The Derakhshan Enigma

'Iran doesn't have a policy of imprisoning people for the content of their blogs, as some human rights campaigners would have us believe.' - These were the words of Hossein Derakhshan, printed in the Guardian, May 7th, 2007.

But now the person who was responsible for writing that nonsense and a lot more nonsense on his blogs, especially on his blog in Persian, is supposed to have received 19 and half years in prison, or has he?

To me, Derakhshan just came across as a bisexual who liked his wine too much and so preferred to live outside Iran and enjoy the privileges and the freedoms in the West but at the same time he wanted the regime in Iran to survive, so that his rich daddy could finance his idle lifestyle. Which is more or less what can be said about many Lefties in the West, who although admire tyrants, still rather live in the centre of imperialism and rather not miss their intellectual progressive champagne parties.

Hossein Derakhshan is well connected in the elite circles of power in Iran. The Supreme Leader himself performed the wedding ceremony of Derakhshan's first marriage in Iran. His father is a wealthy Bazaar merchant and a member of the hardline Islamic Coalition Group in Iran. His uncle was a victim of the MeK bombing of the Islamic Republic Party Head Quarters in the eighties, the famous 'more than 72 martyrs' case, where IRI news agencies reported the casualties as 'more than 72 dead' to make it similar to the  battle of Karbala tragedy, where the prophet's grandson, Imam Hussein and his 72 companions were martyred in an unjust battle against the ruling Khalif.

Dying to Tell a Story - Journalists Under Attack

I went to a meeting organised by Article 19 and POLIS at Free Word Centre in Farringdon last night. The organisers had gathered an impressive panel of journalists and others who had personal experiences of violence against journalists around the world. In the panel were Sorious Samura, Heather Blake, Uvindu Kurukulasuriya, Rodney Pinder, Christopher Cobb-Smith, Maziar Bahari, Nathalie Losekoot, Milica Pesic and the meeting was chaired by Charlie Beckett. I let you google these panelists yourself or click on the links to see who they are.

My first thoughts as I sat down were if these panelists were all Iranians and the meeting was for an Iranian audience, there is no way the chairman could manage to wrap up the meeting in its allocated two hours. In fact one more addition to the panel was via a Skype connection with a journalist in Mexico, but embarrassingly I have forgotten his name. Credit to Charlie Beckett though, he chaired the meeting really well and the whole thing despite the variety of its panelists went very seamless and remained focused on the issues and finished in time.

So Who Were the People Who Attended Ahmadinejad's Dinner in New York

They call them Sundis-khors in Iran. Sundis is a cheap soft drink handed out to those who participate in the government organised rallies as rent a crowd pawns. Sundiskhor means someone who drinks Sundis and is a reference to those people who for the sake of getting a free Sundis drink are prepared to take part in the pro-regime rallies. One can argue that the Sundis-khors in Iran have a valid reason and we should not be judgemental about them, they may be hungry and poor, but the ones in the footage below who attended Ahmadinejad's dinner in NY, are not poor and hungry. You need a little more than a cake and a drink to buy these greedy expats. They need at least a three course meal at a posh hotel.

Liars Have a Bad Memory

The most I have been dreading about Ahmadinejad's trip to UN is the thought of US news networks interviewing him. So much so that I left the following comment on my Facebook status:

'I hear Larry KIng will be interviewing Ahmadinjead in New York again. If this is true, can someone tell this idiot not to make this monster look like a cuddly celebrity by asking him soft questions and instead educate himself with what is going on in Iran'

If we are to go by past precedence, a typical UN trip by Ahmadinejad will be a propaganda opportunity for this tyrant to represent his government as the 'axis of justice' and all Western governments to be the real human rights abusers, followed by some stupid US anchormen who will interview him without doing much background homework on what is going on in Iran and throw some soft questions at him which will win him more popularity with more 'useful idiots' turning up at his dinner invitations to take photos with him, and at the end he will return to Iran with his state controlled media calling the trip a huge success that has won over many friends for Iran!

