How dare You Hold The Eurovision Contest in Baku?

A wise man once told me, a society which is cruel to animals will disregard human rights too. In the past week there have been some repulsive reports of the most detestable mistreatment of animals in Iran. Like this poor lion in a Mashad zoo, which had his mane set on fire. The perpetrators filmed the lion's agony as they laughed and cheered:

In another incident, a donkey was hit repeatedly with a sledge hammer in Semirom, South of Isfahan. The footage of this vile despicable act should only be seen if you have nerves of steel for its truly sickening:

With such incidents of cruelty beyond belief against God's innocent creatures, what do men of cloth and turban, who claim to represent God on Earth, have most on their mind in Iran? Will they issue a fatwa and condemn these sadistic and atrocious behaviours in society? Not likely. Such cruelty against animals is an insignificant matter for these men from the dark ages, even though it was reported that those who beat the donkey with a sledge hammer had also been involved in some other animal cruelty cases, equally as disgusting if not more, such as blowing up a gazelle to bits with an air  compressor and setting another gazelle on fire after pouring petrol inside it.

So what is the main concern of Iran's clerics, these guardians of morality, at the moment? Apparently the most pressing matter on their mind is the  Eurovision concert to be held next month in Baku, Republic of Azerbijan.

The notorious Friday Prayer leader of Tabriz, Mojtahed Shabastari, also the Supreme Leader's representative in the E. Azerbijan province, a particularly monstrous cleric and one of the founders of the Islamic Republic has been tearing himself apart worrying about the Shiite population of Baku having to endure the shame of hosting the Eurovision concert followed by a gay parade.

Below are some of the pictures of Mojtahed Shabastari's organised mob who had nothing better to do on a rainy day, than to go outside the Azerbijan Rep. Consulate in Tabriz and protest vehemently against the Republic of Azerbijan's audacity in hosting the next Eurovision concert.

Not only Iranian people are deprived from singing and dancing, Iran's clerics are now also telling Iran's neighbours that they can't have fun either.

The placard held reads "Eurovision is not a music festival but a festival to promote decadence and homosexuality"

This placard reads "Mr. Aliyev instead of holding a gay parade, think about liberating Karabakh"

Paedophile Diplomat and the Regime's Contempt for Dancing

When the Islamic Republic diplomat, Hekmatollah Ghorbani, was caught abusing children in a Brazilian swimming pool, the knee jerk reaction by the Islamic regime was all too predictable. First of all it was interpreted by the FMA as a misunderstanding and a "cultural difference" and then when they realised no amount of "cultural difference" can justify molesting children in a swimming pool in front of their parents, it was decided to say it was yet another Zionist plot.

When they realised the Zionist plot conspiracy theory was making them look even more stupid and even their Brazilian friends were not buying that crap, eventually they decided that perhaps its just as well to say this was one bad apple in an Islamic garden full of piety and Godly devotions.

Hekmatollah Ghorbani, the pedo-diplomat, then became a leverage tool in the factional fighting.  The hardline Ya Letharat newspaper carried a full page article yesterday with the heading, "About the Scandal at the Mixed Swimming Pool" and asked this revealing question "What else can one expect from the FMA,  when another Iranian diplomat's son is going to dance classes?"

Going to dance classes and taking dance lessons by some serving Iranian diplomat's son is regarded by the sick minds of the hardliners in Iran as being the equivalent of an envoy of the country dipping in the swimming pool and molesting little children!

"Cultural Invasion" a term often referred to by the regime against any independent source of information is in fact a term which should be applied to the post-1979 rulers of Iran. For the Islamic Republic is in fact a "cultural invasion" of Iran.

While it is unclear what punishment if any will be applied to the pedophile diplomat, there have been reports that a young girl by the name of Solmaz who won a dance talent competition on one of Persian speaking satellite TVs was arrested at the airport when she entered Iran and taken to Evin prison. Solmaz is now free on bail but inmates have been saying Solmaz was dancing herself all the time and teaching others how to dance, even when she was in prison. That is the Iranian spirit and the joyous culture, that has preserved Iran from numerous foreign invasions, is the "cultural difference" between the people of Iran and the  turban clad clerics who are currently in power in Iran.

Mr Prosecutor, how did it make you feel?

Narges Mohammadi is not a threat to Iran's national security, she is not a Western agent and she is not an infidel. She is a mother of two and an Iranian human rights activist who has campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty for minors under 18 in Iran. She is also an executive committee member of the National Council of Peace in Iran, a broad coalition of Iranian writers, artists, trade unionists and social activists who campaign against military action and war.

On 21 April this year, security agents arrested her from her home in Zanjan, before the eyes of her elderly mother and two young children and took her to serve her six year prison sentence.

Narges Mohammadi has developed an unexplained disease, likely to be due to the stresses of her interrogations, where she suddenly loses the control of her muscles and becomes temporarily paralysed.

Her arrest and the manner in which she was taken away from her children, has prompted Dr. Mohammad Maleki, Tehran University’s first Post-Revolution chancellor, who himself has spent several prison sentences in the Islamic Republic, to write an open letter to the Chief Prosecutor, Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi.

In his damning letter to the Chief Prosecutor, titled "Be Afraid of People's Coming Fury", he says "It is clear how anyone with a grain of humanity would feel if he or she learned that your agents had entered the home of a sickly mother and had arrested her before the eyes of her elderly mother and two infants. Indeed, Mr Prosecutor, how did it make you feel? You must have felt you had achieved a huge victory!”

“What have the likes of Narges Mohammadi done to deserve the brutal behaviour of your agents? Was she an armed guerilla or a human rights activist?” Maleki adds. “You and your like-minded [associates] in the Judiciary, the Intelligence Ministry and other intelligence bodies have demonstrated that you are the enemies of freedom and tolerate no criticism in any shape or form from anyone.”

"Until when do you think you, your masters and other tyrants will be able to continue with your criminal acts?” the letter went on to add.

 Maleki, a former political prisoner himself, said the Judiciary was merely a tool at the hands of Iran’s hardliners and intelligence ministry. He called on Jafari-Dolatabadi to draw “lessons from the fate of other tyrants.”

