Karroubi on Majlis Elections

Mehdi Karroubi has been under illegal house arrest for nearly a year. Recently his wife expressed his opinion in an interview about the upcoming Majlis elections and other topics:

Given that the vetting process for parliamentary candidates is about to begin, there has been much discussion regarding whether or not reformist candidates should participate in the upcoming elections. In your meetings with Mr. Karroubi did you have an opportunity to ask Mr. Karroubi, former head of the parliament about his opinion regarding this matter? What can you tell us about his latest condition and circumstances?

As you are aware, Mr Karroubi has been under house arrest for over 300 days. Thanks to the grace of God and the prayers of our nation, my husband is in good spirits, remains strong and determined, sending his warm felt greetings to all our free spirited compatriots.

In response to the first part of your question regarding the upcoming elections, it goes without saying that Mr. Karroubi has little access to independent news and in particular information regarding the elections. His only source of news is the [government based] IRIB television station (Seda va Sima) and two other newspapers he has been allowed to read as of late. In my recent visit with him, I informed him that a number of friends and relatives from Tehran and other cities have inquired about his position regarding whether or not reformist candidates should participate in the upcoming elections. My husband responded:

"Given what I have heard regarding the positions of the head of the Guardian Council and the Minister of Intelligence and other officials and in particular with what I have seen on the national television station (IRIB), it looks as though they believe that "those who are" the enemies of the revolution and the regime want to use the elections as a pretext to act against the national security of our country. I infer from the above statements that these gentlemen are fully aware of the continued discontent and anger of our people and as a result seek to organize a rigged and forced election process in which candidates who do not meet their requirements are disqualified and barred from participating. This will lead to ballot boxes filled with votes that belong to god knows whom. Their goal is to once again arrest, create fear amongst our citizens, impose a heavy security atmosphere and repeat the tragedies that took place during the presidential elections in 2009; a process in which candidates will be approved by the Guardian Council based on their positions regarding the supposed "heads of the sedition" and the groups causing the "diversion". It goes without saying that when the ruling government is reduced to calling the reformists, the Green Movement and protesting citizens the "diversionary group" , their intent is to deceive and I believe that our nation is fully cognizant of these types of tactics."

Karroubi added: "Even though nothing has happened yet, these gentlemen have already established an electoral campaign to combat election fraud on the orders of the head of the Judiciary. These actions only further prove that these gentlemen have no respect for or belief in the votes of the citizens and have already prepared themselves for a rigged election."

Karroubi [sarcastically] concluded: "In order to ensure that the reputation of Islam, Islamic scholars and clergy men is not further tarnished and the citizens and political activists sympathetic to the ruling government are not once again harmed, perhaps the few individuals such as Ali Akbar Velayati and Mohsen Rezai who are still acceptable by the establishment (and presented some novel view points during the elections in 2009) should be assigned as spokespersons for Gholam Ali Haddad Adel and Ahmad Khatami (who determined that the humble Mousavi was an Enemy of God) and form an Election Council under the supervision of Ahmad Janati (may he live long). This Election Council can then appoint representatives that they believe are the true representatives of the nation and in doing so place the ultimate dagger in the corpse of the Islamic Republic, founded in 1979 based on an overwhelming and unprecedented popular vote, so that then, if God willing, our nation finally has an opportunity to implement the provisions in the 1979 Constitution, of course only with amendments that have become necessary over time."

خبرنگار ما از فاطمه کروبی پرسید که «باتوجه به شروع زمان ثبت نام انتخابات مجلس، بحث‌ها و موضع‌گیری‌های مختلفی درخصوص انتخابات و امکان حضور اصلاح‌طلبان در این انتخابات مطرح شده ‌است؛ آیا شما در دیدارهای هفتگی خود با آقای کروبی به عنوان رئیس سابق مجلس، در این خصوص سؤالی از ایشان پرسیده‌اید و از موضع ایشان اطلاع دارید؟ و اینکه آخرین وضعیت ایشان چگونه است؟


فاطمه کروبی در پاسخ به این پرسش گفت:« همانگونه که در جریان هستید آقای کروبی بیش از ۳۰۰ روز است که در حبس خانگی به سر می برند و ایشان به لطف پروردگار و دعای خیر مردم از نظر روحی شاداب و با عزمی راسخ، همچون کوه استوار است و از صمیم دل سلام به یکایک مردم آزاده ایران می رساند. اما در مورد بخش اول سوال شما در خصوص انتخابات آینده مجلس، آقای کروبی دسترسی آزادی به اطلاعات و اخبار مختلف درخصوص انتخابات ندارند و تنها به صداوسیمای “میلی” و نیز به تازگی به دو روزنامه دسترسی دارند. من در دیدار اخیر خود نیز به ایشان اطلاع دادم که برخی نزدیکان و دوستان از تهران و شهرستان ها مراجعه می‌کنند و نظر جنابعالی را درخصوص شرکت در انتخابات و کاندیداتوری نیروهای اصلاح‌طلب جویا می‌شوند؛ که ایشان در پاسخ به این موضوع نکاتی را با من درمیان گذاشتند.»ـ

فاطمه کروبی، نماینده سابق مجلس؛ در ادامه درخصوص دیدگاه‌هایی که مهدی کروبی با ایشان درمیان گذاشته‌ بود گفت:« ایشان به من گفتند “موضع‌گیری‌هایی که از دبیر شورای نگهبان و وزیر اطلاعات و برخی دیگر از مسئولان و مخصوصا صدا و سیما شنیده‌ام حاکی از آن است که به اعتقاد “آنان” دشمنان انقلاب و نظام می‌خواهند از فرصت انتخابات استفاده کنند و امنیت کشور را برهم زنند! من از این دیدگاه‌ها استنباط کردم که آقایان از تداوم قهر و نارضایتی مردم به خوبی مطلع‌اند و می‌خواهند انتخاباتی فرمایشی و دستوری ترتیب دهند و با رد صلاحیت و ابطال برخی حوزه‌ها و پرکردن صندوق‌های رای از رای‌های بدون صاحب، و سپس برخورد و دستگیری و به وجود آوردن رعب و وحشت و امنیتی کردن کشور، پروژه تکراری انتخابات ۸۸ را بار دیگر پیاده کنند و از کاندیداها بخواند که برای دریافت جواز تایید صلاحیت شورای نگهبان، به تعبیر آنان از “سران فتنه” و گروه خودساخته ی “جریان انحرافی” اعلام برائت کنند. ناگفته نماند که چسباندن گروه منتسب به “جریان انحرافی” توسط حکومت به طیف اصلاحات ، جنبش سبز و مردم معترض، سناریوی نخ نما شده ای در این پروژه است. که البته بنده معتقدم مردم بر ماهیت این اقدامات نمایشی به خوبی واقفند.”ـ

آقای کروبی اینها را به من گفتند و افزودند که “هنوز هیچ اتفاقی نیافتاده آقایان ستاد مبارزه با تخلفات انتخاباتی را با حکم رییس قوه قضائیه تشکیل داده‌اند و همه اینها نشان دهنده آن است که آقایان هیچ اعتقادی به رای مردم ندارند و از هم اکنون خود را برای برگزاری انتخاباتی فرمایشی آماده می‌کنند.”ـ

فاطمه کروبی سپس اشاره کرد که آقای کروبی با ذکر این مقدمات در ادامه تاکید کردند:« برای اینکه از این بیشتر آبروی اسلام و روحانیت نرود و مردم و فعالان سیاسی دلسوز نظام، مجددا گرفتار نشوند، بهتر است جمع اندکی که مورد قبول آقایان هستند مانند: علی اکبر ولایتی، محسن رضایی(که در انتخابات ۸۸ نظرات بدیعی داشتند) به سخنگویی حدادعادل و احمد خاتمی(به عنوان حاکم شرع قاطع، که وی، حقیر و آقای موسوی را محارب اعلام کرده بود) ؛ به ریاست احمد جنتی- که عمر او دراز باد- به عنوان شورای عالی انتخابات منصوب شوند و افرادی را به عنوان نماینده ملت انتخاب (منصوب) کنند و تیر آخر را به پیکره جمهوری اسلامی که در سال ۵۸ با رأی قاطع و بی سابقه مردم تصویب و تاسیس شد؛ بزنند تا انشاله مردم در فرصتی مناسب، ارزش های موجود در قانون اساسی سال ۵۸ را، البته با اصلاحاتی که در گذر زمان ضروری می‌نماید؛ احیا کنند.»ـ

Protesters in Syria Burn Picture of Khamenei

Regime's Policies Ruining Currency

As a result of their disastrous economic policies meant to enrich themselves, the regime is overseeing the collapse of the Iranian currency and seems unable to do anything about it. The rial has dropped 2% against the US Dollar in the past day alone. While the wealth of Middle Class Iranians disappears in inflation and a weak currency, the regime pretends like it is doing something:

The Iranian president says his administration will do everything it can to save the national currency from plunging further out of control.

The semi-official Mehr news agency is quoting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying this is possible with the “huge reserves” of hard currency that Iran has. The report offered no details.

The rial hit a record low on Tuesday, with the U.S. dollar selling for 15,050 rials in foreign currency exchange offices.

The dollar sold for about 10,500 rials last December and in 1979 — the year an Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi — it was 70 rials against the dollar.

Iran has restricted cash withdrawals and allows banks to sell only $2,000 per year to each person traveling outside the country.

Shoes Thrown at Ahmadinejad

One brave man finally had enough of the regime's broken promises and threw shoes at Ahmadinejad. Hopefully the regime will begin to listen to the grievances of the people, but I doubt it. Also I hope for the best for this poor man who will surely be treated poorly by the regime for showing his open defiance:

A jobless man has thrown his shoes at Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to protest at not having received his unemployment benefits.

A report of the incident on a conservative Iranian website Shafaf.ir is a rare example of the Iranian media reporting a humiliation reportedly suffered by the president. The website is close to Ahmadinejad's opponents.

