Why is Jim Muir Back in Tehran?

I thought we had seen the back of the BBC correspondent, Jim Muir reporting from Tehran. Muir's shabby superficial reports and his constant bolstering of Khatami as a reform champion while ignoring the rest of the Iranian pro-democracy movement and the human rights abuses committed under Khatami was a disaster for the real Iranian pro-democracy and human rights campaigners as well as for the BBC's credibility.

Ayatollah BBC, the term used by Iranians to describe the British Broadcasting Corporation, was further enforced as a result of Muir's constant mild reports and over inflated adulation of Khatami.

Since Jim Muir's departure from Tehran, many were hopeful that there will be more realistic reporting and to some extent there was. Yet only the other day I came across this report on the BBC website: Women Taxi Drivers in Tehran, and as always with such reports, yes you guessed it, the inevitable comparison of Iranian women with Saudi women who are not allowed to drive and giving the Islamic Republic the credit for such acts of women emancipation. As always these silly comparisons are not like for like comparisons of course. Women in Saudi Arabia have never been allowed to drive, yet the women in Iran had many more rights and were far ahead of their counterparts in the region before the 1979 revolution, it is just that at the time such comparisons were never reported and appreciated by the likes of Jim Muir.

At a time when there is almost an undeclared martial law in Tehran, at a time when many student activists have been arrested or forced to go into hiding ahead of the regime's crack down in anticipation of the National Student Day on 7th December, at a time when there has been an unprecedented number of executions in just a few days, when the dissident secular Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been transferred to Yazd prison, when Ayatollah Montazeri's war veteran assistant, Mojtaba Lotfi has been sentenced to four years in prison, when the regime once again stopped the public commemoration of the Forouhars and so much more relevant news, Jim Muir writes about female taxis in Tehran, how pathetic!

Another Embarassing Iranian Millionaire, Farhad Hakimzadeh

I was so embarassed to read in the UK papers today about the Iranian millionaire and the chairman of the Iran Heritage Foundation, Farhad Hakimzadeh, who with the help of a scalpel has managed to cut out numerous pages from 150 books in the British Library. Books that have been part of the British people's collection and heritage for centuries. Damn these uncultured Iranian wealthy illiterate apes who are a constant source of embarrassment to our community. How low can they get?

What Hakimzadeh has done, embodies the worst of the bazaari mentality and the attitude of the very wealthy Iranian ex-pats. Their greed and desire for self interest only, their lack of interest in benefiting the wider community, their disregard for opportunities to share cultural treasures with others. No wonder these Iranian millionaire ex-pats never fund any political activity and no wonder they are always so keen on mingling with their Islamic Republic connections, for they are only ever interested in one thing, self interest and promoting themselves.

I read this article by Peyvand Khorsandi on Farhad Hakimzadeh, a while ago. Only now I understand how well Peyvand described Hakimzadeh and the Iran Heritage Foundation:
a self-appointed arbiter of Iranian culture with little distinction outside the circles of rich illiterates among whom he shines, a Tarzan among apes.

Very well put Peyvand.

Tenth Anniversary of Forouhars

Ten years ago, Iran's secular dissidents, husband and wife, Daryoush and Parvaneh Forouhar were murdered in their home by Islamic Republic intelligence ministry agents. Their daughter Parastoo has returned to Iran every year on the anniversary of their murder to hold commemoration ceremonies for her slained parents.

In the last few years the regime has banned all public commemoration ceremonies and has even tried to restrict the private family gatherings in their house.

Despite all the obstacles and restrictions, this year too, Parastoo has returned to Iran and as she told Deutsche Welle radio, she will continue to commemorate her parents until she is alive. The commemoration ceremony is due to be held this Friday in the Forouhars' home were they were repeatedly stabbed to death.

Baby P

Of course this blog is first and foremost to write about Iran related news and events but sometimes I really want to say something on some non-Iran related issue and I think what the heck, I have a platform, I might as well get it off my chest.

