Oh, and we have four seasons!

I read these lines: "If the media told you about Iran’s achievemens everyday and didn’t hide them, your news would be full of Iranian news! Iranian girls are famous for being terrific. We have Persian rugs and Persian literature. Iranian culture is now westernized and only a little of the ancient culture has survived. According to statistics Tehran is the cheapest capital city in the world. There are many other things. How many pages would you need to describe a country? Iran has nearly all the industries and technologies found in ‘developed’ countries. Oh, and we have four seasons! We get a lot of snow and there are skating rinks! lol The list is endless, " and I think to myself what on eart? Is this for real? What about all the crimes the Iranian regime commites? This is just an example of such.
The words, “Enemy of Islam,” were found written on the leg of Dr. Masih Farhangi, a Bahá’í who was executed in Tehran on 24 June 1981 (Persecuting the Dead: short movie in Persian.)

And yes! how many pages we need to describe a country where stoning and public hanging, and selling Iranian girls to the neighboring countries are just a few we should take pride in. Oh, and we have four seasons!

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated


I lived in Pakistan when she was elected and sworn in for the first time in 1988 as the Prime Minister. Today Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi. Pakistan is a strange country as it is but add nuclear power, and religious fanatics running wild and the combination is scary. All in all the attack has rippled through the world's financial markets and oil prices are even higher. This means business is great for the Iranian regime and the oil weapon can't really be unleashed against them.

The Islamist war on women

The Boston Globe: "In Tehran, a father beheaded his 7-year-old daughter because he suspected that she had been raped; he said: I acted to defend my honor, fame, and dignity."

IRAN: Women Without Veils Must Die

AKI: A top Muslim cleric in Iran, Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hassani said on Wednesday that women in Iran who do not wear the hijab or Muslim headscarf, should die.

Love.

Student activists arrested by the security forces have been deprived of sleep for up to 72 hours, and beaten and tortured to the extend that they have been taken to the prison hospital frequently. Behrooz Karimizadeh, Peyman Piran, Bijan Sabagh, Behzad Bagheri, Anousheh Azadfar, Mehdi Gerayloo, Alnaz Jamshidi, Ehsan Azadfar, Nader Ahsani are among those.

Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies

There will be a discussion featuring author Barbara Slavin who wrote on U.S.-Iran relations entitled "Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S., and the Twisted Path to Confrontation." Slavin had unparalleled access to high ranking officials, and she does is describing missed opportunities and ideological shortsightedness among leaders in both countries. Tomorrow her readers can listen in live via audio webcast here.

Food

I am constantly hungry. The doctor has said I shouldn’t eat after 7:00 p.m.. I have gained all too much weight and all this despite my constant vomiting. Right now I am so hungry that my head wants to burst. I don’t know what I want to eat but I open the refrigerator constantly and my brother who is visiting me from Europe keeps saying we should buy a glass door refrigerator. If you wonder about my weight gain here is my recent interview on Voice of America. The interview is about my literary works but my pregnant belly and my head were thinking about food.

IRAN: Human Rights Violations

The Iranian regime has arrested several university students in Azerbaijan, Iran. In addition Mansour Jeddi has been jailed on charges of champion against language discrimination in Iran and Ebrahim Dehghan has been sentenced to two years in prison on charges of action against national security.

Is it now four years since you have passed away?

I miss you mother.

Crackdown and Arrest of the Lefty University Students

The regime has targeted the lefty students who are one of the most potent critics of the regime in the universities. After being arrested some of them have disappeared and there is no credible information on their whereabouts.

The word ‘women’ is now replaced on Iranian state television by ‘family’, AKI reports, Jelveh Javaheri another active member of the feminist website Change for Equality, an initiative to collect a million signatures to end legislations that discriminate against women was arrested earlier today in Tehran, Iran, and Abelina Galustian, the Iranian painter of Armenian ethnicity rightfully says: "I still couldn't understand why they were all [still focusing on acting like virgins.] My reaction to this hypocrisy was communicated with the Veiled Series. It was a way of telling women to stop interrogating a woman's worth by the intactness of her hymen, as it only leads to daughters performing virginity and sons who only accept virgins (or at least they think they're getting virgins) for wives." Meanwhile let us not forget it has been one week since a nineteen-year-old gang-raped victim from Saudi Arabia was ordered the penalty of 200 lashes because she was caught sitting in a car with a man who was not her relative.

