Mehdi Sahraian - Activism

Activism

At the University of Innsbruck in Austria, Sahraian founded a student organisation targeting the establishment of democracy and political freedom in Iran. On his return to Iran in 1970, he was imprisoned by SAVAK, the political secret service of the Shah.

In 1996, due to the open policies of President Khatami, Sahraian renewed his efforts to encourage comprehensive social and economic reform. Sahraian gathered Iranian parliamentarians, intellectuals, economists, moderate politicians, journalists, and a number of the leading elites, in an academy, a meeting point for opinion-exchange for those seeking reform. The subjects to be researched by the gathered elites were agreed as follows:

• the common immediate social issues of Iranian society
• acute rural economy problems subject to immediate reform
• peaceful restoration of human rights with special emphasis on the economic security of the private household
• convincing the political leaders of the necessity of reform on women rights toward providing the Iranian women with equal opportunity
• the critical issue; the increased growth of suburbia and annual growth of the marginal population of the large cities
• the creation of incentives to the marginalized population for encouraging migration back to rural regions

In early 2001, the academy presented about 63 reform bills, which were favorably received by President Khatami.

Currently Sahraian serves as chairman of the Young Elite's academy and leads the Iran Poverty Movement.