 “Mr Prosecutor, we know that you, your judges and the Judiciary are powerless, and receive orders from above and carry them out. But be warned that tomorrow, it is you who will be held accountable. Take a look at history and learn lessons from the fate of others.”

 “Over the past 33 years, you’ve set our beloved Iran ablaze. Look around you, do you see anything other than corruption, theft, deceit, addiction and enmity? Rest assured that the Iranian people’s spring of freedom is near, and it will be too late for the oppressive rulers to be remorseful,” Maleki continued.

 Narges Mohammadi's case is yet another testimony to the insincerity of the peaceniks in the West. Surely if their true agenda was against military intervention and war only, they would have campaigned for the release a fellow peace activist in Iran like Narges Mohammadi. Instead they continue to remain silent on the human rights abuses by the tyrannical regimes and allow themselves to be used as a propaganda tool for the likes of regimes who imprison other fellow peace activists.

When Political Retards Become US University Professors

What is it that makes an educated US woman with a PHD, so incredibly stupid and ignorant of the news about a country ruled by a religious tyranny which ultimately even threatens her own privileges and liberties?

Dr. Heather Gautney, seen in this video below, is at the centre of the latest batch of a US delegation of academic 'useful idiots' who accepted the invitation by the Islamic Republic to take part in a conference named 'Occupy Wall Street'  held in Tehran.

Heather Gautney has a PHD in sociology and the mind shudders to think what kind of sociologists will graduate from under her warped wisdom?

The rest of this gang of US tyranophile academics included her husband, Glen Kaplan, Alex Vitale from Brooklyn College and John Hammond from City University of New York.

If accepting this invitation from the Islamic Republic to take part in this farce of a conference was not bad enough, the sycophantic support of these retarded academics for the Islamic Republic is putting salt on the wounds of millions of victims of the repressive and corrupt regime in Iran.

In this interview by the Iranian state TV, Dr. Heather Gautney claims SHE DID NOT COME ACROSS EVEN ONE NEGATIVE point in her travel to Iran. Not even ONE negative point? Well piss off and live there you wretched moron and let one jailed Iranian academic come and live in US in your place.

It is up to the Iranian students studying in US colleges, to ensure these stooges of the Islamic Republic do not get away with their services to those who have murdered and imprisoned so many of our compatriots.

Open Letter by 86 Year Old Mother of Jailed Former MP to Iran's Supreme Leader

Open letters written to the officials and heads of Iran's ruling establishment have a long tradition in Iran's history. They are eyewitness accounts which record abuses of power and testimonies against the ruling despots by the meek and humble citizens and individuals in Iran. Letters which tickle the public conscience and stir the emotions.  There have been many such notable open letters in Iran's recent history but this moving letter by the 86 year old mother of Ghasem Shole Sadi will undoubtedly rank high amongst them. It is an equivalent of a David and Goliath story. A frail 86 year old woman versus the most powerful tyrant of our times, Iran's Supreme Leader.

Ghasem Shole Sadi, was the former MP for Shiraz in the third and fourth Majlis (Parliament) after the 1979 revolution. He was also Tehran university lecturer in International Law and Relations and the attorney for many political prisoners. In 2002 he publicly voiced his concerns about the legalities of the way in which the Supreme Leader was chosen and was subsequently jailed for 18 months for daring to criticise the Supreme Leader. Shole Sadi was arrested again after the post-election protests and sentenced to three years in prison and banned from lecturing in the university and from practicing law. He is said to have suffered injuries to his spinal cord as a result of the tortures he has had to injure and is facing paralysis in his left side.

I hope, I have done a worthy job in translating this moving letter by Sholeh Sadi's 86 year old mother"

"Your Imperial Majesti, Ali Khamenei,

"O tyrant, who oppressest thy subjects, 
How long wilt thou persevere in this?" - Iranian poet, Sa'adi

Your Majesty, you may be surprised why I am calling you this, but this letter will itself explain the reason, because this letter is written by a bereaved 86 year old mother, who is mourning her martyred son, Asghar (in the war against Saddam) and who is also grief stricken by what is happening to her  other jailed son, Ghassem, imprisoned illegally and unjustly by your agents in a country which you are the head of.

At a time, when your son Mojtaba was at school, my teenage son, Asghar who was one of the top students in Shiraz. Asghar left his studies and went to the fronts to defend his country. Perhaps you have a good memory, in which case you should remember, at the time when my Asghar was blown up by one of Saddam's rocket propelled guns, your respected sister had joined the enemy and her husband's voice could be heard from Saddam's radio.

Half of my Asghar's body was blown away and in my last farewell with my son, I could only bury half of his body, but I said to myself, I have more sons and all of Iran's youth are like my children. At the same time, my other son, Dr. Ghassem Shole Sadi was defending Iran's right in the diplomatic and legal fronts. After my Asghar was martyred in the front, I sent my other son to the front. Why? because I didn't want the trenches and the barricades to become unmanned and I am still committed to this and I will once again defend my country along with my children without worrying which side your relatives will choose to stand.

Your Majesty, the martyrdom of my son Asghar, did not cause me the grief I am suffering now for the imprisonment of my other son today, for Asghar was killed by the enemy but my other son who is imprisoned by you has been chained for defending the rights of his people and for his free-thinking.  Were you not the one who were advocating for 'free-thinking' yourself?

Ten years ago, my son Ghassem was jailed by your judge Haddad, for having posed some legal questions that criticised you. Judge Haddad is the same judiciary judge who has now been suspended for his part in the crimes of rape and torture committed against peaceful protesters in Kahrizak. Will the shame of Kahrizak ever be wiped away from the face of the Islamic Republic?

Such sentences and such courts do not describe that utopia that you portray in your speeches, do they? The sentence against my son was so baseless that even the former chief of your judiciary, who I understand was once your seminary master, called it against the rightful judgement and asked for the sentence to be reviewed and for article 18 to be applied to the sentence. I can tell you now that no such review has been carried out. I am a mother who has raised several lawyers and therefore I may be familiar with some basics of law. It is a mystery to me on what basis, your unjust judiciary, who should support the rights and freedoms of the people,  has refrained from releasing my son and insists on carrying out a sentence which has been dissolved?

