Free Green Iran

Protests Night Before 25 Bahman (14 February)

2012-02-10T18:42:00.000+03:30

To call for the release of political prisoners held illegally under house arrest, there are calls to go to rooftops and shout Allah Akbar on the night before 25 Bahman (14 February)

Mousavi and Karroubi's Childern Call for Their Releae

2012-02-10T09:07:00.001+03:30

In a letter, the children of Mir Hosseing Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi call for the release of their fathers as well as their mothers who are under illegal house arrest.

Here is the letter:

To our oppressed and suffering compatriots who have sacrificed so much and all those who seek liberty and justice across the globe,

We are approaching the one year anniversary of the illegal house arrest of our loved ones; an illegal house arrest that violated all international conventions and domestic laws; an illegal house arrest that took place as a result of the demand by our loved ones that the ruling government issue a permit for rallies in support of the anti-authoritarian movements taking place the region at the time; an illegal house arrest that rendered our loved ones as nameless prisoners without any legal rights. Their request for a permit was an act that neither you nor your companions would ever regard as a crime, for to the contrary, it demonstrated their high level of social consciousness and their ability to accept responsibility.

Both Mousavi and Karroubi have held high level positions within the government and served their country for many years. Their service to the country includes 8 years as head of Parliament [Karroubi] and 8 years as Prime Minister under extremely difficult conditions of war and economic sanctions [Mousavi]. Throughout these years, they have both remained compassionate and loyal companions to their compatriots.

During the 2009 presidential elections, these two honorable men even passed the Guardian Council's strict vetting process, including overcoming Approbative Supervision [Tanslator's Note:an interpretation of Iran's Constitution that allows institutions like the Guardians Council to veto laws that have popular support and to disqualify candidates running for public office]. Despite the fact that this law is contrary to the slogans and ideals of the founder of the Islamic Revolution that all individuals have the freedom to participate in the selection process for the nomination of presidential candidates, these two honorable men passed the vetting process and began their respective electoral campaigns in accordance to the existing laws. Although they witness many violations of the law at the hands of a rival candidate; a candidate with an upper hand as a result of his extensive political support and unlimited access to national resources, they nevertheless engaged in healthy and fair competition during their respective electoral campaigns. Furthermore, both candidates went out of their way to remain civil and respectful during the presidential debates, voicing criticism of the country's conditions taking into consideration our national interests; criticism that is now apparent to all and continues to be voiced by many.

After the unexpected results of the presidential elections that were contrary to all evidence and documentation at hand, and following the street protests by millions of Iranian citizens in accordance to the laws stipulated under Iran's Constitution, Mousavi and Karroubi also voiced their criticism of the election results, standing firm with the protesting citizens of Iran. They too were beaten during the protest and one of their family members was even martyred. Furthermore, they faced a grand conspiracy, extreme defamation and suppression and their homes were brutally attacked and defaced by an army of thugs.

The last inhumane and illegal act imposed upon our loved ones was this so called house arrest. It has been one year since this inhumane act took place. During this time the authorities and entities associated with the ruling government, who have to date ignored the rule of law, have continued to lie and insist that it is our loved ones who have requested that the government protect them and they [the government] are only protecting their lives. They have nothing to say, no rationale to present to the citizens of Iran and the world at large for the acts they have committed. Are the blatant lies that are at times divulged by certain authorities both inside Iran and abroad not inconsistent with the truth?

We the families of the aforementioned loved ones clearly and unequivocally state that they have been detained against their will and in violation of the law for the past year. Furthermore, during this past year, with the exception of a hand full of phone calls and restricted, short, controlled visitations they have been deprived of all communication with the outside world and deprived of their legal rights. To date not a signal authority of the ruling government, has accepted responsibility for this illegal act. Their food, health and medication is also controlled rather than being provided by an independent and impartial party. There is also much uncertainty regarding their security and the location of their detention. It goes without saying that the concerns regarding their well being are greatly increasing with the passing of each day.

In addition, we the family of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard, declare on their behalf that we protest this form of incarceration, be it house arrest or other and demand an end to this illegal and inhumane act. Those who commit such acts are fully aware that they behavior will not affect on the will of our loved ones, for they will never compromise and will continue to defend the rights and ideals that were expressed by millions of our compatriots who came to the streets in protest. They will continue to defend the rights of those who were slain, those who were martyred, arrested, incarcerated, tortured and mistreated. They will also continue to defend the rights of thousands of prisoners who remain strong and continue to persevere behind bars.

