Iran’s “Blogfather” Begins His Trial…One Year Later
Iranian-Canadian bloggerm Hossein Derakhshan, who is known as the "Blogfather"
More than a year and a half after he was arrested in Tehran, Hossein Derakhshan, an influential Iranian-Canadian blogger also known as Hoder, was put on trial on Wednesday, according to Iranian news reports and statements by his family posted online.
According to Golnaz Esfandiari, who blogs for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the American-financed news organization:
Iran’s hard-line Fars news agency reports that the trial of controversial blogger Hossein Derakhshan, known as Iran’s “Blogfather” for helping to popularize blogging in the Islamic republic, began in Tehran on June 23.
As The Lede explained in a May 2009 post on Mr. Derakhshan’s case, he was arrested in November 2008, just weeks after he had returned to Iran after living for eight years in Canada and Britain.
Mr. Derakhshan had moved to Canada in 2000, Wired magazine explained, “after conservative judicial authorities shut down Asr-e Azadegan, the reformist newspaper where he was a daily tech columnist.” As Wired noted, it was while he was living in Toronto in 2001 that he “figured out a way to combine Unicode and Blogger.com’s free tools to handle Persian characters.” This technical advance meant that “Suddenly, blogging in Persian was as simple as it is in English.” In 2003, The Guardian wrote that Mr. Derakhshan’s “step-by-step guide to creating a Persian weblog should take much of the credit for inspiring thousands of Iranians to start their own blogs.”
In 2006, Mr. Derakhshan blogged about his trip to Israel, on both his Persian blog and his English blog.
For months after his arrest, little was known of Mr. Derakhshan’s fate, until Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to Tehran’s chief prosecutor in April 2009, asking that Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American charged with spying for the United States, be given an opportunity to present a full defense. In Mr. Ahmadinejad’s letter, he also requested the same treatment for Mr. Derakhshan, who had been reportedly charged with spying for Israel.
Ms. Esfandiari noted on Thursday:
According to Fars, the charges against Derakhshan include working with “hostile” governments, propaganda against the Islamic establishment, propaganda in favor of antirevolutionary groups, insulting religious sanctities, and launching and managing “obscene” websites.
Writing on the recently launched Justice For Hossein Derakhshan blog, Derakhshan’s sister says her parents were not allowed in the courtroom during the June 23 trial session, during which Fars says Derakhshan’s indictment was read.
Cyrus Farivar, an Iranian-American journalist and blogger, pointed out that the start of Mr. Derakhshan’s trial was also reported on the Web site of an Iranian human rights group. Mr. Farivar added:
Very little new information has been released beyond this fact, although I managed to get this quote via email from an source close to Derakhshan’s family:
“One trial session was held and although no family members were allowed in, but the family remains optimistic that no serious issues exist in his case. Plus, considering the fact that he has already served a long time in prison, most of which has been in solitary confinement, the family doesn’t expect a longer jail sentence. There are more court sessions to be held before the final verdict is out.”
In news related to another case before Iran’s judiciary, The Nation on Thursday published an article by an Iranian journalist who reported that two people who witnessed the arrest of three American hikers by Iranian forces last July said that they “were on Iraqi territory when they were arrested—not in Iran, as Iranian officials have asserted. Two additional sources report that the Revolutionary Guards officer who likely ordered their detention has since been arrested on charges of smuggling, kidnapping and murder.”
Read the Original Article By Robert Mackey HERE.
Iranian Government to Arrest “Suntanned” Women in Violation of Islamic Dress Code & Rules
A leading cleric, warned that women who dressed immodestly disturbed young men and the consequent agitation caused earthquakes Photo: SIPA/REX FEATURES
Iran has warned suntanned women and girls who looked like “walking mannequins” will be arrested as part of a new drive to enforce the Islamic dress code.
Brig Hossien Sajedinia, Tehran’s police chief, said a national crackdown on opposition sympathisers would be extended to women who have been deemed to be violating the spirit of Islamic laws. He said: “The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehaviour by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values. In some areas of north Tehran we can see many suntanned women and young girls who look like walking mannequins.
“We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them.”
Iran’s Islamic leadership has in recent weeks launched a scaremongering campaign to persuade the population that vice is sweeping the streets of the capital. National law stipulates that women wear headscarves and shape shrouding cloaks but many women, particularly in the capital, spend heavily on fashions that barely adhere to the regulations.
The announcement came shortly after Ayatollah Kazim Sadighi, a leading cleric, warned that women who dressed immodestly disturbed young men and the consequent agitation caused earthquakes.
Another preacher warned Tehran’s citizens to flee before the inevitable punishment for flagrant behaviour was visited on the city.
“Go on the streets and repent for your sins,” Ayatollah Aziz Khoshvaqt, one of the country’s highest clerics, told worshippers during a recent sermon in northern Tehran. “A holy torment is upon us. Leave town.”
A Software That Enables Iranians to Surpass the Government’s Advanced Filtering System
For the Hard-line-government in Tehran, which uses an advanced filtering system to censor their Internet, software that enables the Iranian people to circumvent their censorship and allow free Internet access would be a political nightmare. Austin Heap, a 26-year-old programmer in San Francisco says that his new software, Haystack, would make this possible. And if it works, which Austin says it does, the fight over the Internet in Iran will enter a new phase.
Heap had nothing to do with Iran before Iran’s 2009 presidential elections. But the images that came out of the country and the role that the Internet played among those who were fighting for their rights inspired him.
He got his first computer when he was in 3rd grade, started programming in 4th grade (in more than 20 languages). Heap grew up in a small town in Ohio and the Internet always served to connect him with other people, exchange ideas, read and learn new things and was just an endless resource of information and communication, and studied at Bentley University in Boston, worked at a start up right out of college, then at a non-profit in San Francisco, and currently works as Executive Director at the Censorship Research Center in San Francisco. The interview follows:
Omid Memarian: When did you have the idea to make anti-filtering software for Iranians, how did it start?
