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CNN Live Event/Special

Interview With Reza Fazelli

Aired June 16, 2003 - 20:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Iranian leaders claim that exiles are using satellite broadcast to promote dissent inside Iran. You saw that in Jonathan Mann's piece. Reza Fazelli is station manager at Azadi Television, a Farsi-language satellite channel based in California. He's also the host of a daily program on the station. He joins us now from Los Angeles. Reza, thanks for being with us. There have been demonstrations in Tehran in the past. Why are these ones that have been going on for six nights now so different?
REZA FAZELLI, AZADI TELEVISION: First of all, it is seven nights. Thank you very much for having me on your show. But what is going on in Iran, the government of Iran wants to make -- and like every totalitarian government, they want to make something and they say we are not and the people who are doing this, who are doing that, America, they are blaming, the United States, they are blaming Western, they are blaming me. They don't want to know the whole problem is themselves.

COOPER: And what is it that the people -- a lot of them are young people. What is it that they are they demonstrating for? They want change. What kind of change?

FAZELLI: Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Right of speech. Right of living. Right of work. Right of what to wear. They are in a prison. I speak with the Iranian between four to six hours a day from United States with a cell phone to different part of Iran from south to north. They don't want anything. They want a free election, and they're seeking for help to have ...

COOPER: Do you believe they will be successful? Do you think soon sometime in -- and if you do believe successful, what kind of time do you think we're talking about for real change?

FAZELLI: The real change, I mentioned a few days ago in my other interview, I said this is a fact. Clergy people and cleric government of Iran, they don't see the dome (ph) of 2004. The reason is not me, is not the United States, it is themselves. They are the people who hurt -- in Iran, the people -- they're selling their kidney to feed their children.

COOPER: You think by 2004 ...

(CROSSTALK)

FAZELLI: I said, end of this year, they are finished, definitely. That's the latest. That's the latest. COOPER: All right, we're going to leave it there. Reza Fazelli, appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.

FAZELLI: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 16, 2003 - 20:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Iranian leaders claim that exiles are using satellite broadcast to promote dissent inside Iran. You saw that in Jonathan Mann's piece. Reza Fazelli is station manager at Azadi Television, a Farsi-language satellite channel based in California. He's also the host of a daily program on the station. He joins us now from Los Angeles. Reza, thanks for being with us. There have been demonstrations in Tehran in the past. Why are these ones that have been going on for six nights now so different?
REZA FAZELLI, AZADI TELEVISION: First of all, it is seven nights. Thank you very much for having me on your show. But what is going on in Iran, the government of Iran wants to make -- and like every totalitarian government, they want to make something and they say we are not and the people who are doing this, who are doing that, America, they are blaming, the United States, they are blaming Western, they are blaming me. They don't want to know the whole problem is themselves.

COOPER: And what is it that the people -- a lot of them are young people. What is it that they are they demonstrating for? They want change. What kind of change?

FAZELLI: Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Right of speech. Right of living. Right of work. Right of what to wear. They are in a prison. I speak with the Iranian between four to six hours a day from United States with a cell phone to different part of Iran from south to north. They don't want anything. They want a free election, and they're seeking for help to have ...

COOPER: Do you believe they will be successful? Do you think soon sometime in -- and if you do believe successful, what kind of time do you think we're talking about for real change?

FAZELLI: The real change, I mentioned a few days ago in my other interview, I said this is a fact. Clergy people and cleric government of Iran, they don't see the dome (ph) of 2004. The reason is not me, is not the United States, it is themselves. They are the people who hurt -- in Iran, the people -- they're selling their kidney to feed their children.

COOPER: You think by 2004 ...

(CROSSTALK)

FAZELLI: I said, end of this year, they are finished, definitely. That's the latest. That's the latest. COOPER: All right, we're going to leave it there. Reza Fazelli, appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.

FAZELLI: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com