Masood Roozbehani's Parents pardon his killer.

Two weeks ago, a 21 year old boy who had committed an unmeditated murder in self defense was brought to the gallows, where the mother of his victim vengfully pulled the stool from under his feet, and ignoring his lawyer's plea, on his knees, to let him hold his legs, when he was dying; the woman had said: "Aah, I am relieved now!"

In the same country, however, parents of Masood Roozbehani have pardoned the killer of their son; proving the fact that the Islamic Penal Code does not deprive Iranians of their humanity; should they choose to transcend and exercise it.

I wish the Roozbehani family to know that I am shedding tears for their son now; and that they have eternalized him by their humane decision; and that they are the hope of that country of ours ... all my respect.

132 killed, 520 injured ...

In a bombing in Baghdad
In one day
In one second
...
...
freedom
to bomb
...

What Happened to Mehrjui's Santuri?

Dariush Mehrjui speaks of how Ahmadinejad's revolutionizing the Iranian cinema ...

Santuri is a film about countering drug addiction ... During Ahmadinejad, addition rates have been exponentially increasing (according to Iran;s official rates) ... Interestingly, the IRGC "martyrs" of the Jundollah's recent suicide attack seem to have been in cahoot with Balouch drug lords [persian link].

Karoubi, the courageous cleric and Ahmadnejad's shameful and shameless media

Today, Karoubi made an unannounced appearance in the Media Exhibit. He was instantly greeted by green chants of support. He was attacked and was injured in the head. Below is the coverage of Farce News (in red): People kicked Karoubi out of the Exhibit. In the picture the instant a show is hitting his head can be seen. [update: the shoe in the picture was photoshopped; Karoubi has denied that anyone has thrown a shoe at him. This is Fars News' "retaliation" for students throwing a shoe at Safar-Harandi; Ahmadinejad's previous minister of culture.] Clicking on the report brings you to error. At least there seem to be some will to put a cap on the shameless behavior of Ahamdinejad's barbaric media! (By the way IRNA is not reporting this.) Click here to see the Fars News snapshot before it was removed. (Intrnet and web sites reporting this are flooded with messages of gratitude and love for Karoubi. With all my hatred of clergy, I bow to Karoubi's resolve.)

He is laughing, as he is escorted out by his bodyguards (source)

How are the Ahmadinejad's media reacting to the Nuclear Closure?! (Part 2: IRNA)

Finally, after 24 hours IRNA is back today, Friday. Their archives is empty of "Thursday"! Again, nothing about Nuclear Proposal; other than: (2nd column, 4th row)

China has welcomed the progress in solving the nuclear negotiations!

Other headlines:

• Ayatollah Amoli: Human rights without God's message is impossible. [don't try to make sense of this]
• Interior Minister emphasized the importance of provisioning plans for natural disasters
• Strong earthquake in Afghanistan
• Falahat-Pisheh: The role of teh media in critical periods in society becomes more important [that's why IRNA goes down for one day and then avoids talking about nuclear negotiations!]
• Ayatollah Sobhani: Without faith, society is never safe.
• Parliament member: With streamlining subsides [he means cutting them] the government narrows the poverty gap [he means with a projected 60% inflation!]
• Iran insists on preventing the militarization of space!

And then in the side bar

• Javad Larijani [again that educated primate,]: Mousavi has to take a posture that suits him!! [this saying is something bully kids on highschool yard would tell others who are trying to standup to them! More proof of the kind of uncultured thugs claiming leadership of Iran ...]
• ProIsrael members [of congress]: Obama shoudl sacntion Iran
• India is careful about relations with Iran
• US/Israel's expensive military exercise was censored [from Western media]
• Program for satellite meetings of Media Exhibition announced (see this)
• The ex-editor of Junge Welt exposes vast media campaign against Iran [well IRNA, why don't you give us the REAL news so we can counter the western media?]

By the way, no news of arrests on IRNA, FARCE news, nor even Tabnak or Etemaad. Meaning the circle of media oppression's tightening--on the eve of the well advertised, poorly attended Media Exhibition!

At least, IRNA could spin the nuclear news like these dudes: Iran's (5.3%) enriched uranium is of such hight quality that the Westen countries are eager to get their hands on! [and sell back the 19.5% one!]

By the way, Fars News' important news (after mentioning that the French Total wishes to invest in Iran's oil fields to produce LNG, in which CNPC of china had already invested and the project ws bid on in EPC [i haven't the slightest clue what these abbreviations stand for; but I am sure all the poor and rural supporters of Ahmadinejad do know these things]) is this:

• Increase in unemployment rate in 23 of American states!!

How are the Ahmadinejad's media reacting to the Nuclear Closure?!

Update (8:00 PM) They have were not satisfied with the distractors I listed below! They have just raided and arrested tens of the family members of the jailed journalists and politicians. The families of the detainees were gathered for a Komeil Prayer; something they have been doing every Thursday in someone's family home in the past few months ... they were collected up in three vans and taken away!

By the way, IRNA is STILL down!

=================================================

IRNA's web site is DOWN! (And Pedestrian tells me it's been down since this morning!!!)

ISNA has NO NEWS!

Farce News: picture speaks volumes! (the nuclear "DEFEAT" is "masked" in title 5!!!!)

HEADLINE: Koolayee (the woman with glasses) in interview with FARS said Extremism lead to failure of reforms!

Title 2: Larijani: Had Mousavi's Coup D'etat succeeded, the Islamism of the system will have been lost! (WHAT THE F>>>!!!!!!)

Title 3: Clinton, Iran's Nuclear program is peaceful!

Title 4: Minister of culture, the leaders of the chaos were operators of premeditated plots!

Title 5: In interview with Al-Alam Soltaniyeh insists on guarantees from the west!

And by the way ...

And of course here's more on Russia's role in mediating ties between Mr Ahmadinejad and Israel! (thanks German for the link) It all makes sense; only if Ahmadinejadists were not such power hungry cheating lying hypocrites!

Also see: Pedestrian reporting from IRIB

:D

LOL!

All Ahmadinejad-lovers and Israeli-Lovers, hahhhahahah!