We ask the ruling government on the honor, life and property of our nation to refrain from acts that are inhumane, unpatriotic and against our religious foundations and will only bring us to the brink of war and destruction and instead return to a path based on logic the rule of law and the national interests of our nation.

We the families of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two honorable men who have been deprived of their human rights but have nevertheless remained steadfast and true to their oath to defend the rights of our citizens, now call upon our oppressed and suffering compatriots and all freedom loving and justice seeking individuals dedicated to human rights across the globe, to act as a symbol of support for a nation that has been deprived of their rights. We ask in particular that you support the innocent martyrs and prisoners in Iran and stand with Iranians inside Iran who seek true democracy, acting as our voice to the world at large and echoing our demand for justice. Tell the world: "We demand the release of all oppressed yet resistant prisoners, including all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience across Iran and we believe that an honorable and great nation such as Iran does not deserve such economic and political hardship and God forbid war."

چکیده :ما اعضای خانواده این عزیزان با صراحت و قطعیت می گوییم که آنها برخلاف خواست خود و برخلاف قانون یک سال است که در بازداشت به سر می برند و جز تعدادی تماس تلفنی و دیدار محدود ،کوتاه و کنترل شده حق هرگونه ارتباطی با بیرون از آنها سلب شده است . آنها از حقوق قانونی خود محروم مانده اند. تا کنون هیچ شخص مسئولی حتی همین اقدام غیر قانونی راهم بنا بر جایگاه حقوقی خود نپذیرفته است . آنها از نظارت ارگان بی طرف بر خوراک و سلامتی و دارو بی بهره اند . و در مورد امنیت و کجایی مکان نگهداری آنان ابهامات زیادی وجود دارد و این نگرانی‌ها روز به روز برای ما شدیدتر شده است.ا

فرزندان موسوی و کروبی در نامه مشترکی، از همه هموطنان مظلوم و رنج دیده و فداکار و از همه انسان های حق طلب و آزادی خواه و عدالت جو در جای جای جهان خواسته اند که پژواک صدای حق خواهی آنها بوده و صدای شان را به گوش جهانیان برسانند که زندانیان مظلوم و مقاوم ما و همه زندانیان سیاسی و عقیدتی را در سراسرایران آزاد کنید.ا

به گزارش کلمه، در این نامه مشترک با اشاره به روند غیر قانونی و غیر انسانی حصر خانگی میرحسین موسوی، زهرا رهنورد و مهدی کروبی و توجیهات حاکمیت در ادامه این حصر آمده است: ما اعضای خانواده این عزیزان با صراحت و قطعیت می گوییم که آنها برخلاف خواست خود و برخلاف قانون یک سال است که در بازداشت به سر می برند و جز تعدادی تماس تلفنی و دیدار محدود ،کوتاه و کنترل شده حق هرگونه ارتباطی با بیرون از آنها سلب شده است . آنها از حقوق قانونی خود محروم مانده اند . تا کنون هیچ شخص مسئولی حتی همین اقدام غیر قانونی راهم بنا بر جایگاه حقوقی خود نپذیرفته است . آنها از نظارت ارگان بی طرف بر خوراک و سلامتی و دارو بی بهره اند . و در مورد امنیت و کجایی مکان نگهداری آنان ابهامات زیادی وجود دارد و این نگرانی‌ها روز به روز برای ما شدیدتر شده است.ا

فرزندان موسوی و کروبی با ابراز نگرانی از وضعیت سلامت و امنیت آنان تصریح کرده اند: ما اعضای خانواده این عزیزان با صراحت و قطعیت می گوییم که آنها برخلاف خواست خود و برخلاف قانون یک سال است که در بازداشت به سر می برند و جز تعدادی تماس تلفنی و دیدار محدود ،کوتاه و کنترل شده حق هرگونه ارتباطی با بیرون از آنها سلب شده است . آنها از حقوق قانونی خود محروم مانده اند . تا کنون هیچ شخص مسئولی حتی همین اقدام غیر قانونی راهم بنا بر جایگاه حقوقی خود نپذیرفته است . آنها از نظارت ارگان بی طرف بر خوراک و سلامتی و دارو بی بهره اند . و در مورد امنیت و کجایی مکان نگهداری آنان ابهامات زیادی وجود دارد و این نگرانی‌ها روز به روز برای ما شدیدتر شده است.ا

