Happy Nowrooz

They can't take away our happiness, they can't take away our hopes and they will never be able to take away our national day, Nowruz.

Happy Nowruz to all those who stand up to injustice and all those who cherish freedom.

Omid Mir Sayafi, Another Death at Evin

So soon after the death of political prisoner, Amir Heshmat Saran, another prisoner and blogger, Omid Mir Sayafi died earlier today in the notorious Evin prison. Omid Mir Sayafi was given an overdose of tranqualisers which lowered his blood pressure to a critical level but despite this, he did not receive medical help and died.

Omid meaning hope in Persian, was not a political activist, his passion was music which was the subject of most of his posts.

He was sentenced to two and half years prison after he wrote a one off on his blog saying
'Mr. Khamenei love me as much as you love Sheikh Nasrollah's son'

Instead of celeberating the Iranian New Year Nowruz, our national day, Omid's family will now mourn the death of their son.

Support for Ojalan and Hammer and Sickles Under the Guise of Nowruz

The Mayor of London's office was really taken for a ride on Saturday. Not having done their homework as to what Nowruz is and what Nowruz is about, Saturday at Trafalgar Square became a day of political propaganda for PKK supporters waving pictures of Ojalan and Hammer and Sickle flags! Hook, Line and Sinker Mr. Mayor!

See photos:

Newruz is Turkish National Day and Islamic Republic Day is Iran's National Day!

If only Uncle Napoleon was alive and could see all these attempts by the British to destroy all our symbols of national identity.

Here is the Queen's message posted on the UK embassy's website in Tehran on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution:

'It gives me great pleasure to send the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran my warmest greetings on the celebration of your National Day, together with my best wishes for good fortune and happiness in the coming year.
Elizabeth R'

Which silly ass of a diplomat advised the Queen of England that the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution is the Iranian national day??

And yet the day which should be our national day, the day which has been celebrated by Iranians for thousands of years, the day which celebrates the first day of the spring, the rebirth of the nature and is beyond religious and political sectarianism, the day that marks the beginning of the Iranian New Year, Nowrooz, the New Day, according to the Mayor of London's office belongs first and foremost to the Turks!!

http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/events/mar-09.jsp
Newroz

Date: 14th, from 12pm - 6pmLocation: Trafalgar Square Summary: Event marking the traditional New Year festival celebrated by the Turkish and Kurdish communities and countries including Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, India, Turkey, Zanzibar and others across central Asia.

Ten Months and 30 Lashes for War Veteran

Etemad Meli daily printed in Iran, has reported a war veteran, Dr. Reza Jalali, as having been sentenced to 10 months in prison, 30 lashes and payment of a monetary penalty by the Gorgan court. Dr. Jalai was found guilty by the court for 'making illegal speeches' and 'insulting government officials' . He was previously rejected by the Guardian Council to stand as a candidate for the Islamic Assembly.

Dr. Jalali is a member of the university's scientific committee and served a total of 70 months in the fronts from the age of thirteen defending Iran against Saddam's invasion . He is also categorised as 70% wounded during the war. A hero of the war against Iraq who suffered Saddam's shrapnels now has to face the lashes of the Islamic Republic.

The plaintiff against him was the Gorgan governor, Major Ja'far Gorzin, who never served in the fronts himself but has been promoted for his servile conduct towards the Islamic Republic authorities.

More and more war veterans in Iran are standing up against the injustices and the monopoly of the power by the few in the Islamic Republic, for this is not what they fought for!

See the clip made for Dr. Reza Jalali:

In My Youngest Son's Motherland

It must be nice to be able to go to one's motherland and be close to one's roots. Here I am once again in the mighty Tatras, this time with my youngest son so he can see and appreciate where half of him comes from. The mighty Tatras, so rugged and so beautiful, looking proud and steadfast as ever.

It has been a pleasure coming to these mountains over the years and watch the people of this land gain their freedom from the yoke of Communism and totalitarianism. They seem to be more prosperous every year, and they deserve it. They are good honest hard working people.