The website identifies the man as a laid-off worker in a textile factory in the northern city of Sari, which the president was visiting.

It says that the shoes missed Ahmadinejad, and the man began to attack the government for his failure to receive his benefits.

Iran officially reports its unemployment rate at about 11%, but some experts say it is much higher.

The Injured

Great piece about those injured in the aftermath of the fradulent election and an interview with one of the regime's victims:

There are no official statistics on those killed, injured, and imprisoned after Iran's Presidential election in June 2009.

Last month Alireza Saboori, shot in the head during the mass protest of 15 June 2009, died in the US. This prompted Mohammad (Farhad) Yeganeh Tabrizi, injured during the Ashura demonstrations of December 2009 to break his anonymity: "I have already come to terms with the fact that sooner or later, I might have to face the same fate, but what tortures me is how the thousands of injured, whose pain is many times greater than the death of those who died during the protests following the election, are being forgotten."

Yeganeh Tabrizi has had several surgeries and still suffers from a bullet that is lodged in his body. Lamenting the lack of attention of the media, families, and even some Iranians living abroad to the plight of injured protesters, he says: "I always ask myself, what if Neda Agha Soltan had also been injured and not killed? What percentage of Iranians would go looking for her and her family? How many foreign reporters would interview her? How many people would go to visit her? How many journalists would write reports about her ? Would her family get information out to help to save her life? Or would she, too, die in obscurity and utter anonymity for the sake of some rational excuse by her family and the media?"

Yeganeh Tabrizi adds: "The silence of families, the media's failure to follow up, and the fact that most of these injured Iranians are forgotten and haven't received any kind of assistance basically means they have 'been buried alive'. They went out for the freedom of their country and in the process have lost their lives or are losing them. I only found out what happened to people like Alireza after I left Iran." He explains, "While in Turkey, I met with injured Iranians who lives in poverty and misfortune, without access to basic health care, waiting for an answer from UNHCR [the United Nations High Commission for Refugees] to get resettled. I still don't know what happened to many of them."

In a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Yeganeh Tabrizi wrote:

I request that you investigate why I --- an Iranian citizen - who had spent 15 years of his life ensuring I had a way to support himself, lost all of it in a single night just because I protested against an election that was rigged by the Iranian regime. I request that you investigate why such a person has to be forced to spend everything he has on injuries he has suffered on a way to smuggle himself out of the country and still spend the rest of his life slowly getting more and more paralyzed mentally and physically.

I gave a vote and it was not counted. Why should I have to give up my life and well-being for it? Through this letter, I declare that I have complaints against the Islamic Republic and want compensation in return for my physical paralysis, mental deterioration and loss of work, business and the physical torture and humiliation that I have faced.

If I could find a just source in this life, I will demand justice. Otherwise I'll take my complaint to the God who kept me alive long enough to complain about this to you.


The Complete Interview

Here's the complete text of the interview conducted by a Kaleme report with Mohammad Yeganeh Tabrizi, a protester who was injured during the Ashura protests in 2009.

Mr.Yeganeh, I asked you for an interview about your physical state once before and you told me you were being treated and remembering what happened during Ashura is too much to bear for you. Is it possible for you to tell us what happened that day during Ashura in 2009?

I was shot with a shot gun on that day, which was December 25, 2009.

Where exactly were you during that protest and how did this happen to you?

We were moving form Imam Hossain Square towards Enghelab Square while we were being continuously attacked by security forces and Basij over and over. But we kept changing our direction to avoid confrontation with them and kept changing course to finally get back to Enghelab Square until we got to College Bridge (Pole-Kalej). It was very crowded and from there on to Valiasr Square, people were beating their chests and mourning while also being there to support the Green Movement and Mir Hossein Mousavi. I was also moving from under the bridge towards Valiasr because the bridge itself was completely occupied by men in plainclothes who wouldn't allow people to use it.

As we got near the end of the bridge, suddenly riot police showed up from the direction of Valiasr with riot police vans and attacked people. There was so much tear gas that you couldn't see or breathe. We were forced to retreat when the men on the bridge started throwing stones upon us. Several people were injured on the spot. We were forced to enter Alborz Street and get to Hafez Street from there, but our path had been sealed off there. People were surrounded by the plainclothesmen and riot police. There were clashes everywhere, bullets were being shot, stones were being thrown, and tear gas was being fired.

Do you remember who exactly shot you? I mean, could you see the shooters?

Three of us got shot in the head with shotguns by security forces. One man in plainclothes was also shooting at us with a Colt. We didn't expect the police to shoot at us. Just as I saw them shooting at us, the man sitting next to me got shot in the face. I turned to help him and my back was towards the shooters when I was hit on the back of my head and the rest of my body. In totally, 150 shotgun pellets struck me.

What did you do when you got injured? Did they take you to a hospital? What hospital did they take you to and what were the circumstances like that day?

That day, people had surrounded the riot police. They were disarming them and taking off their uniforms and later letting them go one by one. Suddenly, I saw a body falling from atop the bridge. That body was a young protester that the plainclothesmen had pushed over the bridge. He fell next to us on the road and his body was mangled up. At the moment, I thought I was hit by a stone so I ran to get under the bridge. That's when I realized that I was bleeding horrifically from all over my body and head. After seeing the bodies of the other protesters who got shot like me, I realized that my own body had been filled with holes. After I got under the bridge, I lost consciousness and couldn't see or hear anything. I thought I was unconscious and dying. Then, I heard the sound of youngsters who'd gathered around me and were guessing that I was dead due to blood loss. I wanted to move a hand or foot so they'd know that I'm alive. I was only able to open my eyes and one of the youngsters that I didn't recognize along with his friends picked me up and took me out from the scene of the clashes.

I had little hope of getting out of that dead zone, but those youngsters who I only found a picture of later, took me to their car, laying me down on the backseat. The car was filling up with blood and my body had no movement. They delivered me to an ambulance in Hafez Street which quickly took me to Sina Hospital. At the gate, a security agent in plainclothes entered the ambulance and searched my pockets, then confiscated my cell phone and other belongings.

After that did you have surgery and treatment in Iran? I mean, did you have face any security issues after getting injured? Were you afraid of going to the hospital?

After assurances from one of my acquaintances, who was on the staff of the Army Hospital, I was taken to that hospital and was under the watch of intelligence. I was unconscious for 20 days and in CCU. When I regained consciousness, I realized that two of the pellets had been lodged inside my brain and had severely injured it. The doctors there did everything they could, but did not disturb my brain itself because of past experiences with wounded soldiers. They knew that if they did, it would probably cause more brain damage. Instead, they gave me very expensive and rare medications, which we procured with a great deal of difficulty to stop me from becoming brain dead. After regaining consciousness, I was questioned twice by the intelligence police and I have written about it to Ahmad Shaheed [the United Nations Special Rapporter for Human Rights in Iran.

When I was in Iran, the people who had taken over my responsibility handed my half-paralyzed body over to the intelligence police on a wheelchair on Moalem Street. After questioning, they sent me to the Enghelab Court with a guard and was handed over to an investigator of the 10th Branch of the Enghelab Court. There, before the intelligence police could question me, I said that I wanted to complain about the security forces for shooting me. The representative of the intelligence police started beating me in front of the investigator and the court clerk. I fell off the wheelchair. He told me I was a criminal because you were on Enghelab Street during Ashura and that your crime has been proven. He told me they were looking for pictures and videos of me there and once found, they would prosecute and hang me. Then, just to make things worse, they took me to the basement for taking my fingerprints, but in reality, they just wanted me to witness the brutal torture of other detainees. Hundreds of people had been enchained and were being beaten every now and then. He told me that they were all protesters from Ashura and had clashed with the police like me. He told me they would take us all to Evin Prison and kill us all.

What happened after you decided to leave Iran?

Even though my life had been miraculously saved, I had still lost my well-being. My work was being hindered with a variety of tactics. I had to let my company go insolvent. My case was continuing in the Enghelab Court. My case had been delayed because the left side of my body had been paralyzed. I was neither physically okay nor able to work or had a life left. I got in touch with different parties and groups and even contacted the leaders of the movement. After I ascertained that I couldn't find any support inside Iran, I decided to leave.

Did you get surgery and treatment outside Iran?

I'm currently in treatment in a hospital. However, even here, they've decided not to disturb the pellets that are already inside my brain. They're using physiotherapy and other limited methods to help me. In the coming weeks, though, there's going to be a new procedure to expel them through my ear. After two years, my left hand is totally paralysed and I can walk with a great deal of effort. But I have accepted these losses and must come to terms with them. I'm tired of treatment and hospitals and they of me. Maybe the pellets would move and save us all from further trouble [he means to say he wishes he'd just die]. After witnessing those scenes and days, life and death have lost their importance to me. Maybe death is more peaceful and enjoyable than this life. After all, I have witnessed it before, it was very sweet. I don't know why God sent me back to this world full of oppression and tyranny. Maybe fate wanted me to see the victimization of the people of Iran and keep my views to bear witness.

Did you expect to be shot at just because you were partaking in a protest?

Not at all. I did not expect partaking in an election to bring such a price and loss. But I had witnessed for eight months several times how people were bleeding on the streets. I was a witness to the silent march for freedom, the death of Neda; I saw them all with my own eyes. The news from Kahrizak and other such incidents at prisons I heard of. But on Ashura, we came to be like Imam Hussein and destroy the palaces of wealth and power that belong to the Yazeed of our time with our blood. Yes, I came to the streets on Ashura knowing the brutality of the government and how they confronted people like savages because I preferred death with dignity on Ashura over life in humiliation.

What was the most important thing that has pained you during this time?

What really tortures me is that during every incident of attacks on protesters, there were many more injured than killed. We don't know where they are and what's happening to them. Many of their families are forced to lie to their neighbors about the brutalities that the government has committed against them so that they can protect themselves and their loved ones from any further harm, but they don't know that they're burying the injured alive with this. Why didn't anyone know anything about Alireza Saboori and what happened to him in these past two years?

