The Washington Post - 28.08.2019

A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 , 2019

BY ERIN CUNNINGHAM

istanbul — A veteran Iranian

journalist is claiming asylum in

Sweden after traveling there with

Iran’s foreign minister, then flee-

ing his government detail in what

he says was a daring escape.

Amir Tohid Fazel, an editor at a

conservative news agency, had ac-

companied Foreign Minister Mo-

hammad Javad Zarif to Europe

when he fled his hotel in Stock-

holm on Aug. 21, slipping out for a

cigarette break and then dashing

away on foot.

Fazel described the getaway in

an interview with Sweden’s public

broadcaster Monday, saying that

surprise circumstances had

forced him to flee. According to

Fazel, he was traveling with Zarif

when a colleague messaged him to

say that plainclothes police had

arrived at their agency’s offices in

Tehran. The officers were carrying

an arrest warrant for Fazel, he

said.

“My colleague wanted me to tell

my family, because he knew that I

was not in Iran, so that they could

leave the home,” he said in the inter-

view, which the network said was

conducted in a secret location.

He couldn’t sleep, he said, and

eventually decided to flee last

Wednesday, just after breakfast

and before Zarif planned to speak

at the Stockholm International

Peace Research Institute, a local

think tank.

He ran for blocks before chang-

ing his clothes, ditching his SIM

card and hailing a taxi to the near-

est police station, he said. Now,

Fazel, whose career has spanned

decades and who has also been

linked to Iran’s conservative hard-

liners, is under fire from all sides.

Iran, according to press

freedom group Reporters Without

Borders, is one of the world’s most

repressive countries for journal-

ists. According to the Paris-based

organization, Iran’s govern-

ment “exercises extensive control

over the media landscape” and

more than 800 journalists have

been imprisoned or executed

since 1979, when the Islamic re-

public was founded.

The news agency Fazel worked

for — Moj — is tied to a former

minister for ex-president Mah-

moud Ahmadinejad, a conserva-

tive firebrand. And some of his

fellow journalists say that he co-

zied up to powerful hard-liners,

including in the security services.

A Facebook page that includes

his name and photograph show

images of him interviewing senior

figures in Iran’s government, in-

cluding Ahmadinejad and senior

Iranian commanders.

Fazel, who also once worked for

Iran’s official news agency, IRNA,

traces his troubles to earlier this

year — when he helped publish a

list allegedly naming the members

of President Hassan Rouhani’s

government who have dual citi-

zenship. It was an issue hard-line

opponents of Rouhani, who is a

moderate, wanted to use to por-

tray the president and his cabinet

as potential traitors. They oppose

his government’s push for dia-

logue with the West and were criti-

cal of the nuclear deal Rouhani

and Zarif helped negotiate with

world powers in 2015.

Fazel said in his interview with

Swedish television that a member

of Iran’s parliament had leaked

him the list of alleged dual nation-

als and that the report probably

put him in the crosshairs.

On Tuesday, the hard-line Kay-

han newspaper, which is linked to

Iran’s powerful supreme leader,

called Fazel’s move to claim asylum

a “betrayal.” It also described him as

having ties to Iran’s pro-reform

journalists and political figures.

“Everyone can decide for him-

self. No one knows what will hap-

pen in the future,” Fazel wrote on

Twitter this week, in defense of his

decision to defect.

In his interview Monday, he

said that his wife, who is a school-

teacher, has already lost her job.

“I don’t know what will happen

to them,” he said of his family.

[email protected]

Iranian

journalist

seeks asylum

in Sweden

BY ERIN CUNNINGHAM

istanbul — Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday
dashed hopes of a potential meet-
ing with his U.S. counterpart in
the near future, saying the United
States should lift all sanctions be-
fore Iran agrees to talks.
Rouhani’s remarks came just
one day after he had signaled an
apparent willingness to meet with
President Trump, urging Iranians

to support diplomacy to resolve

their country’s crises.

“We will not witness any posi-

tive development unless the Unit-

ed States abandons its sanctions

and corrects the wrong path it has

chosen,” Rouhani said Tuesday.

The Trump administration re-

imposed sanctions on Iran in the

fall, after withdrawing from the

nuclear pact that Iran struck with

the United States and other world

powers in 2015.

At the Group of Seven summit

in the French resort town of Biar-

ritz on Monday, Trump raised the

prospect of meeting Rouhani,

whom he called a “great negotia-

tor.” His comments followed a flur-

ry of diplomacy engineered by

French President Emmanuel Ma-

cron, who has sought to mediate

between Iran and the United

States.