Austin Heap: Right after the election, I posted instructions on my blog for how those outside of Iran could setup a proxy server on their computer. Within a week over 7,000 people around the world had setup proxies to help people in Iran get back online. This quickly became unmanageable, inefficient, and unreliable. For example, people would setup a proxy server on their laptop and then turn their laptop off. That’s when we decided to try and build something that directly addressed how the Internet censorship is occurring in Iran. The Internet for us has also been something that connects people, not a tool to be used in a campaign to violate what the United Nations considers basic human rights.
Omid: How long did it take to develop your software? What makes it different than the other anti-filtering software on the market?
Austin: We had our first live testing of the software in July of 2009, which was a great success, it’s taken about seven months to pull everything together for Haystack and we’ve still got a lot of work to do.
The primary difference between Haystack and other anti-filtering programs is that the data generated by Haystack looks “normal” — it looks like one is visiting innocuous sites like weather.com and downloading pictures. Most traditional anti-filtering software is easy for an observer (like the government) to detect that a user is using it; Haystack doesn’t do this, it “cloaks” all of the data.
Omid: How can the government challenge the software technically? Can they filter in a way that makes it impossible to go beyond filters by the Iranian citizens?
Austin: We’ve designed our network to work in a way that’s absurdly difficult for the government to block. There’s no way for me to say that it’s impossible for them to block Haystack — if they wanted to block Haystack and all the other anti-filtering tools they could just turn the Internet off. It’s always a cat-and-mouse game with Internet censorship. As hard as we work to help protect the people’s abilities to communicate and seek information, there’s a group in Iran working to make sure we’re not successful.
Omid: How can Iranians use your software? And have you had any pilot tests with those who are living in Iran?
Austin: We’ve done extensive testing for months now in Iran to make sure the software performs as expected. Haystack runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux right now so it’s as easy as downloading the software and double-clicking it. While we ramp up network capacity though, Haystack is invite only.
Omid: How does the software work and how can Iranians, many of whom have dial up connections, download and use the software?
Austin: Haystack was specifically designed with “low bandwidth environments” or places where dialup is still the norm. The software itself is very tiny and has no install process, it was designed to be as easy as possible so users just have to double click and go.
You can think about the Haystack process as having two-steps. The first thing it does is encrypt all of the data coming out of the computer — so even if it falls into the hands of a government monitor, there’s nothing useful in the data and it’s virtually impossible to crack. The second thing it does is hide the encrypted data in what looks like normal traffic, so to an onlooker it looks completely normal.
Omid: How can people within Iran receive this software? Can people download it online and is this safe? And can it be installed from a devise and if so, how is that made available?
Austin Heap: If done safely, downloading online is certainly the easiest way to get a copy. The government in Iran can, in theory, monitor all unencrypted traffic moving over their network. For example, if you’re in Iran — going to haystacknetwork.com or torproject.org without being on an encrypted connection is completely traceable. The easiest way to move any data is offline, move it by hand, burn it on a CD or share it with friends via a USB disk.
Omid: Can you explain how one is tracked if they were to download it online
Austin Heap: Since all Internet communications in Iran filters through DCI (Data Communication of Iran) they can essentially look at each packet that flows through their network and if one is from you and destined to a banned website, it’s trivial for them to monitor that and flag you.
Omid: When did the Treasury Secretary inform you about lifting sanctions for your company and what does it mean in practice?
Austin: Any organization that wants to do human rights work in a country sanctioned by the US has to get approval from the Treasury Department.
People in the U.S. can’t readily export technology like Haystack so without the license we weren’t able to start sending the software to those who could use it. We found out about our licenses for Haystack exempting it from sanctions in late March. What this means for our organization is that we can focus on the technology side and make sure Haystack is as successful as possible in helping people reach important resources online in a safe manner.
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Andy Hall/Observer
Source: Huffington Post
By: Omid Mermerian
What is 4Shanbehsoori Exactly?
Last Wednesday of the Iranian year know as Chahar Shanbeh Soori (Čahār Šanbé Sūrī – usually pronounced Čāršambé-sūrī), the eve of which is marked by special customs and rituals, most notably jumping over fire.
On the eve of last Wednesday of the year, literally the eve of ‘Red Wednesday’ or the eve of celebration, bonfires are lit in public places with the help of fire and light, it is hoped for enlightenment and happiness throughout the coming year. People leap over the flames, shouting:
Sorkhi-ye to az man; Zardi-ye man az to
Give me your beautiful red colour; And take back my sickly pallor
With the help of fire and light symbols of good, Iranians wish to see their way through this last Wednesday of the year – the end of the year and to the arrival of springs longer days.
Traditionally, it is believed that the living were visited by the spirits of their ancestors on the last day of the year. Many people specially children, wrap themselves in shrouds symbolically re-enacting the visits. By the light of the bonfire, they run through the streets banging on pots and pans with spoons called Qashog-Zani to beat out the last unlucky Wednesday of the year, while they knock on doors to ask for treats. Indeed, Halloween is a Celtic variation of this night.
In order to make wishes come true, it is customary to prepare special foods and distribute them on this night. Persian Noodle Soup known as Âsh, a filled Persian delight, and mixture of seven dried nuts and fruits, pistachios, roasted chic peas, almond, hazelnuts, figs, apricots, and raisins.
The ancient Iranians celebrated the last six days of the year in their annual obligation feast of all souls, Hamaspathmaedaya (Farvardigan or popularly Forodigan) which after the calendar reform under Ardašīr I, the founder of the fourth Iranian dynasty, the Sasanians (224-651 CE). They believed Foruhars (fravahar), the guardian-angles for humans and also the spirits of dead would come back for reunion. These spirits were entertained as honoured guests in their old homes, and were bidden a formal ritual farewell at the dawn of the New Year. The six-day festival also coincided with festivals celebrating the creation of fire and humans.
