tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54675592024-03-08T04:31:51.984+03:30View from IranA man and a woman: 3 nationalities, 4 religions (if you count politics), homeless everywhere in the world...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.comBlogger602125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-76999600646016391182013-07-12T18:38:00.001+04:302016-01-08T19:02:00.650+03:30Who wants this blog?UPDATE: I've decided to keep the blog. If anyone wants to submit a post for possible publication, let me know.
Dear Readers,
I would love to pass this blog on to someone in Iran. Is there anyone out there who would like to take up the mantel of writing in English about life in Iran -- it would be best if you were not a native Iranian or have lived abroad for some time.
If you would like to write here, let me know. Please pass on to friends or acquaintances.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-41094719751931924812012-04-26T20:34:00.001+04:302012-04-26T20:34:51.525+04:30Too Much Is Never Enough: Making Ghelye MahiMy first cooking article is up now at <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/04/cuisine-too-much-is-never-enough-making-ghelye-mahi.html#ixzz1tA6yDWC8">Tehran Bureau</a>. It's for one of my favorite dishes, Ghelye Mahi. Please go read it, and if you make the dish let me know how it turns out.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OvBsv5SWRo72f4bETs2nEliIn1GyJRWqNyk1Bax3xOxyeV6SxuhWEbYSiRoPpTi3yxguAsqfG4QjHC6ekvGycZwMJNWeWCAodkVyysp_ssI4MkLlrLylOuXj5AIz7dfrffODEg/s1600/IMG_1391.dng" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="241" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OvBsv5SWRo72f4bETs2nEliIn1GyJRWqNyk1Bax3xOxyeV6SxuhWEbYSiRoPpTi3yxguAsqfG4QjHC6ekvGycZwMJNWeWCAodkVyysp_ssI4MkLlrLylOuXj5AIz7dfrffODEg/s320/IMG_1391.dng" /></a></div>
<blockquote>Every time we had people over for dinner, my husband would say to me, "Tori, we didn't make enough food."
"How can that be?" I'd ask. "There are leftovers." It wasn't until we moved to Iran in 2003 for a four-year stay that I understood what he meant. A chicken leg or two is not leftovers. It's ta'rof -- good manners. It's what the guests leave behind so you won't think you served them insufficiently. "Enough food" means that another party can be fed with what is left over at the end of the evening.
The first time we were invited out in Iran, we were served omelets, fish, whole roasted chicken, yogurt and cucumbers, yogurt and spinach, tomato, cucumber, and onion salad, salad with iceberg lettuce and Thousand Island dressing, spring chicken kebabs, and chopped lamb kebabs. All of this was brought to the table just before midnight. Kamran whispered, "Do they think we're cows?"
I tell you this so you won't balk at the amount of food my friend Zohreh Sanaseri (pictured) prepared for our dinner of ghelye (ghalieh) mahi -- a stew of fish, herbs, and tamarind paste. She invited three others to share the stew with us, but made enough for at least ten people.
In four years of living in Iran, I never once encountered ghelye mahi. In fact, it wasn't until a night out at a Persian restaurant in Amsterdam that I ate it for the first time. The flavor was surprising: sharp, sour, sweet, and fishy all at once. It was made with many of the ingredients found in other stews I'd eaten in Iran, but tasted nothing like them. I searched for recipes and tried making it a few times before giving up. None was as good as my first time...
And then I ate ghelye mahi at the home of my friend Zohreh, who hails from the city of Abadan in southwestern Iran. "It was the Paris of Iran," the eldest of her two daughters, who were born in the Netherlands, tells me. "Was," Zohreh emphasizes. "Before the war."
It was the war with Iraq that drove Zohreh and her family out of Iran. She settled in the Netherlands with her husband when she was just 25. "I had never cooked before in my life," she says. "I learned everything here."
"My father tells us she used to burn food all the time and that her cooking was awful," her daughter adds. This seems impossible now because Zohreh's "cooking hand" (dast pocht) is renowned among friends and family. Like many migrants, she learned cooking by calling her mother long-distance and working at her side during extended visits. "For me, ghelye mahi is the most important dish. This is our dish. It is the dish of Abadan and the one food that makes me feel connected to my family and my city."
</blockquote>
Read more: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/04/cuisine-too-much-is-never-enough-making-ghelye-mahi.html#ixzz1tA6yDWC8">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/04/cuisine-too-much-is-never-enough-making-ghelye-mahi.html#ixzz1tA6yDWC8</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-76674747549189574942012-03-27T14:35:00.001+04:302012-03-27T14:37:21.704+04:30Arseh Sevom Weekly Review: Love, Sanctions, Norooz, and Human Rights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZowk4ZE_blb19K11NzsWgrpEEzv1I2ykujJYthw9SJEoscJz22AQbThgHXWjMjvQd3DHshXw2yHj67Ltlr58_u94FL8gFZvTUu7831VASD8YE6fftkNu7Bm4TCgL7kDjyx-O5A/s1600/week+after+norooz+banner.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="67" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZowk4ZE_blb19K11NzsWgrpEEzv1I2ykujJYthw9SJEoscJz22AQbThgHXWjMjvQd3DHshXw2yHj67Ltlr58_u94FL8gFZvTUu7831VASD8YE6fftkNu7Bm4TCgL7kDjyx-O5A/s400/week+after+norooz+banner.gif" /></a></div>
Weekly Review from <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/2012/03/norooz-human-rights-and-discrimination/">Arseh Sevom</a>:
<h3>Celebrating Norooz</h3>
Norooz, a celebration of the new year that is marked by people from every religion and belief, was met with relief and joy by Iranians all over the world. Millions in Iran traveled in cars, buses, trains, and planes to see family and friends and to do a bit of urban camping. Iran's press was filled with stories of tourist attractions and the numbers of travelers.
<h3>"Unbelievable Inflation"</h3>
Sanctions are taking a huge bite out of the budgets of most Iranian households. Prices are "unbelievable," sources tell Arseh Sevom. "Prices change three times a day and the government blames it all on the embargos," an Ahwazi householder says. A Tehrani resident says that her home has lost 50% of its value this year. With sanctions on doing business with Iran's central bank kicking in, inflation is expected to continue to rise. The Economist Intelligence Unit predicted further pain for the majority of Iranian households as the rial continues to plummet.
<h3>Women Hit Hardest</h3>
In a Swedish publication (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/iran-elections-news/iranelection-translation-of-swedish-article-warmongering-benefits-the-oppression/10150632276377334" target="_blank">translated</a> by Anusche Noring), Sholeh Irani writes of warmongering and the oppression of women, stating there is broad consensus among Iranian women's rights that sanctions and war do not lead to freedom and democracy. The article quoted prominent women's rights activist Parvin Ardalan as saying:
<blockquote>“Under the shadow of the looming threat of war and economic sanctions, the Iranian regime has been stepping up its oppression of women, new discriminatory legislation is coming into force, and further pressure has been brought to bear upon civil society actors in recent months. One example which has not attracted any attention or resistance was the new legislation introducing total gender segregation in the country’s universities.”
Ms Ardalan, who has been following developments closely, finds that the impact of economic sanctions is manifesting itself more and more each day. They are affecting civil society – the regime, on the other hand, has managed to get by so far.
“In the majority of families in Iran, the husband is the sole breadwinner. Women are in charge of handling the familyʼs finances and need to ensure that their husband’s small income will cover all expenses. This has been a difficult struggle for the majority of women for some time now, due to the regimeʼs economic policies, but in recent months, it has become an impossible task. Alarmingly high prices for food, rent and other necessities of life, combined with rising unemployment and the general anxiety that exists in Iran, entail a dramatic increase in the burden borne by women."</blockquote>
<h3>Extended Term for UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran</h3>
The report presented by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmad Shaheed, was discussed at length in the Iranian blogosphere. There was wide agreement among activists and organizations that the report was comprehensive and accurate.
More than 20 organizations signed a <a href="http://united4iran.org/2012/03/joint-letter-urging-support-for-the-mandate-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-islamic-republic-of-iran" target="_blank">letter</a> urging the retention of the Special Rapporteur:
<blockquote>The country mandate has mobilized, in an unprecedented manner, Iranians both inside and outside the country, to engage with the international community. In meeting after meeting, victims and activists have told us that they see the office of the Special Rapporteur as a critical focal point for documenting rights abuses, and an impartial and reliable channel of communication between victims and the United Nations and its member states. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur fulfills an important role for Iranian survivors of human rights violations which is denied to them in Iran.</blockquote>
Last week <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/22/iran-un-rights-idUSL6E8EMCHZ20120322" target="_blank">a second year</a> was indeed added to his mandate.
(Arseh Sevom has been following this story on its Persian site: <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/fa/archives/823" target="_blank">Iranian Human Rights Activists at an International Meeting in Geneva</a>, <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/fa/archives/826" target="_blank">The Need for Human Rights Education in Iran</a>, <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/fa/archives/809" target="_blank">Torture and Oppression of Prisoners</a>)
<h3>Iranian Journalist Wins British Media Award While Another Spends his 999th Day in Evin</h3>
<a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f2_iran_journalism_press_awards_winner_international_amir_taheri/24525060.html" target="_blank">Radio Farda </a>interviewed <a href="http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=5&id=28952" target="_blank">Amir Taheri</a> who was awarded International Journalist of the Year by the British Media Foundation.
Eighty journalists signed a <a href="http://www.lajvar.se/1391/01/04/14478/" target="_blank">letter</a> to the imprisoned journalist <a href="http://www.iranhumanrights.org/tag/massoud-bastani/" target="_blank">Massoud Bastani</a> on the occasion of his 999th day in Evin Prison. They thanked him for his resistance, courage, and nobility in the face of brutality and imprisonment.
<h3>Who Would've Guessed?</h3>
News that Chinese companies have been supplying Iran with surveillance technologies since at least 2010 has come as no surprise to many. Human rights activist <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/zine/?p=141#Amal" target="_blank">Anita Hunt</a> tweeted:
<blockquote>@lissnup: 14 months after you saw it on Twitter, Reuters does a special on #China selling #Iran snooping software <a href="http://snup.us/v6X" target="_blank">http://snup.us/v6X</a></blockquote>
It should also come as no surprise that these technologies are often used to track down dissenters.
In related news, <a href="http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002334.html" target="_blank">China has been using malware</a> to attack Macs used by NGOs focusing on issues related to Tibet. Activists should expect similar actions from Iran.
<h3>EU Sanctions Human Rights Abusers and Bans Export of Surveillance Tech</h3>
China is not the only country providing surveillance technology to Iran, the EU is home to a number of companies that have provided surveillance and monitoring capabilities in the past. This past week, <a href="http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15829335,00.html" target="_blank">the EU banned</a> these sales to Iran.
In addition <a href="http://digitaljournal.com/article/321778" target="_blank">17 human rights abusers</a> in Iran were sanctioned by the EU. <a href="http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/3/25/iran-special-the-17-leading-officials-in-new-eu-sanctions-fo.html" target="_blank">Enduring America</a> has the complete list on its site.
Marietje Schaake, a member of the European Parliament, told Arseh Sevom:
<blockquote>"In the midst of all the talk about possible military actions against Iran these important new human rights sanctions signal the EU's ongoing concern about the systematic violation of the Iranian's fundamental rights and freedoms. By banning the export of European-made Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and operational services used for surpression and by targeting those within the Iranian regime responsible for the massive censorship and monitoring of internet and mobile communication traffic, the EU seeks to prevent the successful establishment of an electronic firewall and the "national internet," which would cut off Iranians from the open world wide web. Sustainable change in Iran can only come from within, therefore the international community should stand by the Iranian people and preserve an ongoing dialogue, both online and offline, how difficult that may be. In my opinion democatization and human rights should be elevated even higher on the political agenda."
</blockquote>
<h3>A Holiday Reprieve for Some, Communication Blackout for Others</h3>
The holiday of Norooz gave some relief to political prisoners such as Mehdi Karroubi, who after four months was allowed to see his family. The Guardian reported:
<blockquote>The news about Karroubi comes after several activists and journalists were given temporary leave from prison for the Nowruz holiday. Journalist Ali Mousavi Khalkhali, singer Arya Aramnejad, activist Mehdi Khazali and Parvin Mokhtarea, the mother of human rights activist Kouhyar Goudarzi, were among those let out of prison for Nowruz. There was no news on whether Mir Hossein Mousavi, another opposition leader, had been given prison leave.</blockquote>
Most, however, were left imprisoned, without access to family or even telephone calls. To bring attention to their situation, <a href="http://radiozamaneh.com/news/iran/2012/03/26/12407" target="_blank">political prisoners refused all communication</a> in the week after the holiday.