آنان از حاکمان بر جان و مال و ناموس مردم خواسته اند از راه ضد ملی و ضد دینی و ضد انسانی که در سرکوب هر منتقد و مخالف خود در پیش گرفته اند و کشور را درلبه پرتگاه جنگ و ویرانی قرار داده اند به راه منطق وقانون و مصلحت مردم و میهن برگردند.ا

متن کامل این نامه که در اختیار سحام نیوز و کلمه قرار گرفت، به شرح زیر است:ا

به نام خداهم وطنان مظلوم ، رنجدیده و فداکار

انسان های حق طلب ، آزادی خواه عدالت جو در جای جای جهان

نزدیک یک سال است که عزیزان ما برخلاف نص صریح قوانین داخلی و تمامی کنوانسیون های بین المللی و به دنبال درخواست مجوز سال گذشته برای راهپیمایی ۲۵ بهمن در آنچه به صورت یک بدعت حقوقی حبس خانگی و درعمل زندانی بی نام ونشان است ، قرار دارند .حتما بیاد دارید که این راهپیمایی برای حمایت از جنبش های ضد استبدادی منطقه بود . کاری که نه برای شما و نه همراهان به بندکشیده شده شما حال در هر زمان ، نه تنها جرمی نیست بلکه نشانی از رشد اجتماعی و مسئولیت پذیریست .
آقایان موسوی و کروبی سالها در مسئولیتهای طراز اول کشور به مردم خدمت کرده اند. هشت سال ریاست مجلس و هشت سال نخست وزیری کشور تحت سخت ترین شرایط جنگی داخلی و محاصره اقتصادی ، کم ترین سابقه عزیزان ماست. آیا جز این است که در تمامی این سالها دلسوز یار و امین هموطنان خود بوده اند؟این دو بزرگوار در انتخابات ریاست جمهوری سال ۸۸ حتی از همه فیلترهای شورای نگهبان که با بدعتی به نام نظارت استصوابی و برخلاف شعارها و آرمان های بنیانگذار انقلاب در رابطه با «آزادی» برای همگان به گزینش اولیه نامزدهای انتخاباتی می پردازد، عبور کردند و طبق همان قوانین به فعالیت انتخاباتی پرداختند .آنها در حالی که شاهد تخلف های فراوان از سوی نامزد رقیب بودند، که همه امکانات کشور و همه نوع حمایت سیاسی را در پشت خود داشت ، به رقابتی سالم و عادلانه پرداختند و در مناظره هایشان نیز در کمال ادب و با بصیرت کامل و دلسوزی و با رعایت تمام مصالح ملی نظراتی را در نقد شرایط موجود مطرح کردند که تماما امروز سخنی است که دیگر همگی بدان معترفند و خود نیز تکرار می کنند.ا

ایشان، پس از اعلام نتایجی که کاملا غیر منتظره و خلاف همه مشهودات و مستندات بود و اعتراضات میلیونی مردم که براساس قانون اساسی کشور صورت گرفت؛ نظر اعتراضی خود را ابراز داشتند و پا به پای مردم معترض ایستادگی کردند. خود کتک خوردند و شهید دادند و با انبوه توطئه ها ، افترا و سرکوب ها و لشگرکشی اراذل به خانه و کاشانه خود مواجه شدند.ا

آخرین حربه ای که علیه این عزیزان به کار گرفته شد برخورد غیرانسانی و غیر قانونی مبنی بر به اصطلاح حبس خانگی آنهاست. اینک یک سال از این عمل ضد انسانی می‌گذرد . در این مدت مقامات و نهادهای حاکم که دست شان از هر محمل قانونی خالی است، جز این دروغ که آنها خودشان خواهان مراقبت از خویش بوده‌اند و ما‌‌ برای حفظ جان آنها چنین کرده ایم ، حرفی برای گفتن و منطقی برای ارائه به افکار عمومی داخلی و جهانی ندارند . آیا این که هر از گاهی دروغهای آشکاری از زبان بعضی افراد مسئول در داخل و خارج از کشور به گوش می رسد ، با حقایق در تعارض نیست؟