And I wonder will there be enough time when I can go back with my boys to show them their fatherland. The Caspian Sea, Sahand and Sabalan mountains, the Alborz and Zagros mountains, the Persian Gulf and so much more.

Demo Outside BBC TV Studios

Iranian ex-pats today staged a demo outside the BBC TV studios in Wood Lane, London and protested against the lack of coverage of recent events at Tehran Polytechnic by the BBC correspondent in Tehran.

Demonstrators also stood at the main entrance gates of both buildings in Wood Lane and handed out leaflets shown below to the BBC employees as they went through the entrance gates to work.

Protesters also refused to leave unless their grievances with BBC coverage of Iran events was registered with the BBC News desk and the BBC Press Officer. At the end, the BBC agreed to allow one representative on behalf of the protesters to enter the building and register their criticisms of the BBC Iran coverage in a face to face meeting with a BBC representative.

Only then the protesters agreed to leave the area.

Leaflet handed outside the BBC Television studios:

Why we are Protesting Here

In the last week, there have been serious disturbances at Tehran Polytechnic. Hundreds of hired thugs and hoodlums as well as security forces have entered the university campus and clashed with Iran’s pro-democracy students. Nearly one hundred Iranian pro-democracy students from the Polytechnic have been arrested and sent to the notorious Evin prison. Twenty are in hospital as a result of their beatings and inflicted injuries and seven are in critical condition. More dissident students are hiding in the dormitories; the regime’s forces have surrounded the polytechnic but are not entering the dormitories as yet in fear of a recurrence of the student uprising in July 99 that spread to 19 Iranian cities.

Yet despite all this happening, the BBC correspondent in Iran has remained silent on the news preferring to report on safer subjects like Iranian women taxi drivers etc. While the plight of Iran’s real students is ignored by the BBC, whenever there is a government sponsored staged demo attacking foreign embassies, for example, the mob is referred to by the BBC as ‘Iranian students’, giving a totally wrong image of who Iran’s real students are to the viewers.

So much of the human rights abuse and the struggle of the Iranian people against the theocratic dictatorship is going unreported because the media correspondents fear expulsion from Iran and losing their comfortable posts.

As UK TV licence payers we demand better and more objective coverage of the protests and human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the BBC. This is vitally important especially now that the Islamic Republic funded Press TV is operating in UK and is brainwashing the English speaking Muslim audience with their misinformation party-line broadcasting.

Supporters of the Secular Pro-Democracy Movement in Iran

Reprimand for Yazd Governor

The governor of Yazd was severely reprimanded by the interior minister after he revealed the rent a crowd methods deployed to welcome president Ahmadinejad during his recent visit to Yazd.

Hundreds of buses were used to bring people free of charge to the centre of the town, as well as promises of free breakfast, lunch and dinner plus cash handouts. Soldiers from barracks were told to turn up in civilian clothing and even schools were closed and teachers and pupils told to turn up for Ahmadinejad's provincial tour to their town.

The written directive on how to organise a large turn out was revealed by the Yazd governor.

Latest on AKU Students

Seventy students are reported to have been arrested after the protests by AKU students against propaganda burial of 'unknown martyrs'. Seven are reported to be in critical condition in hospital after having been physically attacked by Ansar Hizbullah hired thugs and twenty five are hiding in the student dormitories while the Islamic regime's forces have surrounded the university but as yet have decided not to enter the university grounds and attack the dormitories, in case another 9th July student uprising takes place.

Journalists, academics and students of the world, where the HELL are you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfhXjgrlgWk

'Evin Becomes University, University becomes cemetery'

More than 500 Amirkabir university students took part in a protest against further burial of martyrs in the university campus by the government.

The tensions over the issue of burial of martyrs in the university last week has already led to 4 students being arrested and twenty being barred from entering the university grounds by the authorities. The arrested students are Hossein Tarkashvand, Majid Tavakoli, Ismail Salmanpour and Kourosh Daneshyar.

Students held placards which read:

'Evin Becomes University, University becomes cemetery'
'Pretend to praise the dead martyrs in universities, while the war veterans set themselves on fire'
'Dictator of our times, martyrs have become an excuse for you'

Several students have been called up to appear before the disciplinary committees and earlier this week, the intelligence ministry contacted families of several leading student activists and threatened them if they took part in any protests leading up to the burials.