Defecting Diplomats and Detained Lawyers

What are the signs of a regime crumbling and falling apart? Antony Thomas who fought against apartheid in South Africa most of his life, says 'It is unreasonable to expect unarmed people to win over the armed security apparatus of a repressive system, what happens at the end is that the very people in the ruling establishment reach a conclusion that it is impossible to continue with the status quo'.

Over the last fifteen months we have seen the circle of those still loyal to the establishment getting smaller and smaller. Karroubi described the Islamic Republic ship to have been reduced to that of a dingy boat. Significantly this week, we have seen two major defections within the Iranian Foreign Ministry's diplomatic service. The number two Iranian diplomat in Finland and the Press Attache in Belgium defected this week and openly affiliated themselves with the Green Movement. No one should underestimate these defections. These were both senior diplomats with more than 20 years service in the Iranian FMA. It must have been exceptionally hard for them to leave their positions, their careers and their privileges and risk the consequences of their decisions which includes the safety of themselves and their families. The Green Movement has embraced these courageous men with open arms and must value their sacrifices.

These defections started with the Iranian consul in Norway, Mohamad Reza Heydari. Unfortunately the media is always limited by air time and by the number of words to disseminate all the information. For example I doubt any Western media or Persian media for that matter, have reported Heydari's services during the war against Saddam Hussein. Heydari is registered with the Martyr Foundation and is classified as having received 40% injuries during the war. "The 1979 revolution has deviated from its path and from its original goals. When we fought and defended the country against Saddam, we did not envisage the country to deteriorate into the situation it is in now. What we want is for our people to gain their own destiny again and be free".

When the system starts to crumble, even the law of the land itself goes out of the window. This is what we are seeing within the Iranian judiciary. The establishment has become so desperate in preserving itself  that the judiciary itself has become the biggest law breaker in the country. Prominent Human Rights lawyers like Mohamad Olyaifard and Nassrin Sotoodeh are detained for daring to defend their clients and even their lawyers and their families are threatened for publicising their plight.

The dinghy boat now seems to be full of holes, with the remaining elite forcefully and hurriedly trying to patch the holes or throwing off more passengers to continue their miserable survival.

A Book is for Reading not for Burning

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


I remember watching books being torn and set alight during the "cultural revolution" in Iran. It was a defining moment in my life. The horror of watching ignorant illiterate zealots destroy books was a horrifying experience. 


Those who kiss a book and those who burn books only show their ignorance. A book is for reading, you may like it or you may not like it but reading the book is the only way to treat a book.

How Do Chants of 'Death to Moussavi' Help the Palestinian Cause?

You only need to look at these two video footages to understand the hypocrisy of the AlQuds rallies held by the IRI embassies throughout European cities. In UK, the rally is organised by an IRI funded body calling itself Islamic Human Rights Commission. Here in this footage one can see Massoud Shajareh, the Iranian head of IHRC. At first he says some very nice encouraging words, "coming together regardless of creed standing up to the oppressors", but then watch him when he is asked about the oppression of Iranian protesters:



And here you see some Pakistani participants in the AlQuds rally chanting 'Marg bar Moussavi', Death to Moussavi!



Why would a body that calls itself Islamic Human Rights Commission teach its puppets to chant 'Death to Moussavi' in a supposedly 'pro-Palestinian' rally? How does that help the cause of Palestinians?

These goons are taught to chant Death to Moussavi, someone who led Iran during the war against Saddam Hussien and are marching towards the rally point, where former Saddam and Uday Hussein stooge, George Galloway will be speaking to their cheers and applauses.

