Students Rally to Demand Freedom of Keyvan Ansari

Several hundred students at Amir Kabir university gathered to demand the release of their student colleague, Keyvan Ansari.

They sang the student solidarity anthem, and the banned Iranian national anthem, Ey Iran.


It seems the regime is using its interrogation methods, learned from their North Korean counter parts, to force Keyvan Ansari to recant fabricated evidence against another prisoner, Moussavi Khoeini.

Keyvan Ansari was a young volunteer who took part in defending Iran against Saddam's invasion of Iran. His father was also a POW for many years.

Amir Kabir students who have taken a risk to support their imprisoned student colleague should be an example of courage to the Student Union representatives at St. Andrews, who could have joined the rest of the NUS body and demanded the release of Ahmad Batebi without taking a risk, but are too much of a coward to join a humanitarian effort.

Broujerdi Video on pajamasmedia.com

I came across this site today while googling:
http://www.pajamasmedia.com/.

It has the footage of Ayatollah Boroujerdi's last recorded speech before he and his followers were arrested after heavy clashes. Boroujerdi's speech is not translated word by word but a brief description of what is going on and is said is published along with the full film footage.

Have to look up this site more often in the future. The two pictures used here are from alertnet.org

At the American Way School in Memphis

I kept thinking I will write about our US trip starting from day 1 and so on. However after three weeks absence I am so snowed under that I may not be able to start working on that straight away. Yet I promised the kids in the American Way school in Memphis, I will post their pictures and write about them asap when I return. Since I dont like letting kids down, here is about the pleasant experience we had in Memphis.

We were greeted by William Tucker (in his suit and tie), Alex (to William's right), John (behind me) and Andreas (on my left) from grade 8. All three were a credit to their school. So courteous and welcoming. They gave us a tour of their school and the way the school runs. They showed us their school library and their computers which were connected to the internet. I tried to access my blog but it was blocked :))

I then gave a little talk about Iran to a class. I talked about Iran's geography and a brief history of Iran starting from Cyrus the Great. In order to keep the kids interested, I said I have a little present for whoever asks the best questions. I had a copy of the Return of Schehrzad by Eric Jerpe, which is fiction novellete but it gives a lot of information about Iran and its history.

After the class we had a VIP school dinner. I found that Alex's family only migrated to US two years ago from Honduras, and he did not speak any English when he first enrolled in the school. It reminded me of my first years in England. I encouraged Alex by telling him that he is so lucky, because he will be completely bi-lingual and bi-cultural, something very useful in the global world.

When we finished dinner, one of the kids came up to me and reminded me that he had asked the best questions and deserved to get the prize I had promised :) I was more than willing to give him the book but one of the school officials objected because the picture of the woman on the cover did not meet the school's standards!

I was shocked at this denial of knowledge for the sake of such unnecassary prudence. This however was why our trip was so varied. We had to learn aboul all aspects of life in America.

Kristian Gravenor on Gunaz TV

I said a lot more to Kristian Gravenor on Gunaz TV and the nonsense of Azeri separatist movement than just the one sentence I was quoted in this:
Agitator on the airwaves.

The nonsense from Gunaz TV is so apparent and obvious that at the end, Gravenor's conclusion was:
"The point is that it doesn't matter whether Gunaz is spouting nonsense or not, it's whether or not they can win the hearts and souls of the Azeris they're courting. If they can convince those people to want to split from Iran, then the whole thing becomes something of significance."

Document on Boroujerdi's Arrest

This document shows the deputy intelligence ministry, Iravani, writing to the special section on clergy in the Supreme Leader's office requesting a "capable" judge to be appointed to issue the arrest warrant for Ayatollah Boroujerdi who is advocating a non political Islam.

The document also shows Commander Talaee's reluctance to lead the arrest operation, saying that he has threatened to resign if force is used to arrest Ayatollah Boroujerdi and his supporters.

NUS Statement of Solidarity with Iranian Students and Workers

National Union of Students(NUS)in UK have issued the following statement in support of Iran's prisoners of conscience:

Against war, against theocracy - solidarity with Iranian workers and students!
Free Ahmed Batebi and all political prisoners in Iran! Protest when
Muhammad Khatami visits St Andrews!

Former Iranian president Seyed Muhammad Khatami will be visiting St Andrew’s university on 31 October to deliver a lecture on “dialogue among civilisations” and receive an honorary degree from university chancellor and Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell. Meanwhile, Ahmed Batebi, an Iranian student activist arrested by Khatami’s regime during pro-democracy protests in 1999 and kept inside throughout his term in office, is seriously ill in jail.

Ahmed was jailed when he appeared, clutching a shirt stained with the blood of one of his comrades, on the front cover of the Economist. He was elected as Honorary Vice-President of NUS as a gesture of solidarity between British and Iranian students. He was released last January but re-arrested in July. Even Hessam Firoozi, the doctor who treated Ahmed
in jail and had expressed concerns to the press about his wellbeing, has now been arrested!

At the same time, it is important to remember that Ahmed is only one of thousands of political prisoners in Iran, jailed to expressing even the mildest opposition to the Islamic Republic regime.

Khatami is on the “reformist” wing of the Islamic Republic - which makes him a “moderate” right-wing religious fundamentalist. He is fully committed to the theocratic system which has oppressed the Iranian people, and workers, women, lesbian, gay and bisexual people and young people above all, for the last three decades. During his time in office, tiny modifications to the Islamic Republic’s regime of terror were massively outweighed by the stepping up of neoliberal economics and attacks on the living standards of Iranian workers.

We are deepy disappointed that St Andrews Students’ Association has declared itself in favour of Khatami’s visit, bizarrely dismissing the repression he carried out as “tensions which existed within Iran during his presidency” and claiming that he “adopted a brave stance to promote
liberal values in the face of great adversity”. This is an appalling betrayal of Iranian students’ struggle for freedom.

As students, young people, feminists, LGBT and labour movement activists in Britain, we express our wholehearted solidarity with the democratic and working-class opposition in Iran - against both the US’s threat to kill thousands of Iranian civilians in another war and the barbarity of the Iranian regime. We therefore demand that Khatami’s honorary degree be
withdrawn unless Ahmed Batebi is released. When Khatami visits St Andrews, we will be protesting to express our solidarity with Iranian students and others fighting against the theocratic dictatorship for democratic and social rights.

Sofie Buckland, NUS National Executive and Education Not for Sale
Joe Rooney, NUS National Executive, ENS and Young Greens
Keir Lawson, Scottish Socialist Party student organiser
Jack Ferguson, Scottish Socialist Youth national organiser
Laura Schwartz, ENS Women
James Alexander, National Union of Students Scotland President
Gemma Tumelty, NUS National President
Stephen Brown, NUS National Secretary
Joe Rukin, NUS National Treasurer
Colleen Dowdall, NUS-USI Convenor
Scott Cuthbertson, NUS LGBT Officer (Open Place)
Claire Anderson, NUS LGBT Officer (Women’s Place)
Veronica King, NUS VP Welfare
Ellie Russell, NUS VP Further Education
Wes Streeting, NUS VP Education
Kat Stark, NUS National Women’s Officer
Alex Kemp, NUS Students’ With Disabilities Officer
Sam Lebens, NUS National Executive and Co-convenor, NUS Anti-Racism,
Anti-Fascism Campaign
Louise Sweeney, NUS National Executive
Steven Findlay, NUS National Executive
Richard Angell, NUS National Executive
Aled Dilwyn Fisher, LSESU Environment and Ethics Officer, Young Greens

note: Batebi was today allowed temporary leave from prison. International solidarity does yield results, lets keep the momentum going!

The Absurdity of US News Channels

We are now in the last week of our US trip. I have learned a lot about the decision making process in America and a lot about the American people. Hopefully I will write in more detail about all this when I get back and have uninterrupted access to the internet.

I have also come to some conclusions about the American TV news channels. Almost since day 1 that we got here, I have been watching the US news channels in my hotel rooms and almost every day, I have heard nothing other than the Foley scandal. Every morning I turn the news on, I think to myself surely there is no more mileage in this Foley affair. What needs to be said is told and the American people can make up their mind about the scandal. Yet after two weeks of being here, the news channels still go on about it, as if there is nothing else happening in the world. Perhaps finally the nuclear test carried out by North Korea will put an end to this ongoing election bickering.

The whole snappy format of the news channels and the constant commercial interruptions are geared for titillating news rather than any in depth information to the public.

The news channels are also more keen on reporting news that will damage the US reputation and credibility. I have been voicing this where ever we go. The PR and the propaganda war is being lost to an enemy that has become the master of propaganda and uses it to the full.

Another Voice of Dissent Silenced for Now

The dissident Ayatollah Boroujerdi who opposes mixing of religion and state and the ruling theocracy in Iran, was last night arrested with hundreds of his followers outside his house after some bloody clashes. I will write more about this when more information becomes available.

Clashes Outside Boroujerdi's House

Several thousand supporters of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, the Shiite cleric who advocates non-political Islam and opposes the theocracy in Iran, clashed with government forces in Tehran last night.