Your Majesty, because of my advanced age and my fatigued and exhausted body, I can not even travel the long distance to Evin prison and walk up its stairs to visit my son from behind the bars. For more than a year, like prophet Jacob, I have even been deprived of my Joseph's scent and yet despite the prison doctor's recommendation that as a result of the damage to Ghassem's spinal cord, he is unable to endure the rest of his sentence, I do not even ask you for a prison leave for Ghassem. It seems the judiciary officials rather ignore their own expert's recommendations and are intent to keep my son in prison until he is completely paralysed, even though his prison sentence passed by your judge Salavati has now expired.

Your Majesty, every Iranian New Year, I used to light only one candle for my martyred son, Asghar, but this year, I also lit a candle for my jailed son, Ghassem. How many candles did you light for the Iranian New Year? Do you even observe the Iranian customs and traditions? I feel there is a political motive in keeping my son in prison. If this is the case and there is a political motive to keep him in prison for longer than his original sentence, then I have to say earnestly that you are frightened of my son and if so, then I thank the Almighty who has given me a son who scares the leader of the Islamic world and it must be because of your fear of him that he is still held in prison. For my son's pen is more solid than Moses's stick and his tongue is like a strong arm and his knowledge is the undoing of your spells. If you had the ability to answer his questions with logic and reason, what need would there have been of chaining him?

That's why I am not asking you to grant him with prison leave, my son is a lawyer and a university lecturer, he is neither related to the high ranking clerics nor to the regime officials to receive such favours and I expect no such favours from you.

I have heard my son is incarcerated in section 350 of Evin prison amongst some of his university students. His crime is posing some legal questions about your authority, now if they ask you, who claim to advocate 'free thinking', what have you to say for yourself and your slogans?

Corruption is wreaking havoc across the country. If they ask you who is responsible for such unprecedented corruption during an administration which you have fully supported and backed, what do you have to say for yourself?

How is it, your Majesty, that you liken your critics to Talheh and Zubair's defections from the Prophet  and yet liken your own rule to that of Imam Ali's just and uncompromising rule, but when it comes to executing justice you stumble and when it comes to the $3Billion banking embezzlement case you ask  the media not to delve too much into the case?

Your Majesty, tell me what wrong my son has done other than having asked you some questions about your position as the Supreme Leader, that you have resorted to the iron blade instead of answering him with reason and logic?

Does the regime which claim to be Islamic and wants to be the centre of the world not need a blade of reason and clarity and accountability too? Millions in Iran today face abject poverty, dissidents are jailed, Iran's national wealth is either embezzled or handed on a plate to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas, Bolivia and ....would all this money not be better spent here? Who is responsible for all this? the widespread poverty and the brain drain is the result of which administration and what is your responsibility? Why are the country's elite and academics treated in this way? Some are imprisoned, some are sacked, some are forced into retirement and some are assassinated. My son is one of those who is in jail now without even a pretence to observe the law of the land. Your judiciary is not worthy of our nation, they free the thieves and jail the victims and we have seen all this in previous embezzlement cases and in the case of Shahram Jazayeri too. Many who were the main perpetrators of the crime were let go. The cases of Palizdar and the savage attacks on universities in 1999 and in 2009 need no further reminding either. The students who were the victims were judged to be the guilty and the assailants enjoyed immunity. Let us not even go into the 2009 election fiasco.

Your Majesty, the more time passes by, this nation and I realise how justified my son was in asking you those questions ten years ago, but whether my son was right in questioning your qualifications to lead this country or not, I see you as the man responsible for what is happening today and you will have to bear the consequences.

Your Majesty, as I said before, I am not asking you to grant my son with prison leave but I want you to pay attention to these points below:

1- Either kill me, like they killed Parvaneh Forouhar and put the dagger through her heart, and send me to my grave so I can be with my martyred son, Asghar

They decapitate heads and say its the king's orders
It may be the king's edict but this is not the way of kings

2- Order your henchmen to arrest me too and imprison me next to my son, so I can once again smell his scent

God, Almighty, the King's tyranny has surpassed it all
When will the people be saved from under his shadow?

If you care not for this country, we care passionately for Iran.    

The Little Neda

The woman on the left holding the little girl, is Hajer Rostami Motlagh, mother of Neda Agha Soltan, the young girl who was killed in the post-election protests. Images of Neda Agha Soltan's last breaths after she was shot became viral around the globe and she became a symbol of Iran's Green Revolution.

The little girl on the right was born on the same day, Neda Agha Soltan was killed and her parents named her Neda. An amazing bond has developed between the two since the little Neda was introduced to Neda Agha Soltan's mother.

Hopefully the little Neda will grow up in a free Iran and she will not fear protesting peacefully against her government. Hopefully she will live life to the full and enjoy all her abilities and talents.

Islamic Republic Hardline Daily, Kayhan, Delighted at Galloway's Victory

George Galloway's victory at Bradford West was welcomed by most Islamic Republic news websites, as a victory for the champion of Palestinians and Muslims in Britain, without a dickie bird mention of Galloway's past allegiance with Saddam and Uday Hussein or his pussy cat performance at the Big Brother.

The ultra hardline Kayhan run by the former Evin prison interrogator, Hossein Shariatmadari, went a step further however and expressed hope that Livingstone will also become the next London Mayor and Lauren Booth be the first veiled woman MP in UK's parliament.

Translation of the Kayhan article:
"Defeat of Labour Party by Press TV Presenter in 'Mid-election' special report

Press TV presenter wins the 'mid-election' parliamentary seat in one
of English constituencies

Press TV reports, that despite having been removed from Sky satellite
and viewers having been deprived from viewing it, George Galloway, one
of its presenters has won the Bradford West seat in the UK parliament

George Galloway the candidate for Respect Party won a landslide in
Bradford West. He won by 18000 votes, more than 10,000 than his
defeated Labour rival.

Some of Galloway's supporters have contacted Press TV and expressed
their hopes that Ken Livingstone will also win the next mayoral
elections. Livingstone was criticised by some of UK media for having
worked regularly with Press TV.

