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Radio Farda and Iranian opposition’s rally in Paris

Pooya Javid - 7/16/2008

On the morning of June 28, 2008, this news article appeared on Radio Farda’s Persian-language web page: “Polish Students in the rally of People’s Mojahedin Organization”.

The article quoted a Polish paper as saying that “few thousand” Polish students have been bused into Paris for free for three days of R&R with the condition that they take part in a political rally. One student who was interviewed, though, points to the fact that he is going to the rally and is aware of its sponsor.

A few minutes after reading this article, I sat down to watch the Paris rally live via satellite television. The rally, truly dubbed the largest gathering of Iranians abroad, had attracted tens of thousands of Iranians and non-Iranians from Europe, North America, Australia, and the Middle East.

In the subsequent hours and days after the rally, I visited Radio Farda’s web site several times to see their coverage of the rally. Interestingly enough, but not surprisingly, the only “coverage” they had was that of Polish students bused into Paris.

Radio Farda has a track record of appeasing the rulers of Iran and undermining their opposition. Amazingly, this Radio service is paid for by American tax dollars. Whether a few, or many, Polish students joined the massive crowd in Paris on June 28th, only reflects the fact that Iranian opposition has far reaching arms and many non-Iranians have embraced it and joined its cause.

Radio Farda, however, clearly has an agenda in its news reports. One wonders if Radio Farda is an institution of the US government, or of the Iranian government?