I really hope these people will educate themselves a bit about the facts or we will sadly carry on witnessing more of these inhumanes scenes in Pakistan (see below), where lynch mobs beat two innocent Pakistani brothers to death in front of the local Sialkot police chief in Pakistan. If you want to liberate others first of all put your own house in order:



The Al-Quds rally does not do anything for Palestine or Palestinians. All the Al-Quds rally shows is that there is so much freedom in this country that even its most hardened adversaries are allowed to march in the streets. I mean imagine if the UK embassy organised a march in the streets of Tehran with protesters carrying pictures of the queen and the prime minister! I don't think we need to think twice what would happen to them.

Somaye Zadeh in Pro-IRI AlQuds Rally in London

Somaye Zade, or Somaye Bagherzadeh (full name) is the daughter of former MKO member, Hossein Bagherzadeh.  As well as being a studio manager for BBC World Service, she is also an active member of Iran Campaign, the arch apologists for the Iranian regime. She has gone on record during a Stop the War Coalition meeting as suggesting Iran's homosexuals are not harassed and they are free as long as they change their sex'  :))

Here she is trying to remove an Iranian dissident and former political prisoner from one of the Campaign Iran meetings in SOAS before she was assisted by a number of embassy goons. SWP member Dominique Kavakabian is seen standing next to her.



When the post election protests erupted in Iran, on a number of occasions she tried to take pictures of herself and her SWP comrades handing out Campaign Iran leaflets, so that they could pretend the protests outside the embassy were in tune with the Campaign Iran apologists and not in favour of regime overthrow.

Of course she was kicked out every time she was spotted:

and here she was marching amongst the Iranian regime organised AlQuds march yesterday:

More pictures from yesterday's rally by pro-Iranian government supporters:

Hammer and Sickle flag of Communists aloft at the pro-Iranian government rally. Don't these stupid people know how many unGodly Communists have been killed in Iran? Another clear demonstration of the failure by the Iranian Left to tell their comrades what Islamic Republic is about.

As usual, no one from BBC Persian to cover the event.

Media Coverage of Mostafaei's Family Reunion

Norwegian TV:
http://www.vgtv.no/?id=31818&category=1

Fox News coverage:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4328761/iranian-lawyers-family-reunited/?playlist_id=86857

Amy Kellogs:
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/02/lawyer%E2%80%99s-family-flees-iran/

Times Front Page:

A Beautiful Family Reunion

As soon as you can see Norway's magnificent forests and lakes from your aeroplane window, you get a sense of a freshness and natural beauty. You won't be wrong either, it is a beautiful country, it is efficiently run and the only oil producing country which has not fallen victim to despotism, corruption and mass poverty. Norway is prosperous, its people are beautiful, hospitable, courteous and very civilised. This was my first visit to a Scandinavian country but I wasn't going there as a tourist. I was going to Oslo to be alongside the famous Iranian Human Rights Lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, in what turned out to be a roller coaster of emotional anxiety and waiting but fortunately a very happy ending.

Mostafaei got in trouble with the regime in Iran after he helped publicise the stoning case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Unable to get hold of Mostafaei, the Iranian intelligence ministry had resorted to the despicable act of taking his family members as hostages. Mostafaei's wife, his brother-in-law and even his elderly father-in-law were all taken into Evin prison. They were being held as hostages to get their hands on Mostafaei. The regime's desperate act of taking family members as hostages however, only exposed the backwardness and illegality of Ahmadinejad's administration. As someone once told me, Islamic Republic's worst enemy is itself. They accuse everyone who disagrees with them as 'threats to national security' but the real threat to national security is none other than their own backward laws, their intolerance and their disregard for human rights and normal behaviour.

This morning however all those terrible times were put behind the Mostafaei family. Finally common sense prevailed and a loving wife and daughter joined their dear husband and father.

I am not going to write much more, I let the mass media that were there to cover this joyful event, do a better job than me. Just one note however to finish this post. There was not a single Iranian journalist there, no one from BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Radio Farda or any of those well funded organisations. An observation that once again confirms what I have said, we do not have good reporters outside Iran. We have lazy journalists who at best like to interview people. 


Watch the footage of the reunion here:
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10027091

Cry No More Parmida. No One Will Arrest Your Mum or Dad Now. 