Some have also suggested that Lauren Booth another Press TV presenter
should also be encouraged to stand as a candidate in the UK
parliamentary elections and become
the first female veiled MP in UK's legislative body
.
OFCOM, in the beginning of the Western calendar annulled Press TV's
broadcast permit and in a questionable action without any credible
reply to the questions posed by the board of Press TV, removed Press
TV's broadcasts from Sky services"

No Singing and Dancing for Kindergarten Kids in Iran

Islamic Republic's reputation for being an anti-fun state is no secret. Except for the usual apologists who do not think people's pursuit of happiness is in any way as important as the anti-imperialist/anti-Zionist rhetorics, it doesn't take a genius to realise the incompatibility of a drab state ruling over a nation whose joyous culture has actually been its very reason for survival and continuity.

Islamic Republic news sites and papers today reported Valiollah Nasr, the head of the Welfare Organisation for the Tehran province, tell Fars News Agency that 'the authorities will deal severely with kindergartens which have an immoral syllabus and teach children to sing and dance'. He added that 'the kindergarten's programs should be in line with Islamic values.'

He didn't say what these 'Islamic values' were and whether they included public hangings and stoning.

'Pre-defined programs have been sent to the kindergartens and they have no excuse to teach children immoral stuff. In recent years, kindergartens have been teaching kids to sing and dance but they will be dealt with severely if they continue to do so this year' Nasr reiterated the stance against singing and dancing in kindergartens.

The rest of Nasr's interview with the Fars News Agency was about the special camps to cure drug addicts running out of space for female addicts!

One wonders if the head of the Tehran Welfare Organisation sees a connection between the bleak lacklustre life and the growing drug addiction problems in Iran.

The crackdown on happiness in Iranian kindergartens comes after Barbie dolls and Simpson toys were banned. Superman however escaped the ban because it was seen as a defender of the dispossessed and the downtrodden.

Which one of you was singing and dancing??

A Day Bradford Voters Will Regret

George Galloway "semi-Muslim" MP for Bradford West

Today will be marked as a day where Bradford voters will remember with shame and regret, for they have chosen the most tyranophile and insincere man in British politics who will sell his soul for money. George Galloway seems to have exploited the discontent by Bradford West voters with their mainstream candidates in their by-election and pulled the wool over their eyes by presenting himself as some kind of a Muslim crusader.

This former stooge of Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic son, Uday Hussein, who was prepared to denigrate himself on the Big Brother show for money by dressing up in a tight leotard and acting like a pussy cat drinking milk out of Rula Lenska's hand, went so far as to pretend to the Bradford Muslim community that he was the only Muslim in the village.

In this footage from one of his campaign rallies, he is introduced by StW activist, who goes on about consistency in justice and yet he forgets that StW are the most inconsistent of the campaigners. Then gorgeous George starts with "bismallah alrahman alrahim" and a few other Islamic vocabulary he has learned and tells the faithful that he does not drink alcohol. What more reason to vote for him?!



Who knows perhaps from now on UK parliament candidates will also circumcise themselves to win votes.

More than a hundred years ago during Iran's constitutional revolution, a hero of the revolution, Sattar Khan, an illiterate but wise freedom fighter and patriot was criticised by some of his supporters for having appointed a governor who drank alcohol. Sattar Khan replied to them, "I did not appoint a Friday Prayer leader for you, I appointed a governor, let me know if he is a bad governor"

It seems Sattar Khan was a wiser man more than 10 years ago than the Bradford West voters.
Below is the Iranian state TV's joy and delight at Galloway's win

Iranian Opposition Minstrel Show at the European Parliament

"The Islamic Republic is its own biggest enemy and the Iranian "opposition" abroad, is its best friend" - Words of a wise man who told me this ten years ago and the statement still holds true. The Islamic Republic continues to shoot itself in the foot but the Iranian "opposition" abroad, through its inherent stupidity, knowingly or unknowingly, helps the regime climb out of the hole.

An amorphous bunch of narcissist individuals, who have no idea what must be done outside Iran, with too much time on their hands and only one expertise; how to apply for a grant for their pointless cyber activities and writings from some official body in the West.

Most that can be expected from these buffoons is to hold a meeting, where a group of like minded expats will gather and tell each other the 'Islamic Republic is bad' and then applaud each other for their tuppence worth speeches or some kind of cyber action like changing their Facebook profiles in support of some prisoner of conscience in Iran. An amorphous bunch who total up to a huge Zero!

This footage I came across today however, may top it all for the Iranian opposition abroad. It seems this is the best show they could put up in the European parliament, to present the Iranian New Year and the Nowruz celebration. This Haji Firooz, the mammy archetype like character, judging by its name "Haji" - a title bestowed upon Muslims after they have completed their pilgrimage to Mecca - is one of those Islamic imports into the pre-Islamic tradition of Nowruz, probably the worst face of Nowruz celebration which should be done away with. Nowruz is first and foremost a beautiful celebration of the new which replaces the old and certainly its time to replace these old dinosaurs with something newer in the evolutionary cycle.



I can just imagine how uncomfortable, some of the MePs must have been and how they must have been praying for this minstrel show of mammy archetype nonsense, with all its racist overtures, by the Iranian "opposition" abroad be over and done with. It is amazing that these Iranian "opposition" figures are still unaware of the references in the Western culture they live amidst.

Two of the biggest fibbers, Ahmad Rafat and Ebrahim Nabavi, that I have ever come across amongst the Iranian "opposition" figures in exile, "fighting for democracy in Iran" in the European Parliament:

It really is time for the new to replace the old!

Christopher de Bellaigue and his Ahmaghieh Supporter in the Frontline Club Audience

I went along to a Frontline Club meeting at the Royal Institute last night. The panelists were Ran Gidor, the Minister-Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Israel in London, Azadeh Moaveni from the Time Magazin, Roberto Toscano, the Italian Ambassador to Iran for five years (2003-2008) and not previously announced Christopher de Bellaigue. The topic of discussion was Iran - Diplomatic Tensions and Power Struggles. The Israeli Minister-Counsellor was heavily outnumbered not just on the panel but also in the audience largely made up of BBC Persian and BBC Arabic staff.