See the film footage.

In one of the film footage, Commander Talaee, chief of Tehran's Law Enforcement Forces, tells the crowd that he will personally visit the dissident Ayatollah himself and asks the crowd to go home and let the neighbours have peace and quiet in the street. The crowd tell him that the neighbours are fine and a woman tells him "we will only listen to you if the state TV broadcasts your pledges."

In the last footage, another cleric tries to calm the crowd and tell them to go home but the crowd stop him from talking and force him out of the street.

BBC Persian posted a despicable report of the incident, by trying to belittle Ayatollah Boroujerdi's position and referred to the Ayatollah's supporters as club weilding thugs who have caused fear amongst the neighbours in the street.

Learning from Sterling

Before coming to Sterling, Illinois, I was under the impression that the people of this small town wouldn't know anything about Iran nor would they be interested in anything outside their state. How wrong I was!

Yesterday morning, we went to see Ted Aggen, the Mayor of Sterling. We were received by the Mayor and his deputy Amy Viering. The city manager, Jay Wieland, gave an excellent presentation on how the town is run, how the revenues are collected and most importantly how the town coped with the closure of the local steel mill. It was interesting to hear how the spirit of volunteerism and the foresight not to fight a changing world but learning how to comply with the new situation, had pulled the town through the difficult times.

In the evening we had a pot luck dinner with a group of peace activists. It really was a pleasure to be received so warmly by such enlightened people that cared so much about the world. The peace group went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Personally I was embarrassed to be given such VIP treatment. We talked around the dinner table, then each of us were introduced by one of the group members who read a short bio about us. We each gave a brief talk about Iran and then fielded some questions. I must say every question was a relevant and intelligent question. I hope I answered them well and gave them some more understanding about the situation in Iran and the global threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

This morning we went to Rock Fall middle school. Again the reception we received was exceptional. I gave a brief talk about Iran, where it is in the world, a brief history starting with Cyrus the Great and the first declaration of human rights and the tolerance Cyrus exercised with the citizens of his empire, abolishing slavery and giving people the right to practise their religion. We met with three large groups between 10am and 12 noon.
Once again we fielded a lot of intelligent questions from the pupils and the their teachers as well as the local press. My main message to all the three groups was to fight political apathy and to appreciate the privileges the American youth have inherited and not to take it for granted.

In the afternoon we went to a farm and saw at first hand the efficiency with which an American farm is run. Once again I was so surprised to learn that a farmer in Sterling, knows quite a lot about Iran and is interested to learn more about our country. Dan, the owner of the farm started the farm back in 1980 while he had a $10000 debt after college. I forget how many acres he said he farmed, but believe me it was huge. We also had a lot of fun getting a ride on his combine and tractor.



Tomorrow we will leave Sterling. Like all the other places we have been on this trip, we have been met by a lot of warm and friendly people who have really made us feel at home and left us with a good impression of the American people.

The First Victim of Theocracy is God

It is not just the secular dissidents who are suppressed by the ruling clergy in Iran. Ayatollah Boroujerdi and his supporters continue to pay a heavy price for defying political Islam and the despotic rule of the "Supreme Leader".

"the most afflicted victim of this theocracy has been God. Injustices perpetrated by the ruling clerics in the name of God have forced people to turn away from Him in droves." Kazemeini Boroujerdi insists. Read this good report by Nazanin Ansari.

Batebi's Doctor is Arrested

Lawyers who defend prisoners of conscience in Iran have been sentenced to prison themselves by the Islamic courts in the past. Arresting the physicians who treat Iranian political prisoners however is a new development in the Islamic Republic.

Dr. Hessam Firoozi who is treating Ahmad Batebi, was arrested in his house earlier today. Several plain clothes intelligence ministry agents turned up with an arrest warrant at Dr. Firoozi's house and took him away after searching the doctor's house and belongings.

Dr. Firoozi had contacted the press, prior to his arrest, and expressed concerns for his client's well being. Dr. Firoozi also treated Iranian dissident, Akbar Ganji, in the past.

Campaign! Don't Complain

I just loved this slogan by the Mikvah Challenge group. The Mikva Challenge is a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 1997 as a tribute to former White House Counsel and U.S. Congressman Abner Mikva and his wife Zoe. They encourage the youth in Chicago to become active participants in the political process through election and issue campaigns, and basically make politics to be more fun and less tedious.

We had a good one hour informative session with the people at Mikvah Challenge yesterday, and then we visited Professor Scott Hibbard and some of his students at the Department of Political Science in DePaul University. It was a lively exchange of views and opinions and hopefully a good starting point for some future dialogue.

We will leave Chicago tomorrow afternoon. I will miss the place, we met a lot of nice people here.

City of Tolerance

I have left New York now and arrived in Chicago. Hopefully I will be able to write more about the city that never sleeps when I get back to London. New York is similar to London, it is fast, it is buzzing and very cosmopolitan, but just on a bigger scale. London to the power of 2 or 3 if you like.

Unlike London however, it is extremely safe, but like London it is very tolerant. I thought I post this picture to demonstrate this point. Here is a cab driver, who some would say, looks and dresses like a textbook Taliban figure. In fact he is a Baluchi and spoke Persian. Yet in a city that suffered 9/11, he feels free and comfortable to look and dress as he wants to, without fear of persecution.

I will write more about Chicago, but I dont think I have to stay here long to know that they love the English accent :)

Visiting HRW

I am now in New York, and today had the opportunity to visit the Human Righs Watch offices which is on the 34th floor of the Empire State building. Hadi Ghaemi, Iran researcher with Human Rights Watch, was kind enough to show us around the offices and talk about how the HRW works.

All I can say is that there were a lot of very nice people there, doing a lot of good work. The world is a better place because of these good people.

The Veteran Outside the Senate

I always have a lot of respect for people who sacrifice themselves for their country, and it is always heartbreaking for me when I see war veterans not taken care of, wherever they are. They have done their bit and the politicians and civilians must do their bit to help them. This is my humble opinion.

I took this picture outside the US Senate with this Vietnam war veteran. He was protesting that his representative in the Congress, was not even willing to see him. Immediately I warmed up to him. He seemed like a nice friendly chap, who despite his bitter experience in life, still loved his country.

Tell everyone About my Plight

Mossavi Khoeini, Iranian human rights activist, attended the 40th day of his late father's funeral. Despite being escorted by agents of the Islamic Republic, he managed to shout "Tell everyone about my plight. I am being interrogated 5 times a day. I sleep with my hands handcuffed and my feet chained every night."

After this incident the agents bundled Mossavi Khoeini in the car and took him away.

In USA

I am in the USA, for the next three weeks. As usual, I did not have an easy time with the US immigration officers. Really can't understand why they think I am a threat to US security. It took nearly two hours for me to get the clearance to go through. But I am really enjoying my time now. Will be visiting several places and have a hectic program ahead.

Probably wont be able to do many posts while I am in US. Please be patient with publishing your comments.

An Opportunity for NUS to Save Ahmad Batebi

Ahmad Batebi was an Iranian student whose picture was published on the cover of the Economist. Batebi was then identified and sentenced to 15 years during Khatami's presidency.
Batebi has been elected twice since, as the honourary vice-president of National Union of Students, NUS in Britain. Batebi is still in prison and currently on hunger strike. At the same time former Islamic Republic president, Ayatollah Khatami is visiting St. Andrews to receive an honourary PHD.

This is an opportunity for NUS to save Ahmad Batebi. His release from this unfair sentence can be demanded as a pre-condition to Khatami's visit to St. Andrews.

Otherwise this is how the story reads:
NUS misses a golden opportunity to save their former elected honourary vice-president. At a time when secular academics and students in Iran are being expelled and a second "cultural revolution" is taking place in Iran, NUS and Scottish academics rather than standing by their colleagues in Iran are rewarding a representative of an anti-student, anti-academic religious apartheid.

After a US tour where Khatami was given a platform to mislead his audiences by fancy slogans like "dialogue amongst civilisations", he now seems to get another opportunity to mislead another audience in Scotland. Once again those who are giving him this platform are doing so without giving an opportunity for a dialogue to the Iranian victims during his presidency.

14th Anniversary of Mykonos Assassinations

On 17th September, 1992, Iranian-Kurdish opposition leaders Sadegh Sharafkandi, Fattah Abdoli, Homayoun Ardalan and their translator Nouri Dehkordi were assassinated at the Mykonos Greek restaurant in Berlin, Germany.

Several Lebanese Hezbollah members were amongst the assassination squad. Lebanese, Abbas Rhayel, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Two other Lebanese Hezboallah members, Youssef Amin and Mohamed Atris, were convicted of being accessories to murder. Another Lebanese Hezbollah member, Abu Jafar aka as Abu Heydar was the driver of the get-away car.

Only one Iranian dissident present in the restaurant, Parviz Dastmalchi, survived the ordeal and showed immense courage in pursuing the truth.

Now how many times have you heard "Hezbollah is not a terrorist organisation but a liberation movement"? How does assassinating Iranian opposition figures in a Berlin restaurant make Hezbollah a liberation movement? How does assassinating Iranian opposition serve the Lebanese people in any way?