<h3>Arab Minority Targeted for Harsh Punishments</h3>
In Ahwaz, <a href="http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/jail-exile-and-death-young-arab-prisoners" target="_blank">six Arab minority, political prisoners </a>arrested during a peaceful demonstration, were sentenced by the revolutionary court to imprisonment and execution. The Arab minority in the area continues to be targeted by authorities.
<h3>Religious Minorities Face Discrimination</h3>
On April 1, 7 Baha'i will have been in prison in Iran for a combined total of 10,000 days and several cities, including Amsterdam, <a href="http://united4iran.org/2012/03/press-release-worldwide-action-for-irans-bahai-seven" target="_blank">will be taking action </a>to bring attention to their plight and to that of other prisoners of conscience. This comes in the wake of a report on religious freedom issued by the US State Department that condemns Iran for its discrimination against <a href="http://iran.bahai.us/2012/03/22/u-s-commission-issues-report-condemning-irans-religious-freedom-violations/" target="_blank">religious minorities</a>.
<blockquote>The commission condemned the Iranian government for discriminating against its citizens on the basis of their beliefs, using imprisonment, torture and executions. The annual report, published Tuesday, describes how conditions have worsened for the country’s religious minorities, such as the Baha’is, Christians and Sufi Muslims. But even those protected under Iran’s constitution — including Jews, Armenian and Assyrian Christians and Zoroastrians — have come under attack.</blockquote>
A pdf of the report can be downloaded here: <a href="http://www.uscirf.gov/images/Annual%20Report%20of%20USCIRF%202012%282%29.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.uscirf.gov/images/Annual%20Report%20of%20USCIRF%202012%282%29.pdf</a>
<h3>Israel Loves Iran</h3>
Finally, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran" target="_blank">facebook campaign</a> launched by a couple of Israeli graphic designers, Ronny Edry and Michal Tamir, felt like a Norooz gift to many Iranians. The Israel Loves Iran Campaign was started as an attempt to reach out across the divide and start a conversation between Israelis and Iranians. In an interview with Arseh Sevom (to be published later this week), a volunteer for the campaign said that in the first days the Israeli designers had received over 20,000 emails from Iranians all over the world. The campaign has captured the imagination of people all over the world and has been featured on <a href="http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/israel-hearts-iran-0022109" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a>, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/22/opinion/zuckerman-iran-israel/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>, <a href="http://radiozamaneh.com/culture/goonagoon/2012/03/23/12312" target="_blank">Radio Zamaneh</a>, and more. It resulted in a <a href="http://972mag.com/first-large-israeli-demonstration-against-war-with-iran-held-in-tel-aviv/39178/" target="_blank">peace demonstration in Tel Aviv</a> on Saturday evening.
Iranian groups and individuals have also taken up the peace gauntlet.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMeS9RUoglti0WrPdvb1DmhshqYBXL1Z-X-halkjr5mHcpl4HjdVA1RGLmFjObqu0ersh564Nw_1x1I2o-5tgLwzB8RtRUUvktiaXkPNpChCSy7FMjR8tPKyVbpihnhBdOmsomg/s1600/collage+we+love+you.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMeS9RUoglti0WrPdvb1DmhshqYBXL1Z-X-halkjr5mHcpl4HjdVA1RGLmFjObqu0ersh564Nw_1x1I2o-5tgLwzB8RtRUUvktiaXkPNpChCSy7FMjR8tPKyVbpihnhBdOmsomg/s400/collage+we+love+you.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-3983013173026518032012-03-24T18:51:00.001+04:302012-03-24T18:52:42.844+04:30Unveiling Iran<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsL_a5IzcdhgKr5RuyFXnVVb0mIpKxFFjzR2w_AKdNKaeNXjkzz2j-qdTUBpDCadzl_XrZaZa2Wsa5BNbNE9lqLe4zbyGFrs8zqDnZCA2MCRN7vLDNdbdAL2dbzvL-K-g3LZZjA/s1600/chador-boxer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsL_a5IzcdhgKr5RuyFXnVVb0mIpKxFFjzR2w_AKdNKaeNXjkzz2j-qdTUBpDCadzl_XrZaZa2Wsa5BNbNE9lqLe4zbyGFrs8zqDnZCA2MCRN7vLDNdbdAL2dbzvL-K-g3LZZjA/s320/chador-boxer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
My piece on two series of photographs -- <i>Listen</i> by <a href="http://www.newshatavakolian.com/" target="_blank">Newsha Tavakolian</a> and <i>Chador</i> by <a href="http://ashtaryonline.com/" target="_blank">Kamran Ashtary</a> is up on the Swiss publication, <a href="http://neulandmagazin.net/10/two-foto-portfolios/" target="_blank">Neuland Magazin</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In 1978 and 1979, life in Iran drastically changed. This was especially true for women and girls, who once again found themselves and their bodies the focus of revolutionary change. Decades earlier they'd been forced to give up the veil in the name of modernity. Now they were forced to put it back on. They could no longer sing or dance in public. Iranian photographers Newsha Tavakolian and Kamran Asthary use their work to respond to a world fundamentally changed.
</blockquote>
Click <a href="http://neulandmagazin.net/10/two-foto-portfolios/" target="_blank">here</a> to read more and to see the photographs.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-4127146241802429972012-03-22T19:13:00.001+04:302012-03-22T19:13:32.629+04:30What are you doing #4PeaceThe whole world is watching the phenomena of the Israel loves Iran campaign: https://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran. I am writing a piece right now about individual and organizational efforts for peace. I talked to Sany from the Israel Loves Iran campaign who said, "If it's naive to want peace, than I choose to be naive." I would love to hear from others as well. Does anyone out there in the digital vacuum have actions they want to share? What are you doing for peace? Leave a comment.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-5302813412645640852012-03-13T13:57:00.000+03:302012-03-13T13:57:30.773+03:30Save the Lorestani Salamander, Human Rights Report, Economic Squeeze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-a0" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhExLTx7pwTflmfm2qqDdXLS-jOOHAKmqEGJ0XYnb8rkshFzXjizvVSd4zpjlTXe8sO46VfQe9knBrsvU6mvNteNZci-fGu49rK85JhbVy6PCPkHIOK7mp7WYmFBHhibd1KmMGpyw/s400/weekly+review.jpg" /></a></div>
Another weekly update from <a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-a0">Arseh Sevom</a> proving there's more to Iran than the threat of war.
<h3 align="left"><strong><a id="Norooz" name="Norooz"></a>A New Year Greeted with Empty Pockets, Joy, and Trepidation</strong></h3>
<p align="left">The celebration of Iranian New Year (Norooz), which falls at the moment of the Spring Equinox (5:14 am UTC or GMT, March 20), has managed to survive every political regime and every change of religion. It remains autonomous of state control and an example of “the configuration in which society stands apart from the state.” Its continuing celebration in Iran represents a requisite of a civil society (more about civil society <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/2011/10/are-you-a-civil-society-activist/">here</a>).</p>
<p align="left">The fast approaching new year is causing a mixture of apprehension and excitement. This will be a difficult Norooz for many suffering from the bad economic situation in Iran where a combination of run-away inflation, poor economic management, and sanctions are really taking their toll. The impact of Western sanctions is becoming more manifest in the daily life. <a title="Wall Street Journal" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577269062557093098.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet_bot" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal </a>reports:</p>
<blockquote>
<p align="left">"'We have to keep going,' says one merchant in a neighborhood shopping district. 'People here are boiling, but don't make a sound.'</p>
“Iran's economy has hit a rough patch, even by its own fitful performance standards. The most acute problem now is relentlessly rising prices—brought on in part by tightening sanctions, but also decades of economic mismanagement by Iran's own government.
“The inflation rate, officially pegged at 20% annually, is probably more like 50%, according to Farhad Khorrami, an economist at Allameh-Tabatie University in Tehran. The most recent spur to prices has been a sharp fall in Iran's currency, triggered largely by fears about the newest round of sanctions announced by the U.S. and Europe.
“The result for working-class Iranians like 40-year-old Reza, married with two daughters, has been struggle.”
</blockquote>
<p align="left">(If you can't access their site, you can read a portion of the article on <a href="http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/3/11/iran-1st-hand-people-here-are-boiling-but-dont-make-a-sound.html" target="_blank">Enduring America</a>.)</p>
<p align="left"><a id="Cinema" name="Cinema"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Director of “A Separation” Calls for Reinstatement of Iran's House of Cinema</strong></h3>
<p align="left">Asghar Farhadi, the director of the award-winning film “A Separation,” returned to Iran where he was met by a joyful crowd.</p>
<p align="left">Upon his return to Tehran on 10th of March, pointing to the few officials who had come to the airport to congratulate his success, Asghar Farhadi <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/arts/2012/03/120310_l41_pics_cinema_farhadi_arrival.shtml" target="_blank">said</a>: “their real congratulations will only come when the <em><a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/events-leading-up-to-the-dissolution-of-irans-house-of-cinema/">House of Cinema</a></em> [Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds] is reopened; only then will I feel happy...”</p>
<p align="left"><a id="women" name="women"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Women’s Day </strong></h3>
<p align="left">This week, Amnesty International praised the role of Iranian women in efforts to achieve human rights. Amnesty International’s <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/women-s-day-taking-stand-women-middle-east-2012-03-02">statement on Women’s Day</a> states: “Iran’s women played a key role in massive protests around the June 2009 elections, when they advocated for a wide range of human rights reform, including greater freedoms for women. But the country’s women activists continue to pay a high price for their peaceful work.”</p>
<p align="left">Amnesty International also <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/women-s-day-taking-stand-women-middle-east-2012-03-02">urges</a> Iranian leadership once again to “release <a href="http://www.wluml.org/node/6754">Nasrin Sotoudeh</a> immediately and unconditionally.”</p>
<p align="left"><a id="war" name="war"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Women Speak Out Against War</strong></h3>
<p align="left">Iranian women's activists chose March 8th, International Women's Day, to launch a campaign against war. On the website, Change for Equality, the group writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p align="left">“<a href="http://www.we-change.org/english" target="_blank">Change for Equality:</a> War does not happen in the course of a day. There is no need for war to land in our cities with a bomb. The shadow of war is also frightening. The possibility of war too changes the lives of women. Every day that we spend at war or in conditions of war, is filled with the fear of the death of the our achievements, which have come about through years of struggle. War for us, means destructive violence committed against women and children. It means more severe crackdowns. It signifies the silencing of our demands and civil protest and…Still our bodies are covered in the dust of the eight year war with Iraq, and our country is once again faced with the threat of war.<strong>”</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="left">Global Voices has an overview <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/03/08/iran-women-say-no-to-the-war-monster/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hVDZTRLN23M" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe></p>
<p align="left"><a id="UN" name="UN"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Report of Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran</strong></h3>
<p align="left">The U.N. Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, <a href="https://hra-news.org/00/11592-1.html" target="_blank">released</a> his recent report this week. The 36-page report comprises cases of human rights violation such as torture, alarming number of executions, imprisonment as well as repression of laborers’ unions, women groups, students, journalists and ethnic minorities. Ahmed Shaeed’s report <a href="http://persian.iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/HRC-ICHRI_en.pdf" target="_blank">concludes</a> (par.69):</p>
<blockquote>
<p align="left">“The Special Rapporteur has catalogued allegations that produce a striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights guaranteed under international law. He restates his call for the Government to respect its international obligations, and underscores the pre-eminence of international human rights law, as it relates to the need to develop domestic laws that are compatible with international human rights laws and national standards. This includes the guarantees stipulated in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Consequently, he urges the Government to reconsider the Parties and Associations Law Reform Plan, the bill on the establishment and supervision of non-governmental organizations, the bill aimed at the review and discipline of Members of Parliament, and the family protection bill, as well as security laws, to ensure that they do not contravene international standards.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p align="left">According to the report, the Islamic Republic has accused the Special Rapporteur’s findings to be void of “positive reference…to meetings with officials and representatives of civil society.”</p>
<p align="left">The <a href="http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/human-rights-documents/united-nations-reports/un-reports/1000000065-all-you-need-to-know-a-quick-breakdown-of-findings-from-dr-ahmed-shaheeds-un-report.html" target="_blank">Iran Human Rights Documentation Center</a> wrote a summary of the report can be found <a href="http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/human-rights-documents/united-nations-reports/un-reports/1000000065-all-you-need-to-know-a-quick-breakdown-of-findings-from-dr-ahmed-shaheeds-un-report.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p align="left"><a id="activists" name="activists"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Activists still under constant pressure </strong></h3>
<p align="left">The Iranian prisoner of conscience, human rights defender Nargess Mohammadi, was sentenced to six years in prison on the charge of “membership in Iran’s Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) and assembly and collusion against the national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Ms. Mohammadi’s lawyer was <a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f12_fidh_and_omct_condemn_narges_mohammadi_s_sentence/24507770.html" target="_blank">notified</a> of her client’s sentence confirmation a full 19 days after the decision was made by the judicial authorities.</p>