Well, as for Alireza, he was injured in June of 2009, but his family was not ready to inform anyone about his condition. After he died a refugee in Boston, only recently one of his family member outside Iran gave an interview about him.

You mean Iranians in Boston were unaware that he was in a hospital? You mean this is because of America? No, this was caused first by the families, and then you reporters outside the country didn't follow it up. You can censor what I just said because it relates to you. But this is the bitter truth that I must tell. In many cases, several people contribute to the burying alive of such victims. After Alireza Saboori, who shared my pain and died a refugee, several questions are gnawing at me. Why didn't you personally not follow up on the injured protesters whose numbers exceed that of those who were killed? I was personally in touch with some people just like Alireza Saboori in Turkey who who live in poverty and misfortune, without access to basic health care, waiting for an answer from UNHCR to get resettled. I do not have the slightest idea where they are now and what other problems befell them.

All of you who have pens and have an audience are responsible especially Kaleme and Jaras and even BBC and VOA. Were you worried that your conscience and that of others would be discomforted by the misfortunes of someone with shotgun pellets in his brain? Maybe the martyrs were better because they were buried and had no complaints, requests or needs and couldn't speak anymore. I truly ask you: if Neda Agha-Soltan were alive today, how many of these Iranians who keep saying her name would be going to visit her? How many would go to help her if she was in trouble? How many reporters and photographers would publish reports about her? It's better that you ask I and Alireza to die as quickly as possible so you could have story idea for your newspapers without much headache.

You are right. Your circumstances are understandable and without a doubt, our mistakes and the silence of families, the fear, the security situation and several other issues existed and still do. Is it possible to say what was the biggest problem you faced during these circumstances?

When I was in Tehran and was forced to go between the Enghelab Court, intelligence police and forensic doctors every day, I desperately needed a doctor and a lawyer. Every door I knocked did not respond to my calls. Was it that hard for them to introduce a doctor and a lawyer to me? Even websites like Jaras and Kaleme, who knew that I had been politically active for eight months and are supporters of the Green Movement, did not pay attention to me. Why? What's more sad is that even those who oppose the Islamic Republic outside the country told that you belong to the same regime and belong to Mousavi's group and did not pay any attention to me. My family and acquaintances too joined hands to hide the issue. Maybe now I understand what poor Alireza Saboori had to endure thanks to these reservations, inattention and forgetfulness. Maybe before the death of others like me, everyone knows how to join hands and compromise on how to bury them alive.

With all these bitter tragedies that you faced, do you have regrets? I mean, if we were back in the past, would you still take part in protests?

Look. Most of us I mean the protesters of the Green Movement had reached the conclusion that the only way to save Iran and Iranians from war, oppression and misfortune in the future is to vote in the elections and change the system by voting for the candidates that stood against the leadership so we could return towards democracy. We were convinced that we had made up our minds about saving Iran otherwise, I would be busy working at my business and [2009 Presidential candidate Mir Hossein] Mousavi would be painting and busy with his art. Students were busy studying, reporters and writers were busy in their offices and politicians kept bickering with each other. But when we saw that Iran was moving towards absolute dictatorship, war and militarism and became convinced that they wanted to destroy the economy and agriculture and replace it with the IRGC mafia, there was no time wait. We left our lives and work and entered the scene to save Iran. Now that we've failed, at least I'm sure I've fulfilled my responsibility towards my country so I'm not personally regretful. Regretful should be those who had a role in suppressing people who wanted freedom; who dragged Iran towards destruction with their apathy and silence. God is my witness; if history turns back a hundred times, I will be standing in the front lines of the Green Movement of Iran's people, more determined and strong than ever and this time, I will either save Iran or choose death so I don't have to bear witness to the destruction of Iran and Iranians.

Were you politically active before the elections?

When I was a student at the university, I clashed then too and was beaten. Therefore, I decided not to get involved in politics and stay busy with my work and business. But when I saw that this time, politics is about to destroy my country and Mousavi had come to fight with empty hands, I couldn't help but enter the scene and break my silence. However, the leaders of the regime had promise a free and healthy election. Love is easy at first [a Persian saying which implies that difficulties were not initially apparent].

If there is a question I haven't asked or something you want to say, if you could mention it.

I just want to say a few things about the people's Green Movement of Iran. This movement is the crystallization of the Iranian people's one hundred year-long struggle for a free society that stands on democratic principles. It was a peaceful and against violence which in the beginning did not want to overthrow the system and take the reins of power. However, the lack foresight by Khamenei destroyed this historical opportunity and instead, power fell into the hands of Ahmadinejad's corrupt band who only value their own personal profit over the national interests of Iran. However, this leaderless and defenseless movement had no backers within or abroad except the people who stood firm and sacrificed both their lives and livelihoods.

As someone who was injured in these events, I received virtually no help or backing from any group or party. Where are the billions that these lying leaders say the United States gave the Green Movement? Mousavi and [Mehdi] Karroubi are imprisoned. We, the activists behind the Green Movement, spent our livelihoods and belongings to save our lives like the other martyrs and detainees. Then where are the billions that the head of the supreme court and Mr. [Ahmad] Jannati swear was given to us? Even America had extended a hand towards the Iranian government and Obama and Khamenei were exchanging letters when the bodies of Iranian youth littered the streets of Tehran. Now that these men have sunk in lies and the blood of the innocent people of Iran, they must hear the voice of the shattering of the pillars of their power. This movement had a lot of activists, but few backers. The opposition abroad was angry at the movement from the beginning, Foreign powers who were under pressure by their people decided to use this as an opportunity to extend the hand of friendship towards the regime, to the point where the regime gave itself the permission to massacre to suppress the movement. Now that we, the people who have no one to support us, are on our knees, Mrs. Clinton [the US Secretary of State] is releasing statements of support and the opposition is also voicing their support. This is all a bit too little too late.

US Virtural Embassay Blocked

The US opens a virtual embassy to Iran, but the regime appartently is blocking it. Instead of opening a virtual embassy in the US, those in power want to keep Iran isolated from the interantional community to futher their own goals.

Here is a link in English and here in Farsi.

Free Nasrin Sotoudeh

Regime Pretends it is 1979

Instead of dealing with real problems, the regime unleashes Basij elements to storm the British embassy in a sad attempt to pretend like we are living in 1979. Instead of presenting a positive image of Iran around the world and attempting to improve relations with other countries, the regime resorts to acts of desperation to distract from their own crimes and failures.

Regime Turns on Itself

Not content about suppressing the Iranian people, the regime continues to turn on itself as the conflict between the Ahmadineajd and Khamenei blocs continue. Ahmadinejad advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr humiliated at his own press conference. Here is the full story:


Judicial authorities in Iran have attempted to arrest a close ally of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in what is widely being viewed as the latest twist in the struggle for power at the top of the Iranian regime.

A group of officials raided the offices of the daily government newspaper Iran on Monday in order to arrest Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the president's media adviser. Javanfekr is also the head of the state news agency, Irna.

At the weekend, a court in Tehran had sentenced him to one year in jail and a three-year ban on working for the press after "publishing materials contrary to Islamic norms".

According to the semi-official Mehr news agency, Javanfekr was handcuffed but his arrest was "temporarily halted" after government officials intervened. Mehr did not specify who had stepped into the dispute, but some accounts attributed the intervention to Ahmadinejad.

Javanfekr was reportedly conducting a press conference when the judiciary officials tried to detain him. The conservative website Tabnak said the newspaper's staff gathered in his office and tried to prevent the president's top media aide being led away in handcuffs. The officials used teargas to disperse the staff and arrested about 30 of them.

"The judicial authorities threw teargas and tried to force their way into the [newspaper's] building," Javanfekr told Isna news agency following the incident. "They arrested some of our reporters and took them away and hit one of my colleagues with an electric baton.

"My colleagues were traumatised, some of them were hurt … I'm a representative of the government and the president's adviser … If they had summoned me, I would have gone to them. They did not need to do these kind of actions."

Ahmadinejad fell foul of conservatives with Iran after a series of public confrontations with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate power in Iran.

Since then, the president has lost a degree of influence in Iranian politics, particularly in the parliament and the judiciary which are both under influence of Khamenei.

In the wake of the power struggle, many of Ahmadinejad's supporters have distanced themselves from him, but a handful, including Javanfekr, have stood firm.

Javanfekr was put on trial after the publication of a series of articles about the chador, a garment that Iranian women wear to cover them from head to toe.

In one article, Ahmadinejad's former media adviser, Mehdi Kalhor, criticised the black colour of Iranian chadors, saying they did not originate from the Persian culture but were rather imported from the west.

Javanfekr also gave an interview to an Iranian reformist newspaper, Etemaad, on Saturday which led to its temporary closure for two months.

In the interview, he criticised opponents of the president and supported Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whom the conservatives have accused of revolutionary deviancy and corruption.

In response to one of Etemaad's questions about the recent power struggle, Javanfekr said the president has come "to serve the people" and "will stay till the end, till martyrdom".

He also criticised the judiciary for arresting Ahmadinejad's allies in recent months and shed light on some of the unseen dimensions of Iran's internal power struggle.

The parliamentary elections in March 2012 and presidential vote in 2013 have escalated the rift between Ahmadinejad and his supporters on one side and the conservatives close to Khamenei on the other side, fighting with each other for more influence over Iranian politics.

Mohammad Javad Larijani Goes on Lying Tour

Mohammad Javad Larijani, part of the crazy Larijani brothers, is on a lying tour at the UN making himself look like a fool. At a press conference, Larijani denied Mousavi and Karroubi are under house arrest:

“Well, nobody is in house arrest without trial and without court order. Incitement to violence is a major cause against them, and this is quite apparent for everybody.” Larijani added that the details of Mousavi’s and Karroubi’s charges will come out once court proceedings begin and noted that they were also charged with other “illegal activities,” which he did not name.

Numerous human rights groups and family members say that Mousavi and Karroubi are under house arrest. The saddest part of this whole thing is that Larijani is head of the High Council for Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His allegience should be to the Iranian people and defending their human rights as opposed to his brothers the head of the judiciary and head of the parliament.