This was One Western Journalist that Had Guts

Oriana Fallaci, is dead at the age of 77 after a long battle against cancer. I read two of her books, "Nothing, and so be it" - translated into Persian as Life: War and Nothing Else - and her "interview with history" when I was a child in Iran.

She must have been the only woman ever to have taken off her chador in front of Ayatollah Khomeini.
In an interview with Khomeini after the 1979 revolution, she asked him “How do I swim in a chador?” Khomeini's reply was that she was not obliged to wear one, because it was a garment for proper Islamic women only. She tore off her chador, and Ayatollah Khomeini stalked off :))

As a former anti-Fascist partisan during World War II, I am not surprised Fallaci had guts. She wrote a series of articles and books, critical of Islam and Arab culture, that have surprise surprise angered the Muslims, who seem to be the only people allowed to be offended! Since 9/11, Fallaci dedicated herself in the fight against "the greatest threat to Western civilization since the Cold War, Islamofascism".

“Europe is no longer Europe,” she told The Wall Street Journal in 2005. “It is ‘Eurabia,’ a colony of Islam, where the Islamic invasion does not proceed only in a physical sense, but also in a mental and cultural sense. Servility to the invaders has poisoned democracy, with obvious consequences for the freedom of thought, and for the concept itself of liberty."

However, it was not so much the Islamiofascists that raged against her, it was the Left in Europe, that hated her more. Although she was their darling during the Vietnam war for her reports and her interviews with the likes of Henry Kissinger, suddenly she became their hate figure, because she dared to side with American and Western democracies against Islamofascists, the gravest sin ever for the European Left.

Her sentence of two years imprisonment, for insulting Islam, by the Italian judicial system, will remain a shameful stain on the Italian judiciary forever.

Iranian Journalist Condemned to 74 Lashes

I wonder how those Western journalists who are mesmerised and duped by the Islamic Republic officials would feel, if they were to receive 74 lashes from the Islamic courts?

Young Iranian journalist, Massoud Bastani, has been in prison before. Last year, Massoud Bastani refused to ask for a pardon and was imprisoned amongst ordinary criminals in Arak.

"Even though living in prison is difficult, but I am not willing to ask for a pardon, for a sin that I have not committed. Freedom is sweet, but its price is more important" Bastani's reply to the offer of a pardon.

Now Bastani is waiting for the rest of his senetnce, 74 lashes. His mother has offered to sell all her gold to save her son from this inhumane punishment. His wife is anxious that her husband will not be able to tolerate 74 lashes, and as it has happened before, die under the burden of the Islamic lashes.

Its pointless to ask what his crime is? For in the Islamic Republic, punishment is not related to having committed a crime, but related to a refusal of being servile to the authorities and the self appointed representatives of Allah on earth. Yet, it is appropriate to ask where are the Western journalists? Should they not be standing by their colleague?
Forums like Open Democracy who see it as appropriate to give known Islamic Republic agents ample platform to disseminate their malicious accusations against Iranian academic, Ramin Jahanbegloo, are silent about a journalist about to receive 74 lashes in the 21St century.

Go to news.google and search for Massoud Bastani, there is no news about him. The Western journalists are simply not interested, they rather give a special column to a blogger with obvious ties to the Islamic regime. Thats their democracy.

What Destroyed the Hungarians in 1956

I still had some of the Sunday supplements left to read yesterday, and I came across an article which caught my eye. The article is a review of Viktor Sebestyen's fresh look at the events of 1956. The story of the 12 days of Hungarian uprising which led to the Soviet invasion and the death of 2700 Hungarians.

Sebestyen describes how the CIA information about the country was obtained by Western diplomats, journalists and so called academic experts on Hungary. These people however had very few interactions with ordinary people. In June of 1956, the president of the American Motion Picture Association visited Budapest and presented the embassy with a list of Hungarian artists, writers, actors and academics to invite to a cocktail party being given in his honour. He was rebuffed, with the official statement being "We never meet with these people socially."

It was on the basis of such information that a CIA paper concluded in June, 1956 - four months before the uprising - "There really is no underground movement in Hungary at all".

The official American policy was ambivalent too. The Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, spoke frequently of the need to "liberate the captive nations of Central Europe". Radio Free Europe broadcast fierce anti-Communist programs, and the US intelligence agents released balloons carrying anti-Communist pamphlets over the Hungarian countryside. The pamphlets proclaimed "The regime is weaker than you think and the hope lies with the people."
Many in the State department however thought it was wiser to take a more step by step approach and not rock the boat too much.

The result of this rhetoric and ignorance was confusion. When the uprising actually happened, American officials dithered about what to do and ultimately stalled by tabling a protest at the United Nations. In London the Foreign Office advised strongly against saying anything which "might encourage hotheads in Budapest" - compare this with the speech of Tam Dalyel, British MP in Parliament after the student uprising of July 99, in Iran :
"Julys are normally very hot in Iran, this has been one of the hottest Julys for years, it is no wonder that under such heat, tempers can be tinder dry"

By the fourth day of the uprising, Dulles despite his own liberation rhetoric had publicly and pointedly declared that the American government did not look upon the nations of Eastern Europe as 'potential allies'. That point was then repeated by the American ambassador to Moscow and President Eisenhower himself, just to make sure that the Soviets got the point.
At the same time Radio Free Europe continued with its attack, supplying the listeners with instructions on how to make bombs and stop tanks.

The result of this dithering, duplicity and confusion was 2700 Hungarians dead and more than 20000 wounded.

Has anything changed since? Are we not witnessing the same misinformation supplied by diplomats, academics and "Iran experts"? The same mixed confusing messages? Hungarian uprising took place 60 years ago but none of its lessons appear to have been learned.

Why Khatami's Visit is Wrong

I am all for dialogue and engagement with one's worst enemy. In every conflict an avenue for dialogue must be kept open. There are more than enough examples in history for me to mention here, where opposite forces have sat across the table and talked. Engagement, after all, is not endorsement.

Similarly, if Khatami's visit to the US was merely a channel for dialogue with the Islamic Republic, or it was a way of passing on a message to the mullahs, then I would not have a problem. Who knows what is happening behind the scenes, but Khatami's visit is more than that. Khatami is given a platform to publicise and broadcast Islamic Republic propaganda. It wasn't enough for Khatami to have fooled the Iranian people with a lot of nonsense for 8 years, now the Western powers are giving Khatami a platform to fool their own population. Then they wonder why they have a home grown terrorist problem?!

Khatami is giving lectures and holding press conferences, with his cunning smiles and words, he bombasts his usual rhetoric to the unaware and naive audiences, "dialogue amongst civilizations"; what claptrap! In these press conferences he is not confronted with the Iranians who were imprisoned for their beliefs during his 8 year reign, he is not confronted with those Iranians who lost their loved ones. No one asks him "why don't you have a dialogue with those who suffered during your time?". Let Khatami face his victims of eight years of presidency, lets see how he holds a dialogue with them.

I hear some of the victims of Khatami's 8 year presidency gathered in the National Press Club, but how much coverage did they get? How many national newspapers covered their plight and their side of the story?

In one of my previous posts, I warned of the dangers of second "cultural revolution" in the Islamic Republic, but what do Western universities and academics do? Do they stand up for their colleagues in Iran? Do they care that university academics are being purged in Iran for being secular? No they invite Khatami to St. Andrews university and plan to offer him an honorary PHD this coming October!

The notorious Islamic Republic Judge, Mortezavi, comes to Geneva and heads a human rights delegation! Cocksure and undisturbed. Mostafa PourMohammadi, Minister of Interior in the Islamic Republic, implicated in grave human rights violations will also be going to New York later this year.

Then they wonder why they have a "home grown" problem in their own back yard!

BBC Persian, Mouthpiece of the Islamic Republic

There was a good reason why we staged the hunger strike called by Akbar Ganji, right outside the BBC Persian HQ in London. We were not surprised either when the likes of Behnood and some other BBC Persian employees were not happy with our decision. "The police will not allow it" was what one of them told us,when we already had obtained the police permission! :)

Here is an example of how the BBC Persian employees regurgitate the Islamic Republic word by word without giving a glance to other facts.

The BBC Persian reported the death of Iranian political prisoner Feyz Mahdavi only yesterday, repeating the story disseminated by the Islamic Republic that Feyz Mahdavi has committed suicide and he was an MKO supporter who was caught bringing explosives from Iraq to Iran.

Yet the BBC Persian employees completely ignored Mahdavi's attorney, the respected lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who has confirmed his client was on hunger strike.
According to Mr Dadkhah, the Intelligence section of the Islamic revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) came to Gowhardasht prison with a camera crew and tried to force a number of prisoners to say in front of their camera, Islamic Republic's version of Mahdavi's death. None of these statements are included in the BBC Persian's report on Mahdavi's death.

This is how I always remember one of BBC Persian's reports during the 1979 revolution that led to the mullahs seizing power in Iran:
".. And as one of the injured female protesters in Mashad was carried off on a stretcher, her young daughter was clutching to the makeshift stretcher shouting Mother, Mother, while her mother's blood was dripping on to her dress."