Iran's Marlon Brando

His name is Behrouz Vosoughi. To some, he is the best male actor in Iran before the revolution.

To my shame, I know too little about pre-revolution Iranian cinema and even less about Vossoughi.

Primarily, because when I was growing up these films were considered "adult film" and my parents had a strict regime of what was suitable for me to watch. My mother was a modern woman, and a feminist one; but she considered the Western cultural emulations displaced, distasteful and inappropriate.

Then, after revolution, these films were banned; and possessing them became illegal. This suited my parents just fine, because at the time Iranian cinema was full of what is considered B-movies (Film-Farsi), which my parents considered corrupt and hallow. Of course, I was in grade school when all this happened. In any case, I did not grow up in a tele-visual or cinematic family! (my pre-revolutionary cinema-going memories belong to when my university-student uncle took me to cinema--and I hated those boring black and white films he subjected me to); or when my father saw to it that the cinema was kept private for a "family" viewing; because in those days cinemas were often for young men who were doing their military service.

Of course, when I left Iran I could access as many film-Farsi's as I wished, thanks to an Iranian video store in my neighborhood that carried the most obscure of them. However, mainly because Vosooghi often played the character of a Rough-Guy; and because I have little ability to watch violence and melodrama I was never attracted to the genre he was suited for. Nevertheless, he has acted in some of the films of notable Iranian directors such as Ali Hatami (Sootehdelam, 1977); Masood Kimiyayi (6 of Kimiai's famous films including Kaiser, 1969, video clip below); Amir Naderi (Tangseer, 1973); several films of Fereydoon Goleh including Kandoo, 1975) and others. Vosughi's career came to an end in 1981 when he chose exile to IRI.

I thought a little video clip of how a cinema star looked in pre-revolutionary Iran, together with a clip of one of his most famous films (Gheysar; meaning Kaiser) would be fun! It is essential to know that the Iranian cinema that, thanks to the French critics, became known as "The Cinema of 90s", is founded on a 100-years long tradition of filmmaking that started during the Qajar dynasty; and for which, academic foundations were established thanks to the efforts of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The clerics are now taking advantage of what they completely frowned upon then--and for which they really wanted the Pahlavis toppled! :)

On the Hypocrisy of Succumbing to International Pressure

As soon as news about one million annulling of rigged votes in Afghanistan was broadcast; the Iranians blogsphre and twitter-space was filled with mocking comments to Ahmadinejad, who was the first world leader to RUSH and congratulate Hamed Karzai on his re-election.

I was curious how the Pro-Ahmadinejad news outlets are reflecting this news and what Iran's official response has been to Karzai conceding to hold a second round of election. (Needless to say, the reformists are using the meager space they have to praise Afghans and Karzai for respecting due election process and conceding to second election term to resolve controversies.)

Fars (or False News) was silent. I could not retrieve anything on this from their archive. But, there was a funny piece on IRNA. Since nowadays posts disappear from the web; I decided to take a snapshot:


It's the second title:
"Reformist (2nd khordadi) media praise Afghans' succumbing to humiliation of their national dignity and independence"

The article (a long one) name the reformists (even Hahshemi--who is NOT a reformist) and "analyses" their motivations for praising Karzai's decision. Then we get to the farcical (in their view serious of course) subheading:

History of diplomatic submission and defeat:
It is noteworthy that in this 2nd Khordad site and other reformist media hese days, are encouraging Karzai to giving in to the Western pressure. During managing Iran's nuclear dossier this team that is linked to the heads of the reform, repeatedly backed off to Western threats, and was planning to voluntarily! [exclamation mark is IRNA's] sell all of our nuclear scientists achievements." Demands of this team were undertaken directly by Khatami; and although it went as far as stopping laboratory enrichment, but was stopped by supreme leader and with Ahmadinejad's insistence has gone ahead to the level of 8000 centrifuge centers.

[I have to add that this piece is FULL of Persian grammatical and syntax errors; reflecting journalistic inadequacy of the state-run media--with which, Ahmadinejad's promising to launch a media war against the eloquent writers of the reform who are still in prison.]

I guess we are all waiting for the news of their nuclear submission to "Western" demands! The ONLY good thing that probably came out of Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat was to bring a closure to this stupid nuclear business! NO! Don't jump to conclusion! Ahmadinejad doesn't have any SPECIAL diplomatic talent. He is doing EVERYTHING that Khatami was doing 8 years ago, vis as vis Western pressure on nuclear issue. Except that during Khatami, we had dogs who are not represented by Ahmadinejad, barking over the shoulders of the reformist diplomats and administration. Also, during Khatami, Clinton was too busy with Monica affairs (for which he had to pay America's war-machine a ransom by bombing Serbia) and then later, a Bushman was running the White House ...

Update: Today (October 22) Haarez publishe a piece that Iran and Israel have met in Cairo to discuss nuclear future! Less than one week ago, Tabnak.ir reported "Russia's Strange Proposal". I can no longer find this piece; but in that report Tabnak (a news source close to conservative Mohsen Rezayee) claimed that Russia's Foreign minister in in interview with Russia Today had stated that Iran and Israel need to negotiate and that there is no reason for tension and war! The "strange"ness of Russia's proposal was "to dare making such proposal to Iran, who, mindful of people's sensitivity, was reluctant to accept legitimacy of Israel, EVEN BEFORE REVOLUTION!" If anyone can find the Russian report of this, or its reflection in other media, please let me know.

Dariush Shayegan: The Theoretician of Dialogue of Civilizations

Dariush (or Daryush) Shayegan, a Sorbonne Graduate and a leading Iranian translator and intellectual, mainly writes in French.

A few years back he published "Cultural Schizophrenia", about the paradoxical confrontation of modernizing Islamic societies with the West; and the western notions of modernity. One of his interesting arguments (which has become empirically evident since the publication of the book in 1997) is that Iran has culturally leaped from tradition to postmodernity, without maturing in modernity, and is thus suffering schizophrenic symptoms (clinically, schizophrenia is characterized by detachment from reality and "self"). He finds it inevitable that Iran (and other progressive Islamic countries) would join the (already post-modernist) multicultural world, embracing diversity and tolerance towards "others".