ما اعضای خانواده این عزیزان با صراحت و قطعیت می گوییم که آنها برخلاف خواست خود و برخلاف قانون یک سال است که در بازداشت به سر می برند و جز تعدادی تماس تلفنی و دیدار محدود ،کوتاه و کنترل شده حق هرگونه ارتباطی با بیرون از آنها سلب شده است . آنها از حقوق قانونی خود محروم مانده اند . تا کنون هیچ شخص مسئولی حتی همین اقدام غیر قانونی راهم بنا بر جایگاه حقوقی خود نپذیرفته است . آنها از نظارت نهادهای بی طرف بر خوراک و سلامتی و دارو بی بهره اند . و در مورد امنیت و کجایی مکان نگهداری آنان ابهامات زیادی وجود دارد و این نگرانی‌ها روز به روز برای ما شدیدتر شده است .ا

اینک ما خانواده آقایان کروبی و موسوی و خانم رهنورد از طرف آنان اعلام می کنیم که ما و عزیزان مان به این زندان هرچه که باشد خانگی یا غیر خانگی ، معترضیم و خواهان پایان دادن به این اقدام ضد انسانی و ضد قانونی هستیم. مسببین اینگونه رفتارها به خوبی می دانند که با اقداماتی چنین، در اراده عزیزان ما در حق خواهی خویش و دفاع از آرمان هایی که میلیون ها هم وطن مان در خیابان ها ابراز کردند و خون خود را نثار نمودند و دهها شهید دادند و دچار حبس وشکنجه و انواع مسایل دیگر شدند و نیزهزاران زندانی که همچنان مقاوم و استوار در حبس اند؛ خللی ایجاد نخواهد کرد.ا

ما از حاکمانِ بر جان و مال و ناموس مردم می خواهیم از راه ضد ملی و ضد دینی و ضد انسانی که در سرکوب هر منتقد و مخالف خود در پیش گرفته اند و کشور را درلبه پرتگاه جنگ و ویرانی قرار داده اند به راه منطق وقانون و مصلحت مردم و میهن برگردند.ا

ما خانواده آقایان موسوی و کروبی، که برعهد خود با مردم در دفاع از حقوق شان وفادار واستوار مانده اند؛ اینک به خاطر حقوق از دست رفته آنها ، به عنوان نمادی از حقوق از دست رفته مردم ایران و مخصوصا شهدای مظلوم و زندانیان بی گناه ، از همه هموطنان مظلوم و رنج دیده و فداکار و از همه انسان های حق طلب و آزادی خواه و عدالت جوی، هم گام با هموطنان داخل کشور که خواهان تسلط مردمسالاری واقعیند ، در جای جای جهان میخواهیم پژواک صدای حق خواهی ما باشند . و صدای مارا به گوش جهانیان برسانند که: “زندانیان مظلوم و مقاوم ما وهمه زندانیان سیاسی و عقیدتی را در سراسر ایران آزاد کنید . کشور وملتی با اینهمه سرفرازی و بزرگی شایسته این حد رنج تنگناهای اقتصادی و سیاسی وخدای‌ناکرده جنگ نیست .”ا

Protests Called for On 25 Bahman (14 February)

2012-02-03T00:48:00.002+03:30

The Coordinating Council of the Green Path of Hope has called for protests in Iran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution. Hopefully the people will be able to get out and make their voices heard although the brutality of this regime makes that difficult. Here are the proposed routes which will be a silent protest march:

Time: 4 pm, 25th Bahman (February 14, 2012)

Tehran: between Ferdowsi Square, Navab junction and Azadi Square

Tabriz: Watch Square (Sa’at) to Abresan

Isfahan: Lower Chaharbagh Square to Revolution Square

Mashhad: Ahmadabad Street, between Dr Shariati Square (Taqi Abad) and Palestine Square

Shiraz: Mullah Sadra to Namazi Street

Kermanshah: Nobahar junction to Central Square

Urmia: Ostadan Street

Rasht: Motahari Street to Michael junction

Shahinshahr: Beheshti Avenue to Municipality Square

Ahwaz: Martyrs Square

Hamadan: near the Mausoleum of Bu Ali Sina

Amol: 17 Shahrivar Square

Lahijan: between Martyrs Square and Chahar Padishah Square

Abadan: Amiri Avenue

Anzali: Pasadaran Avenue

Yazd: Atlasi Square to Yazd University

Zanjan: Saadi Avenue

Kerman: all streets leading to Azadi Square

Ardebil: Shariati Square

Khorramabad: Shohada Street

Eslamshahr: Bagh Feyz Street

Boroujerd: from Razan Square to the end of Takhti Street

Borazjan: Hospital Square

Talesh: from Imam Khomeini Square to governorate

Ilam: from Imam Square to 22 Bahman Square

Gorgan: from Shalikubi Street to Vali-Asr Square (Kakh)