<p align="left"><a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f12_fidh_and_omct_condemn_narges_mohammadi_s_sentence/24507770.html" target="_blank">Many</a> human rights organizations, including, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders have <a href="http://www.fidh.org/IRAN-Relentless-judicial" target="_blank">condemned</a> the sentence. The statement released by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders reads: “[The organization] deplores the relentless harassment of members of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) and more particularly the sentencing on appeal of Ms. Nargess Mohammadi to six years of prison.”</p>
<p align="left">Another Iranian woman, the journalist Nazanin Khosravani, <a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f4_nazanin_khosravani_jail_six_years/24506354.html">received</a> a six-year prison term as well. The charge? Another case of “collusion against the national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic” plus “acts against national security.”</p>
<p align="left">In an <a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f4_nazanin_khosravani_jail_six_years/24506354.html">interview</a> Nazanin Khosravani’s mother said that her daughter was asked to sign a letter of repentance and avoid going to prison, but “my daughter told them she hadn’t done anything wrong, and she went to the prison herself.”</p>
<p align="left"><a name="cyberspace"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Big Brother is Watching: The High Council for Cyberspace</strong></h3>
<p align="left">In another sign that the office of the Supreme Leader is taking even more control over communications inside the country, “The High Council for Cyberspace” was formed last week. Members were appounted directly by the Supreme Leader and include a hand-picked group of experts plus the leadership of state institutions such as parliament, state television and radio, and the Revolutionary Guards. <a href="http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2012/03/137101.php" target="_blank">The council </a>will be charged with regulating, monitoring, and controlling cyberspace.</p>
<p align="left"><a id="banned" name="banned"></a></p>
<h3 align="left"><strong>More Publishing Houses Closed</strong></h3>
<p align="left">After banning <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/?p=602#8" target="_blank">Nashre Cheshmeh publishing house </a>from publishing two weeks ago , this week there was <a href="http://ilna.ir/newsText.aspx?ID=248888" target="_blank">fresh news </a>of the ban on Saales publishing house. While Cheshmeh mostly published literary books, Saales focused on the social sciences. The undersecretary of the publishers' and booksellers’ union announced that they are following these cases and are negotiating with authorities to find a way out of this situation. Whether or not they have any negotiating clout to support their members is an open question.</p>
<a name="tree"></a>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Tree Planting in Solidarity with Prisoners of Conscience</strong></h3>
<p align="left">March 5th marked Iran's annual <em>Tree Planting Day. </em>This year a group of Iranian activists planted trees in solidarity with Iranian prisoners of conscience. See photos of their beautiful trees in Tehran <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150662393947137.417956.127801922136&type=3" target="_parent">here</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150665728857137.418440.127801922136&type=3" target="_blank">here</a> in Isfahan.</p>
<a name="salamander"></a>
<h3 align="left"><strong>Celebrate Norooz by Sparing a Life and Preventing the Extinction of an Iranian Salamander </strong></h3>
<p align="left">The Norooz celebration has gone through many changes and during the past 100 years it has found a peculiar addition: the Chinese goldfish. Most of these fish die quickly after Norooz from neglect.</p>
<p align="left">In recent years, there have been <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/206431026037250/" target="_blank">attempts</a> and <a href="http://www.alef.ir/vdcjhmevyuqex8z.fsfu.html?146290" target="_blank">calls</a> by Iranian environmentalists to stop people from buying goldfish during Norooz. Now there is a new and more disturbing development: Mehr News Agency, has <a title="Mehr News" href="http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1556133" target="_blank">reported</a> that a rare amphibian, the Lorestani Salamander (also known as <em>Kaiser Spotted</em> or <em>Lorestan Newt Neurergus kaiseri</em>) -- <a title="CITES" href="http://www.cites.org/" target="_blank">categorized</a> by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as “Critically Endangered” -- is being sold illegally along with the usual goldfish in its Native Lorestan and in the capital Tehran. Apparently only 3000 of these salamanders are left.</p>
<p align="left">Of course we at Arseh Sevom wish everyone a very happy Norooz and we celebrate those who have made the wise choice of sparing a living being by not neglecting or purchasing a goldfish. We join environmental groups in calling for a stop to the sales of the beautiful<a href="https://balatarin.com/permlink/2011/4/30/2486085" target="_blank"> Lorestani Salamander </a>and the protection of its habitat.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-83561265551287229602012-03-06T18:28:00.000+03:302012-03-06T18:34:54.790+03:30Threat of War, Press TV Attacks, Parliamentary Elections, Amnesty Reports<i>Hi to the readers of this dormant blog... I am reviving it by reposting some of the things published at <a href="http://arsehsevom.net/">Arseh Sevom</a>. I might just start posting some other stuff as well... I definitely would love to start hearing from readers again. If you're still out there, let me know. </i><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<b>Now: Threat of War, Press TV Attacks, Parliamentary Elections, Amnesty Reports</b><br />
<br />
This week was dominated by news of parliamentary elections, and threats of war, Asghar's Oscar continued to bring some joy to people and to be a topic of discussion all over the <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-04/all-that-matters/31120883_1_farhadi-iranian-culture-iran-s-revolutionary-guard" target="_blank">world</a>. In the streets of <a href="http://news.gooya.com/didaniha/archives/2012/02/136716.php" target="_blank">Tehran</a> some even handed out candy to celebrate.
The New York Times has provided a flurry of opinion pieces on Iran and the effects of diplomacy, sanctions, and war: (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/opinion/only-crippling-sanctions-will-stop-iran.html?ref=opinion">Only Crippling Sanctions Will Stop Iran, </a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/opinion/sunday/iran-and-israel-share-bonds.html?scp=7&sq=iran&st=Search">Iran and Israel Share Bonds,</a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/opinion/starving-iran-wont-free-it.html?_r=1">Starving Iran Won’t Free It - NYTimes.com)</a>A letter from United4Iran-London's Kamran Hashemi published in <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/952fa7bc-5d73-11e1-869d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nIrxi1P2" target="_blank">The Financial Times </a>stated:
<br />
<blockquote>
As odd as it may appear, the western governments and Israel are doing everything possible in their power to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic’s regime at the time when it is probably at its weakest state, desperately struggling to prove, with little success, its legitimacy both at home and abroad. With the gross mismanagement of the economy and widescale corruption, the Iranian economy is facing the bleakest prospects since the formation of the Islamic Republic. Faced with such calamities, the regime views the latest round of sanctions as a godsend.</blockquote>
Parliamentary elections were held in the Islamic Republic of Iran against a backdrop of calls for boycott by political opposition. The result of the elections is no surprise to any Iran-watcher: accusations of voter fraud, more than 100% turnout in some regions, and the success of the Supreme Leader's candidates.<br />
<br />
CONTENTS<br />
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-9O#boycott"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Predictions Come True and Boycott Betrayed</strong></span></a><br />
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-9O#pro"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Professional Groups Remain Mute</strong></span></a><br />
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-9O#fox"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Press TV Shows Its True Colors in “Eye of the Fox”</strong></span></a><br />
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-9O#butcher"><strong>The Butcher of the Press Gets a Promotion</strong></a><br />
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-9O#amnesty"><strong>Amnesty International Documents Systematic Abuses of Human Rights</strong></a><br />
<a href="http://wp.me/p26Ki5-9O#halal"><strong>I'll Be Watching You</strong></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Predictions Come True and Boycott Betrayed</strong></span>
There were no real surprises for many analysts and activists who expected the state-controlled media to affirm the Supreme Leader’s <a href="http://irangreenvoice.com/article/2012/feb/24/19856">prediction</a> of a massive turn-out. Opposition figures <a href="http://www.mihan.net/press/1390/12/11/%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%81%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B4%DA%A9%D9%88%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%88-%D8%A8%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86/">described</a> the same event as “the most lifeless election in the history of the Islamic Republic.”<br />
<br />
As Iran-watchers turned to the Internet to get a glimpse at the ballot boxes through the lens of netizens and to follow updates on social media (and yes, the internet was working pretty well on Election Day according to <em>Arseh Sevom</em> sources in Iran). former reformist president <a href="http://www.khatami.ir/biography.html">Mohammad Khatami</a> – who was the first to open up the Islamic Republic of Iran to independent civil society – broke the opposition calls for boycott and cast his vote. This caused a lot of hand-wringing among the opposition including from Ayatollah Khomeini’s granddaughter and Khatami’s sister-in-law, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Eshraghi">activist Zahra Eshraghi</a>, who posted on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001739625701&sk=wall">Facebook</a>: “This was a heavy blow.”
On Sunday, March 4, <a href="http://www.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/former-president-defend-decision-vote" target="_blank">Radio Zamaneh</a> published a disturbing piece in which Khatami is quoted as saying to political activist Hossein Nourinejad:<br />
<blockquote>
“I had received some disturbing information in the last two days leading up to the elections, regarding plans and plots by the extremists in the establishment to be carried out after the elections, which had to be defused by some surprising action on my part.”
The former president expressed hope that his vote did not disrupt “reformist solidarity.” He has reportedly stressed the “complexity” of the internal as well as the international situation and called for “understanding of these complexities by everyone.”
Nourinejad reportedly asked the former president what he had written on his ballot, to which Khatami responded: “Islamic Republic.”</blockquote>
<a href="http://iranian.com/main/2012/mar/majles-elections-polling-stations" target="_blank" title="Iranian.com">Iranian.com</a> showed videos from polling stations in Iran and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/" target="_blank">Tehran Bureau</a>'s Mohammad Sahimi explains that Iranians have their identity cards stamped when they vote, which has an effect on their lives in many ways from accessing government resources to finding work. He does a good job describing the complexity of the elections on the radio program <a href="http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/mar/02/getting-out-vote-iran/" target="_blank">On The Media</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/03/live-blog-parliamentary-elections.html" target="_blank">Tehran Bureau </a>had a live blog on the day of the elections, which reported of roaming polling booths making visits to workplaces, extended voting hours, and the strict limitations on access by foreign journalists.
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GodBlessAmericaVoter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.arsehsevom.net/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GodBlessAmericaVoter.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><br /></strong></span><br />
<a href="" id="pro" name="pro"></a>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Professional Groups Remain Mute</strong></span><br />
<br />
Iranian human rights lawyer, <a href="http://www.advocatenvooradvocaten.nl/lawyers/abdolfatah-soltani/">Abdolfatah Soltani</a>, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and 20 years barred from practice. Last week Iran's bar association met to elect its board, while remaining silent on the cases of lawyers who are imprisoned unfairly. This is a direct result of state control of professional organizations and the persecution of lawyers who dare to represent clients who face abuses of their basic human rights.<br />
<br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Press TV Shows Its True Colors (Again) in “Eye of the Fox”</strong></span><br />
<br />
Last week's review spoke of hints by the Revolutionary Guards via their site Gedareb.ir of revelations concerning BBC Persian. With the release of the transparent propaganda film by the Islamic Republic's Press TV, “The Eye of the Fox,” the promise of new allegations is fulfilled.
Press TV shows “shocking” photos of Iranian journalists receiving training from the BBC in Turkey. They blame the BBC Persian for the unrest following the 2009 elections, accusing the organization of espionage. It broadcasts confessions, and shows the arrest of an Iranian female journalist in what appeared to be her home.
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="227" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/37897121?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/37897121">«چشم روباه»؛ مستند پرس تی.وی</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user10695078">mardomak</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a><br />
<br />
Around minute 19 of the film, Mohammad Kooshki, who is described as a media expert, defines "espionage" as: “depending on the national interests and laws of the country, what definition that country has of national interest, a certain action might be considered espionage in one country because the gathering of that information might threaten national security and render it illegal, but the same action might be considered reporting –not espionage– in another country.” He offers a purposefully vague definition of espionage that could easily be construed to meet the requirements of the day. Today speaking about the economy might be ok, tomorrow it could be threatening to national security.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/2012/01/urge-irans-parliament-to-reject-anti-human-rights-penal-code/" target="_blank">Arseh Sevom </a>has warned about the abuse security concerns to prosecute many of the Baha'i faith and human rights defenders.