Now during the reign of mullahs, so that BBC employees can continue to go back and forward to Iran and enjoy their cheap holidays, the death of a political prisoner is summed up as " .. Feyz Mahdavi was an MKO terrorist who carried explosives from Iraq and died as a result of committing suicide."

Imagine if an Iranian revolutionary guard was captured taking explosives to Iraq and was imprisoned by the Americans. Then went on hunger strike and died 10 days into his hunger strike. The BBC would have a field day, no?

Feyz Mahdavi was under death sentence for 5 years. His membership of the MKO was already refuted by the revolutionary court, yet he was still kept in prison. He went on hunger strike, to demand basic human rights. The right to see his lawyer, the right to know what he is charged for, teh right to a fair trial. None of these are reflected in the BBC Persian report.

I have no doubt that the British government is serious about combating terrorism, but they need to be made aware of how British license payers' money is spent on making yet another propaganda tool for the terrorists. The fight against terrorism must start from the BBC.

Cultural Revolution Once Again?

"Our academic system has been influenced for 150 years by secularism,'' the official Islamic Republic News Agency cited Ahmadinejad as telling a group of students today. ``We have started to make change happen but we need special support for it,"
"Students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities"
Ahmadi-Nejad told a group of Hezbollahi students.
See Iran's Ahmadinejad Urges Purge of Secular Academics

So the jigsaw puzzles are one by one fitting in now. In June, 40 professors at Tehran University were forced into early retirement. Central part of Jahanbegloo's forced confessions was "US is looking to recruit from amongst the Iranian academics", and now if there was any shred of doubt that the Islamic Republic is thinking of a second "cultural revolution", it has been removed by Ahmadi-Nejad's own blatant statement.

The Islamic Republic after one "cultural revolution" and 27 years of islamification of the Iranian education system, has failed to produce all Islamic, devoted revolutionary graduates. So the clerics ruling Iran are attempting a second "cultural revolution". The outcome will be another tragedy and disaster for the country. We must fight on all fronts to stop this. Iranian academics throughout the world must be at the forefront of this resistance backed by their colleagues and associates.

The enemies of knowledge are testing the waters again. Academics of the world do not stay silent this time!

Hoder on Jahanbegloo

After days of rumour that the Islamic Republic has made video tapes of Ramin Jahanbegloo's confessions, he was finally released. However instead of the video tapes, Jahanbegloo went straight to ISNA to hold a press interview!

The usual Islamic Republic methods of making taped confessions of political dissidents and then broadcasting them from state television is now so incredibly worthless for all Iranians. Everyone knows that all these "confessions" are made under extreme duress.
I remember when the provisional revolutionary government's prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, fell out of favour with the clerics, or rather passed his sell by date, he pre-empted the possibility by saying in the parliament "If they ever show taped confessions of me later; please know that what I am saying now is what my own words are" :)

So Jahanbegloo's press interview seems to be a new method adopted by the Islamic Republic security forces. The prisoner is told to go and hold a press conference straight after his release! This way they probably think is more believable.

Yet the contradictions in Jahanbegloo's interview is so apparent. He says how in his solitary confinement he had access to TV and telephone to keep in touch with his family. Yet few paragraphs further he says he has not been able to talk to his daughter. So who believes that Jahanbegloo had a telephone in his solitary but did not think to ring his daughter with?

Yes, you guessed right, its Washington Post's favourite blogger, Yes its Mr. Baharloo of the VOA's "Hossein joon" - darling Hossein - i.e. Hossein Derakhshan, or HODER.....

Has anyone still have any more doubts on Hoder???

Another Political Prisoner Killed in Iran

I wrote about Feyz Mahdavi before. At the time he was facing execution. We all wrongly thought that the threat of his execution had subsided. Today I learned that he died in a similar fashion to Akbar Mohammadi, while staging a hunger strike. Right now while Khatami is trying to present a deceiving shop front window of the Islamic Republic to his credulous audiences in America, the security forces in the Islamic Republic seem to have devised a new method of killing political prisoners. If the world stays silent, there will be more such tragedies in the coming days.
After Akbar Mohammadi was murdered, I wrote to Clare Short. I asked her to gather a few MPs and protest to the Islamic Republic in the same way that the Swedish Liberal Party had done so. I was confident that the more international protest is made against Akbar Mohammadi's murder the less likely it would be for more such assassinations to follow.

Sadly Clare Short never replied again, and today one more young man opposed to the Islamic regime, was eliminated. Well, if Europe has no guts in facing the Islamic threat, if the Western media finds it more fashionable to write about Guantanamo prisoners than those opposing Islamic fundamentalism, why are they so surprised at their "home grown" threat??

18th Anniversary of the Massacre of Iranian Political Prisoners

Every September, I think about Bijan, Mohammad Reza and Nasser. My school friends from Iran who were executed in the September 1988 massacre of Iranian political prisoners.
I think about their last hour. I guess to myself what they must have been thinking about in the very last moments of their brief lives. They had a whole life ahead of them. We all wanted to do so many things in our lives. They were denied all of it, why? All they cared about was the prosperity of the people of their country. Is that a crime?

When I think about their last hours, I envy their courage and determination. Like all the other victims of the massacre, they were asked two questions that decided their fate, "Do you believe in Allah? Are you prepared to publicly denounce your organisation?". All three of them were the sort of fearless characters that would never bend their head to the oppressors.

Nasser was in my class and Mohammad Reza was his older brother. Being a few years senior to us, we used to look up to him. I remember Mohammad Reza telling me "Don't ever show any fear. Fear is the brother of death. Every time you show fear, you die."

Bijan too was extremely intrepid, he would never run away from a fight. He was also very intelligent. He wanted to become a doctor and treat the poor for free. I am sure he would have been a great asset for Iran and humanity. Who knows if our generation had a normal life and our elders hadn't got us in this mess, he may have found the cure for some ill and saved thousands of lives.

Rest in peace my friends, my thoughts at this time of the year will always be with you three and the other victims of the massacre. Mohammad Reza, I wish I could always be like you and never show fear. Nasser I miss all the fun and the mischief we had together. Bijan, you were a great loss for our nation. Bedrood to you all, my friends.

Naguib Mahfouz

I am not a literary expert by any means. I was one of those kids whose end of year school reports often included comments such as "Potkin is good at Maths and sciences, he loves sports and is very competitive, but he must concentrate on other subjects and consider them important too."
I treat subjects like literature and history as bedtime reading and so what I am about to write on Naguib Mahfouz, who died today, should be treated within the context of my literary limitations and shortcomings.

Unfortunately, I have only had time to read a few of Mahfouz's books. In fact the Cairo trilogy volumes are the only ones. I read them while commuting to work on the London Underground. What I remember most was the ending of Palace Walk.

Fahmy is 19 years old and son of the book's main character, Ahmad. He gets involved in the movement for Egypt's independence against the wishes of his father, who is a typical Middle Eastern male hypocrite. Fahmy's father asks him to swear an oath not to get involved in the politics and endanger his life. Fahmy refuses and survives many precarious situations in the book. By the time you read the last chapter however, the independence movement has come to fruition. Mahfouz describes brilliantly the joyfulness of the achievement.
"His heart was intoxicated with joy and victory, the whole nation was drunk on the wine of delight and triumph."

Fahmy first tries to make up with his father and tries to explain his disobedience towards him:
"Answering the call of the nation should not be considered rebellion against your will, sir. I really didn't do much by way of patriotic deeds..distributing handbills..what am I compared with those who willingly gave their lives? I understood from your words, sir, that you were afraid for my life, not that you really rejected the idea of patriotic duties.. I am confident I did not disobey your wishes."
Finally father and son make up and Fahmy leaves the house even happier. From there he goes to al-Azhar university and meets up with his comrades to arrange for the peaceful demonstration that the authorities had allowed. Fahmy's assignment was to supervise the groups of students from the secondary schools. He feels relaxed, after all those moments of peril were over and this was a peaceful demonstration sanctioned by the authorities. In fact he is so relaxed that he starts to wish he had suffered more, that he had been imprisoned, beaten, or wounded slightly.
Mahfouz eloquently writes about Fahmy's arguments with his conscience.
When Fahmy reaches the square, he fights hard to conceal his pride and conceit:
"He noticed eyes that were looking at him with interest and lips that were whispering about him. He heard his name, accompanied by his title, being repeated by many tongues 'Fahmy Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, representative of the supreme committee' That touched the strings of his heart. He pressed his lips together to keep them from smiling, out of concern for his dignity".

My face must have shown the delight I was having as I was reading these last pages, enjoying immensely the masterful way that Mahfouz was describing the atmosphere of the place and Fahmy's feelings. I was content with having finished another book and looking forward tp the book's good ending, when suddenly my face went all screwed up and I whispered under my lips, "what? no! It can't be!". Other commuters looked around at me curiously, and I was slightly embarrassed at my uncontrolled mini outburst. The demonstration which was sanctioned by the authorities and was expected to be peaceful goes wrong and Fahmy is shot dead, right in the last pages!