Another War Veteran sets Himself on Fire

Only a few days after a war veteran set himself on fire in front of the Islamic Assembly, Iranian daily, Asre Iran , reports of another war veteran by the name of Hojjatollah Farzad, who carried out a similar action, this time in front of the Martyr Foundation and Veterans Affairs building.

He was taken to the Mottahari hospital after the incident but died as a result of his extensive injuries.
Farzad suffered from lung and kidney problems ever since he was exposed to the Iraqi chemical attacks on Iranian troops.

Meanwhile today, the Islamic regime buried the bodies of another four martyrs in Amirkabir university amidst protests by the students, who claimed the action was a politically motivated propaganda stunt by the regime.

Iran Documentaries on BBC

There were three Iran related documentaries on BBC last night. The third one, "Prostitution Behind the Veil", I couldn't watch the documentary to the end. I died a thousand times over when I was watching it. What has happened to our Iran?

Truth and Justice Blog

It gives me much pleasure to announce a new blog started by my loyal friend, Mehrtash Rastegar.

Mehrtash is a lawyer by training and he is also a national submission wrestling champion. Its nice to see that as one gets older, new blood is there to take over.

Another War Veteran sets Fire to Himself

Of all the things which upset me most, seeing mistreatment of war veterans must be right on the top of the list.

According to the Islamic Republic's Islamic Assembley website, the war veteran seen in this picture set himself alight outside the Majlis building earlier today, after his Majlis representative repeatedly refused to see him.

The website did not even say what the war veteran's name was, because of the extents of his injuries he is not expected to live.

A son of Iran who risked it all to defend against the aggression of Saddam's forces, could no longer put up with the officials who benefited from his courage and sacrifice.
تفو بر تو اي چرخ گردون تفو

Farhang Jahanpour, another Very Confused Academic

I just managed to get to the last session of a seminar on broadcasting to Iran, organised by the Next Century Foundation. The four panelists included former Iranian diplomat Mehrdad Khonsari, Foreign Office Spokesman Barry Marston, Journalist Nazanin Ansari and Oxford academic, Farhang Jahanpour.

I had never heard of Farhang Jahanpour before, but it wasn't long before he got into the meat of his speech that 'I got hold of the telephone receiver- gooshi dastam oomad', as we say in Persian, meaning I understood where he was coming from. Later when I got home and googled his name, sure enough it confirmed my radar for these kind of people is still well and truly tuned in. Amongst many pages that came back by the search engine, just being amongst the supporters of Iranians for Peace, a CASMII type sister organisation, was enough to confirm my trusted gut feelings.

Jahanpour started by saying how the 1979 Islamic revolution was so unpredictable for him and how he himself was surprised to be targeted by the militant students at the time as being an 'agent of Zionism'. In other words he was just as out of touch even then when he was in the middle of it all not to see the writing on the wall.

Then shortly after, the familiar script used by these people followed which starts off by talking about the greatness of Iran, the achievements of Iran in the past, the educated and cultured people of Iran etc. which no one can argue with but then suddenly while everyone's guard is lowered, discreetly equate all that with the current Iranian regime.

'When you impose sanctions and you talk about carrot and stick, the Iranian people equate carrots and stick to being called a donkey'. What? So what happened to those educated and clever Iranian population? Surely they can distinguish between what is aimed at the regime and what is aimed at the people, or is it just his ilk who constantly try to blur the two distinct entities of Islamic Republic and Iran?