Such an understanding of espionage is already crippling journalism in Iran as it gives arbitrary authority to the government to silence members of the press and, charging them with espionage and treason which is punishable by death according to <a href="http://www.pajoohe.com/fa/index.php?Page=definition&UID=9793">Iranian law</a>.<br />
<br />
This film clearly serves two purposes:<br />
<br />
1. To create a case for trying journalists and those who speak with journalists as spies, and<br />
2. To warn anyone from speaking with foreign journalists about anything at all.<br />
<br />
Arseh Sevom has already had contacts turn down interviews citing this film as the reason.<br />
<br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>The Butcher of the Press Gets a Promotion</strong></span><br />
<br />
In our past Civil Society Review from the w<a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/2012/02/iran-civil-society-news-round-up-week-of-feb-14/">eek of Feb.14</a>, we wrote that Saeed Mortazavi’s vindication for the post- election (2009) torture and deaths at Kahrizak Detention Center had shocked many human rights activists still hoping for some positive development in Iran’s civil society. Just as this review was being finalized on March 4th, the Iranian newspaper, <em>Tehran-e Emrooz</em> <a href="http://www.tehrooz.com/1390/12/14/TehranEmrooz/847/Page/12/?NewsID=98575">reported</a> on Mortazavi’s promotion to the head of the biggest financial holding organization in Iran, Social Security Organization [Sazman-e Tamin-e Ejtema’ie].<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bultannews.com/fa/news/75762/%D8%AA%D8%B0%DA%A9%D8%B1-%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%B9%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%86%D9%85%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%DB%8C-%D9%86%DA%98%D8%A7%D8%AF" target="_blank">Fifteen parliamentarians protested</a> the appointment citing his lack of experience with social security as a drawback.
In addition, Abd al-Hossein Rouh-al-Amini, leader of the Justice and Development Party and the father of Mohsen Rouholamini who was killed in Kahrizak, also sent a letter of protest concerning the appointment of Mortazavi.<br />
<br />
As if to pour salt on the wounds of civil society activists and those who dare to speak out, this week Mehdi Mahmoodian, a prisoner of conscience who testified about the extensive use of torture in Kahrizak, was <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f2_iran_postelection_mehdi_mahmoudian_beaten_in_jail_mother_alvandi_letter/24502505.html">severely </a></span><a href="http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f2_iran_postelection_mehdi_mahmoudian_beaten_in_jail_mother_alvandi_letter/24502505.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">beaten</span></a> “in the presence of the prison manager.” According to a letter written by his mother to the head of the prisons organization of Iran, much of the damage to him is not even treatable.<br />
<br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Amnesty International Documents Systematic Abuses of Human Rights</strong></span><br />
<br />
In a massive report released last week, <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/002/2012/en" target="_blank">Amnesty International </a>documented systematic human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They speak of a quadrupling of public executions, the persecution of journalists, human rights defenders, and lawyers, and a crippled civil society. This well-documented report makes an elegant plea for continuing the work of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran.
Amensty's recommendations include:
<br />
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience – those detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their internationally recognized rights;</li>
<li>amend legislation which unduly restricts the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and to permit open public debate prior to the March 2012 parliamentary elections;</li>
<li>establish an immediate moratorium on executions and work towards the complete abolition of the death penalty.</li>
</ul>
In the absence of independent and impartial bodies to investigate allegations of human rights violations and to provide reparations to victims and affected families in accordance with international human rights standards, the organization is also calling on the Iranian authorities to:
<br />
<ul>
<li>allow international scrutiny of the human rights situation in Iran, including by allowing visits by the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, in addition to other thematic UN human rights mechanisms which have requested visits, as well as independent international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International.</li>
</ul>
Amnesty International is also appealing to the international community not to allow tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme or events in the wider region to distract it from pressing Iran to live up to its human rights obligations as set out in a number of international human rights treaties to which it is a state party. In particular, Amnesty International is calling for:
<br />
<ul>
<li>the UN Human Rights Council to renew in March 2012 the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Iran;</li>
<li>the international community to press the Iranian authorities to grant the Special Rapporteur on Iran access to the country and to fulfil commitments to receive visits by UN human rights mechanisms that have asked to visit Iran.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<a href="" id="halal" name="halal"></a>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>I'll Be Watching You</strong></span><br />
<br />
The report from Amnesty comes in the wake of a report from <a href="http://www.cpj.org/2012/02/attacks-on-the-press-in-2011.php" target="_blank">The Committee to Protect Journalists</a>, which lists Iran as the world's worst jailer of journalists and netizens in 2011 with 42 imprisoned and 66 forced to flee the country. The report also names Iran as the world's foremost internet oppressor.<br />
<br />
Arseh Sevom continues to be concerned about the persecution of netizens and the further isolation of Iran's population as a result of the planned “halal internet,” which may be launched this spring. There is much doubt that this is a completely homegrown effort. The results of a report done last year by the OpenNet Initiative which revealed that American and Canadian companies were supplying Iran with filtering software raise serious concerns.<br />
<br />
<em><a href="" id="elections" name="elections"></a>Until next week... </em>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-33386312843276527072011-02-11T12:55:00.001+03:302011-02-11T12:56:44.288+03:30Miniver Cheevy: The speech it's not too late for Obama to makeI loved this ungiven speech posted over at Miniver Cheevy. Hope you will too. Here's an excerpt:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><a href="http://miniver.blogspot.com/2011/02/speech-its-not-too-late-for-obama-to.html">Miniver Cheevy: The speech it's not too late for Obama to make</a>: "It is far better for a people to claim democracy for themselves than to try to build it in the wake of another nation's intervention. We should know that, having created our own nation in rebellion against the greatest colonial power of its time.<br />
<br />
Better for a people to claim democracy for themselves, and best for them to do so without raising a gun at all. There are those who will say that to stand up against an oppressor without shedding their blood is too idealistic. Despots' grip on power is too great, they say. Only military force can break their grip."</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-71523032050893003412011-02-01T00:55:00.000+03:302011-02-01T00:55:12.944+03:30The Failure of Quiet Diplomacy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdCwDnOGqRGEgmr08Gqb0di3uFCdgBfcyhjUXaH8VUdslv0bA_ImTmPd6GBumMN5TCRQa1qAUHf2eNJWs4250s1E9MUQUe9kZwhnXKI_QW8f2yuRcjmAeih7yFm4QWcRpL02gug/s1600/Zahra-Bahrami.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="199" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdCwDnOGqRGEgmr08Gqb0di3uFCdgBfcyhjUXaH8VUdslv0bA_ImTmPd6GBumMN5TCRQa1qAUHf2eNJWs4250s1E9MUQUe9kZwhnXKI_QW8f2yuRcjmAeih7yFm4QWcRpL02gug/s200/Zahra-Bahrami.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Anybody still reading? <a href="http://bit.ly/dEHOme">Kamran has a post </a>at EA Worldview about the failure of quiet diplomacy, which resulted in the execution of Zahra Bahrami.<br />
<br />
Here are his recommendations:<br />
<blockquote>Here are some minimum recommendations for the Dutch government.<br />
<br />
1. The Netherlands should lead an international effort to challenge Iran's refusal to accept dual nationality.<br />
<br />
2. The Dutch government should lead efforts to bring the issue of human rights in Iran to the European Parliament.<br />
<br />
3. The Netherlands should crack down on the operations of Iranian intelligence officers located here because the Dutch-Iranian community feels unsafe. Over the past two years, intelligence personnel attached to the Iranian Embassy in the Netherlands have been seen publicly photographing Dutch-Iranian citizens attending demonstrations and are known to be collecting information.<br />
<br />
4. The Netherlands should stop issuing visas for any purpose to personnel of the Revolutionary Guards, the judiciary, and related organisations.<br />
<br />
5. The Netherlands should approve the asylum applications of political refugees who left Iran since 2009. Many of their applications have been denied. <br />
<br />
6. Respect for human rights needs to become a business concern as wellas a political concern.<br />
<br />
7. The Dutch Government should lead an effort to call for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience in Iran.<br />
<br />
8. The Dutch Government should protest the use of (forced) confessions against prisoners of conscience and others.</blockquote><br />
Read the whole post at <a href="http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2011/1/31/iran-feature-zahra-bahrami-the-netherlands-and-the-failure-o.html">EA Worldview</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-59747827475237627782010-12-24T11:16:00.000+03:302010-12-24T11:16:54.599+03:30URGENT ACTION: Protest the Upcoming Execution of Habibollah LatifiWouldn't it be nice to be writing a message of good cheer right now to get us all through the holiday season and to make us feel warm and fuzzy? That is what I would like to be doing. Instead I am going to urge those of you who still read this blog despite our erratic postings to send a letter to protest the upcoming election of Habibollah Latifi. After a year spent campaigning for prisoners of conscience, many of us feel that we know them personally. Habibollah Latifi is an Iranian-Kurd who has always denied the trumped up charges against him. The regime continues to ratchet up the charges so that they can justify his execution. <br />
<br />
You can be his voice by <a href="http://bit.ly/eS1T5B">sending an e-letter</a> and by encouraging others to do so. Thanks.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-8232307494529517722010-09-25T00:28:00.004+03:302010-09-25T10:16:41.753+03:30Hope, Votes & Bullets<a title="View Hope, Votes & Bullets on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/38065987/Hope-Votes-Bullets" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">Hope, Votes & Bullets</a> <object id="doc_277351155127861" name="doc_277351155127861" height="600" width="100%" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; width: 100%; height: 247px; "> <param name="movie" value="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="FlashVars" value="document_id=38065987&access_key=key-1ev6pe1ona0num5dyrng&page=1&viewMode=book"> <embed id="doc_277351155127861" name="doc_277351155127861" src="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=38065987&access_key=key-1ev6pe1ona0num5dyrng&page=1&viewMode=book" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="600" width="100%" wmode="opaque" bgcolor="#ffffff"></embed> </object> <br /><br />We have been working our asses off in a book that features the work of bloggers, writers, and others whose lives were effected by what happened in Iran in 2009. Today, the book was delivered. Here is an internet preview. We'll let you know when it goes on sale. For those of you who facebook, be sure to "like" us over on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hope-Votes-Bullets/141725635850733?ref=sgm">Facebook</a>.<br /><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5020885381_66ca8977b0.jpg" width="500" height="168" alt="HVB_Final Cover 730mm_Printer file" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-25021101551325206342010-07-07T01:33:00.002+04:302010-07-07T06:43:37.901+04:30Young Man to be Executed for a Crime Committed as a Juvenile<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://united4iran.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/U4IMohamadRezaHaddadi-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://united4iran.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/U4IMohamadRezaHaddadi-3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Seriously Islamic Republic of Iran? You want to stone a woman for adultery even though no one accused her of it besides some deranged judges? And execute a young man whose co-defendants exonerated him of a murder that was committed when he was 15? Seriously?<br />
<br />
Some countries just can't catch a break...<br />
<br />
Please protest both the planned <a href="http://bit.ly/ddvBl1">stoning</a> of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and the execution of <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6160/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3585">Mohammad Reza Haddadi</a><br />
<br />
Here is what the <a href="http://bit.ly/ddvBl1">International Campaign for Human Rights </a>in Iran says about the case of Ashtiani:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The terms of the sentence under Iranian law call for Ashtiani to be killed with medium –sized stones, so she will die slowly, in great pain. She has already been punished with 99 lashes for having an “illicit relationship,” and later again charged, for the same crime, with adultery, which carries the death penalty in Iran. According to her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaie, no evidence exists in her file to justify an adultery conviction, and as a member of the Azerbaijani minority, her inability to understand the language of the court prevented a fair trial.</blockquote><br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/9GLEJW">United4Iran has a letter</a> that you can send to halt the imminent execution of Haddadi.<br />
<br />
There is a petition to end stoning at <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/end-execution-stoning-iran">Amnesty International</a> and another petition to stop the execution by stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani at <a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-sakineh-mohammadi.html#fbbox">Go Petition</a>. Please do what you can.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-43634990318733619552010-06-30T02:33:00.000+04:302010-06-30T02:33:10.128+04:30Halt the Execution of Zeynab Jalalian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://united4iran.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1-Zeynab-Jalaian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://united4iran.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1-Zeynab-Jalaian.jpg" /></a></div>Unfortunately, it is time to call for a halt to another execution in Iran. Members of Iran's Kurdish minority are being targeted for harsh sentences. Many are receiving execution sentences after 3-minute trials. Is there anyone anywhere who believes that this is remotely fair? I urge all of the readers of this blog to send a letter calling for a halt to Zeynab Jalalian's execution. <a href="http://united4iran.com/2010/06/take-action-halt-the-execution-of-zeinab-jalalian/">United4Iran has made it easy to do.</a> You can <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6160/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3527">click here</a> to send the letter to 30 different embassies and individuals.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Zeinab Jalalian is a 27-year-old Kurdish woman who is facing execution. Her lawyers have been prevented from engaging in any defense. Her trial lasted just a few minutes and resulted in a sentence of execution. <br />