I felt like someone close to me had died and like I said, I am no literary expert, but that is what an excellent writer can do, no?

Today, when I heard the news of Mahfouz's death, it brought me those memories of the joyful times when I was looking forward to get on the tube every morning, just to read his book. I also learned a few more things about Mahfouz that I didn't know.

In 1989, after Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa for apostasy against Salman Rushdie, a blind Egyptian theologian, Omar Abdul-Rahman, told a journalist that if Mahfouz had been punished for writing this novel, Rushdie would not have dared publish his. In 1994 Islamic extremists attempted to assassinate the 82-year-old novelist, stabbing him in the neck outside his Cairo home.

Unlike the ending of Palace Walk, Islamic fundamentalists attempting to kill a brilliant mind, comes as no surprise to me!

Three Iran Student Activists in Danger of their Lives

Three student activists were arrested by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security on Saturday August 19th. The three are named below:
1- Abolfazl Jahandar, Business Management, 2002 Graduate of Allameh Tabatabaee University
2- Kheirollah Derakhshandi, Industrial Management, 2002 Graduate of Yazd University
3- Jamal Zaher-Poor, Industrial Engineering, 2003 Graduate of Khaje Nasiraldine-Toosi University.

Father of Kheirollah Derakhshandi expressed concerns about the physical well being of his son. Kheirollah Derakhshandi, one of the student activists, was arrested nine days ago and has not since been allowed to see his family.

His father Mojtaba Derakhshandi said: “we have not been able to have any contacts with him since he was arrested. The entire family has gathered in front of Evin prison a number of times but we were told that we don't have permission to see him.”
He expressed concerns about his son's physical health saying: “our only information came from one of the representatives of the revolutionary court who told us last Wednesday that he is being held in section 209 of Evin prison.”

Women's Campaign Seminar Banned

The seminar to launch a campaign against
Islamic Republic's discriminatory laws against women in Iran was banned from taking place yesterday morning by the Islamic security forces.

Women campaigners intended to use this seminar as a launch pad to collect 1 million signatures to demand changes in the discriminatory laws.

Two hundred participants had gathered outside the venue which included Shirin Ebadi and the women's campaigner, Shahla Entesari, but they were told that the seminar was illegal.

Islamic Republic's security forces were seen filming and photographing the participants in order to intimidate them. Western media and cameras did not cover the event.

Wives and Children of Sanandaj Workers Beaten up

Islamic Republic anti-riot troops attacked a gathering of a weaving factory workers, in Sanandaj. The defenceless striking workers were picketting outside the factory, along with their wives and children. They were protesting against the short term employment contracts imposed by their factory bosses who recently reduced year long employment contracts to that of one to two months duration.

Amin Sha'bani, member of the Islamic consultative assembly for Divandareh and Kamyaran, criticised the troops for not even sparing the wives and children of the protesting workers in their assault which included the use of tear gas.

The incident was reported by ILNA.

Hoder Goes Nuclear

Hoder's latest post and why he thinks the Islamic Republic should obtain nuclear weapons:
Iran Needs Nuclear Weapons

Everyone is entitled to their views, but I like people who live according to their views. My only problem with the likes of Hoder is why do they choose to live in secular democracies where they can think and say what they like?

Hoder seems to think Islamic Republic is not that bad, fine. So Hoder why don't you pack your bags and go and live in the Islamic Republic of Iran which has nuclear weapons and preferably some where near Natanz or other nuclear installations?

How VOA Confuses the Iranian People

Hoder was a guest at Voice of America, Views and News program on Monday. The host, Baharloo, was back from his holidays and the interview was a fine example of how VOA completely confuses the Iranian public.

For those who cannot understand Persian, let me explain what was said on this pathetic interview.

Hoder presented two of his ideas on how to combat the Islamic regime's onslaught on bloggers in Iran. His first idea was to target the service providers who remove dissident blogs. He explained how the service providers have a close relationship with the regime and he suggested writing letters of protest to these service providers. In other words let the regime know that you are one of those reading dissident blogs! But wait, worse is to come yet.

Hoder then went on to say that the Islamic Republic is based on the principles of Shiite theology and in Shiite theology, private property is considered sacred. So we should try to get one of the Shiite Sources of Emulation (Grand Ayatollahs) to issue a fatwa that weblogs are also private property!!!

I don't need to tell those who follow Iran news that the Islamic regime has confiscated people's houses, properties, musical equipment, tapes, videos ..., but straight after this ridiculous statement, the interview turned to the recent renewed crackdown on people's satellite dishes. Here was a clear example of a weak VOA interviewer, whose constant "Hossein joon, Hossein joon" - Dear Hosein - made the interview look more like close buddies chatting on air. Even then Baharloo didn't click to ask "Hossein joon", but satellite dishes are private property, so is there much point in wasting time to get a fatwa on blogs being private property?

Hoder also commented on Ahmadi-Nejad's blog and repeated what he had said on one of his posts that Ahmadi-Nejad is not a fundamentalist but a populist. He said we should encourage Ahmadi-Nejad by writing comments on his blog, so that Ahmadi-Nejad will recognise the potential of getting more votes in this way for the next presidential elections. Hoder was cleverly suggesting that elections in Iran are free and it is really the people who decide the outcome. Again Baharloo didn't have the savvy to pick up on this.

Normally there are lots of phone calls from the public on Baharloo's programs. This time there were only a couple. One didn't really ask a question and just gave a report on the satellite dish crackdown. The other caller did ask a good question. He told Baharloo that his guest is a bit of naive optimist and added that if being a populist means jumping on the bandwagon and riding on the wave of people's demands, neither Ahmadi-Nejad nor any one else in IRI give a damn about what the Iranian people want! Hoder did not answer this question - the only question - and Baharloo did not remind Hoder to do so either, as a good presenter should.

And that was it, a wishy washy interview that just confused the Iranian people further. Throughout the program, Baharloo did not press Hoder on his shameful posts on Akbar Mohammadi, on Hossein joon's problems with Ganji's hunger strike, Hoder's resentment of the recent BBC documentary "Execution of a Teenager", on his views that Shahroodi is a reformist, ... Baharloo as usual was having problems constructing sentences in Persian and rabbitting "Hossein joon, Hossein joon".

This was President Bush's address to the Iranian people on radio Farda:
"For many years, the United States has helped bring news and cultural broadcasts for a few hours every day to the Iranian people via Radio Freedom. Yet the Iranian people tell us that more broadcasting is needed, because the unelected few who control the Iranian government continue to place severe restrictions on access to uncensored information. So we are now making our broadcast available to more Iranians by airing news and music and cultural programs nearly 24 hours a day, and we are pleased to continue Voice of America and VOA TV services to Iran. "

Well someone needs to tell President Bush, that it is not this kind of broadcasting on VOA thats needed, this kind of broadcasting that brings a dubious person on air and presents him as an opposition to IRI to the Iranians, can only confuse the Iranian people. The Islamic Republic has an Arabic satellite TV station, Al-Alam, which was aired immediately after the war on Saddam. Al-Alam television does not pull back any punches, it is clear in achieving its aims and objectives, it is being successful. The VOA on the other hand is as confused as the Iran policy makers in the US State Department. Success does not come about from confusion. The VOA needs a shake up right now and those who have passed their sell by date need replacing asap.

Nazanin Makes us Proud Again

Former Miss Canada, Miss World runner-up and Pop singer Nazanin Afshin-Jam will be receiving the "Hero Award for Human Rights" and delivering a speech this Friday August 25th at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The award to be presented to Nazanin by Anne Archer and Jenna Elfman will be followed by Artists for Human Rights Concert, an outdoor event open to public in Union Square Park (14th & Broadway) from 7pm to 9pm. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Ms. Afshin-Jam is being recognized by Artists for Human Rights (AFHR) in co-operation with Youth for Human Rights International and the International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance for the campaign she initiated to help save the life of 17 year old Nazanin Fatehi in Iran who was sentenced to death by hanging for having defended herself and her 16 year old niece from three men who attempted to rape them. Nazanin Afshin-Jam has managed to collect over 200,000 signatures on the
petition she started 5 months ago. Ms. Afshin-Jam has lobbied and received support from the UN, EU and Canadian Parliament. Ms. Afshin-Jam has appeared on the cover of the Globe and Mail and has been featured on CNN, BBC, CBC and other international news agencies around the globe spreading awareness on the case of Nazanin Fatehi and the plight of women in Iran. She has created www.helpnazanin.com to keep the public up to date with the campaign. She has also dedicated her song "Someday" to her
namesake and the other oppressed youth of Iran.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam encourages everyone who has not yet signed the petition to do so immediately as Nazanin Fatehi's retrial will be next week.
Save Nazanin Campaign: www.helpnazanin.com Nazanin Afshin-Jam's official website www.nazanin.ca

Iranian Hezbollah in Action

Here is a glimpse of the Iranian Hezbollah in action, smoking opium with a woman. According to Amir Farshad's blog, the subject is Haji Abdolreza Helali, who sings anthems praising the joys of martyrdom for the Iranian Hezbollah.