In 1977, Shayegan initiated an international symposium on the "dialogue between civilizations," a concept that was later (in 2001) appropriated by the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (whom George Bush shunned, and after benefitting from his help and cooperation in Afghanistan, branded Iran "axis of Evil, thus CRUSHING the reform movement and giving rise to the Ahmadinejad phenomena.)

Today, together with Mohammad Khatami, Shayegan became the first recipient of "Global Dialogue Prize" (500,000 DKK for research on the topic), to be handed in a ceremony in January 2010, In Kopengagen.

I recommend reading his work to anyone interested in philosophizing about Islam-West confrontation, and I am not alone!)

Bahram Baizai refuses to stage the play of his dreams in the upcoming International Fajr Theater

For those who do not know Bahram Beizai; I would describe him as Iran's Stanley Kubrick, with an added bonus: He's also Iran's Brecht!

Those of you who know about world-success of Iranian cinema have most likely not heard about Beyzaie (*). He is an uncompromising perfectionist, whose depth of art and vision often gets him in trouble with Iran's censors. But, Baizai loves the people and people love him. He is a master of Iranian theater, and literature; and although he is not banned from teaching in Tehran university, still much of Iranian theater owes its credit to him.

After a decade long absence from cinema, he was finally given permit to make one of his least favorite screenplays (When We Were All Asleep, 2008). Nevertheless it was an instant success. If you read that article, you would recognize how "hungry" Baizayi has been to talk to people through screen and stage.

By divine's!!! miracle, SUDDENLY Ahmadinejad's ministry of culture and Islamic guidance decided to grant Beizai permission to stage his "dream play" Sohrab-Koshi (written 13 years ago); which has been suffering censorship denials for several years.

However, Baizai has decided to "postpone staging this play to better times".

Ahmadinejad will soon realize that he has been standing on the dignity, genius and credit of many a great Iranian who will no longer allow him to stage his propaganda on their account!

We are tremendously pleased with Baizaee's protest! Remember a long time ago I listed my heros?

* Different spellings of name بيضايي are intentional.

Update: One of the many reasons (Persian) why Baizai decided to not stage the play was the censor's fussing about the name "Sohrab-Killing", fearing that it will invoke the memory of Sohrab A'rabi who was killed in recent protests. (note that Sohrab-Killing act derives from the story in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (Epic of kings))

Alarming deforestation of Iran in the past 5 years

The news of Ahmadinejad's violation of environmental policies (not the international ones, but the ones set by the Governmental Organization of Environmental Protection) are reaching alarming frequency. If this trend continues, Iran will be fully deforested in the next 30 years. Most endangered are 400 ancient trees, one as old as 3000 years. Often these ancient trees are sites of pilgrim by villagers who believe in their healing power or divinity. I read in one of the links below that such trees run the risk of being cut in the name of "opposing superstition."! Of course this is ironic, given Iran's president has spent 17 million dollars building a mosque in "Jamkaran", where his Imam-Zaman resides in the bottom of a well. Yes Ahmadinejad is a highly superstitious man, and he is caught on video describing to some mullahs how he was surrounded with a halo of light (minute 1:06), mesmerising the audience when he delivered his speech in NY. (here's an audio report on it, in English).

Some of recent headlines:

• Cutting Chestnut trees to install gas pipelines
• 1/3rd of Iran's forests are destroyed in the past 5 years
• Iran's the 100th in terms of forest density in the world, but the 6th in terms of deforestation
• Damavand forest-park allocated to government housing project ...

Iran's Taliban; Ahmadinejad's Mentor: Freedom is a Satanic temptation ...

Iranian newspapers walk a thin line; but they don't need to write editorials to illustrate the very violent nature of Ahmadinejad's supporters. They just need to publish what they say. This clip is from the website of Sarmaye, an economy-oriented newspaper that despite a few warnings, is still operating.

Here, Mesbah Yazdi says:

"Freedom is one of those things that hearing it gives the impression of a sense of beauty for some, but it is a term that has been abused throughout history. America has been trying to promote lack of prejudice (bi-gheyrati) in the name of tolerance, and unfortunately some of the effects of this "tasahol & tasamoh" (means tolerance) appeared in our country too. [Here he is blaming Khatami.] Because they couldn't promote this tolerance in a country of followers of Hossein, they entered from the door of criticizing violence and terrorism[oh dear, cry murder!], and in this way promoted freedom, tolerance and the mixing of men and women, which is not only un-Islamic but also anti-Islamic. They [he means Khatami's reformists] even brought evidences from Islam to prove that Islam is the religion of tolerance [cry murder again]on the one hand, and to condemn violence on the other hand, and thus used beautiful tools to promote their satanic illusions! If someone decidely tries to harm Islam, she should be swiftly and severely confronted and no one has the right to ask for tolerance. "

P.S. I am listening to this report on BBC; it gives a background to Ahmadinejad's apocalyptic views. It is a fair report. I recommend it.

Where is the Supreme!!! leader??!

Apparently he has announced three days of national mourning for the victims of suicide bombing. But, he has not made a "personal" statement. Rumors have been circulating that khamenei is dead; and that pictures of his recent meeting with Senegal president were "doctored". He has been totally absent in the past two weeks; and that he has not made a public statement about the bombings, combined with the fact that despite all cacophony from Mohseni Ejehi (regarding arresting Karoubi) Both Mousavi and Karoubi have come out with public and states-manly statements today makes one wonder what's going on!

Also, Hashemi is very silent; however the conservative's barking fella Asgar-Owladi-e Mosalman! (literally, this man shouts and barks and moves all his body organs when he speaks) has come out yesterday to say: "khatami, Mousavi and Karoubi are children of this system" ...

something's going on, ESPECIALLY because Ahmadinejad's not used the IRGC killings to blame the internal conflict and has pointed the finger at Pakistani borders.

(Of course as many have commented; had Ahmadinejad's administration and IRGC not been acting AS SAVAGES in Baluchestan in recent years, perhaps this level of fundamentalism and Jundollah brutality would not have occurred!)

