"The people of Iran will accept your rule no more," writes Afshin Ellian in an open letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The professor of law in exile demands that Iran's religious leader allow democratic change -- and suggests that South Africa could offer valuable lessons.

To His Excellency Ayatollah Said Ali Khamenei,

A year before the Iranian Revolution, a member of my family had the great privilege of praying beside you. Later, during the revolution, this anecdote became a source of great pride within our family. This relative of mine had prayed with you and yet he, like myself, was forced to go into hiding soon after the revolution.
Excellency, we had not committed any crime. We merely disagreed with the repressive measures instituted by Imam Khomeini -- and that had become a punishable offence.

I was not even 18 years old when I was forced to flee my own country. Against all the hopes of those of us who participated in the Islamic revolution, the revolution enacted a system of political violence which created an unprecedented flood of political refugees and led to the murder of thousands by a regime which claimed to liberate them from tyranny. In the 1980s, thousands of Iranians, who fought with you against the Shah, were executed, convicted by revolutionary tribunals, without legal representation, with no official charge. Among those killed were two members of my own family. One is buried in a mass grave. In 1988, in the space of a few weeks, thousands of political prisoners were given a summary hearing, slain and thrown into anonymous graves on the orders of Imam Khomeini.

The prisoners were asked three questions: Are you a Muslim? Did you pray this morning? And have you told us everything about your friends, so that we can assume that you will now adhere to our Shariah laws? Thousands gave the wrong answer to one or more of these questions. As a result, they now lie buried together in a huge mass grave at Khavaran in the desert outside Teheran. Continued here.....