Last year during the Shiite holy month of Moharram, Haji Helali was asking the "supreme leader" to give him permission to shed the blood of those women who do not observe the Islamic Hijab properly. This is a guy that encourages young gullible devout Shiites to become martyrs and on Friday prayers praises the heroics of the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The video shows how Haji himself performs heroics of martyrdom alongside devout women :))

I so detest hypocrisy.

Trip to Paris

It has been 10 years since I last went to Paris. My last trip was just a two day business trip where I had a brief chance to do some site seeing in the evening with the help of my hosts.
This weekend, I decided to take the Euro train from Waterloo and see some more of Paris. The journey started quite well and it was a comfortable relaxed train journey. I used the time to read the newspapers. All of the papers had articles on the Hezbollah victory and biographies on the Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Nassrollah.

When I arrived at Paris de Nord station, it was truly a culture shock. It was as if I was not in France, for there were hardly any French people, except three French soldiers I saw walking around the station with guns. Their beret made me laugh though. It was like a huge Pizza stuck on their head, slightly tilted to one side. Had it not been for the guns they were carrying, I may have even thought they were French chefs. Perhaps thats why the French have never won a war. With those kind of hats no one would take them seriously.


The station was so dirty and poorly maintained. There was water leaking from the pipes and the ceiling. If you have a few moans about London, go to parts of Paris. London compared to Paris on the whole is clean and well maintained, especially the tourist areas. Even around the Eifel tower, the statues are immersed in bird droppings and grifitti is every where.

Champs Elysees, may once have been a pleasant walk, where the chic and the stylish paraded and one could relax sipping a drink in the many cafes there. The chic and the stylish however seem to have been replaced by the black clad Muslim women walking behind their bearded men, with only their eyes showing, if that.
From the time you order your drink to when you finish, at least 4 or 5 beggars would have approached you. Add to all this, the exuberant prices they charge and the uncomfortable pollution, and you can forget about relaxing.

The Metro, is so suffocating and drab, and I was surprised to see an underground system more depressing than the London Undergound.

The hotel I stayed in was probably the worst, pound by pound, that I have ever stayed in. The room was so small, the bed almost ran into the toilet. I remember when I stayed in Paris last time, the hotel was not all that either and that was paid by a blue chip company, so I wasn't expecting much but this was taking the piss. The bathroom was so small, when you stepped out of the shower, you had to be careful not to fall in the toilet.

There were a couple of highlights to the evening though. We went to the Moulin Rouge, a long queue of jovial, stylish people queued outside. It was the sort of scenery I was expecting to see in Paris. The show was sold out but we were guided to another place where they did a similar show, called the Eve. The show was brilliant and brought a smile back to our faces. Some really top quality acts of dancing, including the can acan, magic, acrobatics, singing and comedy.
Really enjoyable.

I was not planning this as I thought I would not have enough time, but the next day, when I saw written in front of a bus by the Arc de Triomphe, Montparnasse cemetery, I just had to jump on the bus. It is 15 years since Dr. Bakhriar was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery, and although I was a supporter of him, not being a religious or a spiritual person, I had never visited his grave before. To me it has been more important to continue his path rather than make a pilgrimage to his grave.

Bakhtiar's grave was quite easy to find. The bus took us to the Montparnasse station, there after a short walk, at the very entrance, it has a list of famous people buried there. Bakhtiar's name is the only one under B.

There were still flowers and bouquets on the graves of Shapour Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh, as the anniversary of their murder by the Islamic Republic agenst was only a couple of weeks ago.

I took a couple of pictures by his grave and tidied up some of the flowers left there. There was no spiritual experience and I didn't expect one either. Bakhtiar's spirit did not come to me and talk to me or anything like that :))

Nevertheless, it was sad to be by the remains of a man who desperately tried to warn our people of the catastrophe there was to come as a result of mixing religion and politics. Shame not enough Iranians listened to him and more than regretted it later.

Hoder's Hypothesis

I have only come face to face with Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder) twice. As he prefers to call himself Hoder and that is what he is better known by, I too will refer to him as Hoder for the rest of this article. Its also less to type.

First occasion was a press conference at the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in London, shortly after Ahmadi-Nejad became the president. I was on the panel along with Amir Taheri, journalist and commentator, and Babak Emamian, who was picked to represent the reaction of Iranian businessmen and entrepreneurs to Ahmadi-Nejad's presidency. Don't ask me why Emamian was picked to represent Iranian businessmen and entrepreneurs. I didn't know a Zurich Life insurance salesman qualifies one as an entrepreneur!

Hoder, who had campaigned for the reformist candidate, Mostafa Moin and had just returned from Iran, was also supposed to be on the panel, but he arrived late and sat amongst the small audience during some of the questions.

Amir Taheri spoke about his new terminology for the new kids on the block in Iran, referring to them as the new Mamluks, saying the militarists had taken over from the clergy in Iran. Not an analysis that I found very appealing.

Emamian, paraphrased some of the stuff he had obviously picked up from some of the sales guru conferences he had attended which had nothing to do with our subject of presidential elections in Iran. "Some people look at this glass as half empty but I look at it as half full", "money is good, because it buys us freedom, if we don't like Manchester, money gives us the chance to live in Paris" and all that salesmaship conference mumbo jumbo. Most importantly, Emamian said he had voted for Ahmadi-Nejad because Ahmadi-Nejad's message to the poor had appealed to him, but if Ahmadi-Nejad turned Iran into a North Korea, he would be knocking on his door :)) - with that statement, Emamian gestured a knocking on the door motion. He then went on to say that Iran's problem is not the mullahs but that we do not have enough entrepreneurs!

Restraining myself extremely hard from chinning this revolting character there and then in front of the audience and instead sufficing to snapping the pencil I was holding in my hand, I interrupted him and said, "we have more than enough good entrepreneurs and successful businessmen and innovators, our problem is that we have too many sycophants like you, who always want to go to bed with whoever is in power no matter what". Emamian not knowing what sycophant meant, and whether it was a good thing or bad thing, stuttered at my interruption.

I talked about how it was so obvious that this was not a free election to start with. A selected few were hand picked and filtered through the Guardian Council to stand as candidates, and no real opposition was given any platform to reach the people but even then within such restricted process, there was massive fraud and voter manipulation. I quoted Islamic Republic's own statesmen who had made these claims and quoted Iran's ministry of interior's own figures which claimed in several districts more than 100% of the eligible voters had voted.

Afterwards we were all invited for lunch. I had a brief chat with Hoder as we were coming downstairs. Hoder claimed that the Iranian election was free. I compared it with the elections in South Africa during Apartheid and said even that was freer than what happened in Iran, because at least the minority there who were allowed to vote had a real choice. He didn't reply and we sat down for lunch.

Emamian took over my attention again. He tried to show off his wealth to me, saying he was worth £3 Million Pounds, in a way which could only remind me of one of British Comedian, Harry Enfield's characters. The one who goes round dressed in a blazer telling people "Excuse me, but it strikes me that I am considerably richer than you". Emamian was even more vulgar than that character, as he was for real :) Anyway, I ridiculed Emamian so much, that he started crying and left the table. Both Taheri and Hoder admonished me for having upset him and making him cry. To hell with that vulgar sycophant, I told them.

Only after Emamian left crying, I managed to get a chance to talk to Hoder properly. He reminded me of the old generation Iranian "intellectuals", the Ali Shariati types. Kids who were brought up in rich Iranian traditional Bazaari religious families, who for the most part of their lives were denied a window to culture and reading, then suddenly at some stage they got an opportunity to read a couple of books and then it wasn't long before they considered themselves an intellectual of the highest levels.

After lunch the three of us walked towards the tube station. I asked Hoder what he did for a living? He said he didn't have a job and was trying to get some funding for a few projects. He exchanged cards with Taheri, saying he had a few project proposals he wanted to discuss with him. Taheri happily gave him his card. I shook hands with Hoder on departing and asked him if he was going my way. Hoder said he was going to Open Democracy offices in Farringdon, where he was fishing for another project proposal. I wondered to myself then, if he didn't have a job, how the hell did he afford to travel so much.

Second time and last time I saw Hoder was at Simin Behbahani's poetry recital in London. I be honest, I am not much of a poetry fan, I am more of a practical man, interested in practical things and rival poetry circles are not my cup of tea. I have a handful of Iranian poets which I really like and admire, the great Ferdowsi of course, Siavash Kasraii, Ferydoon Moshiri and Simin Behbahani. Simin, I admire for her enormous courage too. She is not just the greatest contemporary poetess of Iran, but she is also a courageous woman who despite her advanced years has remained youthful in spirit and has never bowed her head to the clerics in Iran.

Hoder was sitting right in front of me at Simin Behbahani's poetry evening. I am not sure if he saw me but he certainly did not acknowledge me or perhaps didn't remember me, he was too busy smooching, caressing and fondling the girl he was with. There I was trying to listen to Simin Behbahani's poetry and Hoder was busy sticking his tongue in his girlfriend's ear. I think everything has its time and place and thought Hoder was being very disrespectful, even more so when he and his girlfriend left half way through the program. After all, Hoder had campaigned for Mostafa Moin for presidency in Iran. Moin had adopted one of Simin Behbahani's poems - "I will rebuild you again my country" - as his campaign anthem, I don't know if they had her approval, but in any case I thought he could show some respect towards Simin Behabhani; for that reason at least.