Under Article 33 of the Iranian constitution, "No one can be banished from his place of residence, prevented from residing in the place of his choice, or compelled to reside in a given locality, except in cases provided by law." Also under Article 37, "Innocence is to be presumed, and no one is to be held guilty of a charge unless his or her guilt has been established by a competent court."

Mousavi and Karroubi have never been charged with a crime and have not been in a court room to even here charges against them. According to the constitution Larijani is supposed to uphold, they are to be treated as innocent until proven guilty and not treated as criminals.

Can Syria Bring Down the Iranian Regime

Everyday Syria is moving closer and closer to Civil War. As the Iranian regime backs Assad in his brutal suppression of his people, more and more members of his security state are defecting to the Free Syrian Army. The Arab League has suspended Syria and will put in place sanctions in coming days if the situation does not improve. All this indicates that the regime change train has left the station and there is no turning back for Assad and his thugs.

The Iranian regime seems to be realizing this and seems to be trying to hedge its bet for a Syria after Assad. The question turns to how does the current uprising in Syria effect the Iranian regime and can it help bring it down. The regime has already been greatly strategically hurt as its closet ally in the Middle East is in total chaos and there is nothing anyone can do to change that.

Those in power in Tehran are watching carefully to see what will happen and must wonder if they are next. If the Iranian people take inspiration from those in Syria and the rest of the Arab world, I think significant change is on the horizon in Iran. With things simmering underneath the surface in Iran, a major event such as the down fall of the Assad regime could be enough to also bring down its main supporter.

Karroubi Suffering Health Problems

After months of illegal detention, Mehdi Karroubi is suffering respiratory problems. This is how the regime treats an elederly cleric so let's hope for his speedy recovery. More here:

As previously communicated to our dear compatriots, security forces rejected the idea of our father being transferred to our house in Jamaran and instead detained him in a small business apartment for a period of 100 days, in the company of a number of security agents, without access to fresh air. Upon numerous requests by the family and in particular by our honorable mother, on Tuesday of last week, an agreement was finally reached to transfer my father to a house in one of the neighborhoods in Shemiran. According to the contract signed, one of the three units was made available to our father. Our family has agreed to pay a portion of the rent and the other portion will be paid by the Ministry of Intelligence given that their security agents will be deployed at the premises. Following the preparatory work, our father was transferred to this new location and the security officials also stated that our mother would be allowed to return to house arrest to be near our father. However, after our mother left today, we were informed that the security officials had not allowed her to stay with our father and they now insist that he remains in house arrest alone for an indefinite period of time.

Our mother confirmed today that Mr. Karroubi is suffering from respiratory problems as a result of lack of access to fresh air in the past 100 days. He is currently on medication prescribed by the physician of the Ministry of Intelligence. My mother reiterated that despite his ailing physical condition, our father remains in excellent spirits and he firmly stands behind the promise he made to the Iranian nation.

Mehdi Karroubi continues to be denied the basic rights afforded all prisoners in Iran, including access to newspapers, regular visitation with family members, the right to make phone calls, etc... Any access to fresh air, even after this recent transfer to a new location is only limited to inside the apartment in which he is being held. The truth is the manner in which our father has been treated in the past 9 months has been extremely contradictory and unconventionally strict. The fact that he has been deprived from being detained in his own house, has been forced to move to a new location without access to his family, coupled with the extreme efforts taken to ensure that he is isolated have greatly increased the family's concern regarding his well being. We expect the ruling government to clarify as soon as possible the scope and duration of this innovative form of arrest , the various aspects of which will surely be recorded in history.

همانطور که پیشتر به اطلاع هموطنان عزیز و علاقمندان رساندیم نیروهای امنیتی با انتقال پدر به منزل مسکونی شان در جماران موافقت نکردند و به اعمال حبس ۱۰۰ روزه در آپارتمانی اداری و کوچک بدون دسترسی به هوای آزاد و در کنار تعدادی از ماموران امنیتی مبادرت ورزیدند. بدنبال پیگیری های مکرر خانواده بویژه مادر بزرگوارم سه شنبه هفته گذشته قرارداد اجاره منزل مسکونی در یکی از محله های شمیران جهت گذراندن دوران حبس منعقد شد. بر اساس این قرارداد یک واحد از سه واحد استیجاری در اختیار پدر قرار گرفت. خانواده متعهد به پرداخت بخشی از مال الاجاره شد و بخش دیگر را وزارت اطلاعات بابت حضور نیروهایش بر عهده گرفت. بعد از فراهم شدن مقدمات، پدر به مکان جدید منتقل شد و مقامات امنیتی اجازه بازگشت مادر را به حبس دادند. بدنبال خروج امروز مادر مطلع شدیم که مقامات امنیتی اجازه ماندن وی در کنار پدر را نمی دهند و اصرار دارند آقای کروبی الباقی زمان نامعلوم حبس را به تنهایی بگذراند.ا

مادرم تاکید کردند وضعیت تنفسی آقای کروبی بدلیل شرائط نامساعد و عدم دسترسی به هوای آزاد در ۱۰۰ روز گذشته دچار مشکلاتی شده است که در حال حاضر ایشان از داروهای تجویز شده پزشک وزارت اطلاعات استفاده می کنند. ایشان همچنین اضافه کردند که بر خلاف ورود آسیب های جسمی، روحیه آقای کروبی نسبت به مسیر انتخاب شده و عهد خود با مردم بسیار عالی و کم نظیر است.ا

کروبی کما فی السابق از حقوق اولیه یک زندانی مانند حق دسترسی به روزنامه، ملاقات منظم با نزدیکان، تلفن و … برخوردار نمی باشد. هوا خوری ایشان بعد از انتقال تنها در محدوده آپارتمان مجاز شمرده شده است. حقیقت این است که در ۹ ماه گذشته شاهد رفتار متناقض و سختگیری های غیر متعارف نسبت به پدر بوده ایم. محرومیت از حبس در منزل خود و تحمیل مکان دیگر به خانواده و تلاش در جهت تنها نگاه داشتن کروبی نگرانی خانواده را دوچندان کرده است. از حاکمیت انتظار داریم دایره و قلمرو این حصر ابداعی که ابعاد مختلف آن در تاریخ این کشور ماندگار خواهد شد را هر چه سریعتر مشخص کند.ا

Does the Regime Want War?

The publication of findings by the IAEA in the coming days which mostly like point to progress towards weponization of Iran's nuclear program as well as recent statements by Israeli officials have made the prospect of war dangerously real. This comes after heightened tension between Iran and the United States over an alleged assassination plot of the Saudi Ambassador. It seems that the regime in Iran is spiraling towards war with Israel that could drag the United States and other countries in.

In the first instance, those in power in Iran have to be criticized for taking the country to the brink of war and making enemies for the nation. It is clear that the regime actually would welcome a war since it will cause people to rally around the flag and create a distraction to the crimes they are committing inside the country. So we have to keep in mind that the regime actively wants a war to come and we have to be weary not to fall in their trap.

The regime's closest ally in the region, Syria, is on the brink of full scale civil war as the criminal Assad regime has lost more and more legitimacy with its people. The sanctions put in place by the international community have hurt the Iranian economy and have made life even more difficult for those in power. Domestic opposition is as pervasive and wide spread as ever, but is only kept from spilling in the streets at the point of a gun. Within the regime, those in power are fighting among themselves with strong divisions between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. These factors make it clear that the regime's days are numbered and it will collapse sooner or later outside any major developments.

That is why the specter of war is so dangerous and throws a dangerous dynamic into the situation. We must recognize that those in power are doing all in their power to welcome war so that they can shore up their position. They know that Israel cannot and the United States will not commit to ground operations in Iran, but instead any war will be limited to air strikes. The regime is gambling that it can endure these strikes and come out stronger on the other end because it has shored up its domestic situation.

The protests of 2009 scared the regime because it saw how much support it has lost among the Iranian people. We should not ignore the prospect that the regime is on the path to cause other countries attack Iran so that its own domestic situation will become stronger. So before a military strike is take on Iran, we must remember that it may strengthen the very regime that it is targeting.

Secretary Clinton Interview with Parazit

Khamenei Wants to Destroy Islamic Republic

If making the presidency meaningless by allowing fraudulent elections wasn't enough, Khamenei now suggests that the post of President should be abolished. Of course the office of President is part of the Constitution and was meant to give the people an elected representative to counter the unelected Supreme Leader. Perhaps Khamenei is worried what will happen in 2013 when Presidential elections are supposed to take place and if he can get away with rigging another election.

What is most hypocritical about this whole proposal is the fact that Khamenei does not even respect the system that he helped create. After all Khamenei was President for 8 years in 1980s and now he is proposing getting rid of the office when he is not the one who holds it. Hopefully the people who still support this regime will see that it is no longer the Islamic Republic of Iran, but rather a military dictatorship of the few for their own benefit. The Islamic Republic is being destroyed everyday and those who are now in charge are now digging their own grave by removing the will of the people from the government.

Here is more about Khamenei's proposed changes:

A proposal by Iran’s supreme leader to radically alter the country’s constitution and abolish the presidency is drawing praise from his supporters but criticism from influential politicians.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was appointed supreme leader for life in 1989 by Shiite Muslim clerics, said in a speech last week that, if deemed appropriate, Iran could do without a president. The post is currently held by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose 2009 reelection was disputed by opponents and led to months of street protests.

Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said publicly Tuesday that the proposal strongly undermines the ideal of an Islamic republic, in which the people elect their leaders.

Ahmadinejad, for his part, said in a speech Tuesday in the eastern city of Birjand, “We will not respond but know that the nation is awake.” He was vague on whether he was specifically addressing the proposal to eliminate his position.

Ahmadinejad stressed that no one should have problems with “the people” and said that “if the time comes that anyone wants to block them from progressing, they will remove him in two seconds,” the Fararu Web site wrote.