The horrific and cruel treatment of Baby P has outraged everyone in UK. What that poor kid must have suffered, I can not even think about. Once again my anger is focused on the so-called Child Support Agency. So many good fathers in UK are denied access to their children and if they are a soft target for the CSA they are driven to the point of despair and some sadly even suicide, because the CSA is just a debt collection agency, with no regards for the welfare of the child. It automatically assumes the child should be with the mother, it cares not how the money paid to the mother is spent and worse of all it cares not how the child is at all. It does not even recognise that the welfare of the child means plenty of contact with the father. It is a disgrace of an organisation, set up by out of touch politicians and the kind of ministers we see in the Labour government with no real life experience or job other than having been a university or college lecturer before becoming a minister and their warped PC values.

As If We Will Hand in the Presidency on a Plate

Cleric Mohammad Ali Abtahi points out an interesting point on his blog made by Ayatollah Jannati during last week's Friday Sermon. Abtahi quotes Ayatollah Jannati when he lashed at the newspapers who have been criticising President Ahmadinejad's government saying 'They think we are going to hand them the presidency on a plate'. Abtahi then humours the sermon speech saying, so it sounds like the Presidency is an appointed position. Sounds like it is!

Will Obama Stand up for Esha Momeni?

It was reported that Esha Momeni, Northridge graduate student who was arrested in Iran last month was released on $200,000 bail on Monday. Her ordeal is not over yet however, she faces charges on "acting against national security" and "propaganda against the system" and she is banned form leaving Iran. Her father, Reza Momeni is a devoted Muslim, Esha is named after the evening Muslim prayers, and he took an active part in the 1979 Islamic revolution, but like so many of his generation, the revolution they helped bring about is now jailing their own children.

Esha's father has already had to appear on State TV to condemn her daughter's "illegal" activities as part of the deal to release her on bail.

Esha has dual Iranian and US citizenship. It will be interesting to see if Obama will stand up for this US citizen who has done nothing wrong but interviewed some of the feminist activists in Iran and help them collect some signatures. Hardly "acting against national security"!

The Killers Suffered the Most

I was watching a documentary about the extent of co-operation between Hitler and Stalin during the Nazi-Soviet pact. Part of the documentary covered the mass murder of the Polish officers. More than 6000 Polish officers were murdered during this time at a rate of 250 a day.

What I particularly noted however was an interview with an NKVD Soviet officer, who was involved in the killings. He mentioned how those who took part in the massacre ended up suffering the most. Many of them went mad later in life suffering all sorts of mental and physical ailments and many ended up committing suicide.

This is a lesson for those who take part in torture and murder of others. It may be some sadistic fun at the time, but it will soon come to haunt them.

Ayatollah Khorasani: Sunnis are Kaffir!

One day after the interfaith dialogue between the Catholics and Muslims and Hussein Nasr doing his usual charm waffle to fool the non-Iranian delegations, Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, according to Sunni News website publicly quoted some dubious Hadith and concluded that the Sunnis are Kuffar!!

Hussein Nasr, get out of this one :))

Vatican's Interfaith Dialogue

The first session of Catholic-Muslim Forum ended in Vatican today. I tried to search and find out who the Sunni and Shi'ite religious leaders from the Muslim side who attended the forum were but I couldn't find any names. If there were any Islamic Republic affiliated Shiite clerics there, it would have been most hypocritical. Apparently a joint declaration has been signed at the end of the three days calling for religious minorities to be "entitled to their own places of worship, and they should not be subjected to any form of mockery or ridicule,"

I wonder how long it will take, if ever, for the Islamic Republic to respect dissident Shi'ite clerics who are calling for separation of religion and state, like Ayatollah Boroujerdi,let alone to respect followers of other religions. How can a Shiite state who imprisons and tortures a Shiite cleric ever respect other faiths and their followers?

Talking of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, I understand he has written many letters to the Pope and other prominent men of cloth, but when will these people ever respond to the plight of a man and his followers who have done nothing wrong other than wish for religion to be a private matter away from political manipulation and schemes??

Democracy Wins in US

As I have said before neither Obama nor McCain have impressed me with their knowledge of Iran or with their policies on how to handle the Islamic Republic.