Takhti, the People's Champion

Today is the birthday of Iran's greatest wrestler, Gholamreza Takhti but Takhti has not remained in the hearts of Iranians just for his sporting prowess and his medals, he was an icon of a true champ, a humble, gracious and valiant man who loved his people and stood by them until his last day. He had the strength of an ox, the heart of a lion and a legendary benevolence that will keep his memory alive for future generations of Iranians.

Takhti was born eighty years ago on this day in South Tehran's working class district of Khani Abad and started to train in the ancient art of zoorkhooneh and submission wrestling before being introduced to freestyle olympics wrestling and his subsequent successes in Iran's most popular sport at the time..

In 1961, in Tokyo, Takhti faced his Belarussian counterpart, Alexander Medved, who had an injured knee. Rather than taking advantage of his rival's weakness and injured knee, Takhti made sure he went nowhere near Medved's injured knee. This honourable sportsmanship by Takhti earned Medved's respect and he spoke many times about Takhti's nobleness. Medved has visited Takhti's grave in Ebn Babooyeh cemetery in South Tehran several times since Takhti's death.

During the oil nationalisation struggle, Takhti wholeheartedly embraced the national movement of Iranian resistance and became the honorary member of the movement's central council. Despite his ever growing popularity because of his sporting prowess, his charitable work, his patriotism and loyalty, he remained as humble as ever. His untimely death devastated a whole nation, thousands joined his funeral procession and seven people reported to have committed suicide in the sorrow of losing Takhti.

Whose side would Takhti be on if he was alive today? Have no doubt, Takhti never submitted to bullies and dictators.

The Hero Amongst the People

Takhti, First followed by Russian and US champions

Takhti Proudly Carrying the Sun and Lion Flag

What Women Should and Should not Watch

More from Ahmad Khatami, Tehran's Friday Prayer Leader. This time he talks about what women can watch and can not watch and 'useful idiots' think by supporting these clerics in Iran they are 'progressive' and working for peace :)))

See exact translation of what he says below:



'The contaminated look, saws the seed of lust and this is the agent of sedition, this satellite aerial has no common ground with the religion and morality of your children, you open your eyes and see a child without a religion has been brought up in this house, boy and girl with no religion have been raised, satellite channel films, even the scientific ones are with sexual attraction, their sport programs are also with sexual attractions, their mission is nothing but to subvert the viewers, not just Iranians or Arab countries, they have the mission of subversion, so know that these satellite dishes and programs have nothing other than the subversion of religion and morality of your children, some times they say we want to watch their sports programs, see their scientific programs, these are all excuses, praise Allah, our own state TV produces the most advanced scientific programs, most advanced sports programs for our youth, just one contaminated look at a contaminated film causes them to distance themselves from the mosque and Hosseinieh, I want to emphasise that is also haram for women to watch namahram men, women do not have the right to watch a wrestling [film] that is being shown on TV, this is the stipulation of the fatwas by the sources of the emulation, they[women] are not allowed to watch swimming [films] shown on TV where male swimmers are, this is haram, these have been stipulated by grand sources of emulation, do not tell me so why does the state tv show them? well the state tv shows these but it does not mean every person is allowed to watch every program. Of course let me emphasise here that television should observe the sharia laws in its programs, we are not here to justify [wrongs] but this is the crunch of the matter, what is decreed for this woman who is watching tv when a wrestling match for youth or otherwise is shown, is she should not watch them,'

Finally Some Common Sense About the 1953 Coup

You only have to search my blog to see how I have been screaming about apologists and useful idiots who keep using the 1953 coup as an excuse for justifying their support for the atrocities committed by the current theocracy in Iran. How often have I come across useful idiots who no matter what the Iran related topic is, whether it is Neda's murder or Zahra Kazemi's murder, somehow think it is relevant to bring up the 1953 coup against Mossadegh. Those who read my blog will know how often I have been reminding these apologists and useful idiots that the main culprits of the 1953 coup were non other than the Iranian clergy and their army of cut throat thugs and hoodlums always at their disposal.