Under the proposal, Iran would be ruled by Khamenei working in tandem with parliament, which would continue to be directly elected and would appoint one of its members to serve as prime minister.

Such a change could happen in the “near or distant future,” Khamenei said. The last time Iran’s constitution was altered was in 1989 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic and its first supreme leader. The position of prime minister was abolished at that time.

If implemented, the change would widen Khamenei’s powers. Supporters said it would allow him manage the nation without the current debilitating political squabbles and that nothing would really change, since voters would still elect the parliament.

“Our [supreme] leadership is the only unchangeable part of our system,” Mohammad Dehgan, an influential lawmaker, told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency on Monday. “Our presidential system in its current form is not effective,” he added, citing the political infighting.

While the supreme leader in theory has the final say over all state and religious matters in Iran, in practice he has ruled by consensus. However, he increasingly has stepped into political feuds recently and no longer actively supports Ahmadinejad.

The two men had a public falling out in April, when Ahmadinejad forced then-Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi to resign. That prompted Khamenei to reinstate Moslehi — a Shiite cleric and Khamenei protege — and effectively ended the supreme leader’s support for Ahmadinejad.

Under Iran’s system, the supreme leader is more powerful than the president and appoints the commanders of the armed forces, the chief judge and prosecutor and a number of other key officials. He is elected — and can be removed — by the Assembly of Experts, an 86-member council of Islamic scholars. The supreme leader also has the power to dismiss the president if the holder of that office is impeached by parliament or convicted by the supreme court of violating constitutional duties.

But any effort to remove Ahmadinejad would be politically costly, analysts said. Instead, supporters of Khamenei, 72, are trying to hamstring Ahmadinejad until his term ends in 2013. Among other things, they are reluctant to allow the president to speak live on state television.

The strongest criticism of Khamenei’s proposal came from Rafsanjani, 77, a cleric who served as president from 1989 to 1997 and was long considered the No. 2 figure in Iran’s political system. In an interview published Tuesday in the Shargh newspaper, which is critical of the government, he warned that the plan would limit “people’s influence.” He said he was sure that this was “not what the leader intends.”

Rafsanjani, who was purged after he supported political reformists following the 2009 election protests, rarely speaks out directly against the supreme leader.

“I do not admire the bad management of the country,” he told young journalists in the Shargh interview.

Mostafa Tajzadeh Letter to Khamenei

Mostafa Tajzadeh has been imprisoned unjustly for over 2 years for being against the regime. He has written a letter to Khamenei to remind him of the ideals the Islamic Republic supposedly believes in. Here is the letter:

With all due respect, I write you this letter not because I wish to complain about the oppression and crimes committed against my friends and I, nor do I hope or expect to change your position and perspective regarding the affairs of our country or warn you about the current path our country is on. These matters have been brought to your attention, although to no avail, both directly and indirectly over the recent years by many a great individuals whose intelligence, experience, and integrity cannot be denied. As for us, we have made a covenant with our God and we continue on this journey trusting his judgment and putting ourselves in his all knowing hands. We have no expectations of kindness whatsoever of any of God’s creations.

My intent in writing you this letter is to remind you of the ideals and principles that were once considered one of the most fundamental and sacred principles of our movement, principles that are unfortunately ignored today. Our revolution did not claim to have a message for the world regarding developments in science and technology, nor did it seek to speak of democracy or freedom of speech, for many a great nations have taken significant steps in this regard and their vast experience in this area was a great asset to us and our revolution. What set our revolution apart from revolutions that took place in other parts of the world was its spiritual and moral message to humanity, in a world that is focused on consumption and materialism. It was this message that attracted the world’s attention to a religious revolution and the leadership of a spiritual man [Ayatollah Khomeini].

Regardless of whether or not the revolution was successful in conveying this message in the first decade after its inception or the subsequent decades since --- and there is much room for discussion and criticism of how effectively this message was conveyed --- there is no doubt that this issue was very close to the heart of the late Imam Khomeini. In his letter to [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev, he did not encourage him to transition from Marxism to democracy and freedom, for that is a path that humanity is inevitably taking today.

The Imam’s intentions with his letter to Gorbachev as noted in his meeting with Eduard Shevardnadze was to open the doors to the heavens above to Mr. Gorbachev. That letter had only one message, to convey that the challenge did not lie in Gorbachev’s support of Marxism and was much deeper than his support of dictatorship or denial of basic rights and liberties, but rather his denial of morality, spirituality and divine laws. The Imam was warning Gorbachev to avoid falling into the trap of the material world and becoming a slave to consumerism, avoiding the same mistakes made by capitalistic societies in the West.

Ayatollah Khamenei,

Today we are witnessing the uprising of one Muslim nation after another, standing up against tyranny and humiliation, overthrowing dictatorial regimes in their quest to experience a new world and a better life. If their goal is to pursue science and technology and the further development of their country and their personal financial well-being, then without a doubt, given the current inflation, unemployment rate, zero growth in GDP and declining economic conditions, all a direct result of the mismanagement, incompetence and inefficiencies of the current ruling government, it is best if you and I recommend that they not use Iran’s current model as one to emulate!

If their goal on the other hand, is to adhere to a high standard of ethics and spirituality, qualities that were integral to the message of our revolution and distinguished it from all other revolutions, as the leader of the Islamic Republic, are you able to provide them with any tangible and practical examples of such achievements by the regime? Do you plan to point them to the lies, deception and most significant corruption in the history of our nation? Or will you speak of the generosity and humanity that government officials have shown towards our citizens?

Honourable leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran,

We had always read and also heard from the authorities that the regime and Islamic rulers are responsible for ensuring the security of the families of political prisoners. Although this important principle was never implemented during the years of the revolution, nevertheless in the past we could have never imagined that the Islamic Republic would accuse citizens of providing financial support to the families of political prisoners, let alone arrest them and send them behind bars to the dark and damp cells of solitary confinement for long periods of time. It would have never occurred to us in our wildest dreams that the homes of the families of political prisoners would be raided by security forces as a result of holding Eftar ceremonies, their security threatened and their wives and children arrested during the holy month of Ramadan. We never imagined that the regime would put such emphasis on premeditated reactions, systematically arresting their critics and opponents, rendering them incapable of earning a living and in doing so depriving their loved ones of food and their livelihood. Iran’s Attorney General has explicitly stated that he was unaware of Mr. Khavari’s dual citizenship and the fact that his family lives in Canada [Mahmoud Reza Khavari, Managing Director of Iran's Bank Melli, reportedly resigned and fled to Canada after the recent £2.6 billion bank fraud.]

Undoubtedly, the security agents were also in the dark regarding Mr. Khavari, even though they are aware of every single detail regarding the private lives of the families of political prisoners in Iran, even going as far as threatening our citizens and intimidating and preventing their children from getting married. We never imagined that morality and humanity in our country would digress to such a degree that children would be deprived of a right to an education in Iran and abroad as a result of the activities and efforts of their fathers, let alone fathom the idea that their personal lives and future would be put in the hands of interrogators and security agents. We never dreamed that humanity and dignity would be ignored so such a degree in our country that the children of political prisoners, fearful of being banned from leaving the country and as such deprived of an education, would not dare to travel to their mother’s country, and mothers would also be banned from leaving the country as a result of the activities of their husbands and as a result be deprived of seeing their children who live abroad.

Proponents of velayat-e-faqih in Iran [clerical supremacy] in support of this doctrine argue that in order to execute the will of God, one requires power. Is cutting off the financial means of critics and proponents, pressuring their families and depriving their children of basic human rights such as the right to an education, the divine limits upon which velayat-e-faqih was established in Iran?

Ayatollah Khamenei,

You undoubtedly remember as well as I do that when Mr. Bani Sadr [former President Abolhassan Bani Sadr] went into hiding before leaving the country, his family was arrested based on the orders of one of the judicial authorities so that he would be forced to turn himself in. At the time, the late Ayatollah Beheshti was very disturbed when he heard of this news and in addition to making sure that the judicial authority in question was punished, he ordered the immediate release of Bani Sadr’s family. Mr. Bani Sadr, subsequently fled the country and his family who were also not banned from leaving the country eventually joined him, so that I would be in a position to proudly recount this story today as a beautiful example and remind your excellency of the lost humanity, morality, spirituality in our nation.

The honorable Supreme Leader (Vali Faqih),

Iam neither associated with Mr. Bani Sadr, nor have I participated in any uprising against the regime with the likes of the MKO [the insurgent organisation Mujahedin-e-Khalq]. Fortunately, because I was arrested immediately after the elections, it is difficult at best to attribute imaginary charges such as conducting a velvet revolution, launching protests, and encouraging people to participate in anarchy and chaos to me. I have fortunately also not fled the country, but rather remain behind bars in your prison. Explain then why my wife who has done nothing but protest my arrest and incarceration, writing letters to her husband on her web blog, should be arrested in plain daylight, accosted by security agents and transferred to solitary confinement? Explain why she has now also been put on trial because she spoke out against the injustices imposed on her husband?

Our master Imam Ali once addressed those who viewed him as an infidel, stating that the following three rights will be respected with regards to them: 1) We will not deprive you of public funds, 2) We will not prevent you from entering a mosque in order to pray and 3) We will not fight with you unless you start the fight.

But the officials following your orders have deprived Shiites and their families and children of not only the nation’s public funds, but also of their jobs and a right to an education, only because they protested against the injustices committed against them. They are arrested and put on trial only because they dared to hold prayer services, asking God for the release of their husbands and those who sought to help them financially have been sent to solitary confinement.

Honourable leader of the Islamic Republic,

I have been in prison for approximately 2 1/2 years. During this time because I published my opinions regarding the challenges facing our nation in a completely legal manner, I have been illegally held in solitary confinement. My intention in writing this letter as previously stated is not to complain, nor do I expect you to address the oppression that is inflicted on your behalf. I only ask you one question. According to what moral criteria do the judicial authorities under your Excellency have the right to arrest my wife and put her on trial in an effort to pressure me and silence me from expressing my opinions with regards to the matters that concern our nation?