It was when Christopher de Bellaigue started ranting on that my blood started to boil. Christopher de Bellaigue started reading a statement by the British Prime Minister addressed to Mossadegh in 1951 and recent statements by David Cameron and William Hague, drawing parallels between Mossadegh and the present rulers in Iran in standing up to the condescending bullies in Britain.

When my turn for questions came, I said this to de Bellaigue:
"Many people in the West think you are an Iran expert and you cater for a special niche in the market and make your money from it. I havent read your book about Mossadegh the Patriot yet but I hope you have written in the book that the British coup that you keep referring to failed and it was in fact the clerics and Ayatollahs who turned their thugs against Mossadegh and toppled him, but I think it is disgraceful that you compare Mossadegh with the likes of Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs ruling Iran today and use Mossadegh to justify the very people who overthrew him, but I want to refer to an earlier article you wrote about the people in a district in Tabriz where you refer repeatedly to the district as the district of Ahmaghieh, to those who understand Persian, this means district of stupid people, did you ever go to Tabriz or was some one having a laugh with you?"

See de Bellaigue's article and book where he mentions repeatedly the district of Ahmaghieh in Tabriz and claims huge support for Ahmadinejad in the district of stupid people!

de Bellaigue answered he meant a district called Aahmaghieh but because the sound of Aa in English is often written as A, the district was written as Ahmaghieh in his accounts. He then asked if there is anyone in the audience from Tabriz and knows this district? A girl in front of me whom I could not see her face from the back raised her arm enthusiastically and said "Yes, there is!" and the audience made up of mainly BBC staff sighed with relief applauded enthusiastically for her and their hero Christopher de Bellaigue.

After the discussion was closed, I went over to see who the "girl from Tabriz" was, it was in fact none other than Golriz Kolahi, an ubiquitous supporter of regime apologists. I asked her in Azeri, "Do you come from Tabriz?" but she said she didn't understand Azeri. "But you just told everyone you were from Tabriz?" and Golriz Kolahi just smiled as if to say well I fooled them all. "and you told this audience that there is a district in Tabriz called Ahmaghieh". Golriz said "No I said Ahamdieh". She was going for safety, Ahmadieh is a common name for districts but there is not a district called Ahmadieh either, Ahmad Abad in Tabriz is the nearest and in any case that is not what de Bellaigue said. He did not dispute whether there was a 'gh' in the district's name or a 'd', he said the name started with the sound of Aa as in Aardvark and not in Apple. I felt utter contempt for Golriz Kolahi, this daughter of a wealthy factory owner in Iran who likes to live in England and enjoy the privileges this country offers.

Then I approached de Bellaigue and asked him what part of Tabriz is this Ahmaghieh or Aahmaghieh that he has been writing about? Was it North, South, East or West of Tabriz? He couldn't answer. How can someone who has done anecdotal interviews with the people of a district not know which direction the district was in? "Who is the current MP for Ahmaghieh? This Ahmadinejad supporting district in Tabriz?" I asked de Bellaigue again and once again he couldn't answer. How can you do research into a district and claim they staunchly support Ahmadinejad and not know whether the district have gone for a pro-Ahmadinejad MP or not?

Here is a list of districts in Tabriz according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabriz#Districts
None of which sound like Ahmaghieh. The only possible candidate is Akhmaqaya, pronounced like two words AkhmA qAyA from the Azeri words AkhmA meaning flowing and qAyA meaning rock.

Just to be double sure, I checked with a scholar friend of mine from Tabriz, in case the pronunciations have changed since I left Tabriz and anyone pronounced this place as Ahmaghieh. This was his response :
"There are two slightly different pronunciations, based on whether the person uttering the name is rural or urban. Urban Azeris go for Ākhmā - Gara, while rurals go for Ākhmā - Qayah. None of which are anywhere close to what De Bellaigue claims."

As I have not read de Bellaigue's book on Mossadegh, I cannot comment on it myself, but again I asked a couple of my Iranian historian friends. Their responses below:

First response:
"The book seems like a journalist account on the scene of what happened in Tehran those days. It doesn't really have a broad historical perspective. He keeps being convinced that the British were behind the events of 19 August and discounts the role of domestic actors quite heavily. There is very little mention of the clerical involvement, something he probably was advised to avoid in order to spend half the year in Tehran, as he claims to be doing. This really weakens the book. He also does not delve deep enough on the intrinsic weaknesses of the Mossadegh front, particularly the lack of a solid political organisation, and the National Front's aloofness and lack of discipline. Its all good to claim that Mossadegh's intentions are good and valid, but the problem as always in Iran is political agency. In this Mossadegh has severe flaws. De Bellaigue picks on one (the dissolution of the Majles) validly, but does not mention many others.

On a more detailed level, he completely misreads the actions of the Tudeh party in the days leading to August 19, by failing to account for the effect of the "Black Tudeh" crowds put into motion by the CIA, which effectively - and genuinely - turned the people against the Tudeh and to some extent against Mossadegh, because they were fearful of a reign of terror should the Tudeh gain power. He also gets it wrong on the famous rumours on the attempt to set up a republic after the Shah's flight to Rome - had he read the last issue of Bakhtar-e Emrouz, which is widely distributed, he would have seen denials all over the place of such an attempt. Mossadegh was against it and would never had supported it. This thesis is accurately described in some of the books De Bellaigue claims to have used, but he chose not to look upon it.

Another thing is that this book is billed as the cradle to grave account of Mossadegh's life, and such is said in the Introduction. But we have little or nothing of his exile in Ahmadabad and his effectively negative actions against the NF after 1953 (he singlehandedly disbanded the Second NF in the Sixties), nor do we have a real description of the single, major commemoration event after 1979, the 14 Esfand of Ahmadabad with a million people, which also marked the breaking up of his legacy amongst many organisations. No real mention of his legacy and his tortured memory today in IRI.

Second response:
"I have never had the emotional energy to read more than half a paragraph of CdB's writings. According to a friend of mine who is in the book business CdB contributes to the second hand book market in the UK, because a lot of people don't even want to keep his stuff after trying to  read them"

What annoyed me most about Christopher de Bellaigue was no matter what the panelist thought about the correct diplomatic strategy, they all confirmed that the Iranian regime is an evil dictatorship, but not once did de Bellaigue criticise the Islamic Republic for its despotism and human rights abuse track record.