<br />
People close to her state that there is absolutely no evidence that she ever took up arms against the state. In fact, her activities took place at a time when many Kurdish groups operated freely and openly within Iran.<br />
<br />
Two prominent human rights lawyers have attempted to represent Zeinab, but the authorities have prevented them from taking up her case. The IRI’s Intelligence Ministry and Judiciary have continued to use intimidation tactics to prevent public disclosure of prisoners’ information in order to carry out the death sentences in secret and evade any accountability. <br />
<br />
Zeinab’s treatment, along with the treatment of other minorities in Iran's prisons, breaks Iran's own laws and makes a mockery of the nation's judiciary system. <br />
<br />
We urge you to do what is right: to call a halt to her execution and an end to her mistreatment and that of others in the IRI’s prisons. We call on you to restore faith in the judicial system by allowing lawyers to defend their clients and by allowing fair trials. <br />
<br />
Most importantly, we call on you to halt the sentences of execution handed out to so many representatives of Iran's Kurdish minority, including Zeinab Jalalian.<br />
<br />
We call on you to show the world that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not turned its back on its own laws and constitution. Using every mechanism at your disposal to save the life Zeinab and others like her who are in prison because of their beliefs rather than their actions, would be a courageous and immensely welcome gesture. <br />
<br />
Please help us make sure that all prisoners of conscience are released safely and guaranteed fair treatment. With your help, Iran can become the nation its people deserve. <br />
<br />
Thank you for addressing these concerns, ensuring that international human rights standards are adhered to, and for urging the IRI authorities to immediately halt the execution of Zeinab Jalalian and of all the IRI’s prisoners of conscience<br />
<br />
Your Sincerely,</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-71383377497548128412010-06-08T00:54:00.000+04:302010-06-08T00:54:46.336+04:30ATTACK ON CIVIL SOCIETY IN IRANJust because we have not been blogging much, does not mean that we have not been writing and thinking and immersed in issues related to Iran. A report that Kamran and I have been working on with Sohrab Razzaghi on the attack on civil society in Iran is now available for download at <a href="http://www.arsehsevom.net/?p=15">arsehsevom.net</a>. It is the result of a lot of hard work and research. Here is the press release:<br />
<br />
ATTACK ON CIVIL SOCIETY IN IRAN<br />
<br />
Report from Arseh Sevom [Third Sphere]<br />
<br />
Available online at http://www.arsehsevom.net/?p=15<br />
<br />
In mid-June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest a deeply flawed election. In the days and weeks that followed, reports of suppression, deaths in prison, torture, and rape, shocked people all over the world. According to a report by Arseh Sevom, these crackdowns were predictable given the anti-democratic nature of the Ahmadinejad administration.<br />
<br />
“Despite the increasingly liberal and pragmatic character of Iranian society, this current administration is highly ideological and hostile to democracy,” Tori Egherman, one of the authors of the report states.<br />
<br />
Arseh Sevom's [Third Sphere] report, The Attack on Civil Society in Iran, shows how the post-election crackdowns fit into a larger pattern of restricting the development of civil society. While the abuses happen to individuals, they are designed to undermine the democratic development of Iran as a nation. Dr. Sohrab Razzaghi, another author of the report states, “They have chosen to read Iran's ambiguous constitution as fundamentally undemocratic.”<br />
<br />
From worker's rights to women's rights, the Ahmadinejad administration has sought to undermine them all. Reporters, activists, students, and others are systematically harassed as a warning to others who would take their places.<br />
<br />
Arseh Sevom (Third Sphere, which refers to the role of civil society) is a non-governmental organization established/registered in 2010 in Amsterdam, (by Sohrab Razzaghi, Kamran Ashtary, Tori Egherman), aiming to promote peace, democracy, and human rights. The organization’s objective is to help build the capacity of organizations in Persian-speaking communities and encourage the development of a vigorous third sphere of civil activities. Arseh Sevom is non-partisan and independent and focuses on peace, democracy, and human rights.<br />
<br />
###<br />
<br />
Authors: Tori Egherman lived and worked in Iran from 2003-2007 and has published a number of articles on Iran and other topics.<br />
<br />
Sohrab Razzaghi, PhD is the former executived director of the Iran Civil Society Organization Training and Research Center, which was shut down by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2007.<br />
<br />
Kamran Ashtary is the former Director of Communications at Radio Zamaneh and co-author of the book Iran: View from Here. He has lectured on media in closed societies.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-54698569518150251062010-05-09T14:24:00.011+04:302010-05-10T00:07:43.420+04:30Mother's Day Executions in IranTogether with a number of volunteers, we have been preparing a campaign to mark one year of crackdowns on dissent in Iran. That campaign focuses on prisoners of conscience in Iran and those political prisoners in danger of execution. This morning, when we got up and turned on my email, the first message was from a dear colleague who linked to the AP article on the early morning execution of 5 of the people we had come to know through our work. "I can't stop crying," she wrote. "I do not know what to do." (She subsequently wrote an elegant post at <a href="http://united4iran.com/2010/05/activists-executed/">United4Iran.org)</a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LErcp3ciILYZ4oF6rLP4ZQUnqH3_8s8jgTJJTUh_EDXN139LMk91DRTDT-KFsk-9LxNE2R4CMWB4MAHQgFo8Etm6ocwP9Oeav2h9Yl0tnPI291O_Ero9-jbSnTJmzH3-vkYpLg/s1600/SHIRIN.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 80px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LErcp3ciILYZ4oF6rLP4ZQUnqH3_8s8jgTJJTUh_EDXN139LMk91DRTDT-KFsk-9LxNE2R4CMWB4MAHQgFo8Etm6ocwP9Oeav2h9Yl0tnPI291O_Ero9-jbSnTJmzH3-vkYpLg/s400/SHIRIN.jpg" border="0" alt="Shirin Alam-Holi"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469207470110975682" /></a><br />
<br />
We can mark their lives. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/02/shirin_holi/"><b>Shirin Alam Holi</b></a> was a young Kurdish woman who was accused of planting a bomb. In her own words, she tells us of her arrest: <em>“The interrogators were male, and I was tied to a bed with handcuffs. They used their fists, feet, electric batons, and cables to beat my head, face, body, and soles of my feet. At that time I could not even understand and speak Persian. When their questions remained unanswered, they beat me again till I passed out.” </em><br />
In a <a href="http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/22918">letter </a>written just seven days ago, she wrote: <br />
<br />
<blockquote><em>When I entered this prison my hair was black, now after three (3) years of imprisonment, my hair has started to turn white. I know you have done this not only to me but to all Kurds including Zeynab Jalaliyan and Ronak Safarzadeh… The eyes of Kurdish mothers are full of tears, waiting to see their children. They are in a state of constant worry, in fear that each phone call may bring the news of the execution of their children.<br />
<br />
Today is May 2, 2010 and once again they took me to Section 209 of the Evin prison for interrogation. They asked me to cooperate with them in order for me to be pardoned and not executed. I don’t understand what they mean by cooperation, when I don’t have anything more to say than what I have already said</em>.</blockquote><br />
<br />
<b>Mehdi Eslamian</b> was executed a little more than a year after the execution of his brother for allegedly participating in a bombing in Shiraz. He was tortured for 14 days and denied medical care.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YVVdPkpO_cPa8c8tFzcIxXbo5n6O2pU87zle9sgr5sQMA11HC4x_zQB7FL9pOVQFVgj3IPjdIClKAy4uCG7QDiUvBI-NwGn1DLst61SAmFCxgIaFEemzr1cl-a57LnxfPLCJJg/s1600/1-Ali+Heydariyan.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 79px; height: 125px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YVVdPkpO_cPa8c8tFzcIxXbo5n6O2pU87zle9sgr5sQMA11HC4x_zQB7FL9pOVQFVgj3IPjdIClKAy4uCG7QDiUvBI-NwGn1DLst61SAmFCxgIaFEemzr1cl-a57LnxfPLCJJg/s400/1-Ali+Heydariyan.jpg" border="0" alt="Ali Heidarian"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469207464348727906" /></a><b>Ali Heidarian</b> was a Kurdish rights activist accused of participating in armed conflict as was Farhad Vakili.<br />
<b><br />
<a href="http://persian2english.com/?p=9881">Farzad Kamangar</a></b> was a teacher whose cause has become international. Human rights organizations, Iran's teachers' union, and international education groups all joined together to protest his incarceration and sentence of execution. Kamangar wrote recently: <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69jHtSYB6rh2Ve9wNm0RQE4rc9q8eKFT3yNt2_nPdcPemHtX2bWUpp6Jpkuo27-CogWauxiZixasNWTaIc6ObUC4zy4VUMLSbIsMvrNLGmo3mM70fQMjEMlqlGLPQkKyXa_suow/s1600/FARZAD+Kamangar.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 80px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69jHtSYB6rh2Ve9wNm0RQE4rc9q8eKFT3yNt2_nPdcPemHtX2bWUpp6Jpkuo27-CogWauxiZixasNWTaIc6ObUC4zy4VUMLSbIsMvrNLGmo3mM70fQMjEMlqlGLPQkKyXa_suow/s400/FARZAD+Kamangar.jpg" border="0" alt="Farzad Kamangar"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469207477109204818" /></a><br />
<blockquote><em>Is it possible to carry the heavy burden of being a teacher and be responsible for spreading the seeds of knowledge and still be silent? Is it possible to see the lumps in the throats of the students and witness their thin and malnourished faces and keep quiet?</em><br />
<br />
<em>Is it possible to be in the year of no justice and fairness and fail to teach the H for Hope and E for Equality, even if such teachings land you in Evin prison or result in your death?</em> </blockquote><br />
<br />
Others are in danger of execution: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/9GuwHV">Abdolreza Ghanbari</a>, a school teacher who participated in the December demonstrations on the Shia holiday of Ashura.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.payvand.com/news/10/apr/1205.html">Ahmad Danseshpour</a> is alleged to have sent videos and pictures to the MKO and whose mother and father Motahareh Bahrami and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam have also been sentenced to death.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/cHNuRl">Ali Saremi </a>, member of the MKO, was arrested last year when he attended a memorial for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_executions_of_Iranian_political_prisoners">1988 mass killings of political prisoners</a>. (It's worth noting here that many <a href="http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran1205/">members of the Ahmadinejad administration were directly responsible for the killings</a>.)<br />
<br />
<a href=" http://bit.ly/bdKzKp">Ali Massouni</a> is another protester. <a href="http://bit.ly/9ePEXg">Ali Omid Mehrnia </a>has relatives at Camp Ashraf (MKO camp in Iraq), as does Alireza Nabavi. <br />
<br />
Amir Reza Arefi is accused of having ties with a monarchist group. His sentence is being appealed.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/d1VBou">Aziz Mohammadzadeh</a> is another Kurdish rights activist sentenced to death.<br />
<br />
Read what others are saying:<br />
<br />
Neo-resistance: <a href="http://iranfacts.blogspot.com/2010/05/they-executed-her-shirin-alam-hooli.html"><br />
They EXECUTED Her: Shirin Alam Hooli </a><br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/dsUm3S"><br />
United4Iran</a>: Bios of the 5 Executed Prisoners of Conscience <br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/bSoYO3">Enduring America</a>: Iran: Farzad Kamangar’s Last Letter “Is It Possible to Teach and Be Silent?” http://bit.ly/bSoYO3<br />
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: <a href="http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2009/01/farzad-kamangar/">About Farhad Kamangar</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-75473313893799541622010-04-08T22:03:00.000+04:302010-04-08T22:03:05.505+04:30Unfurling a flag of freedom at the Iranian Embassy in the HagueThere has been a lot of criticism and conspiracy construction around the group of Dutch (-Iranian) people who hopped the fence of the Iranian embassy in The Hague and unfurled a banner calling for freedom in Iran.<br />
<br />
(on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQygffygbBI&feature=related)<br />
<br />
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<br />
Whatever opinion you have about the action, it was not done by a bunch of attention seekers or the mujaheddin. I can say this with great confidence since I know some of the people involved. I know that they were sincerely moved by the situation in Iran to take this action. Having grown up in the safety and comfort of the Netherlands, they felt compelled to take a risk to bring attention not to themselves, but to the cause of those in Iran who risk much more to gain their freedoms.<br />
<br />
I sincerely wish that someone would have counseled them on the charges they would face for trespassing on embassy property, or that they may (or may not) bring danger to employees of the Dutch embassy. I also wish they really had been attention seekers. They could have had more coverage for the event had they been.<br />
<br />
Passion. Freedom. Can you really blame them?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-353280239829831492010-03-04T00:21:00.001+03:302010-03-25T01:52:26.119+04:30UPDATED: Letter to halt executions: In support of Mohammad Amin Valian<b>UPDATE: United4Iran has launched a letter writing campaign and has translated this letter into several languages. <a href="http://bit.ly/acpgku">http://bit.ly/acpgku</a></b><br />
<br />
This is the letter I wrote to send to Iranian diplomats to protest the harsh penalties against protesters. I used <a href="http://www.servisis.co.uk/greenwave/greenmail.html">Greenmail</a> to send it. Please use it if you want:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Since the contested election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009, defendants have been executed without recourse to a fair trial or meetings with lawyers. They have been charged with crimes such as Mohareb (“enemy of God”) to justify extreme penalties. These executions are, in fact, murders. The judiciary and the revolutionary courts in Iran are reinterpreting rules and applying severe punishments for activities that are not even considered crimes under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Iran is a signatory. (The specific articles violated are 10, 18, 19, and 20.)<br />
<br />