What a joy it is however to live in a democracy, where you can change your leader with your vote, without fearing any consequences. A privilege worth fighting for.
The fact that a dark skinned man with a Muslim name and a broken home can become a US president proves democracy provides opportunities for all.

Kordan's Boasts of His Time at Oxford University

The Kordan saga refuses to go away, despite Ahmadinejad's interior minister's admittance that his PHD from Oxford was a fake and fraud, he managed to win the Majlis (Islamic Parliament) vote of confidence. It has now been revealed that 135 MPs were bribed to vote for Kordan to remain in Ahmadinejad's cabinet.

President Ahmadinejad once again supported his interior minister, saying 'So what if his PHD was a fake, he has served this regime for 30 years'.

Kordan's fake PHD has become the subject of the most popular jokes in Iran today. Kordan's former students have also lodged a complaint citing how on numerous occasions, Kordan boasted about his studies at Oxford, often saying 'You haven't been a student until you have been at Oxford' :))

Good luck to Obama or anyone else if they wish to negotiate with these lot.

Iranian Cleric: People Loath the Clerics

It is always better from the horse' s mouth:
'In the beginning of the revolution, the clergy had a lot of respect amongst the people, but some of the clergy haven't conducted themselves well and have abused their position and therefore are no longer looked up to by the people, I am worried that the Baseej [IR Militia] may end up the same.' ISNA reported Hojjat-ol-Islam Mahmood Doaii saying this during a seminar of Baseej and the Media held in Mashad.

Doaii added, 'Sadly I have to admit this, although there are some clergy who are pious and shy away from wealth and power, but the enemy's plots have resulted in the population loathing the clergy. Now the enemy is trying to do the same with Baseej'.

Bazaaris v Teachers

The recent strike by the wealthy Iranian bazaaris over the introduction of a 3% VAT, which led to an unprecedented climbdown by the Iranian government made me think about the unsuccessful strike by the Iranian teachers.

The Iranian teachers were asking for their pay rises which was passed as a parliamentary bill at the time to be implemented. They were not asking for anything illegal, they were simply asking for a parliamentary bill which was passed to be implemented, yet they got smashed. The teachers were beaten up, arrested and sacked. Yet the wealthy Bazaaris went on strike and refused to implement what was passed by the parliament and the establishment simply climbed down.

Are there any idiots out there who still think this is a government of the 'dispossessed'??

I have been Blessed with Another Son

He is 12 days over due but after some inducement and some stern talking to ;) the little fellow, after a lot of effort, finally decided to pop out this morning. This is my second son and now I have a proper dynasty, when I finally fall, my boys will carry the banner for a secular democratic Iran :))))

Joking aside, I promise never to indoctrinate my children, they will be free to choose and think however they want and I should not expect them to be passionate about the things I am passionate about. I do hope however that they will live in a free country, where they will not be persecuted for their beliefs and they will not have to look over their shoulder for what they say. I hope they will cherish and safeguard these privileges.

Giving birth is the greatest miracle of them all and those who protect and save lives have the most rewarding professions. I am going to catch up with some sleep.

p.s. I can't get to my old email, if you want my new email, just leave a comment with your email, I won't publish it and save it in my new mail box instead.

Children of Labour

Nothing upsets me more than seeing children distressed and unhappy. Every child should enjoy their childhood to the full. No child should ever be humiliated, hurt or have to endure such hard labour as seen in these pictures of Iranian children working in brick factories.

How can this be possible in a country with so much natural wealth and oil income?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and these pictures are the answer to the pathetic claims by those who pretend to represent the working classes like the Socialist Workers Party with their pathetic Stalinist statistics and figures of how things have improved for the poor in Iran since the revolution blah, blah.... Makes your blood boil.

Useful Idiots in Khatami Spin Conference in Tehran

A religious apartheid rules in Iran today. A citizen's rights in Iran today are based on his or her religion and how far it is from the state's interpretation of Shiite religion.

If you are a male Shiite and accept the state's interpretation of the religion, you have more rights and privileges.