During the Sasanian dynastic era the festival was divided into two distinct pentads, known as the lesser and the greater Pentad, or Panji as it is called today. Gradually the belief developed that the ‘Lesser Panji’ belonged to the souls of children and those who died without sin, whereas ‘Greater Panji’ was truly for all souls.
Spring housecleaning was carried out and bon fires were set up on the rooftops to welcome the return of the departed souls. Small clay figurines in shape of humans and animals symbolizing all departed relatives and animals were also placed on the rooftops. Zoroastrians today still follow this tradition. Flames were burnt all night to ensure the returning spirits were protected from the forces of Ahriman. This was called Suri festival. There were gatherings in joyful assemblies, with prayers, feasts and communal consumption of ritually blessed food. Rich and poor met together and the occasion was a time of general goodwill when quarrels were made up and friendships renewed.
Iranians today still carry out the spring-cleaning and set up bon fires for only one night on the last Tuesday of the year. Young and old will leap over the fires with songs and gestures of merriment. Today festival was not celebrated on this night and in this manner before coming of Islam to Iran. The modern Charshanbeh Suri is contrary to Zoroastrian cosmology where all days were sacred and named after a major deities. However, the choice of the last Wednesday of the year is likely to have been originated in Arabia. According to Arabian tradition Wednesdays are considered to be unlucky and represents a bad omen day with unpleasant consequences. In addition, jumping over fire is ‘insulting”, and it originated after the Islamic conquest of Iran in 7th century CE.
Some however believe, by celebrating in this manner, Iranians were able to preserve their ancient tradition. On the other hand, the use of fire in celebrations had a long history in Iran. An old custom under the Samanids of kindling a large fire on one evening before the end of the year known as šab-e sūrī (red evening/evening of celebration) without the specific rituals later associated with the festival.
The festival is celebrated on Tuesday night to make sure all bad spirits are chased away and Wednesday will pass uneventfully. In rural areas and remote villages flames are still burnt all night on the rooftops and outside the homes, though people have no idea what this is all about.
Today the occasion is accompanied by fire works from locally made firecrackers. There is no religious significance attached to it any more and is a purely secular festival for all Iranians. On the eve before the last Wednesday, bonfires are lit through out the streets and back alleys, or with the more prosperous, inside walled gardens. People leap over the flames while shouting; ‘Sorkhi-ye to az man; Zardi-ye man az to‘.
The festivities start in the early evening. Children and fun seeking adults, wrap themselves in shrouds symbolically re-enacting the visits by the departed spirits. They run through the streets banging on pots and pans with spoons (Qāshoq Zani or spoon banging) to beat out the last unlucky Wednesday of the year. They will knock on doors while covered and in disguise and ask for treats. The practices are very similar to Halloween, which is a Celtic version of similar festivals celebrated throughout the area in ancient times.
It is believed that wishes will come true on this night, reminiscent of ancient traditions. Wishes are made and in order to make them come true, it is customary to prepare special foods and distribute them on this night. Noodle soup called ‘Ash e Chahar Shanbeh Suri is prepared’ and is consumed communally. Every one even strangers passing by will be served with nuts and dried fruits. This treat is called ‘Âjil-e Chahar Shanbeh Suri’ and is a mixture of seven dried nuts and fruits, pistachios, roasted chic peas, almond, hazelnuts, figs, apricots, and raisins. Local variations apply and the mixture is different according to the location and the group celebrating it.
People who have made wishes will stand at the corner of an intersection, or hide behind walls to listen to conversation by passer-bys. If there is anything positive and optimistic in the conversation, the belief is that the wish will come true or there is good fortune to be expected. This is called Fâl-Gush meaning ‘listening for one’s fortune’. The night will end with more fire works and feasts where family and friends meet and with the more modern Iranians music and dance will follow. Happy Chahar Shanbeh Suri, and may your wishes come true.
Another routine of the Chahar Shanbeh Soori festival is the Iranian version of Trick or Treating associated with the Western Halloween night. Flocks of often young trick or treaters, hidden under a traditional Chador (veil) go from door to door banging a spoon against a metal bowl asking for treats or money.
Another old and almost obsolete Chahar Shanbeh Soori ritual is Fal-gush (fortune hearing!) This ritual was carried out usually by young women wanting to know their chances of finding the “Mr. Right” in the coming year. Fāl-gush is the act of standing in a dark corner spot or behind a fence and listening to the conversations of the passers by and trying to interpret their statements or the subject of their dialogue as an answer to one’s question(s)! This is analogous to calling a psychic reader to find out your fortune!!!
In the past several decades fāl-gush has gradually become an almost unacceptable and “politically incorrect” ritual and is seldom practiced in the major urban areas.
By: Massoume Price
Revised and edited by CAIS
.:NOROUZ is HERE: Meet the HAFT SEEN:
HAPPY PERSIAN NEW YEAR!
.:meet the HAFT SEEN:.
The Haft Seen is to Norouz as the Christmas Tree is to Christmas…check out a full explanation of the Haft Seen. Whether you’re Persian and never knew all of these details or you’re interested in learning more about the Persian culture and New Year– read on & learn more!