At last I think some common sense is finding its way through. Ray Takeyh's article in the Washington Post correctly concludes:
'American politicians have a penchant for acknowledging guilt and apologizing for past misdeeds. But responsibility for the suffocation of the Iranian peoples' democratic aspirations in the summer of 1953 lies primarily with those who went on to squash another democratic movement in the summer of 2009 -- the mullahs. It is they who should apologize to the Iranian people.'
Well done Ray Takeyh for finally knocking some sense into the issue of the 1953 coup.

More interestingly, is the recent revelation by Iran's first elected president, Banisadr, who was ousted by an impeachment signed by Ayatollah Khomeini in June 1981. In an interview with Iran-Emrooz, he reveals that the messenger cleric who received the fatwa, in support of the coup, from Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi, the Major Source of Emulation for the Shiites at the time, and passed it to Ayatollah Behbahani,  was none other than Khomeini himself. Well there you go, no wonder Ayatollah Khomeini hated Mossadegh and even the mention of his name so much! Will the apologists and useful idiots now stop justifying the regime's atrocities with the 1953 coup?

Sermon on Good Words and Respectful Speaking

Translation:

Tehran's Friday Prayer leader speaking on Good Words and Respectful Speaking:

"In the battle of Siffin, Amirolmemenin [The leader of the faithful – the prophet's cousin and son-in-law, Ali, the first Shiite Imam and fourth Sunni Khalif] saw some of Islam's early disciples, some distinguished disciples in fact, I don't want to name names, were insulting Moavieh's [opposing side of the battle of Siffin] disciples, the Amir told them not to, he said 'I don't like you to be vulgar and shout obscenities at others, instead of hurling profanites at them lets show them the wrong path they have taken, there is no need to use foul language'.

At the end of this however, I have to say that to clarify one's position is not the same as uttering profanities, chanting Death to America and Death to Israel is not profanity as some people suggest, it is declaring where we stand, It says it in the Koran itself, 'Death to the unbelievers' or 'May the unbelievers be damned forever' is a statement on where one stands, no one should interpret these as bad language, this is not profanity, this is in the holy Koran, Death to America is a statement of distancing ourselves from unbelievers, because a Muslim must seek friendship with the faithful and keep his distance from the unfaithful. Meaning a Muslim has both holy compassion and holy rage at the same time. And so this was my talk on speaking good words and respectful speaking"

Ali Karimi v Ajorloo, Good v Hypocrisy

There have been some reports in the Western media on Ali Karimi, dubbed 'Maradona of Asia', having been sacked from his club, Steel Azin, for refusing to fast during a football match. There is more to all this however than just the fasting issue during the month of Ramadan. Ali Karimi's saga is part of a wider story which is going on in Iran right now, the divide between those sportsmen and artists who are standing by the people against the coup administration and those sycophants who are going out of their way to endear themselves to the ruling oligarchy.

Ali Karimi was one of the six Iranian national football team players who wore green armbands in solidarity with the Iranian protesters during the world cup qualifying match with South Korea in Seoul. Apart from his sporting heroics, Karimi is a true people's champion. Former Iranian national football team player, Hamid Steeli who scored with the unforgettable header against the US in the 1998 world cup, describes Karimi as a truly genuine human being who, unknown to most people looks after several orphan kids, he is frank and speaks fearlessly for what is right, I have never known someone so frank, especially that his candid remarks are often made in support of others.

Steeli has not been the only one to speak up for Karimi. Khodad Azizi, also a former national team player, said in support of Karimi 'when Karimi speaks, he dares to say what millions of people are too scared to say, I too broke the fast during the football matches, to fast or not to is not a matter that can be forced on people. We are all responsible for our own actions in the afterworld.'