Tonekabon: between Imam Square and Martyr Shiroudi Square

Dezful: Shariati intersection to Ghazi intersection

Babol: Noshirvani University Avenue

Sanandaj: Azadi Square to governorate

Sabzevar: Kashefi Street

Qazvin: Khayyam Street from south to north

Birjand: Modarress Street

Bandar Abbas: Imam Khomeini Avenue

Arak: all streets leading to Bagh Melli Square

Qom: Eram and Saffayeh Streets in the vicinity of the homes of Grand Ayatollahs Sanei and late Montazeri

Khansar: Gas Station - Imam Khomeini Street - Imam Khomeini Square

Behshahr: Imam Khomeini Avenue towards Park Mellat

Shahroud: Sarcheshmeh to the waterfall

Bojnourd: 17 Shahrivar Square towards Martyr Square

Shahre Kord: Fassihi junction to Cinema junction

Yasuj: Saheli Park

Semnan: Saadi Square to Kowsar Square

Kashan: 15 Khordad Square

Sari: from Watch Square (Sa’at) to Municipality Square

Varamin: from Railroad Square to Varamin’s Central Square

Kazeroun: all streets leading to Kheyrat and Martyrs Square

Astara: Imam Khomeini Avenue

Hossein Alaei Denounces Regime's Behavior and Comes Under Attack

2012-01-16T08:31:00.000+03:30

I am re-posting below the complete post from another blog that does an excellent job at explaining the significance of a recent article by Hossein Alaei. Although the regime is already attacking him, Alaei resonds that "I will continue to fight Tyranny".

Here is the full explanation:

On January 7, 1978, an article that was published in an Iranian daily sparked the Islamic revolution, three decades ago. The article scorned landowners who were trying to reverse the Shah's land reforms and mocked how in their desperation they had tried to get the clergy on their side but only one suspicious Indian born cleric had taken up their cause. The article explicitly named Seyyed Rouhallah Khomeini aka 'Indian Seyyed' as the backward reactionary cleric from the dark ages who, fifteen years earlier, had unsuccessfully tried to oppose the land reforms and women having the right to vote.

Two days later, Khomeini's supporters and seminary students in Qom marched through the streets of Qom and demanded other Grand Ayatollahs to condemn the article and issue a fatwa to kill the author. The Shah deployed his troops and it is said that six of the protesters were killed. I remember clearly reading about the crackdown in the newspapers, which included a picture it claimed was of seminary student protesters covering their faces and chanting with their raised fists. These protests continued and escalated and in less than a year, the likes of those seminary students I saw in the picture printed in the newspaper, had taken over the power in Iran and our lives changed forever.

On 9th January, 2012, Thirty Two years after the Qom riots that sparked the Islamic revolution in Iran, Naval Commander Hossein Alaei, wrote an article to commemorate the Qom uprising. Former Naval Commander Alaei is the founder of the IRGC Navy forces in 1985 and a prominent war time commander. Apart from the head of the Navy, he has also been the head of Combined Armed Forces, head of the Aeronautical Industries and is a member of the Imam Hossein university scientific committee, where Islamic Republic officers are trained.

Alaei's article to commemorate the Qom uprising was on the surface addressing the Shah, but Iranians are too familiar with these similar improvisation tools that Iran's poets have used over centuries to speak the unspeakable. It was clear that Commander Alaei was not just addressing the Shah and was referring to the present situation in Iran.
Alaei finishes his article with this Koranic verse : "فاعتبروا يا اولي الابصار"
So learn the lessons, you men of vision"

See the translation of the main parts of the article at the bottom of this post.

It took one day for the Commander to fall from hero to zero and the hardline papers and newspapers started their campaign to vilify the former war hero.

Baseer (Insight) site called him a despondent element who had cut his former ties and relied on his track record at the front, during the war, to act as his shield.

Raja News also berated him and compared him to the author of the article in 1978 that set off the Qom riots.

Fars, also accused Alaei for drawing parallels between then and now and said Alaei and his hypothetical questions from the deposed Shah is an attempt to compare the crackdown then with that of the recent 'sedition'.

Some of the other news sites which had copied the original article quickly removed the article.

But it is never enough to just write against a person who dares to criticise the Supreme Leader, physical threats usually continue next, and true to form, hardline newspapers are reporting hundreds of "mourners" marking the 40th day after the anniversary of Imam Hussein's martyrdom, have gathered outside Commander Alaei's house, chanting slogans against him.