So that was my only face to face encounters with Mr. Hoder. Of course I knew him as someone who started blogging amongst Iranians, and I have browsed his blog a few times, but I never found anything with much substance in his writings to browse it on a regular basis. It was only recently when a comment on my last post made me aware of this article he had written, mentioning my name: http://hoder.com/weblog/archives/015453.shtml

Intrigued as to what he could have said or known about me, I read his article and the "hypothesis" that he had concocted. So I feel obliged to separate the facts from the myths, although I think anyone with a half decent intellect would simply laugh at the conclusion of this child of a Nouveau rich Iranian reliogious family and his "hypothesis".

When Ganji came to London, he was surrounded by the likes of Behnood. Another professional sycophant and a perpetual liar by nature. Behnood is another Emamian type character who tried his best to be close to the imperial court when the going was good and when fortunes turned, he tried his best to get close to the clerics. As someone who campaigned against the boycott of the presidential elections in Iran, I believe Behnood must be one of Hoder's mentors too. By the way Hoder thinks Ahmadi-Nejad won the presidential "elections" because the likes of me boycotted the process :)))

In any case, Ganji was surrounded by such people. He was invited to Al-Mahdi restaurant in Hammersmith. A friend of mine who has Left-wing views, but is a fair and genuine person, was also in their party. Ganji spoke strongly against monarchy and said he would not co-operate with anyone who supported the invasion of Iran, such as Reza Pahlavi. My friend asked Ganji, how he had come to the conclusion that Reza Pahlavi supported a military attack on Iran? In all Reza Pahlavi's statements and interviews, he had spoken firmly and unequivocally against any military attack against Iran, and Reza Pahlavi only ever solicited moral support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran as the best alternative for both Iran and the West.
Ganji, apparently was shocked and didn't know all this. Although, I am not surprised, if he was surrounded by the likes of Behnood. Even so, Ganji refused to recognise monarchy as an alternative for Iran, saying any hereditary regime is not acceptable. Well everyone is entitled to their views and people have different tastes.

After Ganji was in London for one week, his call for a hunger strike was becoming a complete shamble. Behnood and his circle had still not managed to decide on a place for this action. Behnood told everyone that he had booked a church in Trafalgar square and would get confirmation after the weekend. We all waited over the weekend. Still unable to announce where the hunger strike in support of Iran's political prisoners would be, we were unable to let others know about it. On Monday, we learned that the lady in charge of the church hall, Behnood was promising, was only able to hire out the hall for two hours! What kind of a hunger strike would it have been if it was for two hours only?!
The reason Jeremy Taylor of the Independent got the place of the hunger strike wrong in his article was precisely because Behnood had told him the wrong location. I have the email from Taylor which confirms this.

After the ceremony for the Iranian victim of the 7/7 bombing which Ganji also attended, we approached Ganji and said we wished to help him in his hunger strike. I gave him a lift in my car and we went to one my friends. There we told him that the people who had surrounded him were making a complete mess of the situation. Ganji said, well forget them, you yourselves go and sort it out. With that said, we took a group photo and set out to get the police permission for the hunger strike outside BBC Bush House where the Persian service is broadcast from. Behnood and his cronies at the BBC Persian were livid and angry with the arrangements. Yet when the hunger strike started, the BBC Persian staff kept interviewing Behnood and not the actual hunger strikers! Behnood also implied in one of his BBC interviews that those taking part in the hunger strike were his supporters!

The truth was the 15-20 people who took part in the hunger strike, came from across the polictal spectrum. Left, right, republican and monarchists, pro-referendum appeal and anti or even not aware of it. They were not there to argue with each other, they wanted to publicise the plight of Iranian political prisoners and act in solidarity with them. What does Hoder find wrong with that?
There were no pictures or placards of any political leaders, only that of Iranian political prisoners. What does Hoder find wrong with that?

And yes Reza Pahlavi did ring and spoke to those who were taking part. He was happy that Iranians were united in action for a good cause. Everyone there at the time Reza Pahlavi phoned, even those who were anti-monarchist, thought it was very thoughtful of him to show his support. What does Hoder find wrong with that?

The telephone conversations with Reza Pahlavi went on for an hour. People had an opportunity to talk to Reza Pahlavi, discuss their views and have a dialogue with him. What does Hoder find wrong with that?

To answer Hoder's silly hypothesiss, those who organised the hunger strike in London, were from all walks of life and political persuasions or had no set political views but wanted to see an Iran without political prisoners. There were students of Ramin Jahanbegloo and friends of Mossavi Khoeini, and yes even Iranian bus drivers that drove past, hooted and expressed support. So why does Hoder find all this so wrong?
See the best article, in my view, on the hunger strike by Michael Petrou : http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/world/article.jsp?content=20060731_131076_131076
which describes who was there.

Hoder's hypothesis gave me an opportunity to read more of his weblog. My hypothesis is that Hoder has a very low regard for Iran's prisoners of conscience. Read the offensive article he has written on Akbar Mohammadi.
He compares Akbar Mohammadi, a young student who took part in the student uprising of July 99, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, and was recently killed in the Islamic Republic prisons with the terror suspects in Guantanamo! Shame on you Hoder!

As for my part in the Iran Undercover documentary shown on Channel 4, I was not a "producer". Film producing is not my profession. The documentary makers wanted to make a program about the student movement in Iran, the course of this program changed after Zahra Kazemi, the photographer was beaten to death in Islamic Republic prisons. It took nearly 10 months to make the film, throughout the making of the documentary, I voluntarily informed the program makers of the latest news and events about Iran and also translated some of the material.
I did not agree with all that was shown, especially the interview with the Iranian intelligence defector which I had no part in, but I had no part in decision making in what was to be shown or not to be shown. During the 10 months of the making of the documentary, I developed good friendships with Jane Kokan and the other members of the team as well as with Fakhravar. I do not choose my friends based on their political views but I stick by my friends through thick and thin. Friendship is not a word I use lightly. Fakhravar, I found the most courageous of the people, the documentary makers, had contacted. In the time I have known Fakhravar since, he has not changed his path or what he says even an iota. It does not mean I agree with everything he says or does, that is not a condition for my friendship, but I admire people who are resolute and don't change course with the wind, Mr. Hoder.

So based on what I recently read from Hoder's weblog after his article, here is my hypothesis.
Reading Hoder's bio in his own words, he got his Iranian national diploma with appalling grades, struggled with his university course too and soon dropped out. Like many children of the rich religious Iranian families, he was sent to live in Canada. As I have never known him to have a proper regular job, his parents must continue to fund him in his mid-thirties. Economically he enjoys the business privilegess his family have. He feels threatened by Ahmadi-Nejad, his ideal situation is a Khatami type government where his family would continue to prosper financially and fund him and also for him to be able to go back and forward to Iran but not actually live in Iran.
Some people tell me that the Supreme Leader performed his first wedding ceremony but I do not listen to hear say and that sort of thing is not important to me, I am a fair person, credit must be given to Hoder for starting the blog amongst Iranians, other than that, judging by his hypothesis and the stuff he writes, he is a person of average intellect with views that are not genuine but have a selfish agenda attached to them.

Possible links of Hezbollah and IRI

First time, I ever heard the word Hezbollah was during a post-Islamic revolution dissident rally in Tehran. It was a small rally compared to the then revolutionary standards of marches in Iran. We were just approaching the then Prime Minister's office, Mehdi Bazargan, and I could feel trouble was looming. The march organisers got some of the male participants, including myself to link hands and form a human chain to protect the women and the elderly in our small rally.
An angry mob had gathered in a side street to disrupt our march. Those of us who were forming the chain had to get face to face with them as we passed the side street. Our crowd were chanting for freedom and pluralism and the angry mob in the side street were chanting 'Hezb faghat Hezbollah, rahbar faghat Rouhollah' - 'The only party is the party of Allah, the only leader is Rouhallah (Khomeini's first name).

Despite all the noise and the chants from both sides, I could almost hear my own heart pounding as we got closer. I was a young teenager, thoughts quickly flashed past me. "Will these be the last breaths I take?", "Will I wake up in a hospital next with an eye, or a limb missing?", "should I swallow my pride, let go of the chain, run and save myself?". And just then, bang it went, the angry Hezbollah chanting mob lost their patience and attacked our crowd. The human chain we had formed was no match for them, this was a clash between hired petty hoodlums, used to street fighting, and ordinary decent people who wanted to stop Iran from being monopolised by one narrow minded monopolistic sect.