But Tuesday the chances of a

Trump-Rouhani summit ap-

peared less likely, with Iranian

Foreign Minister Mohammad Ja-

vad Zarif calling the idea “un-

imaginable.”

Hard-line opponents of Rou-

hani and Zarif, both moderates,

were critical of the push for diplo-

macy in recent days. While Rou-

hani has some influence over do-

mestic and foreign affairs, the fi-

nal say on all matters of the state

lies with Iran’s supreme leader,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is

wary of negotiating with the West.

“A meeting between Rouhani

and Trump is unimaginable,” Zarif

told reporters Tuesday, according

to the state-run Islamic Republic

News Agency.

“What American and French of-

ficials say concerns themselves,”

he said. “But I told them in Biarritz

that no meeting will be held.”

Rouhani said Tuesday that

without any concrete moves from

Washington, a summit would be

nothing more than a photo op.

“We’re not interested in photos.

If someone wants to have their

photo taken with Hassan Rou-

hani, it’s not possible,” he said in a

televised address.

On Monday, Rouhani, in an ap-

parent reference to Trump, had

said that if he knew “going to a

meeting and visiting a person

would help my country’s develop-

ment... I would not miss it.”

[email protected]

Iran’s Rouhani rejects Trump talks unless U.S. sanctions are lifted

BY MARINA LOPES

AND TERRENCE MCCOY

sao paulo, brazil — President
Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday he
might revisit his country’s rejec-
tion of a $22.2 million package
from the Group of Seven nations
to help fight fires spiking across
the Amazon rainforest.
But he made clear any consid-
eration of the aid remained tied
up in his dispute with French
President Emmanuel Macron —
even as officials in the fire-strick-
en regions spoke of negotiating
directly with other countries for
help.
Bolsonaro said he wouldn’t
make a final decision until Ma-
cron apologized for remarks that
Bolsonaro considered a challenge
to his credibility.
“Before speaking or accepting
anything from France, even if it
comes from the best possible in-
tentions, he must retract his
words,” he told journalists Tues-
day. “Then we can talk.”
His comments were the latest
escalation of the feud between
the two leaders while the world’s
most precious rainforest burns.
Macron threatened last week
to block a free-trade agreement
between the European Union and
South America, saying Bolsonaro
had lied to him about his commit-
ment to the environment. Over
the weekend, Bolsonaro mocked
the appearance of Macron’s wife.
Brazil’s ambassador to France
told national television early
Tuesday that the country would
reject the G-7 offer because it had
not been included in the decision-
making process. Bolsonaro — a
climate change skeptic — has
accused the donors of a “colonial
mentality.”
“We cannot accept that a Presi-
dent, Macron, issues inappropri-
ate and gratuitous attacks against
the Amazon,” he tweeted. “Nor
that he disguises his intentions
behind an ‘alliance’ of the G-
countries to ‘save’ the Amazon.”
Brazil has long been wary of
foreigners’ interest in the rainfor-
est.
Macron said Monday an inter-
national statute protecting the
Amazon would be “a real possibil-
ity if a sovereign state took con-
crete actions that clearly went
against the interest of the planet.”

Bolsonaro’s administration ap-

peared split on whether to accept

the G-7 offer. His environmental

minister said Monday he wel-

comed the aid.

“I think we need to aggregate

as many tools as possible to re-

solve this,” Environment Minister

Ricardo Salles said on Brazilian

television.

Governors in the Amazon said

they were willing to bypass Bra-

zil’s federal government and ne-

gotiate directly with Europe.

“We cannot be without these

resources,” Wilson Lima, the gov-

ernor of Amazonas state, told the

newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

But Foreign Minister Ernesto

Araújo urged countries to chan-

nel aid through the U.N. Frame-

work Convention on Climate

Change instead of creating new

initiatives.

“It is very clear that some polit-

ical channels are trying to extrap-

olate real environmental con-

cerns and use them in a fabricat-

ed ‘crisis’ as a pretext to introduce

mechanisms for foreign control

of the Amazon,” he tweeted.

Bolsonaro has been open to

support from some countries. He

accepted an offer from Israeli

Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-

yahu to send Israeli airplanes and

pilots experienced in fighting

fires. President Trump has said

the United States is ready to help.

Bolsonaro said Tuesday he

planned to meet with Colombian

President Iván Duque to “develop

a joint plan that respects our

sovereignty and development.”

Bolivian President Evo Mo-

rales, meanwhile, suggested the

international commitment

wasn’t enough.

“I appreciate this small, small,

very small contribution of the

G-7,” he told Pan-American Radio.

“That is not aid, it is part of a

shared responsibility, of which we

all have an obligation.”