I do not worry about my wife being accused or arrested. Sentencing her will not prevent me from expressing my opinions regarding the matters that concern our nation. I have no doubt that my partner in life views this oppression and injustice as the continuation of a price we both chose to pay. My daughters also have a God who is kind, compassionate and holy on their side. I keep thinking about the fate of a regime that is on such a downward spiritual and moral spiral and the heavy price that our citizens will have to pay. All I know is that what is being practiced today in the name of religion and a religious state has no relation what so ever to religion and the authorities responsible for such acts have no relation with God or religion.

On Non-Violent Resistance

Lately I have been thinking about the merits and draw backs of non-violent resistance in bringing change to regimes across the Middle East. Clearly in Libya, violence towards the oppressor by the oppressed has brought about regime change. In Syria and Yemen, violence on all sides seems to be spiraling to more and more death with no end in sight.

In Iran, for both practical and philosophical reasons I believe the use of violence would not ultimately achieve the goal of getting rid of the regime. Some sort of violent civil war would create an opening for outsiders to come in which only strengthen the current regime. Moreover the large Revolutionary Guard corp is fiercely loyal to the regime and would be unlikely to defect meaning the regime would always have a hardened fighting corp at its disposal.

If violence cannot practically solve the problem, then I believe that continued non-violent resistance is the best option. Yet I also believe that we must also cleanse our hearts of anger if this type of action is successful. Mousavi following in the tradition of King and Gandhi has said that we must love our enemies in order to change them. Ultimately even the worst in the regime are still our fellow Iranians that we would not want to kill.

Given the immense power of the regime, the only hope to bring about change is to make those in the regime realize that they too our suffering under their own brutality. If we can slowly show them the light, then the Iran we create can include all Iranians. We must love even the worst in the regime because they are our brothers and sisters even if they do not love us back.

This is the way forward not just in Iran, but I believe in many places where the people face overwhelming disparates in power. The Palestinian must learn to love the Israeli brothers because both are suffering under the weight of oppression. Maybe it is naive to think that this can truly bring about change, but I believe that it is the only way forward in Iran and other places that are suffering under the weight of oppression.

Student Activist Lashed for "Insulting" Ahmadinejad

What democracy looks like in the Islamic Republic and I wish the best for this poor student. Sickening report here:

An Iranian student activist has been lashed 74 times for insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Peyman Aref, a student of political science at Tehran University was sentenced in March 2010 to a year in jail after being found guilty of propaganda against the regime for speaking to foreign media.

Aref, who was initially arrested in the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential elections in 2009, was also sentenced to 74 lashes for writing an "insulting" letter to Ahmadinejad and given a lifetime ban on working as a journalist or membership of any political parties.

His jail sentence came to an end on Sunday but, hours before his release from Tehran's notorious Evin prison, Aref was told the lashing would be carried out.

A masked prison guard carried out the lashing in presence of Aref's wife and officials from Iran's judiciary. News of the lashing come only a few weeks after Somayeh Tohidlou, a female Iranian blogger and campaigner for former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, was sentenced to a "symbolic" lashing for the same crime.

Unlike Tohidlou's symbolic punishment – designed to humiliate rather than harm – Aref was indeed whipped. Pictures taken after his release show his bloodied back covered in wounds.

"Lashing people sentenced to various charges such as those caught after drinking alcohol is common in Iran but political activists are usually lashed for ambiguous charges such as desecrating Islam or prophets," said an Iranian journalist based in Tehran who asked not to be named. "Lashing Aref for insulting Ahmadinejad is shocking and very unprecedented."

In a letter to the president during his 2009 election campaign, Aref attacked Ahmadinejad for his crackdown on students who had been politically active at university and barred from continuing with their studies.

Undergraduates and students who had criticised the government were given up to three "penalty points", according to the potential threat they were said to pose. Aref was among the "three-starred" MA students who were not not allowed to continue their studies. About 150 were starred.

Speaking to the website Rahesabz, Aref said after his release: "Whenever Ahmadinejad goes to New York [for UN general assembly], he boasts that Iran is the world's freest country but I was brutally flogged in my country for insulting him."

He added: "[My crime] was that I wrote an open letter to Ahmadinejad and reminded him of what he did to the universities." Authorities apparently have taken office because Aref refused to begin his letter with the formal greeting "Salam" as a sign of protest. Iran's online community reacted with shock to Aref's lashing with many people sharing pictures of his back covered in blood on social networking websites.

Amnesty International Urges Action on Illegal Detention of Mousavi and Karroubi

Here is their right up and call for action:

Opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, along with Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife Zahra Rahnavard, are still being held under house arrest without an arrest warrant, charge or trial. Mehdi Karroubi was moved to a small flat without his wife on around 31 July 2011. The three have limited access to family members and no legal representation.


In September 2011, Mehdi Karroubi’s wife, Fatemeh Karroubi, wrote a letter that has been made public to the Head of the Judiciary detailing the illegality of the house arrest and expressing concern for her husband’s health. She pointed out that during his house arrest, he had been deprived of access to books, newspapers, a telephone, regular family visits and exercise. She had also said earlier that Mehdi Karroubi, aged 74, had been moved to a small flat. Fatemeh Karroubi has also called for an independent physician to examine him.

Mir Hossein Mousavi’s children have also said that their parents are completely “cut off” from the outside world and have no access to newspapers, radio or stationery for writing.

Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have not been seen in public since early February 2011 when Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi called for demonstrations in support of the people of Tunisia and Egypt to be held on 14 February. Their whereabouts were initially unknown, but it later became clear that they were being held under house arrest without any arrest warrant. Mehdi Karroubi’s wife, Fatemeh Karroubi, was allowed to leave her home for medical treatment for a short period in April.. Amnesty International believes she has not been held under house arrest since Mehdi Karroubi’s transfer to a small flat without her.

Please write immediately in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language:

•Call on the Iranian authorities to release Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard without delay as they are being arbitrarily deprived of their liberty;

•Call on the authorities to ensure in the meantime that they are granted immediate and regular access to their family, a lawyer of their choice and all necessary medical care;
•Urge the authorities to remove unlawful restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and assembly.


PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 9 NOVEMBER 2011 TO:
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
[care of] Public relations Office
Number 4, 2 Azizi Street
Vali Asr Ave., above Pasteur Street intersection
Tehran,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com (In subject line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)
Speaker of Parliament

His Excellency Ali Larijani
Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami
Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 3355 6408

And copies to:
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
[Care of] Office of the Head of the Judiciary, Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir
(subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)

Strikes in Tehran Bazaar

Scenes of protests and strikes in Tehran's Bazaar as Merchants protest new taxes.

Mother of Martyr Sohrab Arabi Blasts Ahmadinejad UN Statements

Fatemeh Karroubi's Letter to Judiciary

In this stinging letter to the judiciary, she highlights the illegal and unconstitutional detnetion of her self and her husband:

My greetings to you Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, Head of Iran's Judiciary. I write to you in order to describe the events Mr. Karroubi and his family have endured over the past 7 months. Event that began on February 10th, 2011, when our residence was first surrounded by security agents and continued on February 25th, when our children and family members were banned from stopping in front of Yasaman alley for even an instant and notorious plain clothes agents descended upon our neighborhood shouting out insults and using abusive language against my husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi and other individuals close to our noble Imam Khomeini for six consecutive nights from 1:00 - 3:00am in the morning [Enclosed please find a number of audio tapes capturing the insults that were freely shouted outside our residence on the aforementioned consecutive nights.] On the last night, in addition to using inappropriate language that led to the distress and disturbance of all those who live in the neighborhood [audio tape also attached], while supported and led by security forces, the thugs outside our residence even threw sound bombs into the building, adding insult to injury. On the anniversary of the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad, on Monday February 21st, 2011, more than 60 security agents raided our house, disregarding all basic legal and religious standards and unlike the Savak [Shah's secret service] that was only concerned with important and valid documents, with the exception of a few items, they confiscated everything in sight, literally vacating the house and changing all the keys including the key to our bedroom. They also arrested our son Ali who had been contacted by the same security agents regarding the raid and had come to our house to make sure we were okay, transferring him to Evin prison on the same night.

From the very start I personally requested that they present an official warrant authorizing the raid of our residential complex, the presence of security agents inside our home and the ruling that led to the supposed house arrest. My request was never fulfilled and with the exception of the search warrant they presented to my husband on the very first night, to date the judicial authorities have never provided us with an official court ruling authorizing "our house arrest", "the occupation of our residential complex" and "the presence of security agents inside our home". If we base the raid by the security forces on the words uttered by Mr. Jannati [fundamentalist cleric and conservative Chairman of the Guardian Council] then we would have been subjected to house arrest, much like the fate of the late Ayatollah Montazeri. What happened in reality, however, was much more cruel and considerably harder to endure than solitary confinement. Those who have experience with the Savak prior to the Islamic Revolution are fully aware that the Savak never disregarded an individual's privacy without a legal warrant. My personal experiences during that time and those of so many other activists are testament to this fact. At that time, even if courts handed down a sentence leading to the house arrest of well known figures, security agents were never allowed to occupy the residential complex, home or apartment of the individual in question. [Even in 1975 when Mr. Karroubi was arrested on grounds that he colluded against the Shah's regime, we did not experience such a raid and search of our house.] Perhaps the son of Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, renowned for his piety and devotion to God, would be interested to know that during this raid, men who on the surface claimed to be religious, insisted upon searching all my personal belongings without any regard for modesty and Islamic values.

In the past 210 days, Mr. Karroubi has been denied the basic rights afforded to every prisoner, such as the access to books, newspapers, telephone contact, regular visitations and even fresh air. According to Mr. Karroubi's accounts of his various arrests in the past, including the time when he was incarcerated at Ghaz Ghaleh prison, after one or two weeks of solitary confinement, he was eventually allowed access to fresh air. This time around however, after six months of house arrest, he was still denied access to fresh air in a yard surrounded by iron bars. As a result, Mr. Karroubi's physical well being is at great risk, rendering his examination by independent physicians trusted by the family both necessary and essential.