Press TV Claims IRIB Channels Were Jammed

Press TV, today claimed the broadcast of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting (IRIB) international channels on the Hotbird satellite provider were interrupted for two hours by jamming signals sent from an unknown location. Not sure whether this really happened or this is yet another Press TV made up story to win another prestigious award in the special category of cock and bull news stories.

The very first paragraph states the jamming signals were sent from an 'unknown location', which does not sound right. Hotbird providers will be able to pinpoint the source that sends jamming signals quite easily and if the jamming was not local and aimed at the satellite platform itself, it would affect other channels in the same bouquet of transmission frequencies, but the Press TV story does not mention the other non-IRIB channels affected.

Whether the story is true or not however, how would you sum up the IRIB/Press TV audacity in whining about this? Funded and controlled by a state which has led the jamming of other satellite channels, a state that sends its agents to burst into people's homes and destroy their satellite dishes and receiver equipments and deployed whatever means it can to deny the people of Iran their right to access free information, who are they to complain about 'two hours of jamming' that they have not even been able to substantiate?

What are the appropriate phrases that come to mind? Poetic Justice? Virtue Rewarded? Getting a taste of their own medicine?.......

Regime Figures for Voter Turnout are All Over the Place

As usual it is very hard to make any sense of the regime figures. The numbers just don't add up.

Interior Ministry Information site quoted the Interior Minister, Mostafa Najar, who told the reporters in a press conference, 26,472,760 people voted and the turnout % was 64.2%

The same source two weeks prior said the number of people eligible to vote was 48,288,799. Using a basic calculator to divide the number of people who voted by those eligible times 100 comes to 54%. So even if we accept the interior ministry figures for the number of people who voted, the percentage of voter turnout is still not 64% and amounts to 54%

Iran's Centre fro Stats in the 8th Majlis elections in 2008 estimated the number of people eligible to vote in Tehran and Alborz Province to be more than 8,796,000. 

The number of people who could vote for the first time was announced to be around 4 million, which means 150,000 more should have been eligible to vote this time amongst first time voters.

Morteza Tamadon Governor for Tehran said the number of those eligible to vote in Tehran province was 5Million. As the number of eligible to vote in Alborz alone is 1,345,000; this means the number of eligible people to vote has some how been reduced by at least 2,600,000 in Tehran! When did so many people leave Tehran?!

If we just use the same figures for the numbers eligible to vote, which were announced in 2009 presidential elections, it means the voter turnout in Tehran has bee extremely low, much lower than the 50% official figures.

If we ignore the official figures and assume that the number of eligible voters has in fact increased since 2009, the turnout figure will be even drastically lower still.

Some examples of blatant cheating

In the town of Asara in Karaj 100% voted

http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1550744
Ilam which was announced to have 273000 eligible voters showed 380000 came out to vote
http://news.hasanagha.org/images/taghalob.jpg

Amol Kala prison which holds 900 prisoners counted 1500 votes. There is fighting amongst the two candidates there. One is pro-Ahmadinejad and the other is the IRGC man 
http://www.irangreenvoice.com/article/2012/mar/04/20132

in Boroujerd, the head of the Election HQ announced 230,000 were eligible and 134,000 voted which means 134000/230000 * 100 = 58.3%

Yet the governor announced the turnout figure as 68%. Boroujerd governor obviously needs to go back to school.

Latest "Election" Gaffs

Iranian official from the Interior Ministry in charge of holding the Majlis "elections" on Friday is asked on state TV to confirm the official and unofficial turnout figures in the polls. He replies "the unofficial figures are not for him to confirm but the official interior ministry figures are just over 34% turnout in the elections" :)))



But it gets better, Mehr News Agency's earlier. The earlier copy of Mehr News site states 373,000 people are eligible to vote in the Ilam constituency.

After the "elections", and having forgotten the earlier published figures, the same news site claims 380,000 votes have been cast! DOH! Where did the extra 7000 come from?

Iran's Supreme Leader, Patrice Lumumba University's Secret Graduate

It is not the first time, it has been claimed that Iran's Supreme Leader has graduated from the former Soviet Union's notorious Patrice Lumumba University, or the University of "Friendship" aka KGB Tech.

A former CIA agent, Clare Lopez was quoted as saying this during an interview:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/exclusive-ex-cia-agent-warns-of-danger-as-congress-investigates-radical-islam

And a book titled China & Iran by John Garver, also mentions Iran's Supreme Leader to have graduated from the Patrice Lumumba University in 1968

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u2X1DNUATjkC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=Patrice+Lumumba+University+khamenei&source=bl&ots=uGq2nVtjQo&sig=k72TfkvJJldSPgAHi6NndIXb6rw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FIRFT-aENeWu0QWK2bGABA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Patrice%20Lumumba%20University%20khamenei&f=false

But a program broadcast on Russia Today on 5th February, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the university was the first time this information was confirmed by a Russian source. The Russia Today presenter mentions with much pride- see below 1:41min - two current heads of state as former graduates of the university, Mahmoud Abbas and Ali Khamenei, IR's Supreme Leader.

The consequences of this information can be cataclysmic and once again it goes to prove the unholy alliance between Iran's Communists and Islamists before the 1979 revolution. For it is inconceivable that the Supreme Leader could have studied in the Soviet Union without the puppert Soviet Communist Party of Iran, the Tudeh Party not having facilitated his move to Moscow.

It also explains all the Stalinist methods so diligently deployed by Iran's rulers in the past thirty years.
The current IR Judiciary Spokesperson, Gholam Hossein Ezhei is also said to be in the university's alumni list.

What will Arshin Adib-Moghadam Come up with Now?

Just a few days after I ridiculed SOAS lecturer, Arshin Adib-Moghadam's school boy attempt to exonerate the Islamic Republic from the recent attacks in Thailand, Georgia and India, Iranian opposition website, Jaras, has claimed that one of the arrested men in Thailand, Mohamad Khazaei, is in fact the brother of IRI's deputy of counter-intelligence. 