There is widespread concern that more executions will occur in the coming months as a warning to protesters not to assemble or express their desire for civil and human rights. On March 3, we heard that the courts have upheld a death penalty for the student, Mohammad Amin Valian. This young man could be your son, brother, nephew, cousin, or friend. He comes from a deeply religious family and was active in the university’s Islamic Student Association. He is being punished for participating in demonstrations. His only crime is imagining that he could express himself openly and honestly. Even if you believe he was mistaken in his expressions, you cannot believe that he deserves to die or be imprisoned. <br />
<br />
We urge you to take the words of the poet Saadi to heart:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The sons of Adam are limbs of each other, <br />
Having been created of one essence.<br />
When the calamity of time affects one limb <br />
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.<br />
If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others<br />
Thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a human.<br />
<br />
Bani aadam aazaye yek digarand<br />
ke dar aafarinesh ze yek gooharand<br />
<br />
cho ozvi be dard aavarad roozegaar<br />
degar ozvhaa raa namaanad gharaar<br />
<br />
to kaz mehnate digaraan bi ghami<br />
nashaayad ke naamat nahand aadami</blockquote><br />
<br />
Lodge a protest. Remember that the whole world feels the pain of this young man and his family. In your heart, you must as well. Make yourself heard. Help us stop this execution. Help us make sure that all prisoners of conscience are released safely. With your help, Iran can become the nation its people deserve.<br />
<br />
<br />
</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-21917853362504427962010-03-03T20:19:00.001+03:302010-03-03T20:20:46.060+03:30SAVE MOHAMMAD AMIN VALIANMy friend in Iran asked why no one cares about Mohamad Amin Valian, whose RIDICULOUS death sentence was upheld today. Can you imagine being convicted to death for throwing a stone during a demonstration? One that did not hit or target anyone or anything? This is the regime's recipe for squelching dissent:<br />
<br />
<i>Ingredients</i><br />
12-20 protesters<br />
1 cleric to significantly alter the definition of Mohareb (enemy of God)<br />
1 judge with no humanity<br />
<i><br />
Instructions</i><br />
1. Take the young people who have gone out in the streets<br />
2. Make sure that they have no famous relatives <br />
3. Charge them with the crime of "Mohareb" (enemy of God)<br />
4. Sentence them to slow and painful suffocation until they die<br />
5. Execute enough of them so that parents lock their youth in their rooms until they turn 40<br />
<br />
FROM <a href="http://bit.ly/ac2PiW">UNITED4IRAN</a> & <a href="http://bit.ly/cw01Lp"> GREEN VOICE OF IRAN</a>: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>Aaron Rhodes of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran states, “It's an attempt to intimidate other students, other young people like him, who just want to exercise their basic human rights and their political rights," Rhodes says. "Any number of others could be similarly accused, convicted, and face being hung.”<br />
<br />
Mohammad Amin Valian was an active member of his University’s Islamic student association. He campaigned for Mir Hossein Mousavi and was targeted by his university’s Basiji-run newspaper according to the<a href="http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/feb/20/1248"> Green Voice of Freedom</a>. <br />
<br />
What can we do to stop this execution? Here is what the <a href="http://en.irangreenvoice.com/article/2010/mar/02/1351">Green Voice of Freedom</a> is advocating:<br />
<blockquote><a href="http://united4iran.com/2010/03/take-action-save-mohammad-amin-valian/end-execs/" rel="attachment wp-att-7221"><img src="http://united4iran.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/end-execs.jpg" alt="Save Mohammad Amin Valian from execution" title="Halt executions in Iran!" width="200" height="200" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-7221" /></a>1) Temporarily change your profile pictures on social networking websites such as facebook and twitter, in order to raise awareness about Mohammad Valian’s death sentence.<br />
<br />
2) If you have a weblog, website or other means for spreading the news about Mohammad Amin’s ordeal, we would like to urge you to help in spreading the news about this ridiculous court ruling in the shortest time possible. Remember, the life of a fellow human being is at stake. <br />
<br />
3) We would also like to ask any person, organisation or figure that has access to <strong>Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi </strong>in any way, to inform him of the death sentence and how his statements are being misused by judicial authorities and to cause him to intervene in the matter, in order to prevent further disgrace and shame to the clerical rule in Iran. This is his website: <a href="http://www.makaremshirazi.org/ ">http://www.makaremshirazi.org/ </a><br />
<br />
4) Further, if you are in any way able to contact any official or representative in the Islamic Republic or the Iranian Judicial system, we would like to ask you to do your best in echoing the concerns and voices of the Valian family who can at any moment lose their loved one to a corrupt and dysfunctional judiciary system. This link allows us to write to Iranian embassies and diplomatic missions around the world, and to plead the case of Mohammad Amin Alavian: <a href="http://www.servisis.co.uk/greenwave/greenmail.html ">http://www.servisis.co.uk/greenwave/greenmail.html </a></blockquote></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-83370509887406696262010-02-12T17:28:00.000+03:302010-02-12T17:28:28.378+03:30Archived 22 Bahman postI just reread my 2007 blog post on 22 Bahman. I urge you to read it in case you were impressed by the government's turnout yesterday.<br />
<br />
Here's the link <a href="http://bit.ly/9FXz1B">22 Bahman and Another Day Off</a>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/9FXz1B">http://viewfromiran.blogspot.com/2007/02/22-bahman-and-another-day-off.html</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-64269919858696633022010-02-11T13:59:00.000+03:302010-02-11T13:59:33.447+03:30Azadi, Freedom, and 22 BahmanIn Tehran, taxi drivers call out destinations: <i>Vanak, Vanak, Vanak. Tehran Pars, Tajrish, Arjentine, Resalat, Pol-e Hemat...</i> If you are traveling to any of these places, you hop in and wait for the car to fill up. Everytime a taxi driver shouted out <i>Azadi</i>, which means freedom in Persian, I wanted to laugh. Sometimes I would shout out, <i>No Azadi</i> in return.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwi3L2LpETptU8BEb7C0VOCF2oOU7hUsznFTYTSsQg4JFtiblD92tANKKlqPi_9-966sLtpO2GrUig1jeeU__B9X8ADXjK9nq3ggPaDvHnylnIqQUdiLmZREAiVrkoaI7JKJcnA/s1600-h/DSCN0366-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwi3L2LpETptU8BEb7C0VOCF2oOU7hUsznFTYTSsQg4JFtiblD92tANKKlqPi_9-966sLtpO2GrUig1jeeU__B9X8ADXjK9nq3ggPaDvHnylnIqQUdiLmZREAiVrkoaI7JKJcnA/s320/DSCN0366-1.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
During the time I was in Iran, four <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%2322bahman">22 Bahmans</a> came and went. The first was spent in the center of Iran, where I heard the rooftop calls of Allah-o Akbar for the first time. A handful of families were out on their roofs shouting back and forth. The men would call out Allah-o Akbar and the women would respond in kind. Kamran explained to me that they were remembering the revolution when street protests were forbidden and people took to the roofs to chant. "Forbidding the street protests really backfired," he told me. "Everyone went on to the roofs. It was safer and easier than going into the streets. If you did not go, your neighbors would wonder about you and why you weren't on your roof."<br />
<i>(youTube video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7MvSHuOFuA">Inja Kojast, Where is this place</a>: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7MvSHuOFuA)</i><br />
<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7MvSHuOFuA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7MvSHuOFuA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />
<br />
When we stayed in Tehran, we heard no chants at all on 22 Bahman. It was just another day off: one of many. When people in Iran started using the chants to signal their dissent after the contested June presidential elections, I had never heard anything like it. For four years I had only heard handfuls of people chanting and never with the passion I heard when listening to the recordings posted all over the Internet. In those voices, mainly of women, I heard desperation, anger, and a fierce longing for change.<br />
<br />
Living in Iran meant many things for me: I learned to wear hejab and do so fashionably despite my unfashionable nature. I learned to shut up and keep my opinions to myself. I learned to speak cautiously. I learned to make jokes that allowed me to express myself. I learned to read small gestures. I learned to dance whenever there was music, sing despite my off-key voice, and really live inside every crack in the system. <br />
<br />
I fell in love with Iran in a way that I have never fallen in love with any place before. This made me worry about my sanity.<br />
<br />
When people in Iran took to the streets, en masse,<a href="http://www.expontomagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=928:skepticism-hope-and-democracy-in-iran&catid=34:artikelen&Itemid=59"> to protest in June</a>, I knew that they were risking their lives, their livelihoods, their futures. I heard protesters call for the <a href="http://www.bahairights.org/">rights of the Bahai</a> and other minorities. I heard their demands for <a href="http://www.sign4change.info/english/">equal rights for women</a>. I heard them call for <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/02/04/iran.protests/index.html">peaceful confrontation</a>. There was nothing left for me but to support those calls and to do everything I could, however small, to amplify them. Supporting those calls costs me so little and costs those in Iran so much.<br />
<br />
Today, when I join other protesters at a demonstration in Amsterdam to support the demands for civil and human rights, no one will shoot at me, tear gas won't be used, my life won't be in jeopardy, my work won't be stolen, and my computer won't be confiscated. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://united4iran.com/2010/02/22-bahman-near-you-event-finder/">Join me. Join them.</a><br />
<br />
Read other posts written for Amnesty's <a href="http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/unite-blog-human-rights-for-iran/posts">Unite! Blog! Human Rights for Iran!</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-64476458815073459062010-02-04T19:35:00.000+03:302010-02-04T19:35:45.413+03:30It's not easy being Green: from election campaign to civil rights campaign<strong>Before the 2009 Election</strong><br />
<br />
During Iran’s presidential campaign last spring, when I felt a <a href="http://bit.ly/9iiE6Y">growing optimism about the future of Iran</a>, friends and acquaintances contacted me to inform me of <a href="http://azarmehr.blogspot.com/2009/06/terror-masters-in-moussavis-campaign.html">Mousavi’s dark past</a>. He was, after all, prime minister during the mass executions of the 80s. <br />
<br />
It was clear to me from the beginning, however, that the support for Mousavi had less to do with who he was and his past, than with who Iranians were and their <a href="http://bit.ly/bX4pt0">future</a>. Ahmadinejad and the forces around him had never made their disdain for democracy a secret. The first round of the 2005 elections were already in question by most in Iran, who did not believe that Ahmadinejad had really come out ahead. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Karroubi#2005_presidential_campaign">Karoubi mounted protests at that time</a> that went pretty much ignored by most. In 2005, the Iranians I met were cynical and apathetic about the results. “No one votes.” “The ballots are always rigged.” “What difference does it make anyway?” <br />
<a href="http://united4iran.com/?attachment_id=6526" rel="attachment wp-att-6526"><img src="http://united4iran.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/green_human_chain_20.jpg" alt="" title="The Human Chain down Vali Asr before the June 12 elections" width="497" height="331" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6526" /></a><br />
The biggest pre-election boost to the Green movement unwittingly came from the regime itself when they disrupted rallies and denied permits, forcing supporters to become creative. This creativity culminated in the huge rallies of the last week, notably the Green Chain organized via sms and word of mouth that had supporters of Mousavi’s campaign line the sides of the road from the bottom of Tehran’s Vali Asr Street to the top (more than 12 miles!)<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Well, for me it was a very unique feeling, and I had never such an experiment before. I was a part of a crowd that all were singing the same song, and I had the feeling that I can do EVERYTHING.<br />
<br />
Also for the first time in my life, I could feel and understand our previous generation who went out to the streets 30 year ago and did the revolution. I couldn’t stop myself comparing my current activities with them. I don’t know what happens on Saturday night, when the result of the election becomes clear, but maybe 30 years from now, our children will ask “Why the hell did you do these stupid things at June 2009?!” like what we’re always asking from our own parents!<br />
<br />
But I’m happy of what I did. I’ll vote on Friday, and I’ll vote for Mousavi. Not because he is the best, but because he is the better choice in our current conditions. Reform do not happen in one night, like what our parents did 30 year ago, what they called it “revolution”. Reform in Iran will take a very long time, in a road with many little steps.<br />
<a href="http://persianview.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/valiasr-human-chain-by-mousavi-supporters/">- Payam Moin Afshari </a><br />
</blockquote><br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/cBItiA">People I know in Iran told me it was a sea change.</a> They looked around and saw that what they wished for secretly was what so many wished for: reform, more personal freedoms, slow changes. <br />
<br />
Read what women’s rights activist <a href="http://bit.ly/c4FDsr">Maryam Hosseinkhah</a> wrote before the elections:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>But I will vote for small change.<br />
<br />
I will vote because I want to freely read a newspaper every morning.<br />
<br />
I will vote because I want to buy my favorite book.<br />
<br />
I will vote because I want to watch my favorite movie in the cinema.<br />
<br />
I will vote because I don’t want to afraid of being arrested in the street when my clothes are a bit short.<br />
<br />
I vote for these small wishes.</blockquote><br />
After the June elections and the subsequent protests, my dear friend told me, "I always thought I was in the minority and that I would just have to learn to live with this society. Now I realize that I am in the majority, and I am asking myself, 'What do I need to do now? What are my responsibilities?'" <br />
<br />
<strong>From Election Campaign to Rights Campaign</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sidewalklyrics.com/?p=1822"><br />
The Green movement is now a civil rights movement.</a> It’s important to realize that it will take time to grow and develop, and it will take nurturing to do so. Those of us who feel that a tolerant, more democratic, and open society is inevitable may wish that it were as simple to achieve as turning on a light in a dark room. The truth is, that the Green movement is a long-term movement that is going to require our support for a long, long time to come. We are always going to have to struggle for civil and human rights and once they are attained, we are going to have to struggle to maintain them.<br />