Suicide bombings: Have IRGC eliminations begun?

UPDATE: Karoubi and Mousavi's have both publicly condemned the bombing and have extended condolences to the families of all the victims (IRGC generals as well as Shiite and Sunni leaders) of the suicide attack. Mousavi has further expressed his commitment to fending off these extremist and fundamentalist agitations that stem from eastern borders of Iran (i.e Pakistan and Afghanistan).

Two hours ago, in a massive suicide bombing in the southeast border province of Sistan va Balouchistan, some of the high-ranking Sepah (IRGC) Commanders were killed:

Sardaar Noor-Ali Shooshtari; the deputy commander of IRGC's ground forces; Sardaar Mohammad-Zadeh; the Commander of Seestan & Baluchistan's IRGC, also IRGC commanders of the cities of Iranshahr, Sarbaz, and the region Pishin were killed. Seestan & Baluchestan (* different spelling is intentional) is the southeastern province bordering with Pakistan and as far as I recall, has been one of the bloodiest and most unstable regions of the country (I was born there). Post coup d'etat, the province has been in turmoil.

According to IRNA, as many as 60 people (update, 29 confirmed dead), including some of the tribal leaders of the province might have died. The high concentration of "important" figures in one place was for a the occation of a "Conference of Unity Between Iran's Suni & Shiite Nomades"

Yesterday, I saw a little news on Roydad that the IRGC is offering lucrative retirement packages; presumably to get rid of the older and original members of the IRGC, the warriors of the 8-years long defense against Iraqi invasion.

I will update this as news flows in and in the meantime, I am going to compilie a list of all IRGC commanders who have died in assassination plots. Scanning the "comment" sections of news web sites, it seems I am not the only Iranian who is smelling rats. I feel the blame for this one lays on the Al-Quaeda/USA coalition; giving the IRI perfect excuse it needs to tighten its grip on Iranian's throat! (The axis of warmongers) (Update: Iran's summoned the Pakistani diplomat demanding their cooperation to arrest the responsible members of Jundollahu.)

• Sepahbod Ali Sayad Shirazi, Chief-of_Staff of Iranian forces in the 8-year sacred defense ( Assassinated in front of his house in 1999; MKO claimed responsibility)

• Brigadier General Ahmad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC Ground Forces
• Brigadier General Saeed Mohtadi, commander of the IRGC’s 27 Mohammad Division,
• Brigadier General Hanif, Director of Intelligence of the IRGC Ground Forces,
• Brigadier General Saeed Soleimani, Director of Operations of the IRGC Ground Forces,
• and Brigadier General Yazdani, Commander of the IRGC Artillery. (All died in a plane crash 1n January 2006. Similarly to today's incident, this group of generals were on a mission of to the Iranian northwest separatist hot-zones. The crash was blamed on Technical failure. What is interesting is that this massive "elimination" happened 6 months after a massive shuffle in the IRGC that followed Ahmadinejad's (other fraudulent) election in 2005. Interestingly, this time around Khamenei's been reshuffling the IRGC and introducing fundamental changes such as creating an IRGC "intelligence organization", which previously was only a division.)

The following high profile generals all died in a plane crash in Kahrizak (near Tehran, and far from the war-zone), in 1981.

• Mohammad Jahan-Ara (Commander of Khoramshahr's IRGC, when under iraqi seige)
• Vali-o-llah Fallahi (Deputy head of the Army) (Uskuwi suggests he was Acting commander of the IRGC)
• Moosa Namjoo (Minister of Defense)
• Javad Fakuri (Consultant to deputy head of the Army) (Uskuwi: commander of the Airforce.)
• Yusef Kolahdooz (Acting chief of staff). (Uskuwi: Acting commander of IRGC)

This event occurred after Banisadr's impleachement and shortly before the liberation of Khoramshahr. In fact these generals were on their way to report on the battlefield realities to Khomeini. The cause of the C130 crash was stated technical failure.

Update: Jundullah has accepted responsibility for this bombing. 35 dead confirmed. (As I said before, let's thank AlQuaeda/USA's Iranian wing!) )ّIn this picture 26 year old Abdulmalek Rigi (Balouch) the leader of the movement ( which, funny funny haha, the BBC refers to as "resistance movement" and NOT terrorist, like they call Hamas & Hizbollah!!!!!!)

Needless to say, scenes like this do not help or buy much sympathy of the IRI amongst the Balouchis ... This is why Abdulmalek can gather himself supporters ...

Abjeez: The Iranian Singing Sisters

After Mohsen Namjoo, Abjeez are my most favorite Iranian Post-Traditionalists. Please go to their colourful web site to discover more.

The Abjeez sisters, Safoura and Melody were born in Iran amongst a family of diverse musicians. Both sisters moved to Sweden along with their family in 1987. Looking up to their father’s passion for music combined with older brother Sufi’s love for guitar encouraged the sisters to start writing, and composing original music. Having experienced living life in countries such as India, Sweden, Norway, England, Spain and United States has also had a great impact and influence on Abjeez music. (source: Album notes)

My FAVORITE Album is Hameh (2007)! Which I just purchased on iTune store. This is a video sample of why I like them. (Eddeaa means pretension)

To shift from the morbidity that neo-resistance has been suffering lately, I have posted a video of one of the songs of their latest Album "Perfectly Displaced" below.

The album is described as "World Pop music for the wired world: flamenco hot, reggae cool, salsa sassy. From the easy bop of "Vaghti ke" to the Flamenco yearning of "Tu Me Haces Falta" or the lashing passion of "Walking in her shoes" the Abjeez blend the rhythms and languages of the world into one great braza.

The Persian lyric of the song is : Jaa-e to khaaliye (your place is empty ... it implies, I miss you.

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi: Preeminent Novelist's latest book Der Colonel Published in German...and censored in Persian ...

