The Trial of Dehbashi for Historiography
Hossein Dehbashi, a historian and researcher whose oral history works have always been well-received by audiences, announced his conviction and not that of the National Library publisher and the Ministry of Culture to six months of imprisonment and the preparation of an eighty-page research booklet critiquing and challenging the monarchical system. He did this by publishing the court’s verdict and its attachments, including a letter from the Leader’s office, which ordered action against the publisher and the legal authority that issued the permits for Dehbashi’s oral history book series.
However, a noteworthy point is why, after about three years since this process and the Ministry of Intelligence’s directive, they remembered to file a complaint.
In any case, such coercive actions against cultural figures will have the opposite and non-cultural results.
History is essentially an unchangeable phenomenon that no authority or power can ultimately combat. Simply because some people in power dislike parts of it, it cannot be altered to suit the preferences of any individual or powerful authority.
Governments seek to change history to their liking, and historians pay the price for these rulers’ desires.
If only those in power would read history for lessons, not for power.
History denies stability – Fernando Pessoa