"Commander Wake up!", "Commander Alaei, You Have Failed", "Alaei, Shame on You, Shame on You".

Translation of Alaei's article in commemoration of the Qom uprising:

“9 January 1978 is the beginning of a popular and pervasive uprising which, in about a year, was able to expel the Shah from the country and bring an end to 2,500 years of monarchy in Iran,” Alaei writes. “But this incident was ignited very easily, and the regime itself provided the pretence.

“The wrongful behaviour of the Shah’s security forces had amplified the people’s dissatisfaction with the monarchy and helped maintain it,” the former commander continued. “As the number of people killed on the streets, imprisonments and political prisoners rose, the Shah’s regime essentially lost its valour too.”

“Up until that point, the people would not address the Shah directly in their protests and would [instead] try to voice their criticism regarding the lack of freedom of speech, the lack of political freedoms and the maltreatment exercised by state agents such as the Imperial Guard. But a continuation of the state’s violent conduct and a harsh clampdown on protests caused the people to direct their opposition against the Shah himself and to demand a fundamental change in the ruling system.”

“The writing of letters to the Shah was [soon] under way and he was rightfully pronounced as the person behind all the country’s upheavals.”

In his piece, Alaei argues that the 1979 Islamic Revolution was aimed at preventing another “lifelong rule” and allowing Iranian “to determine their own destiny through free elections.”

Alaei then raises a number of questions he says the Shah “probably” pondered after being forced into exile, questions that might serve as an “important lesson for others.

“Would the situation have not ended in a better way, had I shown restraint at the funeral of Imam Khomeini’s son and refrained from provoking the population with an offensive article written by my information Minister under an alias? If, after the publication of the article in a state-owned newspaper, I had allowed for it to be responded to, wouldn’t my rule have lasted longer? If I had allowed for the people to hold peaceful protests … wouldn’t the affair have ended there? Wouldn’t I have obtained better results, had I not ordered agents to shoot at protesters … ?”

In an apparent reference to the illegal house arrest of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, Alaei writes that the Shah probably asked himself, “If instead of placing prominent [political leaders] under house arrest and exiling them to remote cities and imprisoning political activists I had paved the way for a dialogue, would I have been forced to flee the country?”

Rafsanjani's Daugther Sentenced to Prison

2012-01-03T23:38:00.003+03:30

The daughter of a former President of the Isalmic Republic of Iran is sentenced to 6 months in prison for speaking her mind. Of course this is not a suprise as a former Prime Minister and Speaker of the Majlis have been under house arrest for nearly a year. The regime has slowly turned against those who supported the revolution that created and are trying to change it for the better.

Faezeh Rafsanjani will likely be treated better than the thousands of other political prisoners in Iran who face torture and inhumane conditions. At the same time, it is sad any time that an Iranian citizen has to go to jail merely for practicing rights that are enshrined in the Iranian Constitution.

Hopefully this sends a message to those who still support the regime that you and your loved ones could be the next one targeted. The only way to live free from the dangers of tyranny is to destroy tyranny. In this new year, let us start again our efforts.

Here is the full story:

The daughter of influential former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was on Tuesday sentenced to jail and banned from political activities for "anti state propaganda" dating back to the 2009 disputed presidential election, Iranian media reported.

The Islamic state has piled pressure on the opposition ahead of a parliamentary election in March 2, the first test of the clerical establishment's popularity since the 2009 vote that critics say was rigged to re-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rafsanjani, who heads a powerful body that resolves disputes between parliament and a hardline clerical body, sided with the pro-reformers after that vote, which brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets during eight months of protests.

Daughter Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani went on trial last month on charges of "campaigning against the Islamic establishment," student news agency ISNA said.

She was arrested and briefly detained after addressing supporters of candidate Mirhossein Mousavi when they gathered near the state television building in Tehran in defiance of a ban on opposition protests in the aftermath of the election.

"My client has been sentenced to six months in jail and banned from engaging in any cultural and political activities for five years," ISNA quoted her lawyer Gholam-Ali Riyahi as saying. She has 20 days to appeal.

Thousands of people, including senior members of the reformist bloc, were detained after the vote for fomenting unrest. Most of them have since been released, but more than 80 people have been jailed for up to 15 years and five have been sentenced to death.