Mahmud Doulatabadi is one of the most preeminent novelists of Iran. I discovered Dowlatabadi * when I was 17. I knew Kelidar (کلیدر) was an important book to read. My younger sister who was always richer than I, spent all of her summer savings to buy this 5-volume novel: the love story of Maral and Gol-Mohammad; in the turbulent history of their tribes of Iran's north east province, Khorasan. I remember living with the book, reading it nonstop for 10 days, hardly eating or sleeping. I was perhaps too young for it then; but I couldn't put it down. Maral reminded me of my own grandmother; and the story taught me about the intricacies of individuality, honor, loyalty, love, passion and the cost of breaking from conformity. I read his other books later, but to date, and to author's admission, Kelidar remains his most "perfect" book!

Dolatabadi * is 69, he was born in the village of Dolatabad in Khorasan. Before he became a writer, he earned life from labouring in farming, shoe making, barbering, bicycle repair, herding sheep, slaughter house, print shops, cinema projections--all range of works that are not customary for the "educated" or those with "to-be-educated-to-write" aspirations. His rural experiences set his books apart from the white-glove urban, or aristocratic settings of many of his contemporary literary figures of Iran. He paved his path to literature through theater, starting at the age of 22.

His most recent book, Der Colonel, written simultaneously in Persian and German--a story awaiting 25 years to be told--has made it to German publication, and is suffering Persian censorship, thanks to Mr Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat ... (Dolatabadi has been a vocal critic of Ahmadinejad) To German speakers, I recommend to listen to his interview Dolatabadi with Ilija Trojanow on Arte.TV about Der Colonel. He talks about his urge to write this novel, and also explains somethings about Iran's literary traditions--especially referring to legendary Ferdowsi (10th century AD), to whom he wishes to have been a devout follower; and Sa'di (12th century AD) and Naser khosrow (11th century Ad) who were globe-trotters to whom he attributes the humanitarian nature of Persian literature. Despite the fact that Dolatabadi's novels root deeply in folk, telling the most obscure of rural stories, his talent is in portraying man in the complex dynamics of his interaction with the world, thus Doulatabadi * considers literature to be a universal entity, one belonging to humanity and not to geography.

He ends his interview with a message of hope:

"The art of we Iranians, is to transit through death and destruction towards light; this is our entire history, and we are still a living nation ..."

* I have spelled Dowlatabadi in all possible phonetic forms. Inconsistencies are intentional.

Can someone explain this please?

This is rally in London! The bearded man is holding a sign that reads:

Islam Will Dominate The World!

Freedom Can Go to Hell!

A non-muslim colleague of mine is asking a question:

"If "Freedom Can go to Hell", can someone arrest this man and put him in jail?"

And a conversation is following: If he is a freedom hater, then why is he living in London?!

And if he is an Islamic-fighter, then why shouldn't the British police treat him like a foreign invader?

Now I know that this man is perhaps in the fringes of the LARGE muslim population of Europe; but seriously, what the hell is he thinking?

Post script: I received two anonymous comments which I think address my narrow-minded question and they deserve to come to fore.

Anonymous 1:

Most demonstrations like this are organised by Salafi and Wahhabi groups, the most notorious of which is al Muhajiroun. They are consummate trouble makers, stirring public hatred for mainstream Muslims amongst the British population. Their leader, Anjem Choudary, is a follower of the Salafi cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, who left the UK for Lebanon, but tried to come back to the UK to seek refuge in 2006 when Israel started bombing Lebanon.

They have a website advocating a distinctly Salafi ideology,in addition to some rather absurd designs on the UK, www.islam4uk.com, including a march at the end of this month calling for the implementation of Shariah in the UK.

Choudary, in his university days, was heavily into drinking and non-marital sex with non-Muslim women. Some Muslims think he is an agent of the British, implanted to stoke racial tensions to weaken people's resistance to various Orwellian measures that the government want legislated (eg, ID cards, long term detention without trial, etc). Personally, I don't think so, I've seen enough of these extremists to know that they are often hypocrites.

Anonymous 2:

No question his sign is very disturbing but:

1) He might be a British citizen (even born in Britain).

2) I know he and his friends are not going to treat us the same way that we -in the west- treat them but as long as he only expresses his opinion (whatever that opinion might be), he can not and should not be arrested or put in the jail.

3) I actually think this type of demonstrations are counterproductive for them and good for the civil societies, as they show which type of people they truly are and how angry they've become and we show how tolerant and cool we are.

UPDATE: My friend who asked the question wanted me to be clear about the fact that he meant the question as a joke. "I know you did", I told him; "but I (naj) meant the question with the very visceral anger I felt when I saw this picture. This kind of extremism touches me very close at home." Yes, he (my friend) knows what tolerance is; and I wish he will never grow out of it by suffering the consequences of the intolerance the man in the photo is promoting.

Firouzabadi, Iran's head of the Army: Death sentence should have been given to the leaders of the Green Movement!

In this picture, you see the redhead trunk Firouzabadi in Khaki, and Jafari (the murderer head of IRGC in green) in embrace!

And in this picture, the news that was published on FARSENEWS and immediately eliminated! Click on picture for source. On top, "Russia says No to Clinton's call for Sanctions ..."

Support our "BobDylan & LeonardCohen & Marylin Manson" in one: Mohsen Namjoo

You can start by buying his outstanding album, with which he has subjected himself to eternal exile from the Islamic Republic of Iran; with which he has broken almost any cultural & musical rule ever practices in Iran; with which your goose bumps turn to goose mountains, your jaw drops, and you are left breathless with the courage of his genius. Although extremely avant-garde, Namjoo is well trained in Persian traditional music and literature--elements which he mixes with rock, jazz, blues and some other new stuff which I don't have a name or description for.

Making his album a best-seller will be a GREAT slap to IRI's ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance who thinks by alienating our artists and forcing them to exile, they can get rid of them by "throwing the fish out of the water."

My favorite tracks are: 5, 6 and 8. I love the rest too, but they are in the tradition of his previous outstanding work; that for me reached the summit of success in Toranj.

This costs only 3 Starbuck cups of coffee--and it is for a great cause! (If you buy his songs, let me know and I will try to translate them for you.)