Haft Seen (Persian: هفت سین) or the seven ‘S’s is a major tradition of Nowruz(Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar), the traditional Iranian new year. Today the haft sin table includes seven specific items, all starting with the letter S or Sîn (س in the Persian alphabet). The items symbolically correspond to seven creations and holy immortals protecting them. Originally called Haft Chin (هفت چین), the Haft Seen has evolved over time, but has kept its symbolism. Traditionally, families attempt to set as beautiful a Haft Seen table as they can, as it is not only of traditional and spiritual value, but also noticed by visitors during Nowruzi visitations and is a reflection of their good taste. The Haft Seen items are:
- sabzeh(سبزه) – wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish – symbolizing rebirth
- samanu (سمنو)- a sweet pudding made from wheat germ – symbolizing affluence
- senjed (سنجد)- the dried fruit of the oleaster tree – symbolizing love
- sîr (سیر)- garlic – symbolizing medicine
- sîb (سیب)- apples – symbolizing beauty and health
- somaq (سماق)- sumac berries – symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
- serkeh (سرکه)- vinegar – symbolizing age and patience
While traditionally incorrect, sometimes a missing Seen is exchanged with another item starting with an S. For example:
- sonbol (سنبل)- the fragrant hyacinth flower (the coming of spring)
- sekkeh (سکه)- coins (prosperity and wealth)
Other items on the table may include:
- traditional Iranian pastries such as baghlava (باقلوا),
- “toot” (توت)- (usually white) berries, naan-nokhodchi (نان نخودچی)
- dried nuts, berries and raisins that is called “Aajeel” (آجیل)
- lit candles (enlightenment and happiness)
- a mirror
- a sweet mint syrup called sekanjabin
- decorated eggs, sometimes one for each member of the family (fertility)
- a bowl with goldfish (life, and the sign of Pisces which the sun is leaving)
- a bowl of water with an orange in it (the earth floating in space)
- rose water for its magical cleansing powers
- the national colours, for a patriotic touch
- A Poetry book, such as the Shahnama or the Divan of Hafez, and/or a holy book such as the Bible for Christian, the Qu’ran for Muslims or a holy book of another faith.
I love getting creative with our family’s Haft Seen & making it more personal. Here are some wonderful pictures of different Haft Seen’s from around the world.
Working Class and Female in Iran
March 10, 2010 by Mandana
Filed under Featured, People on the Move
Read this article by Setareh Sabety, an Iranian-American writer and poet, who has been featured on touchIRAN in previous articles as well.
To mark International Women’s Day, I decided I should write about three Iranian women whom I came to know well when living in Iran just before Ahmadinejad’s first term. The three of them worked for me as housekeepers or babysitters and my knowledge of their lives is limited to our employer-employee relationship and class differences. But we spent a lot of time together and often our talks and interactions were more intimate than those I had with women I knew socially. For whatever it is worth I thought that I should expose the lives of three very ordinary Iranian women from different backgrounds and different sensibilities. This is for them.
Shahin khanoom was a portly and feisty woman in her 40s who loved to eat and talk. She lived in Karaj with her husband and two children. Her husband, who used to be employed in a factory, was now too old and sick to work. Shahin khanoom was a good cook and experienced housekeeper. She was literate and looked forward to her Koran classes. She wore a black chador which was always dirty, was an active member of her mosque and was devoted to the Mahdi whom she swore to every other sentence. Shahin khanoom was not overly devout, at least around us, never really proselytizing and more concerned about making a living than the nuances of Shiite Islam. She was very friendly and managed to charm any guest in our house into giving her a good tip. Shahin khanoom knew everyone in our neighborhood of high rise apartments and was the one everyone came to when looking for help. She found jobs for many of her friends and relatives. She feigned love for my children the way only Iranian nannies do with shameless conspicuousness that may be partially fake but is comforting nonetheless.
Shahin khanoom came to me in tears one day. Her daughter had just finished her high school and was taking English and a computer literacy course. She had found a good suitor, a rich boy from the neighborhood but did not have enough money for a dowry and could not possibly agree to the match for fear of losing face that the lack of a proper dowry would surely cause. So, I set out to collect money from friends and family to add to my own contribution and gave it to her. She told me she would buy a fridge and other household musts for her beloved daughter. I told her I would love to attend the ceremony. She promised to invite us all, to the delight of my own eight year old daughter.
When several weeks passed, I asked Shahin khanoom about her daughter’s wedding plans and was told that the suitor had reneged. I was very upset for the poor girl and assured Shahin khanoom that another prospective husband would soon surface. A few days later her daughter came to pick her up and I ran into her in the lobby and noticed that she had had a nose job! I soon realized that the dowry money was really meant to be used for a nose job. I was going to bring it up to let her know that I had discovered her lie but decided not to when the next day Shahin khanoom came to me crying. Her husband had become angry when she, coming home from work, had cooked a dish that he hated and her son loved. He had thrown the dish at her and hit their son before storming off. Whether or not the story was meant to deter my anger at her or not I decided to comfort her and forgive her the lie about the dowry. A nose job, after all, was fast becoming as important prerequisite for marriage as a dowry in Iran.
Shahin achieved her dream of opening a hairdressing salon after two years of working for us. Only to close the salon just six months later because she was losing money. When she left to open her salon Shahin khanoom introduced her sister-in-law to replace her.
Fatemeh was in her early thirties, illiterate with the accent of her native Kerman. Her husband, Shahin khanoom’s brother, was an opium addict who ate opium because it was cheaper than smoking it. He worked in a shoe store belonging to another relative but did not make enough to support his habit far less his four year old son and wife. So they had decided that he should stay home and take care of their four year old son who was still too young to attend public school. Fatemeh khanoom had no experience as a house keeper but was hard working and proud. She lived in the outskirts of Karaj further from the capital than Shahin khanoom in a rented house whose toilet was a shack at the bottom of the yard. She left her home early in the morning walking down an often muddy road and taking two buses to get to our house. She never missed a single day’s work and was, unlike Shahin khanoom, very honest with a work ethic that seemed to belong more to New England than Kerman.