<br />
In an interview with Moussavi published on <a href="http://www.kaleme.org/">Kalameh</a>, he questions the success of the revolution against the Shah: "In the early years of the revolution, the majority of our people had been convinced that the revolution had erased all structures of dictatorship and autocracy, and I was one of these people," he said. "But today, I don't believe so." (via<a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/02/iran-mousavi-questions-his-earlier-support-for-islamic-republics-tyranny.html"> LA Times</a> blog) Mousavi continues:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>He doesn't care about rumors of illegally forced confessions. Nor does he care about the fact that the death-row suspects have nothing to do with the election riots. The important thing for him is to be an executive for intimidation. He is unaware of the power of the blood of the innocent and he has forgotten the fact that the flood of martyrs' blood led to the overthrow of the shah regime. <br />
<br />
Even today, I see the resistance and firm determination of people in favor of their rights ... as the continuation of the struggles of the days and months leading to the 1979 revolution. <br />
</blockquote><strong><br />
How do We Become the Society We Should Be?</strong><br />
<br />
If as <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125382470366238705.html">Dr. Frans de Waal </a>and other neuroscientists posit, we are by nature empathic, then how do we go about promoting the empathic norm that is Us and <strong>limiting the upheaval and oppression done to our societies by the small number who are willing to use violence and terror to achieve their ends? How do we respond peacefully and non-violently to that group? And how do we prevail? </strong>I hope that you, dear reader, will respond to these questions in the comments. <br />
<br />
It is easy to be in opposition. It is far easier to remain outside and critical than to take on the enormous risk of supporting a movement that may not always be everything we dream of. The future of oppression in Iran depends on passivity. It depends on the assumption that we will sacrifice those among us who unknown yet outspoken and brave who have made themselves vulnerable through their actions to protect others and to move society forward, in return for stability and predictability. <br />
<br />
We all have to be brave and patient and work hard to achieve civil, compassionate, and open societies. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)<br />
<br />
Cross-posted at <a href="http://bit.ly/bN2miP">United4Iran</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-17637856844665748792010-02-02T19:48:00.000+03:302010-02-02T19:48:47.535+03:30Call for Diplomatic Action to End Executions in Iran<img src="http://www.united4iran-nl.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ACTION-sq-thumb.png" alt="TAKE ACTION" title="TAKE ACTION" width="150" height="150" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-673" />Today, we sent this <a href="http://bit.ly/a8eUiE">letter</a> to the Dutch Foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen. Feel free to add your voice to the letter by printing it out and mailing it or by tweeting this link: http://bit.ly/a8eUiE to @maximeverhagen. Sample tweet: <em>Pls RT @maximeverhagen Oproepen Iraanse Diplomaten http://bit.ly/a8eUiE #united4iran </em><br />
<br />
There is an <a href="http://bit.ly/b4Ymem">English template of the letter available at United4Iran</a> and the Dutch version is on <a href="http://bit.ly/a8eUiE">unitedriran-nl.org</a>. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>February 2, 2010<br />
Amsterdam<br />
<br />
Dear Minister Verhagen:<br />
<br />
This letter presents a request to summon Iranian diplomats in order to register a strong complaint concerning gross violations of human rights. The government of Iran, which has the second highest number of executions in the world, has stepped up capital punishment for non-capital crimes. The International Campaign for Human Rights reports that the charge of Mohareb (“enemy of God”) is being used to intimidate dissidents, protesters, and opposition. This is particularly urgent at this moment, as the people of Iran prepare to mark the 31st anniversary of the revolution against the Shah on February 11. There is widespread concern that more executions will occur in the coming days as a warning to protesters not to assemble or express their desire for civil and human rights.<br />
<br />
Since the contested election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009, defendants have been executed without recourse to a fair trial or meetings with lawyers. These executions are, in fact, murders. The judiciary in Iran is making up the rules and the charges as they go along. Those charges violate basic human rights as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Iran is a signatory. (The specific articles violated are 10, 18, 19, and 20.)<br />
<br />
Danger of Mass Executions<br />
<br />
For many inside and outside Iran, the mass executions of the late 1980s are a fresh memory. Thousands of people were executed for trumped up charges, some of them after nearly completing prison terms for non-capital offenses. There is a clear danger that history will repeat itself. The difference this time, is that the world is watching. It is imperative that the government of the Netherlands register its disapproval in a strong way.<br />
<br />
On 29 January, one day after two political prisoners (Arash Rahmani Pour and Mohammad Ali Zamani) were hanged, the hardline cleric and member of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati welcomed these executions. Given his prominent position amongst the ruling elite’s “hardliner” faction, his statement is interpreted as a green light for further political executions. He explicitly stated that if widespread executions had taken place following the post- election unrest, the protests would not have been prolonged. Addressing the head of the Judiciary, Jannati said at Friday prayers in Tehran: “For God’s sake, just as you expedited these two executions, continue on like a man and bravo for these actions.”<br />
<br />
Summon Iranian Diplomats<br />
<br />
We urge the Dutch Foreign Ministry to summon Iranian diplomats and to register a strong protest against the actions of the Iranian judiciary and government. We ask for calls for the Iranian government to respect the internationally recognized rights of the Iranian people to freedom of assembly, expression, and press. Let the government of Iran know that we want to see an immediate halt to the trials of protesters that are underway and the release of all political prisoners.<br />
<br />
Political Prisoners Facing Execution<br />
<br />
The number of political prisoners and dissidents sentenced to death is growing daily. During the past month alone four political prisoners were executed: Ehsan Fattahian, Fasih Yasmian, Arash Rahmani Pour, and Mohammad Ali Zamani. At least nine post-election protestors are sentenced to death according to the Iranian Judiciary, although their names have not been announced.<br />
<br />
Four members of the student association Daftar-e Tahkim (Office to Foster Unity) and seven members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, as well as many ordinary detained protestors, are facing the charge of Mohareb, or enemy of God, which carries the death sentence. None of these detainees has access to lawyers, and according to brief calls they have made to their families, they are under intense pressure to make false confessions.<br />
<br />
<br />
At least twenty Kurdish political prisoners are also at risk of imminent execution: Shirin Alam Holi, Zeinab Jalilian, Farzad Kamangar, Habibollah Latifi, Shirkoo Moarefi, Farhad Vakili, Ali Heidarian, Hussein Khazri, Rostam Arkia, Mostafa Salimi, Anvar Rostami, Rashid Akhkandi, Mohammad Amin Agooshi, Ahmad Pooladkhani, Seyed Sami Husseini, Seyed Jamal Mohammadi, Hasan Talei, Iraj Mohammadi, Mohammad Amin Abollahi and Ghader Mohammadzadeh.<br />
<br />
<br />
We urge you to take strong action and to encourage your colleagues to do so as well.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-76241831584147188142010-01-07T00:18:00.001+03:302010-01-07T11:42:33.396+03:30Debunking the Leverret's and their dated view of Iran<b><br />
There may be more than one way to stop Iran, but is there any way to stop the folly on NYT's op-ed page?</b><br />
<br />
OK, there is so much wrong with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/opinion/06leverett.html?pagewanted=1">Leverett's op-ed piece in the New York Times</a> that I didn't even know where to start. So I went through the article expressing my dismay at its content almost paragraph by paragraph. Forgive my ranting and grammatical errors.<br />
<br />
<i>THE Islamic Republic of Iran is not about to implode. Nevertheless, the misguided idea that it may do so is becoming enshrined as conventional wisdom in Washington.</i><br />
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The Islamic Republic is imploding. It’s been imploding for years. The system is cracking apart under the great force of a population that wants simple things: the freedom to kiss in public; the freedom to make fun of their president and their religious figures; the freedom to surf the Internet. These may seem like trivialities, but when you live in a society like Iran’s where all are restricted and where offenders can be harshly punished, they gain importance.<br />
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<i>For President Obama, this misconception provides a bit of cover; it helps obscure his failure to follow up on his campaign promises about engaging Iran with any serious, strategically grounded proposals. Meanwhile, those who have never supported diplomatic engagement with Iran are now pushing the idea that the Tehran government might collapse to support their arguments for military strikes against Iranian nuclear targets and adopting “regime change” as the ultimate goal of America’s Iran policy.</i><br />
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I have been for engagement for years. But there is no more room for engagement. We needed a president willing to engage with Iran ten years ago. This regime does not want to be engaged, they want to be isolated. The regime will never negotiate in good faith. They have proven this time and time again. Any negotiation with the US will be a charade at best.<br />
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We now know that there really is a huge population willing to be talk with us. While the regime may not fall today or tomorrow, it will fall. And when it does, I hope that my government has chosen to be on the right side of history.<br />
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When 3 million people in Tehran dared to take to the streets on June 15th , we entered another phase of history. Any one of us who has spent time in Iran knew what a watershed moment that was. And when I write dared, I mean dared. There is no one in Iran who is naïve enough not to know what kind of personal risks demonstrating creates. Those risks have become even greater since the initial demonstrations. State sanctioned rape, torture, and the threat of execution are very real.<br />
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<i>Let’s start with the most recent events. On Dec. 27, large crowds poured into the streets of cities across Iran to commemorate the Shiite holy day of Ashura; this coincided with mourning observances for a revered cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who had died a week earlier. Protesters used the occasion to gather in Tehran and elsewhere, setting off clashes with security forces.<br />
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Important events, no doubt. But assertions that the Islamic Republic is now imploding in the fashion of the shah’s regime in 1979 do not hold up to even the most minimal scrutiny. Antigovernment Iranian Web sites claim there were “tens of thousands” of Ashura protesters; others in Iran say there were 2,000 to 4,000. Whichever estimate is more accurate, one thing we do know is that much of Iranian society was upset by the protesters using a sacred day to make a political statement.<br />
The writers show how little they know about Iranians and about the situation. There was an incredible amount of security on the streets of cities all over Iran. Shots were fired into the crowd early in the day. I invite them to play a thought game: how many people would have turned out had there been a minimal security presence. I also invite the authors to remember that there was no call for organized opposition either at the funeral of Montazeri or on Ashura. <br />
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Vastly more Iranians took to the streets on Dec. 30, in demonstrations organized by the government to show support for the Islamic Republic (one Web site that opposed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June estimated the crowds at one million people). Photographs and video clips lend considerable plausibility to this estimate — meaning this was possibly the largest crowd in the streets of Tehran since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s funeral in 1989. In its wake, even President Ahmadinejad’s principal challenger in last June’s presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, felt compelled to acknowledge the “unacceptable radicalism” of some Ashura protesters.</i><br />
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Pulease. There is no way a pro-government demonstration can ever be valid when the right to opposition demonstration does not exist. I invite the authors to remember that no one claims that there are no pro-government factions in Iran. Of course there are. There are millions of people dependent on the government for aid and work. The fact is, many of the demonstrators were paid up to 200,000 tumans each. (OK, this is hearsay from a friend who knows people who got paid). It was a day off, for God’s sake. Children and civil servants were bused in as were dependent families.<br />
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<i>The focus in the West on the antigovernment demonstrations has blinded many to an inconvenient but inescapable truth: the Iranians who used Ashura to make a political protest do not represent anything close to a majority. Those who talk so confidently about an “opposition” in Iran as the vanguard for a new revolution should be made to answer three tough questions: First, what does this opposition want? Second, who leads it? Third, through what process will this opposition displace the government in Tehran?</i><br />
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<i>In the case of the 1979 revolutionaries, the answers to these questions were clear. They wanted to oust the American-backed regime of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and to replace it with an Islamic republic. Everyone knew who led the revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who despite living in exile in Paris could mobilize huge crowds in Iran simply by sending cassette tapes into the country. While supporters disagreed about the revolution’s long-term agenda, Khomeini’s ideas were well known from his writings and public statements. After the shah’s departure, Khomeini returned to Iran with a draft constitution for the new political order in hand. As a result, the basic structure of the Islamic Republic was set up remarkably quickly.</i><br />
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Wow. What a simplistic view. I am not an expert on the revolution, but even I know that this is wrong. Many in Iran were fighting for a communist state, others for a socialist state, others for a Marxist state. They decided to unite behind Khomeini and were indeed shocked by his later policies. In fact, there were two years of relative freedom before the Islamic state cracked down and showed its true colors. <br />