"But what am I?
Only a captive,
chained to the earth.
In silence I grow old,
In silence I wither and die,
And before long
nothing will remain of me
But a handful of ashes."

From a poem by Zhaleh Esfahani. She passed away in London last night.

Iran Drops Out Of Olympics

President Ahmadinejad has announced that Iran will not participate in the next Summer Olympics. He noted that, “Anyone who can run, jump, or swim has already left the country.” The joke is circulating during the recent arrest of Reza Valizadeh, the blogger who revealed Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s overpriced dogs. These four dogs have been purchased from Germany for a total of $600,000.00 despite the recent call by Angela Dorothea Merkel to impose sanctions on Iran.

In a recent interview with Tehelka - New Delhi,India I was asked if I think think war is imminent?

I don’t know if war is in the cards or not but the world has been quiet when it comes to the human rights crimes committed by the Iranian regime. I believe they have to voice their outrage at these violations before everything else. Why has the world been quiet for the past thirty years while our best people have been killed in the prisons of the oppressive regime of Iran? Why all we hear is 'Peace' and never do we hear 'Democracy'! How can peace work when there is no democracy?

Continues here.

Reza Dehghan a member of syndicate of workers has been behind the bars for several days now.

IRAN: Human Rights Violations


An Iranian-Kurdish teacher Ishmael Shadi and three university students have been arrested in Kermanshah. This happened while more than sixty University students are in the prisons of the oppressive regime. The arrest of the Kurdish- Iranian teacher happened two days after the arrest of Maryam Hossienkhah, Journalist, and member of the Women’s Cultural Center, and Reza Dehghan a member of Syndicate of Workers.

Happy Birthday Sheema.

Health Insurance

Yesterday the school nurse called saying my little girl doesn’t have a fever but is cuffing bad. I told her we will come to pick her up before her lunch and on our way to my doctor’s appointment. Now this is my little girl who had a broken leg for 6 weeks with a mom who is still suffering from vomiting and nausea. Coming home early or going to a doctor’s office and not enjoying the art class with the rest of her friends isn’t what a five year old would really like to do. While complaining about it we drove with her to an office my primary care doctor had referred me to twenty days earlier. After driving in the rain and reaching the not so friendly area we waited 45 min. passed my appointment only to be told they have not received the fax. With a full bladder, vomiting, and a room full of patients who have to share one bathroom I was on the verge of a collapse. Despite these all I had to wait two more hours before being told their fax seemed to be out of order! It is not the first time we have been disappointed with this insurance. Amazing that we pay so much money for the health insurance but can’t change it before the year is over. United States is not some socialist country where there is no competition. For the money we pay we simply have to be able to receive a better service and should have the option of changing.

Kurdish-Iranian journalist Adnan Hassanpour, who was arrested and to be executed on falls charges, is on hunger strike in prison.

Did the National Iranian American Council Commit Fraud?

Michael Rubin: "Trita Parsi, you have yet to answer why NIAC told the Congressionally-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) that NIAC’s Endowment-funded civil society programs were a success, netting NIAC a couple hundred thousand dollars, all the while condemning all such programs as failures. Trita, you say NIAC is transparent. Keep your word. I pose the queries again: Please clarify whether you mislead Congress in your letter and other representations to it, or mislead NED in your repeated applications for its money to support your Iran civil society training programs. Don’t take the New Republic strategy. The question isn’t going to fade away."

IRAN: Gays Should Be Hanged, Says Iranian Minister

The Times: "Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference."