If this is true, then even I will be amazed at how Arshin Adib-Moghaddam can fudge this one. It will no doubt be amusing and no doubt the Guardian's Comment is Free, will once again give space to Islamic Republic apologists as usual.

A Tribute to Marie Colvin

Intrepid journalists change the world. One picture, one footage or just one report can prick the world's conscience so much so, that the sheer weight of international public opinion they mobilise will bring about change.

My favourite quote has always been "Evil only prevails, when the good remain silent' and it is thanks to all the courageous journalists that sometimes the good do not remain silent and sometimes evil does not prevail.

In 1991, when Charles Wheeler reported Saddam's brutal quashing of the Kurdish uprising, it did that very awakening for the world's conscience, and ultimately brought about the "safe haven" for the Kurds in Iraq. That Wheeler report laid the foundations of the safe stable democracy we see today in the Kurdish Regional Government.

I hope this tear jerking report by Marie Colvin, will also help mobilise the international public opinion to finally bring peace to Syria and end the brutal Ba'thist rule in Syria. May be the world will share the grief of this grandmother working as a nurse in this make shift Syrian hospital when she is overcome with grief as she sees her own grand child.

What better tribute to Marie Colvin, than that?



Bashar Assad supporters at Stop the War Coalition rally in London, with Ba'athist flags and Bashar's pictures:

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, an Unlikely Non-partisan Analyst

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam's article in the Guardian's Comment is free section, which argues that the Islamic Republic was unlikely to be the culprit behind the assassination attempt on Israeli diplomats in Thailand, may appeal to most StWC members and other Western tyranophile readers of the Guardian newspaper, but anyone who has objectively been following Iran related news for the past three decades will have difficulty not falling off their chair with roaring laughter at the stupidity of this CASMII member and SOAS university lecturer.

To try to prove the Islamic Republic was the unlikely culprit for the attacks, Adib-Moghaddam in his opening paragraph asks the naive and ridiculous question "What would be the motive?". Such an absurd question triggers the first chuckle. I mean Really? This SOAS lecturer genuinely doesn't know what the motive could be? I wonder if he dared ask the Supreme Leader, "Oh the supremest of the supremests, what was your motive when in your recent sermon, you said your regime will back any nation that confronts Israel?" or whether he questioned numerous Islamic Republic officials who explicitly accused Israel of assassinating Iranian scientists and promised they would retaliate against the Israelis.

Certainly when official and semi-official Islamic Republic news agencies like Mehr, quoted Abdel Bari Atwan, Editor in chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, that "IRI will take revenge against Israel", they never asked with such naivety "what would be our motive?"

In fact the Iranian officials have gone further than providing the motives that the SOAS lecturer, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam is pretending to search for. Regime strategists and theoreticians like Rahimpour Azghadi have publicly gone on record saying "prepare for global operations". Places like Thailand, Georgia and India are also part of our globe to this SOAS lecturer's surprise.

Adib-Moghaddam then pathetically tries to argue that even if IR wanted to, it would not send its operatives to friendly countries. Hello?? Where have you been "Iran expert" SOAS lecturer/CASMII member? Have you not bothered to pop down the library and read about the assassinations of more than 100 dissidents and opponents of the regime all over the world? Assassinations that have happened not just in USA, England and France but in Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Cyprus, Dubai, Sweden, Italy, Spain, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. "Friendly" countries are actually more suitable because they do not require stringent visa requirements and for example in Thailand, until before this recent fiasco, Iranian nationals were issued with a visa at the airport.

Adib-Moghaddam's last desperate attempt in scraping the bottom of the barrel to string up a worthy argument for his "unlikely culprit" scenario, is that the 'highly trained and professional' revolutionary guards would not be so clumsy and the regime in Iran would not be that stupid to alienate its friendly relations?

Lets start with looking at the later point. Actually the Islamic Republic can be and has been; extremely stupid. I have said time and time again that the Islamic Republic's biggest enemy is itself and one should never underestimate its ability to shoot itself in the foot. While its best friend is the incompetent Iranian opposition abroad and the nonchalant majority of Iranian ex-pats who like to enjoy the benefits of living a comfortable life in Western democracies while still maintaining their ability to go back to Iran for cheap holidays.

What other than sheer stupidity can explain the holocaust denial speeches, the numerous outrageous inconsistent lies about Neda's murder or the recent organised mob attack on the British embassy in Tehran, just to name a few? How else could you describe a regime, whose minister of 'intelligence' claims the US government has filtered Facebook and Twitter and slowed down the internet to crackdown on dissent?

As for the professionalism and efficiency of the Islamic Republic assassination operatives abroad, again their track record suggests other than what Adib-Moghaddam likes to advocate. The track record of the clumsy assassination attempts by the Islamic Republic abroad has mostly left plenty of clues that point the fingers to the Islamic Republic. Many of the assassins have either managed to flee to safety in Iran or have been given a hero's welcome at Tehran airport after they have been released from European prisons. Some of the assassins like Anis Naqash, who carried out the first unsuccessful assassination on Shapur Bakhtiar that resulted in the killing and maiming of some French citizens have lived a lavish lifestyle in Iran ever since.

In May 1993, the German chief federal prosecutor submitted his indictment—in which Iran's ministry of intelligence was implicated heavily in what became known as the Mykonos restaurant assassinations.

Shapur Bakhtiar's second wave of assassins who managed to kill him in his Paris residence made a series of such clumsy errors that Arshin Adib-Moghaddam regards as unthinkable. For example, when two of the assassins, Azadi and Vakili-Rad boarded the wrong train at Lyon and made a series of traceable phone calls to other members of the terror network or when they stuck their phoney Swiss visa stamps into their phoney Turkish passports so late that the visa stamp was still moist, arousing the suspicion of a Swiss officer, who on closer examination determined that the visas, supposedly issued in Tehran, bore serial numbers of Swiss consulates in France. I won't even mention how one of the assassins left a suitcase full of clues after visiting a French prostitute.