One day she came to work with her young and incredibly precocious son. She told me that her husband had been unable to score opium the day before because she had refused to give him money. Going through withdrawal the addict husband, one of many thousands in Iran, had taken it out on the boy and beaten him. I told Fatemeh Khanoom she could bring the boy to work every day if she wanted. Once a month I would ask the husband, who was skinny and frail, to come and wash windows or do some other job so that I could pay him something too. Fatemeh khanoom never again refused to pay for his opium. He was not a bad man, we had come to agree, but he was an addict who like many could not quit. When I asked Fatemeh khanoom why she did not divorce him for he was useless and abusive to boot, she told me that she would lose face in her village if she went back for her yearly Nowrouz (Iranian New Year) visit without her husband. When I asked her was it better to have an addict for a husband than none at all she told me the men in her family all smoked opium (Kerman produces the best quality of opium in the world and Kermanis are known to have a penchant for smoking it). But even if her relatives where not opium smokers it was better to keep one’s husband even if he was a murderer than walk around with the stigma of divorce. When I told her then I should probably never visit her village she told me having money changed everything and I would quickly be forgiven and have many suitors! While in Iran I often saw how money could dissolve the most rigid of religious and traditional strictures.
Roya was the first woman I employed when I returned to Iran after twenty some years in 2002. Roya khanoom was in her early twenties, a student in the last year of accounting at Tehran Azad University. Her father had been the driver of a friend’s dad before the revolution. A pretty, energetic and smart girl, she was the eldest of four sisters. She performed her prayers and fasted during Ramadan but did not believe in the hijab, which she took off the minute she got inside the house regardless of the presence of unrelated men. Her father who was a fast-talking north Tehrani from Gholhak was a kind of jack of all trades who broke his fast with a shot of iced vodka that I would give him when he came around sometimes for iftar (breaking of fast after sun down). Her sister was studying English at the University in Rasht and was in love with a boy that she was secretly dating but whom she could not marry, according to tradition, until her older sister, Roya, had married.
Roya and I became very close since I was going through a difficult second marriage and she was always having boyfriend problems. She was very open-minded and hated the mullahs in power. She was, like the rest of us, very disappointed with Khatami and watched satellite Iranian television broadcasts from Los Angeles and Dubai. Like most young people I met when I lived in Iran her biggest dream was to leave. She loved clothes and makeup and spent the part of her salary which she did not give to her father on grooming. She was hard working and dedicated, a veritable manager who was running my household the second week on the job. Roya was extremely articulate and a great debater making me joke that she should study Fegh (religious law) in Qom.
She had a fiancee whom she loved. They had been dating for two years. He was a college graduate and worked for the Ministry of Commerce. It was important for Roya that her husband be at least as well educated as her. She had turned down a rich bazaari suitor for that very reason. She argued with me that a husband who is not as educated as his wife would end up resenting her. A husband feeling intellectually inferior to a wife was fatal to a marriage according to the wise beyond her years Roya. The pragmatism of women that I met in Iran, young and old, never ceased to shock me.
Finally a date had been set for her wedding after much bickering between the two families regarding the number of guests and responsibility for costs. A wedding in Iran is a serious business transaction. The price of the Mehr (or bride price) is of utmost importance. As Roya’s dad explained to me, “I have to ask for a high Mehr because if the boy turns out to be rotten who do I go to get my daughter’s reputation back?” The Mehr, (which can be cashed any time after the wedding) which I initially abhorred as putting a price tag on the woman in a marriage, actually saved Roya from the fate of Fatemeh khanoom.
The morning of the wedding Roya and her family went to the notary to sign the wedding contract but her fiancé did not show up. A few days later a distraught Roya came to me in tears. The fiancee who had managed to hide his heroin addiction had had an overdose and had been taken to the hospital a few days before. The boy’s father, afraid that the marriage would not last long and that the high bride-price would be demanded once the bride and her family found out, forced him to leave Roya waiting. If it had not been for the Mehr she would have been married to an addict which was surely worse than the pain and humiliation she had to endure for being stood up.
When Ahmadinejad got elected I moved from Iran leaving behind my own bad marriage. I have tried to keep in touch with the three women. Fatemeh works for my mother now and her husband is still at home although her son goes to school and gets straight A’s. Since I have moved she has been forced out of her rented houses five times. With the high price of rent she still does not have a place with a bathe or shower. With the high price of goods she can only feed her family as much meat as my mom buys for her. Her husband still eats opium and sleeps most of the day. Shahin khanoom’s husband passed away, she married a rich Haji, and is an active supporter of Ahmadinejad at her mosque according to her sister in law. Roya went on to get a job at a company after she graduated. She makes half of what she made as a babysitter and housekeeper but it was better position to have for her reputation and for finding a husband. More than seven years on she is still not married. On the phone recently Roya told me that she had never recuperated from being stood up. In her neighborhood, amongst family and friends she had lost face. She asked me if I could get her a visa and help her to leave “this hell.”
Follow Setareh Sabety on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SetarehSabety
Setareh’s article was originally posted here.
Former Member of the Basij Speaks of the Injustice Inside Iran
Today, I came across an interview that was conducted with a former member of the Iranian Militia, the Basij. He was arrested for not cooperating with the orders of the hardliners and refusing to assault Iranian protesters. The content of this interview is distressing and hard to read…for me, it was a little to graphic, but it’s the reality of what is going on inside Iran and we can’t turn blind eyes to the oppression and the struggle that Iranians inside Iran are enduring. We must stop sitting comfortably and begin to think of ways to make a tangible difference.
“On that day it was one of the major protest days on which many people were arrested. There were people of all ages. Then we organised them by age, taking down all their details, names, addresses. They were then held in containers for up to 24 hours before being taken to prisons.
“I encountered 13 and 14-year-olds and upwards.
“With the connections that I had, I had requested a different post. With the history of my activities with them and their familiarity with me and the trust they had in me, they gave me a role there. Because I had good handwriting and office experience I was put in charge of writing down the particulars of all the detainees.
“All those who were brought there were terrified and bewildered. It was a very particular atmosphere. Things proceeded stage by stage.
“The atmosphere was truly difficult.
“With the utmost disrespect and the utmost violence the detainees were thrown into containers.
‘Kids naked outside’
“That night after dinner one of the guys and I went outside to smoke a cigarette. Four of us went out the back. We took a torch with us. As we got outside we heard strange noises. The sound of screams and shouting.