IRAN: Sufi Muslims Arrested and Injured

Around 180 Sufi Muslims have been arrested and 80 people injured in Iran for practicing what some religious leaders have branded as "a danger to Islam" and "illegitimate". Their lodge was partially destroyed in the clashes.

I myself am an exile,
an unwelcome guest on the dust of your earth,
and nowhere in all the void of space,
in all of unpitying heaven,
nowhere under this cracked, cold dome
have I ever found a home,
a haven, a place to rest.

Today is the anniversary of Bijan Mofid, the Iranian playwright and poet. I am all too familiar with his CITY OF TALES. It is amazing that after all these years the tales still breath over the city. The misery imposed on Iranians is an ongoing story. Here is more in Persian.

IRAN: Human Rights Violations

The two women activists, Hana Abdi arrested in Kurdistan, and Ronak Safarzadeh are still in prison, and the Kurdish-Iranian journalist Adnan Hassanpour is to be executed.

Questions for Trita Parsi by Michael Rubin

1) If you believe all Iranian civil society activists don’t want these programs and, indeed, they backfire, why did you reapply for grants in 2006 and 2007?

2) In your grant applications, did you tell the National Endowment for Democracy that your programs were successful when you now say the programs are counterproductive? Did it take you three years to come to this conclusion, or did you believe differently in 2005 and 2006?

3) For the sake of transparency, will you release publicly the reports you issued to the National Endowment for Democracy so we can compare your statements to them with those in your letter to Congress? Do you not believe that a discrepancy would equate with fraud? Will you return the money you took from NED if a discrepancy exists?

4) You demand that the State Department should release to you and the public the names of Iranian civil society activists who have accepted grants, participated in conferences funded with the Congressional Iran civil society grant, or participated in citizen exchange programs supported with the Congressional Iran civil society funding. Will you publicly release the names of the Iranian groups with whom you have worked during your three years of receiving NED funding? Are these groups representative of democracy activists and independent civil society or do they represent the reformist faction of the Iranian government? I hope that you should not oppose transparency.

5) You cite Akbar Ganji in support of your efforts to cut off funding to Radio Farda. Are you aware of reports that Mr. Ganji is seeking to start his own radio program? Do you not believe that Iranians should have access to as many voices as possible? You also differentiate between Iranian civil society activists that fled Iran in recent years, Akbar Atri, for example, and those who remain in Iran, like Mr. Ganji. In what country does Mr. Ganji now live? Has he returned to Iran after coming to the States?

6) While you seek a cut-off of Congressional funding for democracy in Iran, do you feel the same way about the funding George Soros gives to civil society activists? After all, the Iranian government cited Mr. Soros' grants in their recent crackdown. Do you believe U.S. policy should adhere to whatever the Iranian government says?

Judge rules Iranian Christian woman's beating justified due to her evangelism efforts

onenewsnow: Despite what Iranian leaders may want people to believe, the truth is that the Iranian government does not allow citizens to worship freely. "They will point to churches that exist in Iran, and say, look, we have churches, we have freedom. The reality is those are Armenian churches, [and] the Armenian community there is considered to be Christian," Nettleton points out. "But churches that preach in the Farsi language, which is the language of most Iranians, are forbidden. The people there don't have the freedom to change their religion." In Iran, Christians are not allowed to print literature or Sunday school bulletins. Converts from Islam to Christianity are also subject to the death penalty.

خبرگزاری کتاب آمریکا: شیما کلباسی شاعر ایرانی مقیم آمریکا با مجموعه اشعار انگلیسی تحت عنوان "پژواک در تبعید" در بخش مسائل زنان به عنوان فینالیست جایزه کتاب ملی سال دو هزار و هفت آمریکا انتخاب شد.

Echoes in Exile is now an Award-Winning Finalist in the Women's Issues of the National Best Books 2007 Awards.

