself an Iranian exile in Sweden, director Nahid Persson Sarvestani met Rouhollah Zam and documents in Son of Mullah his hard work and all the circumstances of his kidnapping and killing. A refugee in France, he was a feared opponent of the Iranian regime and long played a central role for all opponents. Through the merciless hunt for this Iranian “Salman Rushdie”, the film also makes us aware of the scale, violence and determination with which the Iranian regime pursues and assassinates its opponents, including abroad. . Interview.
RFI : You present your documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival (FIPADOC) in Biarritz Son of Mullah. When you started this film, you didn’t know the end of the story. At the very beginning, why did you want to do this project ?
Nahid Persson Sarvestani : It was in 2018, after the great popular protest movement in Iran, hunger riots. We, Iranian exiles, wanted to know what really happened in our country. The media in Europe did not give us the right information. For this, we looked at the social media of Iranian exiles, journalists, activists. There were a few channels, including Amad News from Rouhollah Zam. The latter was the son of a very important mullah, very close to the highest leaders of Iran, such as Ayatollah Khameini. How can a son of a mullah become an activist against the regime? Rouhollah Zam published new information every day, including many things that happened inside the regime. And everything he said was true. I wanted to understand where he got all his information from. This is how it all started.
Read alsoIran: execution of opponent Rouhollah Zam
You dedicate this film “ to Iranians around the world who are risking their lives to overthrow the Islamic regime “. So from the start, this film was much more than a film ?
Yes, because I am more than a filmmaker myself, I have also been an activist since the age of 17. I was among those who overthrew the Shah, the dictator, the king of Iran. We wanted democracy, equality, the same rights for women as for men. But our revolution was stolen by the Islamists. I became a filmmaker to tell people around the world what happened in my country. Later we understood that the US and UK helped Khomeini come to power, because for many Western countries it is more important to have cheap oil than to respect human rights. ‘man. When the new Islamic Republic came to power, they arrested people like me who wanted freedom and democracy. They arrested my father and my brothers, aged 15 and 17, and six months later, they executed one of my brothers.
Your film tells the story of Rouhollah Zam. Why did this son of a mullah become a bitter opponent? What was the turning point? ?
In 2009, he was part of a large protest movement in Iran. He was imprisoned and tortured because he demonstrated against the regime. When he got out of prison [grâce à l’intervention de son père, NDLR], he left Iran and started his activities. A very interesting change, because he could have led a luxurious life, like other children of mullahs abroad. Even in France, many of them live in luxury. But Rouhollah chose another path. He wanted democracy. He was with his people.
When he tells you in the film that he was the one who launched the 2017 protest movement from his small room in France, is he telling the truth? Did he have that much power?
He wasn’t alone, but he was angry. When Rouhollah was leaving prison, he promised to do everything to destroy the regime. And he had a lot of help. His friends inside the regime gave him a lot of documents. At the same time, many people did not trust him, because he was the son of a mullah. So he not only had problems with the regime, but also with the opposition.
Refugee in France, he continued to be persecuted by the Iranian regime, but he was also protected by the French police. Can we say that he was a kind of “ Salman Rushdie » Iranian ?
Yes, but unfortunately we have a lot of “Salman Rushdies” in our country. And Ruhollah was one of them. They tried to kill him several times, even in France. When I interviewed him in 2019, if he wanted to go buy something, for example a battery for his camera, he had to call the police 24 hours before. It was very hard for him. Even in France, he was like in a prison.
His big project was to transform his encrypted channel Amad News into a television channel. He had over a million subscribers. With his regular videos and scoops, he revealed the corruption and hypocrisy of religious and political leaders in Iran, published ultra-confidential information and shook the system. What role did Rouhollah Zam and Amad News have for the Iranian opposition ?
In Iran at the time, people trusted Amad News because its information was correct. Everything he said happened. For this they tried to kill him.
Zam was trapped by the services of the Revolutionary Guards. To raise money for his Amad News channel, he went to Iraq where he was kidnapped and executed in December 2020 in Tehran. What is his legacy today? ? Is there a link between her work and the Women, Life, Freedom movement after the death of Mahsa Amini ?
In my opinion, the Women, Life, Freedom movement has an even greater dimension than Zam’s work. Immediately after the Islamists took power, we already demonstrated against the regime and all the horrors committed by the regime against women. But if Zam were still alive today, we would have a greater chance of succeeding in our revolution, because he was very strong and could do many things.
But as soon as the regime sees that there is a person followed by the people, the regime will silence them, physically or in some other way. Before Son of the Mullah, I made another film about the Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, exiled in the United States. They try to kill her too, because she is very strong. But the most important thing is to know that the Iranian people are trying to do everything they can to destroy the regime. On the other hand, every time the Iranian people succeed in shaking the regime, European governments shake hands with the leaders of the Iranian regime to preserve economic relations with Iran.
There is a moment of hope in your film, when you show Rouhollah Zam’s daughter continuing her father’s fight.
Yes, his daughter is fantastic. At the same time, she is still a child, she is 20 years old. One day I met the Iranian ambassador to Sweden. He told me : ” Do you really think your films will change anything? “I think it is the responsibility of all of us in Europe to stop the Iranian regime from doing what it wants.
► FIPADOC, International Documentary Film Festival in Biarritz, from January 19 to 27, 2024