The current situation and the refusal of the ruling government to recognize the rights of a prisoner who is under the jurisdiction of security agents without judicial due process, has led to extreme physical and psychological pressure on my husband. My concerns are not regarding the events that have occurred, for as I have repeatedly explained, my husband has prepared himself for conditions far worse than this. What is unfortunate and regretful, however, are the acts of a group of individuals who justify their illegal behavior based on unwritten laws and do as they please all in the name of governance.

Allow me to point to a recent example that was particularly strange and out of the ordinary. After our residential complex was occupied, the other homeowners were deprived of their legal rights while security agents began benefiting from their ownership rights. This unlawful seizure led to numerous complaints by Mr. Karroubi, including a letter addressed to Tehran's Prosecutor. From the very first day, Mr. Karroubi announced that he would be willing to move to any location including Evin prison, but he would never agree to the unlawful seizure of property belonging to the other owners of the residential complex in which we live. After five months of consultations [with government officials], our children arranged for a house in Jamaran to be prepared so that the illegal house arrest that had been imposed without a warrant or ruling by the judiciary could continue at a new location without causing any further harm and restrictions upon the other home owners. After complying with all their requests we were informed by security agents that Jamaran is not an appropriate location and they must decide on the final location for Karroubi's continued house arrest. After my husband insisted on moving, on July 31st, he was temporarily transferred together with a number of security agents to a one bedroom apartment, making it impossible for me to be present. This small apartment has hosted Karroubi and his various prison guards for the past 45 days. It goes without saying that no matter where the security agents take him, that location will never be considered his home.

Security officials cognizant of the family's concerns regarding Mr. Karroubi's health, particularly as it relates to his cardiovascular and respiratory well being, allowed him to leave our residence, announcing that he is allowed to move to a new location, stating:

1) We will decide on the new location
2) The person signing the rental agreement cannot be a member of the family
3) The person signing the rental agreement must provide pre-signed checks, covering the rent for a duration of one year, without knowledge of the address and/or other details regarding the location where Mr. Karroubi will be held.

As a result of these demands, we provided them with a down payment last month and they received the rest of the checks from a former member of Karroubi's office who was asked to sign and deliver the checks. It looks as though the latest trend is for the ruling government to make the family pay for the cost of incarceration and prison guards so that they can tell the world that Karroubi is under arrest in his own home! My husband is willing and prepared to pay any price, but we cannot deny that in order to intimidate him, they are imposing a collective punishment on his entire family. God only knows that my husband continues to fight with the same fervor that he had in 1962 at the height of his youth when he entered politics and became an activist. During all these years his determination has never wavered and he continues to stand strong behind his covenant with the people and our martyrs and the noble ideals and promises of the Islamic Revolution.

Do you truly believe that you will find one rational human being on this planet who will confirm that Karroubi is at home rather than under imposed house arrest? Will the silence by the judiciary not lead to a new trend in which security institutions will impose the costs associated with such house arrests on the shoulders of the families of those arrested? Is this type of behavior worthy of the Islamic Republic? Although you are fully aware that this newly devised and ridiculous tactic will be recorded in history as such, the family has nevertheless chosen to comply with your demands in order to protect the physical well being of Mr. Karroubi.

In conclusion I am obliged to refer you to the words of Imam Ali [Shia's first Imam], the father of deism who stated: " As God is my witness, I prefer to lay on thorns, deprive myself of all sleep and be shackled in chains, rather than having to meet God on judgment day knowing that I have wronged any of his children."
Fatemeh Karroubi

September 22nd, 2011

 آنچه موجب شد این نامه را به جنابعالی بنویسم شرح مطالبی کوتاه بوده است که در طول این ۷ ماه اخیر برای من و آقای کروبی رخ داده است از تاریخ ۲۱ بهمن ۱۳۸۹ ماموران امنیتی منزل مسکونی مان را به محاصره درآوردند و بعد از ۲۵ بهمن ماه در حالیکه اجازه توقف چند دقیقه ای به فرزندان و دیگر اعضای خانواده در کوی یاسمن داده نمی شد ، لباس شخصی های معلوم الحال را در شش شب متوالی به منطقه گسیل داشتند تا از ۱ نیمه شب تا ۳ بامداد به فحاشی و هتاکی نسب به همسرم ، مهندس موسوی ودیگر یاران نزدیک امام (ره) و بیت آن بزرگوار مبادرت کنند ( نوار مستندی از بعضی شعارهایی که آزادانه در شب های متوالی سر می دادند به پیوست تقدیم می گردد ) درشب آخر علاوه بر بکارگیری الفاظ سخیف که دراین ایام به شدت مورد ناراحتی اهالی محترم منطقه گردیده بود (نوار کاست پیوست) باحمایت و هدایت نیروهای امنیتی بمب صوتی هم به داخل ساختمان پرتاب گردید تا این فتح بزرگ را به فتوحات قبلی خود بیافزایند . همزمان با میلاد رسول رحمت (ص) در روز دوشنبه شب برابر با ۲/۱۲/۱۳۸۹ بیش از شصت نیروی امنیتی به منزل یورش آوردند و بدیهی ترین مسائل انسانی و شرعی را در تفتیش رعایت نکردند و برخلاف ساواک که تنها بدنبال اسناد مهم و معتبر بود، به استثنای وسائل، هر آنچه درمنزل بود با خود بردند و در واقع خانه را تخلیه کردند و کلیه کلید های داخل منزل حتی اتاق خواب را تغییر داده و در اختیار داشتند، و فرزند سومم علی را نیز همان شب که با تماس همین مامورین جهت دیدن ما آمده بود به اتهام جاسوسی دستگیر کرده و به اوین بردند.ـ


از بدو امر شخصاً خواستار ارائه مجوز تصرف مجتمع و حضور در واحد مسکونی مان و نیز حکم اعمال بازداشت خانگی بودم؛ خواسته ایی که هرگز اجابت نگردید. به استثنای حکم تفتیش که شب اول به رویت همسرم رسید، تاکنون هیچ حکمی از مراجع ذی صلاح قانونی مبنی بر “حبس” “اشغال منزل توسط نیروهای امنیتی” و “حضور آنان در داخل منزل” دریافت نکرده ایم. اگر مبنای یورش نیروهای امنیتی را سخنان جناب جنتی بدانیم باید در منزل شخصی خودمان نظیر مرحوم حضرت آیت الله العظمی منتظری حصر می گردیدیم، اما آنچه در عمل اتفاق افتاد از زندان انفرادی نیز بدتر و بی رحمانه تر بوده است. دوستانی که پیش از انقلاب سابقه ای دارند، می دانند که ساواک هیچگاه بدون حکم قانونی به حریم منزل اشخاص ورود نمی کرد. تجربه شخصی اینجانب در موارد متعدد و سایر مبارزان آن دوران گواهی است بر این ادعا. درآن زمان حتی برای بزرگانی که نسخه حصر خانگی اعمال می گردید، هرگز امنیتی ها در منزل و یا واحد آپارتمان شخص محصور شده حضور نمی یافتند. (حتی در زمان بازداشت سال ۱۳۵۳ حجت الاسلام والمسلمین کروبی، که نیروهای ساواک ایشان را به اتهام مبارزه علیه رژیم ستمشاهی بازداشت کردند، چنین بازرسی و تفتیشی از منزل ما صورت نگرفته بود) و شاید برای فرزند آیت الله میرزا هاشم آملی که به تقوا و زهد شهره بودند ، جالب باشد که بداند در جریان این حمله، مردان به ظاهر دین دار، تمام البسه و لوازم شخصی من را نیز بازرسی نموده و متاسفانه هیچ حیا و حجابی در ورود و بررسی وسایل شخصی من از خود نشان نمی دادند.ـ

آقای کروبی طی ۲۱۰ روز گذشته از حقوق اولیه یک زندانی نظیر حق دسترسی به کتاب، روزنامه، تلفن، ملاقاتنظم، هواخوری و … برخوردار نبوده است. ( در زمان بازداشت های مکرر آقای کروبی که خود ایشان نقل کرده اند من جمله در دوران بازداشت درزندان قزل قلعه سرانجام بعد از یک یا دو هفته زندان انفرادی، امکان هوا خوری هفتگی پیدا می کردند اما این بار پس از شش ماه حبس، اجازه استفاده از حیاط محصور درمیان میله ها و هواخوری را نیافتند) وضعیت جسمی ایشان بشدت در خطر قرار دارد و معاینه ایشان توسط پزشکان مستقل و مورد اعتماد خانواده امری ضروری است.ـ

فقدان تعیین وضعیت موجود و به رسمیت نشناختن حقوق زندانی که بدون طی کردن مراحل دادرسی و برگزاری دادگاه در اختیار امنیتی ها قرار گرفته، بستری مناسب برای اعمال فشارهای متعدد جسمی و روحی به همسرم گردیده است. نگرانی اینجانب از وقایع حادث شده نیست زیرا همانطور که قبلا متذکر شدم ایشان خود را برای شرایط بدتر از این هم آماده کرده است، لیکن آنچه موجب تأسف و تأثر است حاکمیت گروهی است که رفتار غیر قانونی خود را قانون نانوشته تلقی کرده و هرآنچه را که اراده می کنند بنام حاکمیت اعمال می کنند.ـ