Karimi's team mate at Steel Azin club, Gholami in a truly sporting spirit has also stood up for Ali Karimi and said 'I came to this club because of Karimi, we will all do everything to reinstate him'. Gholami also confirmed national team player, Mehrzad Madanchi's statements that everyone in the club that day had lunch in a restaurant. Madanchi said 'We are all Muslims but we can not fast during football matches, it is impossible. There were water bottles by the side of the pitch for the players but I never saw Karimi drink one during that football match'.

Babak Massumi, the former captain of Iran's indoor football team told IPNA news, "People must know that when I was diagnosed with cancer and the medics had lost all hope, it was Ali Karimi's generosity that made sure my medical bills were paid. He even paid for me to be upgraded to a private room and yet he never told a soul about this'.

Within hours of Karimi's sacking, thousands joined a facebook page set up in his support (حمایت از علی کریمی). 

Yesterday, even pro-Ahmadinejad sites admitted that during Steel Azin's match without Ali Karimi, the crowds continuously chanted in support of Ali Karimi.

So you get the picture what sort of a person Ali Karimi is and the support he enjoys amongst other players. Lets see now who his adversary, Mostafa Ajorloo, the managing director of Steel Azin, who is responsible for sacking Karimi is.  This is how Mostafa Ajorloo described himself on the popular sports program, Ninety:
'I am Mostafa Ajorloo, a revolutionary guard, and I have faith in all religious values, after all, our Islamic revolution, as described by the Supreme Leader and the late Imam, as being all about observing our religious values and nothing else, and I am not here just for football, I am here for my religious values' - Enough said I think.


Karimi with orphan kids:

Karimi with Babak Massoumi:

People's champion:

New 'Your Excellency' Replaces the Old 'Your Excellencies'

So finally Press TV broadcast Galloway's interview with Ahmadinejad last night. Galloway kept referring to Ahmadinejad as "Your Excellency". At 14:14 he also tries to endear himself to Ahamdinejad by referring to the 'attack' he suffered in the House of Commons! The 'attack' he refers to of course is when we asked him how he could go on about the brutality of the UK police when he worked for Saddam and now Ahmadinejad.



And here is another excellency he was very keen on in the past:



and of course the Mother of All Your Excellencies, the indefatigable Saddam Hussein :

More Pictures From the Conference of Iranians Abroad in Tehran [Ahmadinejad Propaganda Circus]

Some more pictures from the Great Conference of Iranians Abroad".

An Iranian "elite" expat raises his fist in the air and demands that "a new suit is his blatant right for participating in the conference". Naturally he gets one the next day:

Expat lovers of the "popular" president in the conference rush towards him to get his autograph or pass on their letters of request to him. A female Iranian expat in the process is surrounded by men and seems to like it:

The most sickening picture of the conference. How low must one get to kneel in front of Ahmadinejad?

Letter from One of the Participants in the Pro-Ahmadienjad Conference

This letter has been received from one of the participants in the pro-Ahmadinejad propaganda circus which was named 'The Great Conference of Iranians Abroad'.

'I am an experienced doctor currently residing in Germany who took part in the conference you wrote about and was unwillingly used for the propaganda purposes of this administration. I just wanted to tell you about some aspects of this conference which until now have not been reported.

1- The conference was supposed to be a two day conference only and even then one day only was allocated for the conference, the first day was supposed to have been for rest and settling in. As soon as we arrived however, they told us they were extending the conference to three days.

2- When we arrived in the airport we were kept behind for five hours. They told us this is because they wanted to issue us with proper conference photo IDs, but after they scanned our passports and all the waiting, we were issued with very ordinary passes with no photos and just our basic details. I will explain later why they did this.

3- No one had told us Ahamdinejad would turn up in the conference. We were told we would be divided up into working groups based on our expertise and there will be work shops which will be participated by the country's relevant universities. Needless to say that none of these workshops happened and we were surprised when Ahmadinejad turned up.

