Iran in the 80's and Today

Jafar Yaghoobi was born in Iran and raised with 12 other siblings in a large Azari family. Azari people are considered a minority population in Iran. Jafar received a bachelor degree in Iran and then moved to the United States were he earned a doctorate degree in genetics from U.C. Davis in 1979. While at Davis, he met his wife, Ketty. During his studies at Davis, Jafar became involved with the Iranian student movement and participated in activities against the dictatorial regime of the Shah.

As he was finishing his PhD program in 1979, the revolution had toppled the Shah. So Jafar returned to Iran with he wife with the hope of being part of a great historical moment and help with the transformation and reconstruction of the country. But he soon realized that the mullahs had already hijacked the revolution and were heading towards a theocracy. Jafar joined a left opposition group to fight the new authoritarian regime. As a result of his opposition, he was arrested and sent to prison for some five years. His wife and young daughter settled in the U.S. and later Europe while he was in prison. He was released in 1989.

Jafar and his family returned to the U.S. in 1990 where he eventually found a position back at UCD as a genetics and molecular biology research scientist while his wife pursued a PhD in epidemiology. He retired in 2005 to focus on the promise he made to himself in prison that if he survived he would let the world know what happened to political prisoners in Iran. The result was the publishing of a book titled: “let us water the flowers; The Memoir of a Political Prisoner in Iran”. Recently, as an educator and Middle East politics analyst, he has focused his attention on educating the U.S. public regarding the current events in the Middle East and the U.S. foreign policy in the region.