If you are a Shiite with a different interpretation than the state's official line, you have less rights and if you are a Sunni, Jew, Christian, Zoroastrian you have less and less rights and job opportunities. If you have no religion or are a Bahaii or Hindu or Buddhist etc. then God help you for you have no status as a person in the Islamic Republic. This is religious apartheid, make no mistakes about it.

Now just look at Khatami's remarkable ability at spin. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should employ him, for Khatami will lick their spin doctors all over.

Khatami has managed to gather major useful idiots, ex-world leaders and religious figures included, to attend a conference on 'Religion in the Modern World'. During the conference Khatami has called for 'religious leaders of the world to try ways to create a peaceful co-existence and invite the world to establish peace and security'.

Where are these fancy phrases said? In the capital of a state where dissident Shiite Ayatollahs like Ayatollah Boroujerdi are tortured and imprisoned, the likes of Ayatollah Montazeri are under house arrest, many Shiite clerics were 'disrobed' during Khatami's term in the office purely because of political dissent, Sunni Muslims can not even have their own mosque in Tehran, Christian converts from Islam like Ramtin Soudmand are facing imminent execution right now and fact after fact which slaps the sheer hypocrisy of this spin conference and the useful idiots attending it, in the face.

Imagine if in South Africa during the apartheid years, a former apartheid president set up a conference calling for 'ways to create a peaceful co-existence between races of different colours', and speakers of international standing spoke about racial harmony in front of celebrated pictures of D.F. Malan, would you not have a belly ache from uncontrolled laughter?




















Mary Robinson speaking at the conference and providing propaganda for the Islamic Republic.


Iranian women could be arrested in the street for showing so much hair in public by the morality police, in front of their children.







Men of cloth always ready to deceive themselves and their followers.

Shiraz Students Jeer and Heckle Larijani

Iran's head of the Islamic Assembly, Ali Larijani was jeered and heckled by Shiraz university students at the Fajr Hall yesterday, where he was invited to speak by the hardline students. Herasat (Informers) agents at the university as well intelligence ministry operators were there in large numbers and had declared no placards or mobile phones were allowed to be carried into the hall. Everyone was searched before being allowed in. Once the students entered the hall, they saw Baseej students who had already occupied the front seats.

Despite all these measures, many of the dissident students managed to enter the hall and confronted the Baseej students by singing Yare Dabestani, the Iranian student solidarity anthem.

As soon as Larijani arrived and started his speech, the students shouted, 'Ceremonial Majlis (parliament), we don't want, we don't want'. Larijani continued by praising Islamic Republic's advances in nuclear technology and said Iran is the only country in the region who has managed to stand up to America's bullying. At this point one of the students got up and shouted 'We have heard these kind of historical fictions before, why don't you talk about the current conditions, the 28% inflation, Kordan's fake PHD certificate, suspension and expulsion of students and what happens to those who oppose the government in Iran?'.

After Larijani finished his speech, the students were told only written questions will be answered. This agitated the students further and they started booing Larijani. Students started shouting, 'Kordan where is your certificate? Majlis where is your supervision?'

Larijani tried to calm the students by saying, 'When Kordan had submitted his certificate, Majlis had no idea it was a fake.' This answer once again agitated the students and one of them got up and said, 'Kordan was your deputy for years, when you were the head of state broadcasting. Kordan has lectured at our universities with fake PHD certificate for years, how could you have not known?'. Larijani replied, he didn't know about his fake certificate when he was the head of broadcasting. This reply prompted even more jeers from the students and they demanded to be able to go behind the podium and ask their questions verbally.

One of the students with the help of others managed to reach the podium, grab the microphone and say, 'I am not addressing you as the head of the Majlis, because I have no regard for such ceremonial titles when a parliament's candidates were filtered and hand selected by the Guardian Council. ' The brave student carried on saying 'I despise three things, number one; Mahmood Ahmadinjad, for his lies and his deceits...' Baseej students at this point launched towards the student and did not let him finish what he was saying. This resulted in complete mayhem and while the Baseej students were shouting 'Death to hypocrites' , other students shouted back by saying 'Death to lackeys' and 'Shame on this government of deceit'. Some of the Baseej got hold of the microphone and shouted 'Champion Ahmadinejad, the Darling of the Young Generation', which even made Larijani laugh out loud. Finally Larijani pleaded for calm and asked the Baseej to back off.