4- More than 700 people had been invited but if you look at the pictures you will see many empty chairs. This is because something around 250 people left the conference room when Ahmadinejad appeared. More left when they heard Ahmadinejad's speech and on the second day of the conference, some even left their hotels and went and stayed with their families.

5- From the minute we got to our hotels, an argument broke out between Foreign Ministry staff and those working for the presidential office. At the end the argument intensified so much so that the Foreign Ministry staff decided to leave altogether and were replaced by more from the president's office.

6- Both the FM staff and those from the president's office were continuously asking the conference guests how they could apply for a scholarship and go abroad to study. These questions became so repetitive that on the second day one of the conference guests screamed back and said 'why do you think we are university scholarship agents?'

7- None of us managed to make the slightest contact with any of the universities. In fact any such attempt was blocked by security staff.

8- Just before the opening ceremony, we saw a large batch of conference cards brought into the conference room and handed out to people who looked nothing like academics nor had they come from outside Iran. None of the guests in any of the three hotels ever saw them staying in the hotels either. This was why Foreign Minister staff had been arguing with staff from the president's office. The Foreign Ministry office staff wanted to issue photo id conference cards and only let the invited guests from outside Iran into the conference but the presidential office staff had plans to mix in their own stooges and stage manage the propaganda exercise.

9- That person you mentioned in your post about kneeling down in front of Ahmadinejad, was one of those who was not from abroad and was planted in. He was their own stooge and it seemed they had rehearsed this stomach wrenching scene many times before. It was all planned, he knew exactly which way to go and when and where to kneel in front of Ahmadienjad.

10- Lastly let me tell you about the AIC president, Hooshang Amirahmadi, who was in Tehran at the time too. I was in the same hotel with him. I walked up to him when I saw him and exchanged greetings.
I asked him if he will be speaking at the conference? He said no I am not even coming to the conference, it is not expedient and will be controversial if I do. I then asked jokingly, have you brought a message from Obama? He said curtly 'No.' I said 'So are you carrying a message from here to Obama?' his reply was a long drawn 'we will see'

Who is Threatening the 'National Security'?

Mohammad Mostafaei, the lawyer who was defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and many others including more than 100 political prisoners is accused of threatening Iran's national security by the regime's intelligence ministry, presumably by creating bad publicity for the country with the Sakineh story. Mostafei however is not the one who is keeping the Sakineh story in the news. The Sakineh story was about to run out of its newsworthiness until the regime's intelligence ministry tried to arrest Mostafaei. That then became new news. Then they took his wife and brother-in-law as hostages to get him back, this again became new news. Then they arrested his father-in-law, again this meant the Sakineh story was still news worthy. They then continued to incarcerate Mostafei's wife even on their daughter's seventh birthday. Keeping an innocent mother away from her daughter even on her seventh birthday once again stirred emotions and it became new news. Yesterday they made Sakineh to confess on TV against herself and her lawyer which once again hit the international headlines.

If the Islamic judiciary in Iran sees the Sakineh publicity as a threat against national security, then it only has itself to blame. In order not to appear to give in to international pressure, the regime is digging a hole for itself that is even distancing its own allies like the Brazilian president De Silva. It is the regime itself that by insisting to keep a barbaric law like stoning in its penal code is showing its true outdated medieval nature to the world public opinion, not a lawyer who is only doing his duty, defending his clients.

They Pulled My Teeth Out to Teach Me a Lesson

Ahmad Bab is a Kurdish civil activist from Marivan. He worked with various civil groups in the Iranian Kurdistan, including the environmental NGO, CHYA in Marivan.

Two years ago he organised a peaceful demonstration by 1000 unemployed workers in Marivan outside the governor's office, with their main slogan of 'Bread, Peace, Freedom'. He has never been a memebbeen in and out of Islamic Republic prisons in the last seven years for his involvement in civil activities, but this time things were different. On September 27th last year, armed agents burst into his house at night and took him away with them. His seven year old son, Karo, has suffered a stutter from the sheer fear he experienced that night ever since.