In denying the involvement by the Iranian regime in the recent attacks, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, intent on pulling the wool over the typical Guardian reader, has to then put the blame on someone else. He chooses to blame the 'Indian Mujahideen' and tries to induce the idea that there have been such reports that link the attacks to a group that is unrelated to Iran but oppose the relation between India and Israel.

I am not sure if Adib-Moghaddam, wrote this article before the identity of the attackers became known or he simply hadn't been made aware of it, but the evidence speaks for itself.

Saeed Moradi, the man who was injured in the attack and Mohamamd Khazaei who was detained in the airport do not come across as 'Indian Mujahideen', nor does the third suspect Massoud Sedaghatzade and nor the female accomplice, Leila Rouhani who has managed to flee back to Tehran.

The picture which shows them all partying with two Thai prostitutes in Pattaya, the night before the attacks, also does not suggest they are 'Indian Mujahideen'

The female accomplice, Leila Rouhani, who managed to flee back to Tehran and escape arrest by the Thai police, also does not come across as an 'Indian Mujahideen':

I think the evidence that the SOAS lecturer and CASMII member, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam is talking bollocks is overwhelming but the question is, have UK university lecturers really become that stupid or does Arshin Adib-Moghaddam have a vested interest? For example is it true that his father was the former head of the Islamic Republic mosque in Hamburg?

The sad thing however is that the mainstream media like the Guardian give space to such poppy cock articles by such dubious characters with hidden agendas and ulterior motives but they still refuse to publish the questions I have raised as to who is behind the assassination of the Iranian scientists.

A Rare Picture Showing Teenage Prisoners in the Islamic Republic

This is a rare picture taken by a German magazine that managed to get access to Evin prison in Iran during the 1980s.

On the right, sitting behind his desk, is the psychopath butcher of Evin prison, the evil henchman Lajavardi, offering a biscuit to the teenage political prisoners, to demonstrate the Islamic kindness in front of the foreign reporters.

Look at the teenage kid sitting on the left. Look how young and innocent he looks. Most probably, all this kid was ever "guilty" of was selling some Left wing newspaper on a street corner or handing out leaflets. God knows what happened to these kids and the mind shudders to think what they had to endure.

It is for the sake of those innocent kids that I loathe and despise Islamic Republic apologists in the West. The snotty nose tyranophile la-dee-das who turn away and ignore the real tyranny and terror. 

America Can Do No Wrong

They say sometimes the joke gets lost in translation, but sometimes revolutionary slogans get lost in translation and the slogan becomes a joke.

The state sponsored slogan is Ayatollah Khomeini's famous saying "America can not do a damn thing" but on the 33rd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, the slogan is translated as 'America Can Do No Wrong'

The local Baseej must have used Google translator. It is exactly how Google translator, mistranslates the phrase:

Brutality Beyond Words Can Ever Explain

These images are not from Israel, for if they were, there would have been endless marches by the professional revolutionaries in Europe.

A man is fallen and helpless and Syrian troops and henchmen/scum can not get enough of beating a man who is  on the floor



Half of a teenager's face is blown up by an RPG rocket.



For the sake of the people of Syria, stand up to Bashar's brutality and Stop the War Coalition hypocrites.

Full House of 'Useful Idiots' at SOAS on Sunday

Who do the Egyptian people least want to interfere in their internal affairs or lecture them on their revolution?

There will be a whole set of such Western useful idiots and tyranophiles at SOAS this Sunday, like former Saddam stooge, George Galloway,  Bashar Assad supporter Communist, Andrew Murray, another member of Communist Party of Britain, Kate Hudson and another Marxist supporter of Ahmadinejad and Guardian columnist, Seumas Milne.

But Western Marxists and tyranophiles wouldn't feel comfortable without some Islamic extremist sitting next to them in a panel and who better than Kamal El-Helbawy, a big time admirer of the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader.

Egyptian ex-pats would do well, if they turn up to this event and tell this mob that they are not welcome to lecture them on their revolution.

Rage and Anger Outside Syrian Embassy Today

Every Saturday, Syrian ex-pats opposed to Bashar Assad's regime gather outside the Syrian embassy in London. They peacefully chant, they sing and they remember their martyrs.

After yesterday's brutal massacre in Homs however, they seemed consumed with sheer rage and frustration. The Syrian protesters just wanted to do something more for their fallen compatriots. One Syrian woman told me, more than twenty of her family members have been murdered by Bashar's henchmen, since the uprising started. Many had camped outside the Syrian embassy in freezing cold since the night before. There were already signs of paint thrown at the Syrian embassy door, and today they could no longer tolerate a building that represented Bashar's murderous regime in front of them and they pushed through the police lines.

 They threw whatever they could at the embassy, water bottles, eggs, stones and bricks. As the front line of protesters pushed the police back, the ones at the back threw bricks and stones which smashed the embassy windows. Police pushed back the protesters and the protesters came back again, getting closer and closer to the embassy door.



until the riot police with shields and batons moved in and the police finally got the upper hand

Protesters where then penned in behind the barricades for hours in freezing cold weather and strangely there was no sign of Press TV!

This Iranian reporter from Euronews made me laugh and perhaps explained why Euronews Persian,  launched last year, has almost zero viewers. I told him about the Iranians in the protest who had come to express solidarity with the Syrian people and he said he was not 'allowed' to talk to any Iranians because it was not in his "brief". What a pratt!

There was also this photographer from Demotix. We sort of recognised each other from previous occasions.

He told me he was outside the US embassy last Saturday and had seen how supporters of Bashar Assad, IR's Supreme Leader and Stop the War activists had attacked Iranian pro-democracy protesters for having banners of Free Iran and chanting No to Dictators. He told me, Chris Nineham from Stop the War, had asked him to remove the photos he had posted which showed Iranian pro-democracy supporters had been attacked and he had rightly replied to Nineham "I am a photographer and not your bloody PR man".

Extreme Idolatry

Islamic Republic uses a cardboard cut out of Khomeini to mark the anniversary of his return from exile, 33 years ago.

During his flight back to Iran from exile, a reporter on borad the plane asked him "What do you feel returning to Iran after 15 years?" and Khomeini replied "Nothing", so we shouldn't expect more from this cardboard cutout.