Kill Me Not, Mother

His face is turning blue.
The lawyers is shaking in disbelief.
Lucky they don't have to pull him to break his neck and end him sooner.
Lucky he was struggling violently, because he wasn't dying soon enough.
She pulled the stool from under his feet.
"I beg you, madam I beg you let me live", he cried.
"I must see the rope around his neck, I must see the rope around his neck", she was hysterical.
"I beg you madam, I didn't mean to kill him, please pardon me. I am an orphan.", he cried.
"I don't know anything, I don't know, I don't know", she was hysterical.
"I beg you let me live", he cried.
"this is your last chance to pardon and spare his life.", said the guard.
"Please pardon him, please spare his life", chanted in unison 200 gathered outside the notorious prison.
"I know what it is to loose a child", said the mother who had watched his daughter's eye fill with blood.
"I know what it is to loose a child.", said the mother who had received her son's slashed and smashed frozen body a month ago.
"the parents of the victim have given consent to pardon", said the celebrity 5 months ago.
"I killed in self-defense, with a broken bottle, because he attacked me with a knife", had said the 17 year old boy 5 years ago.

...

YOU KNOW WHAT IS SICK??

WHAT IS SICK IS THAT THE FAMILY OF VICTIM WHO WISHED TO TAKE REVENGE WILL HAVE TO PAY HALF OF THE BLOOD MONEY OF Behnoud TO HIS FAMILY! What is sick is that if Behnoud was a woman, she would have cost less to kill. The blood money of women is only half of men. The blood money of religious minorities is only half of the Muslim ones. The blood money of BAhais and Atheists is ZILCH! Killing them opens the doors of heaven!

What is sick is that in case of Akram Mahdavi, it is cheaper to kill her, than to kill her accomplice in crime--who is a man; and therefore, because the family of victim "needs" revenge, they have chosen to kill the cheaper human, the woman!

How I dreaded my Neo-Resistance turning gory ... but I just find it hard to not scream these days ...

If this is Islam, then I will fight to get rid of it ...

CORRECTION: No it is not Islam; it is this BITCH! It's about her EGO ... not even about Islamic penal law ... Apparently the judiciary system has bee trying to get him forgiven ... the BITCH is saying she is "happy" ... FUCK!

How a woman becomes deadly

She is holding a child that she has never had. A limb is falling off of the child. A leg. Or an arm. There is a bullet in the child's eye. The bullet is silver. Blood is flowing into the child's mouth. The child is thirsty. The woman lets her drink the blood. Her left breast is blown up. In its place rests a big scar. You can see the heart through cracked ribs. With no breast, the child cannot be breast fed. With no breast she cannot even prostitute herself to find water or milk. The child is thirsty. The woman's heart is broken by the force of the smashed rib cage. The man is out; holding his penis out to the world; pissing on it, pissing it off. He is hoping that if he urinates enough, the earth, the ancestral land will purify it enough to save his child from thirst; or from the despicable sin of sucking on his own blood. Death doesn't come soon enough to the child whose limb is hanging, whose eyes is wounded. Death doesn't come soon enough to the woman whose breast is blown, whose broken rib cage has broken her pink heart. Death doesn't come soon enough to the man whose phallus is not irrigating the earth, is not starting a creek. Death is waiting in a corner to be sought. Death is waiting to be called upon. Death is waiting to be strapped into a belt. Death is not coming, death is to be sought. Death grins menacingly that she is the port to freedom, the port to heaven. Death is water, death is food, death is freedom, death is a belt, death is the last piece of pride, the last bit of dignity left.

The woman's breast is blown. Her wombs is a ball of fire. She is pregnant with pain. And she is holding a child with a falling limb, with a bleeding eye, and with thirsty lips that are getting used to the salty taste of the blood ... blood the only source of life ... blood the only god ... the woman will give birth to pain, the pain too will be thirsty, the pain will not be able to drink from the exploded breast, the pain will grow into a blood thirsty puberty.

The pain will kill the woman because the woman will kill for pain; all mothers will kill for their thirsty children. The death belt is shining ... the last attire of dignity of a man ... or a woman ...

(c) Naj of Neoresistance. Written a couple of years ago thinking of Palestinian women becoming deadly; published here today because i am devastated by the images of a mother pulling the bench from under a 21 year old boy, to AVENGE ...

They Killed Him ... SHAME ON IRI

They killed Behnoud Shojai (Shojaee) ... 22 years old ... he had killed someone in a group fight (in self defense) when he was 17 ... (The victim had attacked Behnoud with knife; and Behnood had defended himself with a broken bottle) his lawyer was pleading with the world to save him ... human rights activists, including mothers of Sohrab A'rabi and Neda Agha-Soltan were amongst those gathering in front of the Evin prison to get a stay on the execution order ... his lawyer had pleaded that e due judiciary process was not respected ... they killed him ... they killed a 22 years old boy, who had killed someone in a street fight ... they killed him to say:

1. they do not respect people's wish to abolish death penalty
2. they killed him to say they are not afraid of controversy and international pressure (why would they when Obama writes them love letters?)
3. they have sentenced activists to death now ... soon, we shall witness political prisoner's executions ...

Time to act!

Mohsen Makhmalbaf has passed on his Nuremberg HR award to Karoubi. I wish The Nobel Peace Committee had recognized the gravity of the human rights violation, the brutality in China and Iran; I wish they had given the award to raise awareness on this .. I wish Obama had taken a less subtle approach in his acceptance speech ...

They killed a 17 years old boy, because this is when Behnoud was imprisoned, but they killed him after torturing him by swinging him back and forth between his prison cell and the gallows ... he is free from the injustice of Iran's brutal justice system ... but what about others ... apparently, he spent his last seconds BEGGING the victims parents--who had the option of pardoning him; who were there to pull the bench from under his feet ...

Post Script:
The real tragedy is in this:
"مادر و پدر مقتول چهارپایه ای را که برای اعدام در نظر گرفته بودند از زیر پای بهنود کشیدند و بهنود از دنیا رفت.»"
"The parents of the victim who was killed by Behnood pulled the bench from under his feet, and ended his life."