Our protest march had come to a halt, there was a melee in the middle section of our rally ahead of where I was standing. It was shortly after the revolution, the mullahs had not fully consolidated their power yet and women could still walk around without Islamic head covers. Those women without a scarf were a particular target for the Hezbollah mob. How could I run away now, when the women were attacked? I had to help whatever happened, I tried to reach the trouble spot, predicting unpleasant consequences . Luckily, this was yet another situation in my life where sheer luck somehow saved me. God knows from where but from somewhere, the Air Force Cadets (Homafar) appeared, rifles in their hands, they rescued the women from the Hezbollah mob by shooting in the air. The Cadets managed to push back the Hezbollah chanting mob into the side street. We formed the human chain again, although this was now more symbolic than anything. We carried on walking past the Hezbollah; but fortunately with the Air Cadets forming a human wall between the two sides. I looked at the Hezbollah's faces as I went past them, they were faces of ignorance, hate and brutality.

As the mullahs secured absolute power in Iran, the Hezbollah were no longer just the hoodlum mob paid to break up demos that I came face to face with several times, they were now a sophisticated, well funded offshoot of the Shiite clerics in Lebanon.

It makes me laugh when some Western reporters still say "possible links of Hezbollah with Iran"! Possible links?? Are you kidding? How much more obvious and possible must these links be? Aren't the posters of Ayatollah Khomeini, Khamenei and Ahmadi-Nejad in Hezbollah strongholds of Lebanon proof enough? Perhaps my friend Amir Irani Tehrani's weblog and his account of Lebanon in the one month he was there will give a few clues of possible links with IRI!

I hear that Hezbollah receives $100M a year from the Islamic Republic of Iran just in cash funds - let alone all the hospitals, schools, arms, missiles and trade favours. The reports are keen to mention that the Hezbollah have grass roots support in Lebanon. Well with that much funding, who wouldn't have grass root support?

The picture in this post shows a recent "East Tehran Women's Olympics" parade. Possible links between Hezbollah and IRI? or do Iranian sportswomen love Hezbollah's leader so much that they spontaneously carry his posters? Hmmm, I wonder...

Ganji Goes to Hollywood

Read about Ganji's talk on the Middle East at the palatial home of movie producer Mike Medavoy in the Time magazine. I have not had access to Ganji's full speech so I can not comment much. All I can say is, this was yet another rare opportunity for Iranian dissidents to reach the international public opinion and influence the opinion makers.

Shirin Ebadi had such an opportunity when she won the Nobel Prize, yet she utterly wasted it by talking nonsense about Guantanamo etc. that get so much publicity any way. It is a mystery to me why old generation Iranians who owe so much of their present day prosperity, education and social success to the way things were before the Islamic revolution, when faced with an international audience lose their bottle and rather than talk about the plight of their own people in Iran, rant and rave about other issues and causes that already have so many advocates in the waiting.

It reminds me of once when we were staging a play based on imprisoned Iranian student, Ahmad Batebi's letter from prison. I bumped into an old Iranian acquaintance of mine in the street. I told him about the play and asked him if he wanted to come along. He refused saying he had been on an anti US invasion of Afghanistan march all afternoon and his wife and kids were waiting for his return home!
"How many people attended the march?" I asked him
"Oh thousands" he said triumphantly.
"So if you had not turned up, it would not have made that much difference. We have had little funds to advertise our event, one more person in the audience will make a difference to us." I reminded him. He shook his head saying "Its more important to help the Afghan people to resist the US invasion".
I could not be bothered to argue with him further, but it was typical of the old generation Iranians. They enjoyed the years of propsperity and progress, got government scholarships for their education in the West, returned to Iran and instead of applying what they had learned, stirred up the mass frenzy of 1979 and backed the reactionary Ayatollahs. Now in a nostalgic way they protest every chance they get against the US, as if they had no other causes for protest.

This attitude is best described by Vali Nasr in his review of Shirin Ebadi's memoir, Iran Awakening :

"As commendable as her efforts on the part of the victims of injustice in Iran have been, Ebadi's confused rendition of Iranian history, which vacillates between celebrating the revolution and condemning its consequences, makes it difficult to regard her as a symbol of democracy....
.....What led Ebadi and her generation of educated Westernized professionals to get themselves into this bind, to be "hypnotized" by the ayatollah's revolution? Why were their rights and their freedoms so cheap in their eyes that they so hastily traded them for the will-o'-the-wisp promise of a revolutionary utopia? "I'd rather be a free Iranian than an enslaved attorney," she cavalierly told a baffled judge who reminded her that the revolution she was championing would destroy her career. What accounts for the tragic mistake of her generation, for the grand delusion that subjected the Iranian people to the ignominy of discrimination and tyranny? "

Like I said, I have not read the full text of Ganji's talk in Hollywood, other than what the Time article has reported. The article mentions how Ganji condemned Christian and Jewish fundamentalism as well as Islamic fundamentalism, and it is at times like this that I have to despair at such missed opportunities. For right now, our enemy is Islamic Fascism, it is the religious apartheid in Iran. Jewish fundamentalists are not telling our people how to live and Christian fundamentalists are not legislating draconian laws in our country and Hindu extremists are not the ones who are involving our country in international terrorism and the threat of war.

For God sake, when you get such opportunities and such audiences, don't get your knickers in a twist when you see Warren Beatty in the audience, focus on our own problems. As the English say, charity begins at home, or as the striking workers and teachers shouted in the streets of Tehran, "Leave Palestine alone, Think about our miserable situation"

They Needed him then

I had to confirm this with Akbar Mohammadi's sister, Nasrin, as I think it clearly demonstrates the callous indifference of the clerics towards human life. When Akbar was just a 12 year old boy, he was taken from his school to the war front with Iraq, without the permission of his parents.
As a 12 year old boy, as far as the clerics cared, Akbar was good enough to be dispensed walking the mine fields. Had he died then, the clerics would have claimed Akbar as one of their war martyrs for their own evil propaganda purposes.

Yet when Akbar reached a mature age and formed his opinion and wanted to express them and take part in the destiny of his country, the clerics sentenced him to long term imprisonment. Tragically however, even locking him up was not tolerable by the hateful mullahs ruling Iran and they decided to murder him in prison. For the ruling clerics, Akbar Mohammadi was yet another dispensable human being, good enough to be blown up at the age of 12 but not worthy of expressing an opinion as a citizen of Iran.

If You Want Forgiveness

I have finally got my new service providers talktalk to connect me to the internet. It was so frustrating, August 6th was the anniversary of the murder of my political mentor, Shapour Bakhtiar, and yet I could not write about it in my blog.

I heard an anecdote on VOA's special program on Dr. Bakhtiar from their reporter in Paris, Mohammad Reza Shahid. I had not heard it before and thought it would be nice to share it with others who may not have watched the program.

After the Islamic revolution, the zealot revolutionaries, ransacked Shapour Bakhtiar's home and destroyed all his books from his extensive library by burning them. Years later one of those zealots who had ransacked Bakhtiar's home, fled the Islamic Republic and seeked asylum in Paris. Repentant by what he had previously taken part in, he contacted Dr. Bakhtiar to express remorse and seek his forgiveness. Dr. Bakhtiar had replied "If you want forgiveness from me, all you have to do is read some of the books you destroyed"

What a great man, Shapour Bakhtiar was. I am forever proud to have been his supporter.
Bakhtiar was murdered by the orders of Hashemi Rafsanjani, the darling "moderate" of the European press, and by the assistance of a spineless Socialist French president, Francois Mitterand, who valued business contracts more than principles.

Rest in Peace, You will not be Tortured no More

I was away last week and did not have access to the internet. Even my mobile reception was very limited, and only every now and again I was able to read my text messages. This is how I heard about the murder of Akbar Mohammadi in the Islamic Republic prisons. I was actually numbed for a few seconds when I read the text of Akbar's murder. Only a few weeks earlier, Akbar's sister had sent me a copy of his book by email. It was a translation of Akbar's memoirs since his arrest and time in prison. She wanted to know if I can find an English publisher for the book.

It was so annoying to be cut off from the internet and the phone. Once again I had to hold my hands up to those running the Islamic Republic. What a good timing for them to test the waters, what better timing to carry out such a cold blooded murder while the world news agencies are busy reporting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Crimes committed by the Islamic Republic don't grab the world media attention even when there is not a lot of news about, let alone when the events in Lebanon are breaking news every hour.

What can we ex-pats do now? I was disappointed to hear that some of the Iranian ex-pats in London had gathered outside the Amnesty International offices. What for? It was not Amnesty that murdered Akbar! Amnesty has done what it can for Iranian prisoners of conscience. Our focus of attacks surely shouldn't be against Amnesty. The Islamic Republic has numerous offices in London representing her interests, why forget about these and demonstrate outside Amnesty's offices?

We have to think beyond of just off loading our frustrations for the sake of it.

To make matters worse when I arrived yesterday, I learned that my new providers Talk Talk, have not connected me to the internet yet as they should have done. So my access to the internet is limited to brief visits to the local internet cafe. I apologise for the delay in publishing some of your comments and most importantly about the delay in writing about Akbar's murder.

Most of all I am sorry for the Mohammadi family. Perhaps the best that can be said at a time like this is, now that Akbar has left us, he will be spared the tortures by the Islamic Republic.
Rest in peace, son of Iran.