“We set off towards the noise to see what had happened. We saw the door of one of the containers was open. A few of the officers were standing outside.
“We moved towards the containers. We saw one of the kids naked outside. I cast my torch into the open door of the container, I saw a group… this was the container with the underage children that they had arrested. All those under 14 were in there. With my torch I saw that there were others naked and I saw that the floor was wet.
“As I saw all this with my torch, one of the guards insulted me and told me to switch off the torch. He grabbed my torch and threw it across the yard and hit me. I thought I’d done wrong and didn’t say anything
“Another of us was talking to the officer who was harassing the naked boy outside. He said ‘What do you want with this poor boy, this servant of God? How can he defend himself in his condition? Don’t you know God, aren’t you scared of God?, Why are you doing these things?’
“I somehow became involved in defence of this child who they were crushing, who they’d stripped naked.
“Things became heated and we were all involved and they summoned us to the commander. X was openly critical, he was very brave. I didn’t say anything. He was particularly brave. The discussion continued there, that what was this path that we’d taken, that is it an Islamic directive that people’s wives and children are being raped?
Torture and beating
“They arrested me that night and the next day put me in an individual cell, in solitary confinement. It was there that the torture and beating began.
“When they took me for interrogation they asked which group we were in, for whom we were spying saying ‘Who had directed your mission that night?’
“They even accused us of setting out to free the detainees, of setting out to disrupt everything. I couldn’t believe all this. I couldn’t believe what was happening, what they were saying. I couldn’t believe the insults, the beatings…
“When you see everything, hear the screamS and shouts, people crying out for help. Why wasn’t this happening in other containers holding people who were older? Why was the floor of the container wet? We didn’t have a hose there. All this together. It wasn’t blood. All this together…
‘I thought I had gone blind’
“During the interrogation I told the truth, explaining that it wasn’t as they said. But they told me their version. After a few days I realised… following pressure… after the beatings, after the torture, that they what they were after was my confirmation of their version.
“They told me that if I confirmed their story and confirmed that I was spying, that I had joined the Basij with the intention of undertaking such activities and harming the order, that if I confessed and went along with them and signed, that I would be freed. Unfortunately, my personal endurance was not more than this, I couldn’t take any more.
“Their treatment of me… even though I was high-ranking in the Basij and had a long history of activity… I never expected to be spoken to in such a way, let alone insulted and sworn at, hit, kicked.
“The first time they took me for interrogation they struck me so hard in my left eye that I couldn’t see for a while. After the second day I could see a little, I thought I’d gone blind in my left eye. I still have problems with it, it’s never returned to normal. Those who torture you are well built. They have strong hands and strong bodies.
Execution scenarios
“They created execution scenarios. They said we’re going to kill you and we’ll link your death to the protests. We’ll say that you were killed during a protest.
“There was a table on which I stood for some hours with my hands tied and a rope around my 
neck. They came a few times and said they’d come to execute me now, or in an hour. I was very worried.
“Then they came and pulled the table away. I fell. I thought I was saying goodbye to this world.
“It was as if I was fading. When they pulled the table, the rope wasn’t attached to anything. I fell backwards, and fainted. When I came to I was wet. They had thrown water over me. I vomited. They took my confession then and I signed. I can scarcely believe all this now.
“This all happened in the first week.
100 day detention
“I was held for around 100 days. My family didn’t know where I was but then through the people we knew they found me and put up bail and I was released. [They put up [a bond] the deeds of the house.
“I was in an individual cell but they later took me to a larger cell that I shared with my friend.
“I still feel responsible. It was me who recommended him to this Basij operation.
“He is someone whose family for generations had served honestly in the mosque. An excellent guy, a pure, humble person. I thought we could trust him and introduced him so that we would have good people among us. They were giving us 150,000 tomans to 500,000 tomans. I encouraged him.
“He had a wife, he had a child. He changed so much. All the torture, so many beatings.
“I wanted to help him, because I liked him. I wanted to give him a leg up. This was my intention, but unfortunately he became involved and was very disturbed by what he witnessed.
‘Very far from Islam’
“We’re Muslims. Our religion is Islam. We recognise God. When you consider everything, in the end it was very different to all that they said. Those things were very far from Islam.
“Islam had become a curtain for them, from behind which they could do whatever they wanted.
“Directives were presented as the Islamic directives. Everything we say is Islam. You mustn’t question Islam. Disagreement with our directives is disagreement with Islam, in other words disagreement with God. We became like machines. They took away our personal control.
“I grew up in a religious family. As I child I was religious, it wasn’t just since before the elections or during the elections. These are our beliefs. I grew up in a religious family and reached the age that I could understand what was going on during the month of Moharram, the rituals at the mosque. When it came to Ramadan, I fasted. So I wanted to join the Basij.
“During Moharram, Ramadan, in these religious months they carried out responsibilities. When I saw these things it made me want to have Basij responsibilities. I loved Islam, I loved the supreme jurisprudence.
‘People’s organization’
“It’s a people’s organization, a civil organization. I mean I think it was, although now I think part of it may have been the agenda of a particular group. You see it’s ordinary people who join the Basij.
“They enter the organisation of their own free will, because as I said it’s an organisation of the people, people join of their own will and their activities with the Basij are driven by their own desire, out of love.
“In Iran today it’s genuinely hard to find work, it’s hard to get into university. It’s every young person’s wish to enter university and continue his education to have a good life, to find a good job, to have wife, a house, a car. These were all things that they gave us with various methods.
“We felt good, we had a certain satisfaction. We noticed the differences. When I looked at my friends, they didn’t have the car I had, the job I had, the further education I had, that had come to me so easily. All through the Basij. That’s not why I joined. It was out of interest and love, but these were a support. They gave us hope. They were bonuses that encouraged us.
“I think these were things that they wanted to give us to trap us. So that we would be under their thumb. I think that’s exactly it. We would do whatever they told us.