Next written question was regarding the new plans for segregation of sexes at universities, and Larijani answered 'Why do you always want boys and girls to be together?' Students once again erupted and demanded Larijani to apologise. Larijani replied 'I apologise if anyone was offended by what I said.'

At the end, when the students left the hall, they joined some 500 other comrades who were locked behind the doors and had not been allowed to enter. They started singing the student solidarity anthem again and moved towards the main square opposite the Fajr hall and shouted slogans like 'Free all political prisoners', 'Incompetent Majlis, Shame on You'

Ayatollah Boroujerdi's Support

It is now two years since the arrest of Iran's dissident cleric, Ayatollah Boroujerdi, and the brutal attack on his supporters outside his house. Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Boroujerdi, is against political Islam and wants the clerics to go back to mosques and not be involved in government. He believes clerics mixing in politics and government will undermine and damage the religion itself.
In the last two years, the Islamic Republic has used all manners of inhumane torture methods to get Ayatollah Boroujerdi recant in public and beg the Supreme Leader for forgiveness, but the ailing dissident Ayatollah has resisted so far, saying he prefers death with honour, making him even more popular and saintly amongst his followers.

On the anniversary of Ayatollah Boroujerdi's arrest, I came across this footage on youtube, which shows the extent of his support and the level of devotion towards him by his supporters amongst Iran's most religious sections of the society. It is no wonder the regime fears the religious dissidents more than anyone else. Shame the men of cloth around the world have so far shied away from calling for the release of Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Perhaps those silly Quakers and Mennonites who chose to dine with Ahmadi-nejad or the American TV presenter, Larry King, should have asked Ahamdi-nejad why has the regime arrested Ayatollah Boroujerdi and killed so many of his supporters. Instead millions of viewers had to watch Ahmadinejad go unchallenged when he ranted 'Iran is the freest country in the world!' and yet this is how they treat even a high ranking Shiite cleric and his religious followers who refuse to toe the regime's interpretation of Islam.

Watch the footage here:

Al-Quds Counter Demo on Youtube

See the Al-Quds march and the counter demo to Al-Quds on youtube.
This footage was also posted on Megavideo.

Part I:



Part II:



As you can see from the footage, VOA correspondent was there with a professional camera woman and a report of the events was made, however the Islamic Republic infiltrated VOA Persian, for reasons which I will write about later, decided not to show any of it. Instead in the program which was supposed to show the Al-Quds report, 14 million Iranian viewers watched reports on how Eid Fetr is celebrated in Karachi [one of VOA Persian's favourite places for their copy and paste reports], the Munich beer festival, wine making in Argentina, couple of cat walk fashion shows and a preview of Battle of Seattle, where those who took part in anti-globalisation riots were introduced as heroes and American patriots.

Mollah Hassani on Freedom and Human Rights

Hojjat-ol-Islam Mollah Hassani, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Western Azerbijan province of Iran and the Friday prayer leader for Oroumieh, made some interesting comments during a session held by Islamic Human Rights Commission in the 7th District yesterday.

Hassani said 'Human Rights is what Allah says. Is women's freedom in the West, human rights?Freedom means prostitution and betrayal! Death to such Human Rights! A human who does not obey Allah and succumbs to animal instincts, is not a human, is an animal, there should be no human rights for them. He who shouts Freedom, Freedom, does not have any brains,...
What Allah has ruled for us is our human rights, other than that we do not accept'

Regarding those who had been arrested in the month of Ramadan for having been caught eating in public, Hassani said 'they deserved their punishment, as long as it was according to the Sharia laws.'
Hassani finished by wishing more success for the Islamic Human Rights Commission in their future endeavours.

Read more about who Mollah Hassani is here, how he shopped his own Marxist son to be executed and how the UK Home Office granted him a visa to preach in UK.