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<i>Beyond expressing inchoate discontent, what does the current “opposition” want? It is no longer championing Mr. Mousavi’s presidential candidacy; Mr. Mousavi himself has now redefined his agenda as “national reconciliation.” Some protesters seem to want expanded personal freedoms and interaction with the rest of the world, but have no comprehensive agenda. Others — who have received considerable Western press coverage — have taken to calling for the Islamic Republic’s replacement with an (ostensibly secular) “Iranian Republic.” But University of Maryland polling after the election and popular reaction to the Ashura protests suggest that most Iranians are unmoved, if not repelled, by calls for the Islamic Republic’s abolition With Mr. Mousavi increasingly marginalized, who else might lead this supposed revolution? Surely not Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president who became a leading figure in the protests after last summer’s election. Yes, he is an accomplished political actor, is considered a “founding father” of the state and heads the Assembly of Experts, a body that can replace the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader. But Mr. Rafsanjani lost his 2005 bid to regain the presidency in a landslide to Mr. Ahmadinejad, and has shown no inclination to spur the masses to bring down the system he helped create.</i><br />
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Iranians do not want to go back to the beginning that is what scares them about revolution. They want reform of their system. Evolution, not revolution. Unfortunately, this regime has shown that it will not allow that.<br />
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<i>Nor will Mohammad Khatami, the reformist elected president in 1997, lead the charge; in 1999, at the height of his popularity, he publicly disowned widespread student demonstrations protesting the closing of a newspaper that had supported his administration.</i><br />
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<i>Many of the Westerners who see the opposition displacing the Islamic Republic emphasize the potential for unrest during Shiite mourning rituals, which take place at three-, seven- and 40-day intervals after a person’s death. During the final months of the shah’s rule, his opponents used mourning rituals held for demonstrators killed by security forces to catalyze further protests. But does this mean that a steady stream of mourning rituals for fallen protesters today will set off a similarly escalating spiral of protests, eventually sweeping away Iran’s political order?</i><br />
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<i>That is highly unlikely. First, Ayatollah Montazeri had unique standing in the Islamic Republic’s history; it is not surprising that the coincidence of his seven-day observance with the Ashura observation would have drawn crowds. His 40-day observance — which will fall on Jan. 29 — and the early February commemoration of the 1979 revolution might also encourage public activism. But there is nothing in the Islamic Republic’s history to support projections that future mourning rituals for those killed in the Ashura protests will elicit similar attention.</i><br />
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<i>For example, in late 1998 four prominent intellectuals were assassinated, allegedly by state intelligence officers, prompting considerable public outrage. Yet the mourning rituals for the victims did not prompt large-scale protests. In 1999, nationwide student protests were violently suppressed, with at least five people killed and 1,200 detained. Once again, though, the mourning dates for those who died did not generate significant new demonstrations. Likewise, after the presidential election in June, none of the deaths associated with security force action — even that of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose murder became a cause célèbre of the YouTube age — resulted in further unrest.</i><br />
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Once again, I ask, have the writers been paying attention? It’s 2010, not 1998. The regime knows the mourning ritual protest well and has been cracking down on funerals and public mourning. This opposition cannot use the same playbook that the first Islamic revolution used. They have to be more creative. They are using different actions to show dissent. It’s more clever and subtle than a few mourning demonstrations. <br />
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<i>In keeping with this pattern, the seven-day mourning observances for those killed in the Ashura protests generated no significant demonstrations in Iran. Clearly, comparisons of the Ashura protests to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, projecting a cascade of monumental consequences to follow, are fanciful. The Islamic Republic will continue to be Iran’s government. And, even if there were changes in some top leadership positions — such as the replacement of Mr. Ahmadinejad as president by Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Parliament, as some Westerners speculate — this would not fundamentally change Iran’s approach on regional politics, its nuclear program and other matters of concern.<br />
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The Obama administration’s half-hearted efforts at diplomacy with Tehran have given engagement a bad name. As a result, support for more coercive options is building across the American political spectrum. The president will do a real disservice to American interests if he waits in vain for Iranian political dynamics to “solve” the problems with his Iran policy.</i><br />
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Then he should not wait in vain, he should show support for the grassroots civil rights movement in Iran.<br />
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<i>As a model, the president would do well to look to China. Since President Richard Nixon’s opening there (which took place amid the Cultural Revolution), successive American administrations have been wise enough not to let political conflict — whether among the ruling elite or between the state and the public, as in the Tiananmen Square protests and ethnic separatism in Xinjiang — divert Washington from sustained, strategic engagement with Beijing. President Obama needs to begin displaying similar statesmanship in his approach to Iran.</i><br />
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Iran is not China and never will be China. China is home to one-quarter of the world’s population and owns much of the US debt. Face it, we have no leverage in China. Three million people in Iran took to the streets on June 15th. More than 1% of Iran’s total population demonstrated together, took risks together. This movement is far from dead. Just because the authors do not know the names of its future leaders does not mean that they do not exist.<br />
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UPDATED with some links:<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1262851605359" title="Posts by Reza Akhlaghi"></a><a href="http://iran.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/12/30/a-traumatized-nation-set-to-redefine-its-role-in-21st-century/">Reza Akhlaghi</a>writes about why this movement does not have obvious leaders:<br />
<blockquote><span><span>Traumatized by their exposure to the unmasked face of their rulers and subsequently emboldened by the above grand detachment, Iranians feel reinvigorated and confident of their ability to confront Iran’s weakened theocracy and its multilayered security forces. Organizationally, the struggle in Iran has a completely flat structure with no central figurehead. With a traumatized mind but reinvigorated determination, Iranians appear to be on a path to chart a new role for them in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. And they appear unyielding in charting this new role based on recognition of and respect for human dignity without dependence on heroic figures. </span></span><br />
</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-65263555425540460212009-12-26T17:08:00.000+03:302009-12-26T17:08:44.112+03:30There is more than one way to stop Iran<i>I doubt that the NYT will publish our letter to the editor about the recent op-ed piece by Alan Kuperman, so I am publishing it here.</i><br />
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Dear Editors:<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/opinion/24kuperman.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1">Alan J. Kuperman writes that military actio</a>n is the last hope for preventing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. His comment that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reneged his offer of a nuclear deal because of pressure from political opponents is a misinterpretation of the complex politics within the regime itself.<br />
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The opposition in Iran, as well as much of its population, does not want the West to negotiate with the Ahmadinejad government because they believe that it is illegitimate and that a nuclear deal would strengthen its position both domestically and internationally. The fact that for years the regime has sent inconsistent messages to nuclear negotiators is more a symptom of a deep rift within its own power structure than the result of opposition criticism.<br />
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We believe that a military strike would strengthen this regime, not weaken it. We also believe that it has been baiting the West for years now, knowing full well that it is losing the support of its population. It seeks a repeat of Iraq’s invasion of Iran, which unintentionally united the population behind the revolutionary regime.<br />
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If a democratic Iranian government were to come to power, the first things it is likely to do would be to 1) seek legitimacy in the international community and 2) look for ways to improve its flailing economy. A nuclear agreement offers both. The nuclear program is a huge financial drain and noncompliance with UN resolutions is preventing Iran from engaging with the world.<br />
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Sitting tight and allowing the population of Iran to express their own views is the best deterrent to a nuclear armed Iran. Bombing Iran now, when its population has taken to the streets in such great numbers to express their distrust of the current regime, would be a gift to Ahmadinejad and his ilk.<br />
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Tori Egherman and Kamran AshtaryAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467559.post-64435745384297584042009-12-22T16:51:00.007+03:302009-12-22T23:00:40.866+03:30The Funeral of Montazeri and the Strength of Resistence<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9D8xN4Fb3AhKsVvu6CCwtYKhDdYkChT9GkLo_4pmIuP6lgKlctdDPbtkQrEC5XeYw7EGArIsrKGUNKy55S0uqCqZFwQY_53hFLxuifnl-wmqkQ3jKVk-XSP5y26Wr0xqhSMyIUw/s1600-h/montazeri-funeral.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9D8xN4Fb3AhKsVvu6CCwtYKhDdYkChT9GkLo_4pmIuP6lgKlctdDPbtkQrEC5XeYw7EGArIsrKGUNKy55S0uqCqZFwQY_53hFLxuifnl-wmqkQ3jKVk-XSP5y26Wr0xqhSMyIUw/s400/montazeri-funeral.jpg" border="0" alt="Masses turn out for the funeral of Montazeri in Qom, December 21, 2009"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418062024577256562" /></a><br /><br />For the four years I spent in Iran, a dominant question from the “Western Street” was a variation of “Why don’t the world’s Muslims go to the streets to protest bombings?” The question presumes, of course, that the non-Muslim West knows all there is to know about the conversations, debates, and opinions of those in the mainly closed societies dominated by a Muslim population.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I heard consistent <a href="http://viewfromiran.blogspot.com/2006/10/taxi-talk.html">condemnations of violence</a> (of all types) from middle class and poor Iranians. Perhaps when you have seen the effects of war and terror on your own family and friends, you are much less likely to wish for its renewal.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.expontomagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=928:skepticism-hope-and-democracy-in-iran&catid=34:artikelen&Itemid=59">On June 15,</a> 3 million Iranians in Tehran went onto the streets because their hopes for peaceful and gradual reform of their government were so cruelly dashed by the blatantly fraudulent election results. Their individual courage was buoyed by the courage shown by others. <br /><br />Yesterday in Qom, hundreds of thousands attended the funeral of Ali Montazeri, a <a href="http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosein-Ali_Montazeri">grand ayatollah</a> who had consistently spoken up for civil rights, the separation of state and religion, and against state-sponsored violence. They did this despite the risk of arrest and reprisals. Mourners went with knowledge of the brutal rapes of prisoners in <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/28/iran-kahrizak-a-prison-from-hell/">Kharizak</a> Prison, the torture and beatings and psychological anguish inflicted upon those in custody, and the random violence visited on demonstrators and passersby alike. They went with their eyes open and with hopes for freedom.<br /><br />The only thing that can stop them in their quest for freedom now would be an attack on Iran from outside forces. The Iranian regime is doing everything it can to bait Israel and the West. It’s the schoolyard bully sticking out its tongue and begging for a punch in the gut. Wouldn't it just be glorious to defend oneself rather than to be the aggressor? There is nothing the regime wants more than an outside attack. Restraint would do more to end their reign then anything else. Let’s finally allow the Iranian people decide their own future and allow them to play out their long struggle for real freedom and real civil rights.<br /><br />MORE:<br /><a href="http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/05/22/ayatollah-montazeri-proclaims-bahais-citizens-of-iran/">MideastYouth.com's translation of Montazeri's declaration</a> of citizenship for Baha'is <br /><br /><a href="http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/22/iran-special-analysis-after-montazeri-from-protest-to-victory-part-1/">Enduring American's optimistic analysis</a> of the turnout for the funeral of Montazeri in Qom<br /><br />Great photos and summary at the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/world/middleeast/22cleric.html?_r=1"> NY Times</a><br /><br />My<a href="http://www.expontomagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=928:skepticism-hope-and-democracy-in-iran&catid=34:artikelen&Itemid=59"> article at ex Ponto </a>about the Iranian summer of opposition<br /><br /><a href="http://khordaad88.com/?p=909">One of the last interviews</a> with Montazeri from Radio Zamaneh<br /><br />About Iran's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Constitutional_Revolution">constitutional revolution</a><br /><br />Finally, a quote from an interview Montazeri did with Radio Zamaneh in 2008:<br /><br /><blockquote>Reporter: But in religious teachings it is often said that oppression will not last. Do you think that this oppression will last?<br /><br />Montazeri: After all, no government is everlasting. “The state may endure heresy but it will not endure oppression.” [Quote from Mohammad]<br /><br />Reporter: Apparently not, but it has endured so far.<br /><br />Montazeri: No, it shall not endure. We are too impatient; it will not endure. It is in my writings that the Mandate of the Jurist, as these gentlemen are representing it, began with Mr. Khomeini and ended with this gentleman. After him [Khamenei], the Mandate of the Jurist will not have any credibility...</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com2