اجازه می خواهم به نمونه اخیر که اتفاقا بدعت عجیبی است اشاره کنم. بدنبال اشغال و تصرف مجتمع مسکونی، سایر شرکاءِ ملکِ تصرف شده از اعمال حقوق مالکانه و انتفاع از ملک خود محروم و نیروهای امنیتی به جای آنان منتفع گردیدند! این تصرف خلاف شرع و قانون، موجب برخورد جدی آقای کروبی درموارد متعدد، از جمله نگارش نامه هایی به دادستان تهران گردید. از روز اول آقای کروبی اعلام کردند که آماده انتقال به هر مکانی از جمله زندان اوین هستند، اما راضی به تصرف غیر قانونی اموال سایر شرکاء نمی باشند. بعد از ۵ ماه رایزنی، فرزندان منزلی در جماران تهیه کردند، تا حبس بدون حکم، بدون ایجاد مزاحمت در حقوق دیگران و در منزل شخصی مان ادامه یابد. بعد از انجام کلیه امور و انتقال سند قطعی ماموران اعلام کردند که جماران منطقه مناسبی نیست و مکان حبس باید به انتخاب آنان باشد. بدنبال پافشاری همسرم در تاریخ ۹ مرداد ماه، بطور موقت ایشان با حضور تعدادی از نیروهای امنیتی به آپارتمانی یک خوابه منتقل شدند و عملا امکان حضور من در آنجا منتفی گردید. این آپارتمان کوچک پذیرای ۴۵ روزگذشته کروبی و زندانبانان وی بوده است. گرچه هرجایی که ایشان توسط نیروهای امنیتی منتقل شوند بمنزله واحد مسکونی ایشان نمی باشد.ـ

مقامات امنیتی که نگرانی خانواده نسبت به وضعیت سلامتی ایشان بویژه قلب و دستگاه تنفسی را درک کرده اند، تنها راه خروج از آپارتمان مذکور را منوط به اجاره مکان دیگر اعلام نموده اند:ـ

ـ۱) انتخاب مکان با ما است.ـ
ـ۲) امضا کننده قرار داد اجاره نباید عضوی از خانواده باشد.ـ
ـ۳) امضا کننده قرار داد در هنگام امضا باید پیشاپیش چک های یکسال را تقدیم کند و نباید از آدرس ملک و جزئیات باخبر باشد.ـ
دراین راستا یکماه پیش مبلغی بعنوان پیش پرداخت از من دریافت کردند و سایر چک ها را از یکی از اعضای سابق دفتر که برای امضا و تقدیم مال الاجاره خوانده شده بود، اخذ کردند. دراین بدعت جدید حاکمیت هزینه زندان و زندانبانان را برعهده خانواده گذاشته تا به جهانیان بگوید کروبی درخانه خود زندانی است!!! ایشان خود را برای پرداخت هر هزینه ای آماده کرده اما غافل از آنکه امروز در این سرزمین و به هدف مرعوب کردن وی، مجازات جمعی علیه خانواده اعمال می گردد. خدا را گواه می گیریم که همسرم با همان نشاطی که درسال ۱۳۴۱ و دراوج جوانی پا به عرصه سیاست و مبارزه گذاشت، دراین سال ها و در راستای عهد خود با مردم و شهدا و تحقق آرمان های اصیل انقلاب و وعده های داده شده دراین مسیر، هرگز خللی در اراده اش ایجاد نشده است.ـ
آیا جنابعالی فکر می کنید عاقلی در این کره خاکی پیدا شود که آن زندان تحمیلی را منزل کروبی تلقی کند؟ آیا سکوت دستگاه قضائی موجب این بدعت در دستگاه امنیتی نمی گردد که در آینده هزینه بازداشتگاه های خود را از خانواده زندانیان مطالبه کند؟ آیا چنین رفتاری شایسته جمهوری اسلامی است؟ اگرچه می دانید این دستور مضحک بدعتی تاریخی محسوب می گردد، اما خانواده بخاطر نگرانی از وضعیت جسمی آقای کروبی این خواسته را اجابت کرد.ـ
درپایان لازم می بینم نظرتان را به این فرمایش مولی الموحدین جلب کنم که می فرماید: ” به خدا قسم روی خارهای گزنده بخوابم و خواب را برچشمانم حرام کنم و با زنجیرهای گران بسته شوم، برای من بهتر است از اینکه روز قیامت خدا و رسول او را درحالی ملاقات کنم که به بعضی از بندگان خدا ستم کرده باشم ” .( بحار الانوار، ج ۴۱ ، صفحه ۱۶۲)ـ

Delegates Walk Out on Ahmadinejad Speech at UN

Protests Against Ahmadinejad at UN

Religion and the Fight for Freedom

I recently attended a discussion about the effort to spread democracy in Iran that featured a prominent exiled activist who gave his ideas about the current situation in Iran. His talk was well written and generally made good points about the state of opposition as well as what it will take to bring freedom to Iran. The discussion then opened up to the wider audience and that's when talk descended into triviality.

The main topic of contention was the role of religion both within a future Iranian state, but more broadly about the nature of Islam. Some in the audience believed that Islam was fundamentally anti-democratic and had no place in the future of Iran. The speaker felt that there are numerous iterations of Islam and the one practiced by this regime was obviously bad, but there could be a more benevolent Islamic society.

I obviously have my own opinions when it comes to these topics and my own vision for what Iran should look like in the future. Yet in a truly democratic society, everyone has their differing opinions and consensus is eventually reached through compromise. I think getting bodged down in philosophical arguments is a disservice to the cause of freedom in Iran. Our primary concern should be attaining freedom for the Iranian people and we should never forget that.

It is easy to argue and blame each other for the problems and it is a lot harder to come together for a common cause. I think we should stop our own internal bickering and focus on the goal of seeing a free and democratic Iran one day. Until that day comes, all other efforts are a distraction and play into the hands who try to keep power by ruling through division. There will be plenty of time to argue in a respectful manner when democracy comes to Iran, but until then we should work together to seek democracy under a common banner.

The only thing that matters is the people of Iran and their freedom, and we should never forget that.  

What This Regime Has Caused Outside Iran

Syrians burn the Iranian flag in protest of the regime's support for the tyranny in Syria. Instead of the lies of supporting freedom in the Middle East, we see the sad reality of what the policies of this regime have caused outside of Iran.

UN Investigates Illegal Arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi

Full story here:

"UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances" has informed the International Federation for Human Rights, and its member organisation the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI), in its letter of September 2011 that it has considered the cases of enforced disappearance of Messrs Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, Ms. Zahra Rahnavard and Ms. Fatemeh Karroubi "which your organisation submitted… and transmitted them to the Government of Iran on 4 April 2011, under its urgent action procedure", so that "investigations would be carried out in order to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared persons and to protect their rights. Any information received from the Government of Iran concerning these cases shall be transmitted to you in due course."

Following their joint statement of 2 March 2011, the International Federation for Human Rights and the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) had filed a complaint on the enforced disappearance of the four opposition leaders with the "UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances."

Referring to the letter of the UNWGEID, vice-president of FIDH and President of the LDDHI, Karim Lahidji said: "It is clear that the Iranian government has failed to respond to the United Nations after more than six months. We have informed Mr Ahmed Shaheed, special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, of the matter. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances shall examine this case in its 95th session from 1 to 11 November 2011. The international community must persuade the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect its obligations under the human rights covenants. The report of the special rapporteur for human rights and other actions shall gradually pave the way for raising the dossier of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the United Nations Security Council."

9/9/11 Protests in Tabriz

Civil Disobedience in Iran

An interesting article exploring the chaning nature of civil disobedience in Iran since 2009. Worth a read:

The Iranian regime faces a threat even more daunting than the 2009 Green Movement protests: a disparate yet potentially powerful civil disobedience movement motivated not just by politics, but by environmental, economic, and social issues. From demonstrations over the drying up of Lake Orumieh in northwestern Iran to organized youth water fights in Tehran, the resilience and spontaneity of protests in Iran have recently been on full display. But these protests differ from the 2009 protests. They are not necessarily motivated by Iran's contentious factional politics, and they are not wedded to the agenda of Iran's Islamist reform movement. Rather, they are the outpouring of popular frustration with daily life in Iran.

Lake Orumieh, one of the world's largest saltwater lakes, is in danger of disappearing in the next few years. Environmental activists and even members of Iran's parliament have blamed the government's policies and its overall lack of interest for the lake's dismal condition. The drying up of the lake could have serious environmental and economic repercussions for the region's inhabitants. It is no surprise that the region's Turkish-speaking population went into the streets in protest last week; Lake Orumieh is a symbol of Iranian Azerbaijan's historical and cultural heritage. The drying up of the lake was also a convenient reason for Iran's Azeris to express their discontent with the regime in Tehran. The Iranian government, fearing ethnic strife and separatism, responded with brute force and massive arrests, in typical fashion.

Civil disobedience, however, is not restricted to Iran's ethnic minorities. Iranian youth have engaged in water fights -- using plastic guns and balloons -- in Tehran's parks. These water fights, organized through social media sites such as Facebook, are meant to alleviate boredom but also to counter the Islamic Republic's stifling social regulations. Iran's Prosecutor-General, Gholam Hossein Mohsen Ejei, has called the water fights "a campaign orchestrated from abroad." Identified "conspirators" have been duly detained, along with their toy guns.

The Islamic Republic has good reason to fear Iranians protecting a dying lake or trying to have fun on a hot summer day. The 2009 protests shook the regime to its very core; any gathering of a large group of people is suspected as a prelude to revolt. Iran is also surrounded by the dying embers of neighboring authoritarian regimes, from Libya to its close ally, Syria. The Iranian regime may have been successful in crushing the Green Movement that emerged in 2009, but recent acts of civil disobedience could be much harder to control. They are spontaneous and leaderless and not tied to the reform movement led by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who still profess loyalty to the same Islamic Republic that they helped create. More importantly, recent acts of civil disobedience are motivated by multiple factors, and not just a result of dissatisfaction with a particular election or opposition to a specific figure such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A typical Iranian has many reasons to disobey the government, whether he or she is young, an ethnic minority, a poor teacher or laborer, or a struggling student. The Azeri demonstrators are not merely motivated by a dying lake or ethnic aspirations. They are driven by the anger, frustration, and indignity felt by Iranians regardless of race, religion, or gender. The Islamic Republic has left many Iranians with no choice but to disobey. And they no longer have to await Mousavi and Karroubi's orders to go into the streets.