In January 2010, an article appeared in the
Bangkok Post describing Madhi as a former officer in the
Revolutionary Guards' intelligence service who "was forced to flee Iran in 2008 after being jailed for 73 years on what he described as "trivial" charges," and who had been "in regular contact with the opposition
Green Path of Hope group" since he left Iran. The article, by one Maximilian Wechsler, quoted Madhi as saying that he supports Iranians' right to protest peacefully against the government, and that both President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah
Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi were "crazy." The article, however, was called into question. Laura Rozen, writing in Politico.com, could find no references to Madhi being a former Iran intelligence chief other than "those generated by the article itself;" and author Maximilian Wechsler, was "a former documented Czech-Australian double agent and informant." Another doubter, Golnaz Esfandiari of rferl.org, (writing after the release of the infiltration documentary) stated that RFE/RL's Persian service, Radio Farda, spoke with Madhi in early 2010 "but decided not to air any interviews because the editors felt Madhi was not credible and they were not able to verify his many claims." According to Madhi,
Western countries have spent huge sums of money to keep the Iranian opposition alive, and former Iranian diplomat
Mehrdad Khonsari, was involved in the efforts to create an Iranian government in exile. ==See also==