“We grew up with this idea. I joined the Basij at an age that I was like putty that could be moulded. We grew up with these ideas. They gave us character.
Good intentions
“I believe that I didn’t join the organisation with bad intentions. Not just me, others too. Their intentions were good, to provide a service for people, rather than to get a bonus or perform their commander’s orders.
“I believe that there are people who are now full of regret, who are not able to express this regret and they are not able to leave the organisation. They [the guards] called me an outsider. I want to say that all those in the Basij are not bad people. We too are victims.
“I didn’t know the people who tortured me in prison. They were unfamiliar to me. I had come from outside the city. The people in my own town would have been familiar to me. I didn’t know the people who tortured me in that prison. Sometimes they would come with their face covered.
Sexual violence
“I didn’t know night from day when I was in solitary confinement. I was so disturbed that I couldn’t sleep at night from the pain. the pressure and stress.
“My friend who shared my cell created havoc. He’d never seen anything like this. Well, nor had I. He was in shock. He was confused. He lost control. He screamed and shouted, threw himself against the walls. The guards warned him that if he continued with this behaviour they would make things worse for him.
“He was under a lot of pressure. I haven’t experienced having a wife, but he was very close to his wife and he had a small child too.
“On the one hand the deception, on the other the torture he was subjected to, as well as his dependence on his family, all this caused him to lose control.
“He began screaming and shouting and swearing. No matter how I tried I couldn’t calm him. The guards came. One of the guards beat him. His face was bleeding… his clothes were torn off… The guard had a baton… he was sexually violated with it.
‘Ashamed before God’
“One guard was outside, one inside the cell. I wanted to protest, to shout, to help him, but I had seen how they dealt with protesters and I couldn’t protest.
“I am thoroughly ashamed. I’m ashamed before God, ashamed of my youth, ashamed in front of my friend, ashamed in front of the people. I only thank God that during these arrests I never harassed anyone.
“There’s the poem that says ‘Human beings are members of a whole’. My friend, the people, myself, you, others, we are all one. Any one person’s pain can affect everyone, can disrupt calm.
“I have this terrible feeling of pain, that I spent the best years of my life unaware. They used this. I was a tool for them to reach their objectives. I unwittingly got involved in their plans. I was unknowingly led by them.
“Their slogan was that we were the force of the people, the eminent ones, that we must lead. We were unaware of what they brought on us. Our thoughts were not our own.
‘I hate their philosophy’
“Our religion is Islam, others may have other faiths but we are all of one God and that’s what’s important to me. I hate their philosophy, their organisation, their mobilisation, their way of thinking, their mode of management.
“I’m Muslim and I know myself, I believe in myself. I know that they took advantage of Islam.
“I am certain that when the Revolution took place and people lost their lives for it, that their aim wasn’t for a group of people to come to power to govern by manipulating people’s thoughts.
“When the revolution happened… the way I see it, we wanted to eradicate all oppression, we wanted to manage our own military, we wanted to govern ourselves.
“We wanted a government of the people, risen from the people, a product of the people, for it to recognise the people, to understand them and know what they had suffered. Not for their own interests. Not for them to put their own interests above those of the public.
‘I want Iran to be free’
“Life is a right that God has given us all. There must be a system in place for everyone to enjoy life and achieve God’s will. Not just to follow something blindly, but to be free, to have freedom.
“The system should be a people’s system, for it to care about people. All this in a great land, an extremely rich land, for it to have good standing in the world. To be proud to say Iran.
“To be acknowledged if I go somewhere and I say I’m Iranian, to be proud, not hide behind a curtain, not hate my Iranian identity. Not to say I’m Iranian and people respond saying ‘We saw your elections’, or if I say I’m Iranian, they say ‘You must be a member of Basij’, or if I say I’m Iranian, they say ‘You must be Muslim.’
“I want our Iran to be a free Iran. Here it’s a safe environment, but I’ve been torn from the arms of my family. That’s a basic right but it’s been taken away.
“I had been active in the Basij unit in the province, people knew me and believed in me.
“The way things happened, it was as though I had disappeared, no-one had news from me, so they came look for me. They set out to find what had happened to me and this eventually led to where I was held, and they negotiated my release.
“When I got out, I was in my mother’s care.
“I went to see someone for advice. He said there were two options. I could take the legal route and report all that had happened to me, to consult those already active and involved in the post-election rape cases, that they could pursue my case. This in itself was a risk.
“The very people I would consult were under surveillance. If I went to them there was the possibility of betrayal. You have to stand strong and fight to achieve your rights. Or I could go somewhere safe, to save my life for now and return once…
“I couldn’t tolerate any more. One prison experience was difficult enough for me.
“One of the human rights activists gave me an address of someone in Europe who could help me. I got in touch via the internet.
‘I was truly terrified’
“When I was released, they’d told me that I mustn’t contact anyone or tell anyone anything of what they had done to me. And after all their threats I had seen for myself that they meant it. I was truly terrified.
“I had seen that they carry out their threats to the end. I didn’t even go to a doctor because I wouldn’t have been able to explain what had happened, why I was at the doctor, what my ailment was.
“I would have had to have explained what was wrong.
“During this period I had to register with the local Basij unit once a week, to announce myself, that I was present in the area.
“I even lost my job, and all the bonuses they had given me over my years with the Basij, all the letters of recommendation that they’d written.
“They’d said that as soon as we know that you’re no longer active with us we will take away all these benefits. That’s one of the things that I’ve lost this year. Part of me says ’so what, they can keep it’ but then I think I had to leave my country, be estranged from my family and far from my fiancee.”
Source: Channel 4 News
Internet, Blogging, Journalism and What It Means for IRAN
Iran has topped the list, along with China, released by the Committee to Protect Journalists’ of countries that have the most reporters in their jails. 2009 was proven to be the most deadly and dangerous year for journalists, reporters and bloggers worldwide. Things are only getting worse. How can we help? See how touchIRAN is helping free Political Prisoners.
