Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, the representative of the Jewish community in the Iranian Parliament, unanimously rejects such claims. He is also a pharmacist and member of the Health Committee of Parliament.
In an exclusive interview with "Iran Daily" newspaper, Sameyah said, “If there is discrimination, it is positive discrimination,” meaning that there are special privileges for religious minorities including the Jews in Iran.
How old were you when the Islamic Revolution prevailed in 1979, and what were you doing back then? How much did you know about the revolution?
First of all, I should congratulate every Iranian on the victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. I hope the Islamic Republic of Iran will grow in power in the coming years and become one of the most successful countries in the world.
I was 12 years old and a senior in elementary school in 1979 when the revolution prevailed. So, I didn’t have much understanding of the entirety of the revolution, but I witnessed some protesting movements as much as my age allowed me. For example, I remember people chanting slogans; they would chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is Great) from the rooftops at night. Even I chanted this slogan from the rooftop of our own house. I remember my parents participating in the demonstrations against the former regime, and I remember hearing the news of nationwide strikes in Iran from my parents.
Have the religious minorities, including the Jewish community in Iran, always been involved in the revolution and supported it?
The religious minorities, just like the rest of Iranians, participated in demonstrations against the Shah and were present in various revolutionary events. Iran’s Jewish community has never considered itself separate from the body of Iran. We are just another group among 85 million Iranians. We have always declared our support for the majority and their thoughts, have supported the revolution, and have followed Imam Khomeini and the Leader of the revolution. We don’t see the revolution as something detached from ourselves.
During the 43 years that have passed since the revolution, were there any cases where the laws of the Islamic Republic created a restriction on your beliefs, rituals, or demands?
No. We have complete freedom to perform all of our religious rituals in Iran, thank God. Special Jewish schools are active. Our synagogues are open without a problem, and our children are being educated in our own religious studies without any limitation. We haven’t had any restrictions and have worked freely under the Iranian Constitution.
The problems that we have had were essentially similar to the problems that the rest of Iranians have had. The problems have not been exclusive to religious minorities. For instance, there is currently the problem of inflation in Iran. Every Iranian is dealing with this problem, not just one group or one sector. The problems are not connected to any religion or sect.
What have been some of the Islamic Republic’s achievements in the past 43 years?
Just like every other country in the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had some problems as well as some great achievements in various areas. One such achievement, which is remarkable, is in the realm of defense and the military industries. As a result of the Islamic Republic’s defensive power, Iran’s enemies have been afraid of invading Iran’s soil because they know that Iran is highly capable of responding. Iran has both fine defensive equipment and the support of its people.
Another area in which we have had decent accomplishments in these 43 years is health and medicine. I’m a pharmacist myself, and I’m aware of developments in this regard. We have achieved the technology of producing expensive and rare medications, and we do it here in Iran. We produce medications related to special diseases.
Our development in nanotechnology is another of our achievements in the past few years.
In order to develop industries, such as the automotive industry, as much as we have developed the defense and missile industries, we must have better planning and be reliant on ourselves, instead of on foreigners.
What measures should be taken for this to happen? How can our military successes be replicated in other sectors?
The most important measure, in my opinion, is to establish meritocracy. The government should believe in meritocracy, in practice, and make better use of the knowledge of experts and scientists. I believe that putting experts in positions of power will surely solve many of our problems.
It’s largely the Western media outlets and some politicians that claim religious minorities are being discriminated against in Iran. How do you respond to such claims?
We feel no discrimination. I even dare say if there is discrimination, it’s positive discrimination. It means that some privileges have been exclusively bestowed by the Islamic Republic on religious minorities. For example, since our community is smaller, Jewish schools can be convened with only five or six students, and the Ministry of Education provides teachers for them, even though it can’t allocate teachers to classes with less than 25 students by law. This is just one instance of these positive privileges.
You wrote a letter to then president of the United States, Barack Obama, in 2013. What was it about?
I wrote that letter when the nuclear negotiations had just begun. Benjamin Netanyahu, then prime minister of the Israeli regime, was making claims that the Iranian religious minorities do not enjoy their legal rights. I wrote to Obama that he should not listen to the likes of Netanyahu for gaining an understanding of Iran. In fact, in my letter to Obama, I wrote about some of the realities surrounding religious minorities in Iran, especially the Jewish-Iranian community. I reminded him that what Netanyahu says is completely incorrect, that the Jews enjoy legal rights in Iran and face no discrimination.
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