Iranian blogger OnlyMehdi has been the fiercest cyber-opponent since protests began. His father, a journalist, is currently jailed in Iran; he is an activist, flooding the Net, from New Jersey, under thousands of videos made in Tehran. Here is his first published interview carried out by the editorial department of StreetPress,

First of all Mehdi, could you please introduce yourself?

My name is Mehdi Saharkhiz. I am 28 year old and work as a graphic designer in New Jersey. People know me through my blog under my pen-name OnlyMehdi and et mes chaînes Youtube my Youtube chains. I was born in Iran but spent my teens in the US. I went back to Iran to get married 6 years ago and have been since then working in the US.

When did you begin posting videos on Youtube ?

I think it began during the night when they attacked Tehran University dormitories (June 14^th to 15^th 2009, 5 students were killed by Iranian authorities in University dormitories).  On that day, behind my screen, I saw these youngsters being really filthily beaten. And I wanted to act, to go inside and help. From here, I cannot imagine any other way to help them but by communication.

Precisely, what are your means of communication?

I am on YouTube, Twitter and have several blogs… My main blog has 300.000 visits per month and my videos were seen 3.4 Millions times in the last 6 months. After each protest in Iran, I rank in top 5 of YouTube most seen chains in the world.

In addition, main international media often echo you?

Yes they do, and it is very important that they do. They have the greatest impact, much more that YouTube.

How long does it take to run a press agency on the Web?

24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

As far as your job is concerned, does your employer grant you holiday?

Not at all! (laughs) But let’s say they rather understand.

Before that, did you have any knowledge in communication?

I worked with an Iranian newspaper…. But as a graphic designer! Then, I have no real knowledge in this field.

How do you obtain all these videos?

It is rather simple. Most frequently, a web surfer sends me a video from Tehran directly by email. Or he sends me a link to his video already uploaded on a platform like Easyshare. Otherwise, I search the Internet for already online videos on other sites and I put them on my YouTube account.

As far as your sources are concerned, aren’t they restricted, you don’t know these people…

I have anyway direct contacts among people sending me videos. The first ones coming to me, I have known them before. But with the time, their number has tripled since the election; I then do not know everybody.

What sort of profile these people sending you video have?

Excited youngsters (laughs). But the range has widenied recently, several classes are now present, people in their forties and mainly people living in other cities than Tehran.

And Tehran allows that?

It is not that easy. The problem is that connection is heavily slowed down by tons of filters. Hence a lot of mess to upload videos from Iran. But the users are more and more clever. They have learnt how to bypass filters.

Are your videos accessible in Iran?

Yes, many of them are seen from Iran, since, as I was just telling you, people know how to bypass filters slowing YouTube down. But the problem is propaganda around it. The government says that we work for foreign governments. Today, for instance, they announced that the film where a police truck is seen being put upside down is a fake one.

It is also written on the Internet that you are an agent for Mossad or CIA, is it true?

Of course I am! (laughs) I am working for them everyday! Don’t write that down, they may take it seriously! Anyway, I am not even an American citizen; to work with them I think that it is a prerequisite, isn’t it? Regarding Moozad, I don’t know who he is!

Well, Mossad are Israeli secret services…

So stupid as an explanation. If you wish, I can show you my banking account so you can see that I didn’t receive any money from secret services. It is only because Ahmadinejad has nothing else to tell.

What about Iranian services, did they try to hack you?

Yes they did, many times! For instance, they entered my Facebook account to collect info. But I informed Facebook and they have implemented more drastic securities since that time. Another example, in the middle of protests, my videos were being “tagged as illegal” on YouTube. And hence, my account was disappearing in less than one hour.

They could destroy your blogs?

No, they can’t; it is impossible to destroy my blogs or my YouTube account. What they do is adding filters to slow them down.

Do you have privileged contacts with YouTube?

I have to tell that YouTube has been just terrific with me during last 6 months!

It doesn’t go up to phone call, everything is done via email. Their response time is simply incredible. As soon as a problem occurs, they fix it in 5 minutes, really.

How people at YouTube help you?

They allowed me to show without restrictions videos showing death (for “shocking” videos, YouTube normally restrict access to persons over 18 years of age and having a YouTube account). They manage these videos to remain on home-page.

Don’t you fear consequences for your family in Iran?

I think that, anyway, they would have hurt my family in Iran. My father (famous dissident journalist Isa Saharkhiz) has already been in jail for 180 days of which 70 days in solitary. During his arrest, they broke two of his ribs.

Today, you have become a symbol for cyber-contestating…

Yes I have, but I am only the visible part of iceberg. I am a person stepping forward because my father is famous. But in fact, the whole Diaspora is doing the same job. We form a real network with thousands of little teams everywhere in the world. For instance, we are a team of around ten persons behind my account.

How are you organized?

We exchange as much as possible our videos between bloggers and YouTube chains. Even if one of the accounts is cut, the flow of information never stops. We allow each other to upload videos on the others’ chains. That way, chains are permanently updated.

That is the reason why some people say that there is one single person behind all these groups?

Yes it is. When Americans are sleeping, Iranians living in Europe send videos on all our YouTube accounts. There is always somebody. The same video can be seen on all chains, which is a guarantee for a larger audience.

You think that your work is essential to keep Iranian informed?

If you look at the videos, you will see that there are always 7 or 8 persons filming at the same time. In fact, there are thousands videos which are never posted on the Internet but that are exchanged between people in Iran. That is the most important point. Whenever I speak with somebody in Iran of a video I received, they already know it there.

Interview: StreetPress