Here’s an article by Jean Francois Julliard about the current situation in Iran and what it means for internet users, reporters and bloggers.
Paris, France (CNN) — Early last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini reportedly said Iran’s celebrations commemorating the Islamic revolution would stun the world. It is difficult to believe anything Iran could do at this point could surprise the world.
The protests after the June election led to an unprecedented campaign of intimidation and arrests. Freedom of expression had been seriously undermined by the regime even before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election. Journalists and bloggers were regularly arrested and harassed for discussing topics like women’s rights or issues involving ethnic minorities.
News organizations with ties to the reformist movement were fined, suspended or even shut down for criticizing government policies. But in spite of these measures, there remained a functioning press. If reformist publications were limited in their criticism of the government, conservative outlets were rarely the target of censorship or harassment.
This is no longer the case. Any criticism of the government, regardless of its ideological line, is met with repression.
The prospect of Ahmadinejad’s speech last Thursday being interrupted by opposition protesters was viewed as potentially damaging to the Iranian regime’s already fragile claims to legitimacy.
This is why in the weeks before the event, Reporters Without Borders has learned, there was an increase in arrests of journalists and bloggers. The Reporters Without Borders research desk was able to confirm that at least 40 journalists and bloggers were arrested between January 6 and February 12.
Iran has now become the largest prison for journalists and bloggers in the world, with more than 80 Iranian journalists and bloggers behind bars — more than the number of reporters being held in Cuba and China combined.
The international community must now go beyond publicly condemning Iran. As the United Nations Human Rights Council reviews the Iranian situation, member states must make a firm decision to censure the Iranian government for its human rights abuses and send U.N. special rapporteurs to conduct investigations into the abuses.
Hundreds of other journalists are under constant surveillance by the security apparatus and many have had to flee the country because of the threat of being arrested.
Iran no longer even bothers to respect its own judicial standards or procedures. People — journalists and a broad array of those judged to oppose the government — are detained in undisclosed facilities, where reports of physical and sexual abuse are common. These prisoners have no access to lawyers or even information about the charges against them.
One report, from The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, puts the number of arrests in the past two months at 1,000, with people often detained without a reason given under a detention order instituted after the elections last June.
They are often forced to make confessions or take part in what amounts to Stalinist show trials before being sentenced to long prison terms or even death on such charges as being “enemies of God,” “receiving professional training abroad in the preparation of a velvet revolution,” “disturbing public order” and “collaborating with foreign governments.”
The government saw last week’s anniversary festivities as an opportunity to prove it had the support of the population.
So the new wave of arrests was coupled with other measures to prevent Iranian citizens from communicating with each other and the rest of world. Last week, several mobile phone companies stopped allowing users to send or receive text messages. The aim was obvious: to prevent possible protesters from coordinating with each other during the planned celebrations.
Hundreds of Web sites remain inaccessible within the country and Internet connections have been entirely suspended in certain areas. YouTube and Google Mail are two sites most recently blocked. Other Iranian Web sites have also been the target of cyberattacks thought to be linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran’s powerful military, political and economic organization.
If the international community hopes to address issues like human rights and the Iranian nuclear program, it must take a strong stand and ensure that all of Iranian society is part of the debate. We cannot afford to exclude or forget those who have been silenced by the regime.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jean Francois Julliard.
Read More Here.
So, Is Your “Life Persian?” MLiP.
It was a morning like any other. I sat at my desk, turned on my computer and not too long after everything had started running properly- I was checking out my Facebook newsfeed. I was overwhelmed, confused, perplexed and humored by all of the hilarious scenarios posted that ended with “MLiP”. After a little bit of investigation, it became clear to me…some brilliant Iranian out there had come up with a spin on some of there other sites out there and came up with MLiP, which appropriately stands for “My Life is Persian”.
MyLifeIsPersian.Net allows Iranians from around the globe to submit anecdotes that other Iranians can relate to or would find absolutely hillarious.
Some of my personal favorites are:
Today when ordering a soda, I asked for an eh-Sprite. I grew up in America. It was not a Persian restaurant. MLIP.
My own sister (in her late 20’s) was seeing a guy for 3 years before I even knew about him because my mom made her keep it a secret “Chon mardom harf dar meyaran!” MLIP.
Today, I was having an intense conversation with my teacher about the economy. I tried making a point and I subconsciously used the word “khob” in the beginning of my sentences, and “digeh” in between. MLIP.
My parents have all my friends phone numbers on their refrigerator… I’m 22. MLIP.
Today i came home from school and my mom said “clean your room” and I asked her “why are we having guests over?” and she said no, the cleaning lady is coming and you should make sure your room is clean before she comes. MLIP.
It only gets better from there. The best part? Submit your own and there’s a good chance they’ll post it. It’s awfully entertaining and addicting to read people someone’s anecdote & realize you’re not the only one who’s shared this experience before.
Check it out! www.MyLifeIsPersian.net & get prepared to LAUGH and reminisce of all the times your life was “too Persian”.
Comment here and share your favorite MLiP’s with us!
Bail Set at $30,000 for Ardavan Tarakameh
-50 days after his was arrested, author and film critic, Ardavan Tarakameh’s family announced that he has been granted release on $30,000 bail. Ardavan’s sister, Bahar, remains in prison.
According to CHRR, Ardavan, whose father, Yunes Tarakameh is one of Iran’s most prominent authors, was arrested on December 27th, 2009 at Mahin Fahimi’s house along with his host and a number of other guests. Mahin Fahimi is a member of the Mothers for Peace. The agents then, accompanied Tarakameh to his house and seized his computer and other items after searching the house.
Tarakameh’s sister, Bahar, was arrested on February 5th, 2010 and is currently detained at Evin Prison. She was among the group of 70 authors, poets, translators and journalists who asked for Ardavan’s release in a letter addressed to the head of the Judiciary.
Source: RAHANA