'If you keep threatening to invade Iran for three decades, the Iranian people will stand up to you. Its time the West accepted the Islamic revolution as a fact.'
What? Who has threatened to invade Iran? All US administrations since the Islamic revolution have gone over board to appease the Islamic Republic. High ranking US offcials referred to Khomeini a saint or as Iran's Gandhi, Madelene Albright apologised to the regime about the 1953 coup as if the clerics were the victims of the coup, even Bush's administration only talked about changing the behaviour of the Iranian regime - by using a website! - and not regime change! After 9/11 Jack Straw telephoned Khatami and referred to the Islamic Republic as UK's partner in the war against terror! Even Israel sold much needed arms to the Islamic Republic during the Iran-Contra affair. So who exactly is talking of invading Iran apart from the Islamic regime which is only using it as a pretext to crack down on freedom in Iran and regime apologists who use the threat of invasion to excuse their unwillingness to criticise the Islamic regime as well as the Leftist professional revolutionaries in the West who like using it as an excuse for a demo and a march? Who in Iran is worried about an imminent attack? Nobody!
The fact is Iranians are still pouring into Tehran to live there, they are not running away from there to safer places because they think someone is about to invade. More are worried and more are dying as a result of Tehran air pollution and road accidents than any anxiety about an invasion.

'Iranians look at nuclear power as a source of pride and greatness'
What? Where has this academic been? How many more placards must the protesting workers, teachers, women and students hold which mock the official regime slogan 'Nuclear energy is our inalienable right' for him to realise Iranians want much more basic needs as their inalienable rights.

Are Jahanpour type academics simply confused or is their perception of reality simply a page in the book in their library? The sad thing is they pose themselves as 'Iran experts' and seem to influence the policy makers, yet they have no contact with the people in Iran, their world of reality is the four walls of their library.

After the conference ended, Jahanpour approached me and politely shook hands with me, saying 'I am a victim of this regime, I lost everything after the revolution'. To which I replied, 'So what? lots of people like you have become turncoats just to get back what they lost. ' I wish I knew at the time that Jahanpour was with the CASMII sister organisation, 'Iranians for Peace', so I could have given him another one of his co-members, Dr. Akbar Etemad as a vivid example.

Pictures that the Correpsondents did not Broadcast

Thank God for blogs, for if we had to rely on Western Mass Media correspondents, we would never know about what goes on behind the official images.

See pictures that the 'Correspondents' did not report from the 30th anniversary rallies of the Islamic Revolution. Street peddlers using the opportunity to sell their goods and of course the free food parcel handouts which always ensures the dispossessed remain dispossessed but turn up at these rallies.
See more:
Ghorresh Blog

and this one shows foreign students in Tehran who have been made to march. Most Iranian girls showing this much hair and this much make up would normally be arrested by the morality police, but on this occasion whatever bolsters the rent a crowd numbers goes!

30 Years After the Islamic Revolution in Iran

MKO Revolutionaries Guard the Barricades 30 Years ago

'I will give you spirituality, no one shall remain homeless in this country, the dispossessed will have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and free oil at their doorstep..'
Ayatollah Khomeini's Promises 30 Years Ago at Behesht Zahra Cemetery.

Thirty years on, the reality is very different from those promises made by Ayatollah Khomeini. Not only Iranians didn't get free telephone, heating, electricity and bus services, but the standard of living for Iranians compared to the other oil producing countries in the region drastically deteriorated.

Soon after the mass executions of the former regime officials, the revolution started devouring its own children. One by one former supporters of the revolution which were no longer required were eliminated. The MeK, seen in the above picture guarding the barricades to the Prime Minister's Palace, the Communists, the remnants of Mossadegh supporters in the National Front, the more liberal Islamists and right up to even those amongst the Shiite clergy who did not want to toe the line, one by one fell victim of the revolutionary elimination process.

The result of all this elimination is in tens of thousands of Iranian lives with its climax in 1988 when thousands of political prisoners, who had survived earlier bloodbaths, were massacred.

The emasculation of the powerful Iranian army after the revolution, which up till then had stopped Saddam Hussein's every aggression on the Iranian soil, emboldened the Ba'athist regime to invade Iran. Over a million Iranians were killed and maimed in an eight year war that was unnecessarily prolonged with no tangible gains for either side.

Millions of Iranians who could not tolerate the new repressive Islamic measures left the country which resulted in the biggest exodus from Iran ever since the Arab invasion thirteen centuries ago and the brain drain continues today.