The tragedy is the ignorance of "revenge". These parents could have immortalized their dead son by "forgiving"; yet they chose to be killers themselves. I wonder how they sleep tonight. Will their son come back to them? Will they feel relieved that someone else's mother is mourning? Do they think they are increasing safety and security by carrying an act of revenge? This is gross; this is disgusting. Ehsan's victimized twice. Once by his killer and another time by the killers of his killer, his own parents. I am trying to imagine the street fight when Behnoud Killed Ehsan. If Ehsan was the son of such vengeful parents, it is likely that he was the bully. Maybe he even started the fight. Behnoud killed in self-defense. This was not a premeditated murder; this was an unintentional killing. (Like the killing of ZahrA KAzemi; the Canadian photographer who was killed by a "hard object hitting her head, while being interrogated in the IRI's prisons.) How can such vengeful parents have raised a peaceful, peace-loving teenager? Maybe if Ehsan, their son--who engaged in fights with a knife-- was alive, he would have joined Ahmadinejad's thugs who killed and beat people out of ignorance, class-revenge, or financial need. I know my imagination is running loose ... I know I am judgmental ... but WHAT KIND OF PARENTS avenge their son by killing someone else's son?! Don't they say their "Allah" is Merciful?! And what kind of a Judiciairy system allows a teenager involved in second-degree murder die on the whim of victim's parents--who are perhaps too psychologically devastated to be fair.

I cannot calm down ... (and now parvati told me that Behnoud's been begging the parents of Ehsan to forgive and spare his life ... I cannot calm down ...)

Post Post script:

and yet I come across this story: The family of Mansoor Kahyayee, who was killed at the age of 18 by a 15 year old boy. His father recounts how the society was pressuring them to seek revenge and have the killer executed; but the mother changes her heart and forgives ...

If the parents of a victim give consent, the killer's life will be spared. This is the area where many of Iranian celebrities are trying to make a difference: seeking consent of the parents. Nevertheless, there are many who are killed in Iran because of sexual indiscretion (even if voluntary) or political opposition to the regime. These individuals are harder to save--ironically because there is no Quranic loophole as there is in the case of murder victims' consent ...

These pictures are posted by Ahmad Batebi's blog. Proof that the family of Ehsan Nasrollahi had pardoned Behnoud in presence of witnesses.



Update: the head of the judiciary had tried to intervene and prevent this execution. The woman (mother of the victim) INSISTED on killing ... because he "ego" was hurt that the victim's family did not kiss up her ass enough ...

Tehran Court communication office confirms: 3 death sentences issued for post-election opposition

This news just appeared on Parleman News.

They have chosen the victims from alleged "Monarchists" and "MKO" supporters.

They think by choosing their victims from factions that are disliked by the majority of the Green supporters they put them in a check-mate situation:

If Mousavi and Karoubi supporters oppose this; they will be accused of being Monarchist and MKO "enemy"
If Mousavi and Karoubi supporters remain silent, then they have gotten their hands dirty in IRI's crime against humanity.

Luckily, the Greens are already protesting ... and since the PEOPLE have been the real leaders of this movement; I suspect Mousavi and KAroubi's camps will soon react to condemn these savage verdicts too.

Iran's Afro-Irish Piper? ... No, it's Bushehri Music, Saeed Shanbezadeh Insists.

I bet you didn't know Iran has Pipers who do the African dance when they come together, in weddings, funerals and political protests. Saeed Shanbeh Zadeh is a musician and dancer from Iran's 'Nuclear" harbor, Bushehr. His kind of music is often referred to as "Bandari", but he insists on making distinction between Bandari and Boushehri music; as he considers the latter more diverse and also more "anthropologically" specific. This video is from his Brussel's performance, in solidarity with Iranians who have had about enough of "Molla-Ali" (Ali Khamenei, the soup-ream leader).

Shanbeh Zadeh lives and performs in Paris. He has performed in numerous international events and he is scheduled to perform in the company of the Irish Pipers in The 16th William Kennedi Piping Festival, 12-15 Novemmber, 2009 in the city of Armagh, Northern Irland.

"The Shanbehzadeh Ensemble offers a rare aspect of the traditional music and dance of the Persian Gulf, more specifically of the province of Boushehr, a little known region in the south of Iran. The main instruments they play include the Neyanbânn (Iranian bagpipes), the Neydjofti (a double flute), the Dammâm (two-sided drum), the Zarbetempo (percussion), the traditional flute, the Senj (a sort of cymbal) and the Boogh (a goat's horn).

Saeid Shanbehzadeh: Neyanbânn, Neydjofti, Dammâm - He started playing music at the age of seven in his native town of Boushehr in the south of Iran, with the old masters of the music of the region. He began with percussion, singing, then learning the Neyanbânn (pipes), Neydjofti (double flute) and traditional dance. At 20 he founded the group the Shanbehzadeh Ensemble and won the first prize at the “Fajr” Festival in Tehran in 1990. He also continues to do research and write articles on the music of Southern Iran, which are published in Iranian newspapers. In 1996 he was invited by the University of Toronto to teach for six months and he was named in 1998 the professeur and director of the House of Culture, Music and the Arts of the Isle of Kish in Iran. He has composed music for and acted in several Iranian films [working with notable directors like Bahram Baizai, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Makhmalbaf]. "

(source: WKPF website)

(Here's more on Saeid's peace-efforts, by Nima Tamaddon)

Khatami talked about Exchange of Civilizations for 8 years; but Obama won the prize in 8 months!

(Here's my reaction.)

The author of the Persian Blog writes:

It's really cute: Khatami talked about peace and the conversation of civilizations for 8 full years, but in two months, they gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Barak Obama! With my experience in publishing my science articles in foreign journals; I have always understood that a ridiculous injustice prevails. For example, you do a scientific work in Asia and send it to a journal that rejects it. But, if the author is from England, with far inferior quality of work, he will get published in a high impact journal--of course there are exceptions too. Overall, I am getting increasinly convinced that Peace, United Nations, and Human Rights are just market tools! (source:http://chodankalleh.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post_09.html)

Rakhshan Bani-Etemad: We are half of the population

This documentary was prepared before the election. It shows coalition of women, from DIFFERENT factions, coming together to press the candidates, ALL of them, to voice out their concerns through the campaign podiums of election campaign

This is all in Persian, but you may enjoy watching the wide range of women participants in political, social, and legal spheres of Iran.

