He was arrested by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, in the early 1970s for his political activities, and following the 1976 Asian Championship, he was quietly pushed out of the national team setup. After the Revolution, Ghelichkhani chose not to return. Instead, he settled in France, where he embarked on a new chapter as a political and cultural thinker. In Paris, he founded and edited Arash, a Persian-language political and cultural journal. Through Arash, Ghelichkhani became a respected voice in the diaspora, promoting democracy, social justice, and cultural dialogue.
After leaving in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution, Ghelichkhani settled in Paris, where he distanced himself from both the monarchy and the new Islamic Republic. He didn’t align himself with any dominant political party in exile but remained firmly leftist, secular, and democratic in his values. From 1991 to 2014, he edited and published the independent Persian-language quarterly “Arash”, named after the mythical archer. His commitment to freedom of expression and human rights made him an influential figure among exiled intellectuals and activists.