Not only no spirituality was gained but the country has suffered a rapid moral decline. Government's own figures show an alarming rise in prostitution, drug addiction and crime. At one point the school children were even asked in their classrooms to snitch on their parents and friends if they seemed to deviate from the revolutionary guidelines.

Not only the political freedoms we seeked did not come about, even our personal freedoms were taken away. We were told what to wear, what to drink, what to eat, what to listen to and what to enjoy and what not to enjoy.

Iranian instinct for survival and resourcefulness however has fought back. Bit by bit Iranian women have fought for their rights and the restoration of the rights they had before the revolution. Their resistance has meant that the Ayatollahs have been unable to push Iranian women to the status of Saudi women.

The young, the students and the intelligentsia have seen the errors of the past generations, they no longer think the same as their previous generation. Technology makes them even more aware of what they are missing and how their counterparts enjoy life and freedom in the rest of the world.

The workers, the teachers and the dispossessed are no longer swallowing the false promises and waiting for free goodies to be delivered, they are demanding their rights and their leaders remain defiant in jail.

After thirty years of elimination and brainwashing to destroy the Iranian identity and our joyous culture, the struggle continues. Our country has seen even worse and more savage invaders than these and has survived. This dark era will just be a storm in the tea cup in the Iranian history.

There are many things which are hindering the Iranian nation however, whereas thirty years ago it was the Iranian Left who helped the Ayatollahs to take over the power, now it is the international Left which is helping the clerics remain in power, the 'useful idiots' and the spineless Western leaders who see no further than their short term interests, the proxy terror groups in the region and the unscrupulous turncoats are all desperately hand in hand trying to keep this antiquated regime on its life support but it will be all in vain. Iran will survive and Iran will come through victorious as it has throughout the past.

Vali Nasr to advise Holbrooke and Obama?

I was trying to catch up with the news on Iran today after being away for a week and I sincerely hope this news I came across is not true:
Foreign Policy Cable

It suggests that Vali Nasr is to advise U.S. Afghanistan/Pakistan envoy Amb. Richard Holbrooke and I also heard today that Vali Nasr has been asked to advise Obama on Iran!

Not surprisingly I see the name of Laura Rozen as a tag to the article who seems well pleased about the appointment of such an "Iran expert". If all this is true, it spells a big disaster, it means the Islamic Republic has got its foot right inside the White House! I wanted to leave a comment at the end of the article but others seem to have done it before me.

Your Daughter is not Fit to be a Doctor in this Country

Dr. Zahra Bani-Yaghoub was a graduate of school for gifted children. She had obtained the impressive 23rd position in the overall national exam entrance into the Iranian universities. She was also a graduate of Tehran Medical university.

After graduation, rather than taking up a high salary job, she had volunteered to work in the impoverished poor provinces of Iranian Kurdistan.

Zahra came from a religious family background and her father was imprisoned during the Shah for political activities, but none of this protected her from the terrible fate that was awaiting her in the Islamic Republic.

The 27 year old Zahra was arrested while walking in a Park in Hamedan along with her fiancee by the Islamic Republic's religious observance patrol. The next day, her father was called and told to come to Hamedan. Her father asked to speak to his daughter but permission was refused.

When Zahra's parents arrived at the religious patrol headquarters, they were subjected to humiliating insults. The illiterate thugs told Zahra's father, 'Your daughter is not fit to be a doctor in this country'.

Another religious patrol officer told Zahra's father while laughing, 'If you want to know about your daughter, go to the police station, no better still go to court and no even better still go to the coroner'.

Somehow Zahra while being detained for walking with her fiancee in the park had been killed in custody of the religious patrol. More than a year later, Zahra's family who took part in the revolution still have no idea what happened to their daughter. They were even threatened not to pursuit her case.

In just about any other country, Zahra would be regarded as an asset, she would be protected and rewarded. In the Islamic Republic of Iran an illiterate religious police thug can decide and tell her father 'Your daughter is not fit to be a doctor for this country'

بدرود پدر

همواره ميگفتي نيرومند باشم و سستي از خود نشان ندهم ولي نميدانستم بي تو اينچنين دشوار باشد
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