Bolsonaro, trying to lift his

country out of years of economic

stagnation, campaigned for presi-

dent last year on promises to

open the Amazon to develop-

ment. Since his inauguration in

January, deforestation and fires

— many of them started by farm-

ers and loggers to clear land —

have surged.

The number of blazes in the

Amazon states has risen by more

than 75 percent this year, and the

rate at which they’re scorching

the earth has doubled.

The Amazon — 2.12 million

square miles across Brazil, Peru,

Bolivia, Colombia and other

countries — serves as a key de-

fense against climate change. It

takes in 25 percent of the carbon

dioxide absorbed by the world’s

forests.

But scientists warn that defor-

estation is approaching a tipping

point — between 20 percent and

25 percent — when the damage

could be irreversible, and large

swaths could transform into sa-

vanna.

Earlier this month, Germany

and Norway cut a combined

$72 million in aid to the Amazon

after Bolsonaro said he would

give some of the money to cattle

and soy farmers.

The fires have become Bolson-

aro’s biggest international and

domestic crisis since taking of-

fice. Macron has threatened to

block the long-negotiated Merco-

sur-E.U. trade deal over Bolson-

aro’s Amazon policies, and polls

show support for Bolsonaro and

his government is slipping.

A meeting between Bolsonaro

and governors of the Amazon

states Tuesday revealed divisions

among the officials. Some gover-

nors joined the president in ac-

cusing Macron of using the fires

to violate Brazil’s sovereignty.

Some cited mounting unemploy-

ment rates and asked for looser

regulations to stimulate the econ-

omy.

“It is possible to use resources

in a sustainable way that respects

the environment, but in a way

that allows our people and our

country to grow,” said Antonio

Denarium, governor of Roraima

state.

Bolsonaro blamed internation-

al interference for hampering

growth in the region.

“A large part of the money

comes from outside Brazil, and

that has a price,” he said. He noted

the demarcation of indigenous

lands and protected areas.

“Indians don’t lobby, they don’t

speak our language, but they are

able to get 14 percent of our

national territory,” he said.

But several governors pleaded

with Bolsonaro to reconcile with

the international community.

“If Brazil isolates itself interna-

tionally, it exposes itself to very

serious sanctions,” said Flávio

Dino, the governor of Maranhao

state. “A defense of Brazilian sov-

ereignty, a defense of Brazilian

business demands dialogue with

other countries.”

He urged the administration to

accept aid offered to Brazil.

Analysts said Brazil’s ambiva-

lence about the G-7 offer, as it

welcomes overtures by the Unit-

ed States and Israel, shows how

rising nationalism is increasingly

hindering international respons-

es to global challenges such as

climate change.

“This new polarization be-

tween nationalism and globalism

is playing out in a Brazilian way

the same way it’s playing in the

U.S. and in Europe,” said Mauri-

cio Santoro, a professor of inter-

national relations at the State

University of Rio de Janeiro.

In Rio de Janeiro, where a

majority voted for Bolsonaro in

last year’s presidential election,

some were reconsidering that

choice Tuesday.

Valerie Ottoni, a security work-

er at the Santos Dumont Airport,

said she voted for Bolsonaro be-

cause he seemed willing to take

on the corruption and crime

plaguing the country.

“He appeared like a hero to

Brazil, but now we’re thinking of

all the things he’s doing,” said

Ottoni, 51. “We shouldn’t be

closed to international alarms.

We’re not stupid. This will be

difficult for him to take this deci-

sion.”

Others were sure Bolsonaro

knew what was best for the Ama-

zon and Brazil. Some perceived

ulterior motives in the G-7 offer.

“It’s not to help,” said Fabiama

Lobo, 39, who works at a jewelry

store. “It’s to get the forest’s re-

sources.”

Micheul Feliciano, 30, agreed

that other countries covet the

Amazon. But he didn’t think it

should stop Bolsonaro from ac-

cepting aid — not with the stakes

this high.

“The forest is more important

than all of this,” he said.

[email protected]

[email protected]

McCoy reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Bolsonaro might accept G-7 aid for Amazon

UESLEI MARCELINO/REUTERS

Smoke rises over a deforested plot of the Amazon jungle Aug. 27 in Porto Velho, Brazil. Group of Seven nations offered a $22.2 million aid package to help fight fires spiking
across the rainforest. The Amazon — 2.12 million square miles across Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and other countries — serves as a key defense against climate change.

Brazil’s president says he

will not decide until

Macron apologizes

MARCOS CORREA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appears with Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni, left, and Defense

Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva, right, at the meeting with the governors on Aug. 27.

“Before speaking or

accepting anything from

France... he must

retract his words.”

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro