Faraj Sarkohi
Encyclopedia
Faraj Sarkohi (also: Faradj, Faradsch, und Sarkouhi, Sarkoohi, Sarkuhi) (* 3. November 1947 in Shiraz
) is an Iran
ian literature critic Literary criticism
and journalist
. He was cofounder and Editor in chief of the Iranian magazine Adineh.
Literature and social science in University of Tabriz
, participating in the group around Samad Behrangi
. He published Adineh, a students Magazine. He embarked in different activities against the Shah and wrote a number of dissident articles, which resulted in a three-month prison sentence in 1966 and another one-year sentence in 1967, followed by a final 15-year prison sentence in 1971. He was amnestied in 1978 just before the Islamic revolution, along with many other political prisoners.
, Sirus Alinejad, Golamhossein Zakeri and served as editor in chief from 1988 to 1996. Adineh became known as the most important, independent magazine for art, politics and culture in the 1980s and 90’s in Iran. In addition to being Adineh’s editor in chief he published many reviews and essays and interviewed some important figures of Iranian life, like Hossein Alizadeh
, Ahmad Shamlou, Hushang Golshiri, Alireza Espahbod, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
, Mehdi Bazargan
and Parviz Natel-Khanlari
.
Sarkohi took part in forming a commission which reassessed the written Persian language
and published the results in Adineh.
Sarkohi as a member of the “Commission of the eight” (the others were: Hushang Golshiri, Sima Kuban, Reza Baraheni
, Mohammad Mokhtari
, Mansour Kushan, Mohammad Mohammadali, Mohammad Khalili), took part in the origination of the text, and the collection of signatures.
Klaus Kinkel
wrote two letters to his Iranian colleague Ali Akbar Velayati
about Sarkohi), he was not executed, but sentenced to one year of prison. In conclusion, worldwide protest compelled the Iranian government to grant Sarkohi an exit permit when he was released in 1998.
According to some sources, Sarkohi’s imprisonment and its circumstances were associated with the Mykonos restaurant assassinations
case, which was tried in Berlin
at that time. Supposedly the Iranian regime tried to influence the trial to its benefit by capturing him.
. From 2000 to 2006 he was a scholarship holder of German P.E.N. Center’s “Writers in Exile” program.
He is an honorary member of P.E.N. Center Germany and since 2006, human rights commissary of the Center
He writes articles on Iranian culture and politics for German newspapers and magazines, like Die Zeit
, Süddeutsche Zeitung
and NZZ. In addition to this, he writes regular articles, reviews and essay for the Persian news portal Radio Farda
and for BBC Persian
Online.
.
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
) is an Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian literature critic Literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He was cofounder and Editor in chief of the Iranian magazine Adineh.
Early Life, Education and prison
Faraj Sarkohi went to school in Shiraz. He studied PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
Literature and social science in University of Tabriz
University of Tabriz
The University of Tabriz is a public university in Tabriz, Iran. It is the second-oldest university in Iran after the University of Tehran and the biggest academic institution in northwestern Iran and one of five biggest universities in Iran...
, participating in the group around Samad Behrangi
Samad Behrangi
Samad Behrangi was an Iranian teacher, social critic, folklorist, translator, and short story writer of Azeri extraction. He is famous for his children's book, The Little Black Fish.-Life:He was born in Tabriz to a lower-class Azerbaijani family...
. He published Adineh, a students Magazine. He embarked in different activities against the Shah and wrote a number of dissident articles, which resulted in a three-month prison sentence in 1966 and another one-year sentence in 1967, followed by a final 15-year prison sentence in 1971. He was amnestied in 1978 just before the Islamic revolution, along with many other political prisoners.
After the revolution
During the following time of relative political freedom, he went on to publish articles for the magazines Tehran Mossavar and Iran. When the Islamic regime started to suppress all dissident political forces and publications, Sarkohi was forced into retirement from public life.Adineh
He founded Adineh in 1985, together with Massoud BehnoudMassoud Behnoud
Massoud Behnoud, a prominent Iranian journalist, historian and writer, was born on July 27, 1947 in Tehran. He started his work as a journalist in 1964. During his long career he worked as an investigating journalist for different newspapers...
, Sirus Alinejad, Golamhossein Zakeri and served as editor in chief from 1988 to 1996. Adineh became known as the most important, independent magazine for art, politics and culture in the 1980s and 90’s in Iran. In addition to being Adineh’s editor in chief he published many reviews and essays and interviewed some important figures of Iranian life, like Hossein Alizadeh
Hossein Alizadeh
Hossein Alizadeh , is an Iranian composer, radif-preserver, researcher, teacher, and tar and setar instrumentalist and improviser, described by Allmusic as a leading Iranian classical composer and musician....
, Ahmad Shamlou, Hushang Golshiri, Alireza Espahbod, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Mahmoud Dowlatabadi is an Iranian writer and actor. He is known as a realist writer of stories of rural life, in which he largely draws on his own experiences.-Biography:...
, Mehdi Bazargan
Mehdi Bazargan
Mehdi Bazargan was a prominent Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government, making him Iran's first prime minister after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He was the head of the first engineering department of Tehran University...
and Parviz Natel-Khanlari
Parviz Natel-Khanlari
Parviz Natel Khanlari Mazandarni , Iranian literary scholar, linguist, author, researcher and professor at Tehran University.-Biography:...
.
Sarkohi took part in forming a commission which reassessed the written Persian language
and published the results in Adineh.
Writers Association
Sarkohi was influential in the reformation of the Iranian writers association since 1980. The association’s activities culminated in 1994, when an open letter was published, which later rose to fame as “Text of the 134”. In it, 134 renowned Iranian writers, poets, journalists and translators, demanded more freedom of speech in Iran.Sarkohi as a member of the “Commission of the eight” (the others were: Hushang Golshiri, Sima Kuban, Reza Baraheni
Reza Baraheni
Reza Baraheni is an exiled Iranian novelist, poet, critic, and political activist.Former president of PEN Canada, the often called "Iran's finest living Writer" lives in Toronto, Canada, where he used to teach at the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto.He’s the author of...
, Mohammad Mokhtari
Mohammad Mokhtari
Mohammad Mokhtari was an Iranian writer who was murdered on the outskirts of Tehran in the course of the Chain Murders of Iran. He left his residence at five o'clock in the afternoon of December 2 1998, reportedly to buy light bulbs on Jordan Boulevard in north Tehran...
, Mansour Kushan, Mohammad Mohammadali, Mohammad Khalili), took part in the origination of the text, and the collection of signatures.
Imprisonment and exile
Due to his function as editor in chief of Adineh, and his participation in the writers association, Sarkohi was exposed to continuous repression on the part of the regime and was imprisoned temporarily for a number of times. In 1996 he was kidnapped by the Iranian secret service (Vezarate Ettelaat Va Amniate Keshwar), while being on his way to visit his family in Germany. Iranian officials announced that Sarkohi had landed in Germany in good health. After 48 days of captivity and torture in an unknown place, he was released and forced to hold a press conference, announcing he had returned to Iran, after his trip to Europe. A few weeks later he was imprisoned again, under the accusation of having wanted to leave the country illegally. In between these two arrestments he had written a letter to his wife in Germany, which was later named “The Plaint of Faraj Sarkohi”. In it, he gave an account of the true circumstances of his imprisonment and the oppression of writers and intellectuals in Iran. Owing to the effort of his wife, international protests by numerous Human Rights Organisations, but also some western governments (for example German secretary of stateSecretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Klaus Kinkel
Klaus Kinkel
Klaus Kinkel is a German civil servant, lawyer, and politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party . He served as Federal Minister of Justice , Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the government of Helmut Kohl. He was also chairman of the liberal Free Democratic Party from 1993...
wrote two letters to his Iranian colleague Ali Akbar Velayati
Ali Akbar Velayati
Ali Akbar Velayati is an Iranian politician, academic and diplomat. He was the Foreign Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1997...
about Sarkohi), he was not executed, but sentenced to one year of prison. In conclusion, worldwide protest compelled the Iranian government to grant Sarkohi an exit permit when he was released in 1998.
According to some sources, Sarkohi’s imprisonment and its circumstances were associated with the Mykonos restaurant assassinations
Mykonos restaurant assassinations
In the Mykonos restaurant assassinations , Iranian-Kurdish opposition leaders Sadegh Sharafkandi, Fattah Abdoli, Homayoun Ardalan and their translator Nouri Dehkordi were assassinated at the Mykonos Greek restaurant in Berlin, Germany on 17 September 1992.In the Mykonos trial, the German court...
case, which was tried in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
at that time. Supposedly the Iranian regime tried to influence the trial to its benefit by capturing him.
Life in Germany
Sarkohi traveled to Germany, where he lodged as guest of the project “Cities of Refuge” in FrankfurtFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. From 2000 to 2006 he was a scholarship holder of German P.E.N. Center’s “Writers in Exile” program.
He is an honorary member of P.E.N. Center Germany and since 2006, human rights commissary of the Center
He writes articles on Iranian culture and politics for German newspapers and magazines, like Die Zeit
Die Zeit
Die Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...
and NZZ. In addition to this, he writes regular articles, reviews and essay for the Persian news portal Radio Farda
Radio Farda
Radio Farda is the Iranian Branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's broadcast services. It broadcasts 24 hours a day in the Persian language from its headquarters Prague, Czech Republic. Radio Farda first aired December 2002. Radio Farda broadcasts political, cultural, social, and art news...
and for BBC Persian
BBC Persian
BBC Persian is the Persian language radio station and TV operated by the BBC which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and the world. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom...
Online.
Work
- Naghshi az Rouzegar (“Sketch of fate”), 1990, publisher: Shiva, Teheran
- Shab-e dardmand-e arezumandi (“The painful night of waiting”), 1999, publisher: Baran, Stockholm
- Yas-o-das (“Lylac and Scythe”), 2002, publisher: Baran, Stockholm
- Das Gelb gereifter Zitronen ("The Yellow of ripe lemons”), in: Sinn und Form, iss.: 3/2001, publisher: Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin
Awards
- 1998: Kurt-Tucholsky-Prize for politically persecuted authors
- 1999: World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom AwardWorld Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom AwardThe Golden Pen of Freedom Award is an annual international journalism award established in 1961, given by the World Association of Newspapers to individuals or organisations. The stated purpose of the award is "to recognise the outstanding action, in writing or deed, of an individual, a group or an...
- 2000: World Press Freedom Hero 2000 (award by the International Press InstituteInternational Press InstituteInternational Press Institute is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. Founded in October 1950, the IPI has members in over 120 countries....
)
About Sarkohi
“Look Europe”, drama by Ghazi Rabihavi, direction and cooperation: Harold PinterHarold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
.