Iranian media reported on Friday that Iran had blocked the former president's website for carrying pro-reform statements.

Mousavi, a former prime minister, and Mehdi Karoubi, a cleric and a former parliament speaker who led the opposition, have been under house arrest since February and denied any contact with the outside world.

Iranian authorities said the 2009 vote was healthiest in three decades and accused the United States and Israel of backing the opposition to overthrow the clerical establishment.

The election and its aftermath plunged Iran into its biggest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution and has created a deepening rift among the hardline rulers.

The registration of hopefuls for March's election ended on Friday with more than 4,500 candidates registered.

Ahmadinejad's allies will want to secure a majority in the assembly to bolster his chances of winning a presidential vote in 2013.

Leading reformist politicians said pro-reform political parties have decided not to provide a separate list of candidates because the basic needs of a "free and fair" vote have not been fulfilled.

Authorities are concerned that a low turnout will further harm the establishment's legitimacy.

Frustration is simmering among lower- and middle-class Iranians over Ahmadinejad's economic policies. Prices of most consumer goods have risen substantially and many people struggle to make ends meet.

Heshmatollah Tabarzadi Message From Prison

2012-01-03T03:28:00.000+03:30

Political prisoner Heshmatollah Tabarzadi sends a message from prison.

2012 Preview: The Ailing Economy and More

2012-01-03T03:21:00.000+03:30

After years of failed economic policies and reckless foreign policy that has caused sanctions by countries across the world, the Iranian economy seems on the break of a major crisis. Details are emerging about the numerous problems that are happening about the collapsing nature of the currency. The Iranian rial has reached an exchange rate of 16,800 rials to the dollar losing about 35% of its value compared to foreign currency.

As the discontent from this financial crisis starts to rise, it will be interesting to see if people will start to protest and other will start abandoning the regime because they are no longer receive financial support. The upcoming Majlis elections in the beginning of March should provide an opportunity for people to express their frustration with the regime especially since it will be rigged. This might be an interesting time to see if people once again take to the streets to protest the regime. Also all this is happening in the context of Iran's closet ally in the region going towards civil war and the possible collapse of the Assad regime.

The regime has responded to all this by first pretending nothing is wrong and then blaming outside powers for the country's problems. In the latest effort to deflect attention to their own failings, the regime has threatened to close the Straight of Hormuz while conducting military exercises and describing further progress of their nuclear program. Of course, all of this is spending precious money that could have actually been used to help people deal with the collapsing economy.

As the internal economy continues to do poorly, relations with other nations continue to go downhill raising the prospect of war. The regime likely would want a war so that people will rally around the flag and crack down harshly on any dissent that does rise up. Moreover, a limited war that would cause a naval and air war, but the lack of ground troops would not threaten the regime's hold on the country. This would raise oil prices giving the regime more money and causing people to lose track of the economic problems.

Hopefully the Obama administration will be too smart to be dragged into a war that the regime wants. The increasing economic problems will cause the power of the regime to collapse and allow the opposition to once again take to the streets to push for change. The upcoming Majlis elections and a possible collapse of the Syrian regime might also give the people of Iran more motivation to start fighting the regime. All this means that 2012 might once again be a year in which the Iranian people will rise up against the regime that is destroying their country. Stay tuned for an interesting year.

Karroubi on Majlis Elections

2011-12-28T05:23:00.000+03:30

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

2011-12-22T19:23:00.002+03:30

Regime's Policies Ruining Currency

2011-12-20T19:01:00.000+03:30

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

2011-12-13T00:15:00.002+03:30

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

2011-12-12T18:18:00.001+03:30

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

2011-12-07T18:21:00.000+03:30

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

2011-12-06T18:22:00.001+03:30

The Regime's Hypocrisy

2011-12-03T20:00:00.000+03:30

The Security Forces say "Take it easy, they are just students"

Regime Pretends it is 1979

2011-11-29T18:33:00.000+03:30

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

2011-11-21T23:37:00.000+03:30

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

2011-11-18T00:14:00.000+03:30

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

2011-11-17T23:49:00.000+03:30

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

2011-11-10T00:20:00.001+03:30

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?

2011-11-08T06:41:00.002+03:30

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

2011-10-28T21:42:00.002+03:30

Khamenei Wants to Destroy Islamic Republic

2011-10-26T18:10:00.001+03:30

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

2011-10-21T16:58:00.001+03:30

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

2011-10-19T17:27:00.000+03:30

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.