I will keep an eye for a subtitled version of this, subtitle it myself (if i get in touch with the director) or at least provide a summary for you.

The significance of this video, besides demonstrating the VITAL and powerful force of women in Iranian politics, is that the only candidate absent from this documentary is Mr Ahmadinejad!

The significance of this vide is also in the REALISTIC and pragmatic view women have about their demands, and how well aware they are of the fact that the infrastructure of reform shall be built on their foundations.

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nimiaziran@gmail.com

ارسال کنید ساختار اين مستند براساس طرح سؤالات فعالين حقوق زن از طيف متنوعي با ديدگاه‌هاي مختلف درباره مطالبات زنان و در انتها نقطه نظر كانديداه

Obama's Nobel Prize? Pros & Cons

Well, I hope no one expects me to treat this too seriously, I find it amusing! This is good fun!

I don't know what peace Mr O has accomplished so far, but I know he bombed the moon today!

So it turns out that the Nobel committee is again trying to "bias" the world politics, rather than reacting to it. Because, for God's sake, how can Obama in all his eloquence have deserved this prize? One might argue that other contenders were not sensational enough and their peace efforts were of less global concern than that of Mr Obama's. Okey, may be! But, can anything good come out of this? You judge!

a) Mahmud Ahmaghinejad will have another opportunity to send a "I kiss your peace-loving behind Master Hossain Barak" message to the white house.

b) Mahmoud will go on an interview with CNN, PBS, NBC, CBS and even BBC to say something like this:

Look if we violated the human rights in Iran, then why did your Nobel peace-prize winning president cancel funding to the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center, and prevented the congress from sanctioning our great elected!! government?

c) Barak Hossein Obama will perhaps be shamed to deploy more troops across the world or try America's new generation of bunker-busters to "keep the peace"!

d) If C happens, then Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad move up the list of Nobel committee to be nominated for next years prize to prevent them from further bloodshed!

Anyways, I like Obama; but if I were him, I will not be proud to have received this award. He has not "earned it". He is roped in the ambitions of a committee who want to leave their mark on the world's FUTURE peace. I think I agree with their vision; let's hope they have been right in their judgement.

Post Script: I am watching Obama's statement. This man is brilliant and I like him! "Nobel prize is also awarded to give momentum ... this is a call to action" Great! Now I like to predict that at the end of his speech he will give up his award to a cause! 11:20 am :)

Here's an interesting reaction from Iran

How worse are things getting that Karoubi breaks his silence to refute Ahmadinejad's lies to Charlie Rose?

I didn't know Charlie Rose has interviewed this monster too.

Listening to Ahmadinejad in these interviews is sickening because

1. The translator (with a annoying high voice and an accent that matches Ahmadinejad's lower-class manner of speech) "makes up" things a lot of time.

2. Ahmadinejad lies through his teeth: for example he talks about all the polls taht have been showing in Iran that he will be a winner! This is FALSE: polls taken in Iran indicated taht he will be the looser! Or, he talked about how it was the friends and supporters of Mousavi and Karoubi who "ran the election". Again another falsehood--which has been OFFICIALLY complained against by all three other candidates: the fact that even their monitors were forced out of the branches towards the closing of the polls and was made unable to participate in the count.

3. He diverts attention from the questions at hand. For example Charlie Rose puts a very direct and the most interesting question anyone has put to him yet; which is: "Ayatollah Khamenei, in his speech, said that he doesn't think that the British and the Americans were masterminds of this public revolt.". Then Ahmadinejad says: "no he didn't say that?". Charlie: "he didn't? what did he say?" Ahmadinejad, then diverts teh attention to his interview with Katie Couric, and the "picture-exchange" of that fiasco!

Anyways, a couple of days ago I was wondering why Karoubi is so quiet. I was told that he is waiting for this "National Unity" plan and that in his latest meeting with Larijani, he was given assurance that his concerns will be addressed. That he speaks now means his hopes have waned and he is taking matters in his own hands again. It is becoming apparent that the IRGC is not interested in national unity plan (judging from Jafari's statements (persian) who considers militarization a sign of IRI's success and a necessity for guarding the revolution--from the founders of revolution, like Hashemi, Montazeri, Beheshti, Mousavi, Khatami et al.), that the judiciary that was supposed to be independent is just smoke-screening a new wave of brutality that on the one hand releases Hajjarian after depleting him of influence by putting this disabled man on public TV to deny he has ever meant any of what he has said; and on the other hand issues new arrests, severe punishment for students who have been undermining official's presence on Iranian campuses in the past two weeks, and especially handing out the first death penalty (persian) to at least one of these protesters who has confessed to having link to a Monarchist organization (persian)--so obscure an organization that I had to google it up! Another 25 years old protester is charged with "moharebeh" (fighting against the Establishment) which carries death penalty as well. And interestingly, in his interview with Rose, Ahmadinejad is unequivocally clear: "we don't give a damn these people have a long history of service to the revolution; we have had election so that people won't come on street, and if these people keep protesting, we will deal with them as opposition." Keep in mind that the official opposition to IRI have been: Kurdish resistance; MKO, and Monarchists! All these "opponents" who were caught in the IRI have long met their makers!

Ahmadinejad's wounds are not one or two:

Again, Hassan Khomeini snubbed the regime by not attending the oath of faith ceremony of the armed forces taking place in Khomeini's mausoleum. Also, over 190 of CONSERVAIVE (i.e. right-wing; anti-reform) members of parliament were ABSENT from his Government-Parliament meeting. This is an unmistakeable snub! He dodged Charlie Rose's question about how unpopular he is--but the history is written on a daily basis. Ahmadinejad's only base is GUNS; INTIMIDATION and BULLYing.

In any case, things are moving in the wrong direction--an inch every day.

Perhaps this is why Karoubi's broken his silence and has written to the state television, asking to be given air time, and to refute Ahmadinejad's lies on PBS--which was recently broadcast in Iran. Karoubi insists on evidence of torture in IRI prisons.