Interpol Issues Warrants for Ex-Iranian Regime Officials in Argentina Terror Case

Interpol has finally made the decision to move forward on the capture of five Iranian regime officials and bringing to justice those believed to be responsible for the killing of innocents. According to the news the men on the capture notices by the Interpol are the former Iranian intelligence chief Ali Fallahian, former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai, regime’s former diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, also known as “Moshen Randjbaran,” Ahmad Vahidi of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Al-Quds Force, Mohsen Rabbani, the cultural attaché in the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires, and Hizballah’s military chief Imad Mughniyeh of Lebanon.

IRAN: 6 Human Right Activists in Solitary Confinement

Iranian Political Prisoners Association: The six activists have been arrested in Firouzkuh, Sanandaj, and Tehran simultaneously by the Intelligence ministry on Sunday 9 September. Abbas Khorsandi, Meisam Rudaki, Bahram Rasekhifar, Sepideh Pouraghaei, Mansour Faraji and Ghassem Shirzadian have been arrested and held in solitary confinement in 209 Evin prison. Sepideh Pouraghai a graduate of languages is a journalist and has been previously detained for participating in student protests. Intelligence Ministry agents attacked Ms.Pouraghaeis house on Sunday and arbitrarily transferred her, with some personal belongings, to Evin prison.Ghassem Shirzadian, a close friend of Ms. Pouraghaei, was arrested the same day. He is a weblogger and has just graduated.Abbas Khorsandi was also arrested in his house in Firouzkuh. He had been previously arrested 3 years ago on charges of conspiracy against the government, and had been kept in 209 Evin prison for a month, before he was released on bail. Families of the detainees have tried very hard to verify the situation of their beloved ones but in vain. The “revolutionary courts” have not announced any charges with regards to the detainees, although some families have approached the Evin prison authorities searching for results, but have been turned back. Prison authorities have told the families that they have no traces of the missing persons.

IRAN: Human Rights Violations

Akhbar Rooz: Eight Iranian Arab minorities are to be executed including Faleh Abdullah al-Mansouri, a Dutch national and UNHCR registered refugee, deported to Iran by the Syrian authorities in May 2006. Al-Mansouri is currently being tortured in Section 209, a notorious prison run by the Ministry of Intelligence. He was sentenced to death while in exile and is likely to be executed in Iran. Three more are sentenced to life. One of them is Hamzeh Savari who was arrested at the age of eighteen and two of his brothers were executed last year.

Urgent Call for Action

Change for Equality:"A women’s rights activist, Delaram Ali was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months and 10 lashing in appeals court."

Why some Iranians are desensitized to the crimes of the Iranian regime?! This is a regime that invests millions of dollars for its terrorist activities around the world and its people suffer from poverty and oppression. In this movie we can see worms emerging through the skin of the living-human-host in the streets of Tehran.

When Women Are Sacrificed!

It is a known fact in Pakistan that women who are raped will be stoned to death or have to commit suicide. Girl gang-rape by order of tribal jury is a common knowledge in Pakistan as well. It is now a common knowledge and known fact that in Iran a twenty-seven-year-old medical doctor, whom we have come to know as Zahra Bani Ameri (Zahra Bani Yaghoub) was gang raped by the regime agents while she was hold a prisoner on unknown charges during Eid ul-Fitr. The difference between Mukhtaran Bibi also known as Mukhtar Mai of Pakistan and Zahra Bani Ameri of Iran is that one is living and we know what went on but with Zahra and thousands of other Iranian girls who were raped in the prisons of the oppressed regime of Iran we will never hear the horror stories from them.

IRAN: Mansour Osanlou, the head of the executive committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTBC), the transport workers' trade union in Tehran, Iran is sentenced to five years of prison. His colleague, Ebrahim Madadi is sentenced to three and half years in prison.

اخبار روز: "منصور اسانلو به پنج سال زندان محکوم و به بند معتادان در زندان اوین منتقل شده است. ابراهیم مددی به سه سال و نیم زندان محکوم شده و در زندان رجایی شهر زندانی است."

Tartlets with Cream Topping

After reading Hassan Dai’s article I realized why Niki Akhavan known to some as the Iranian Hoochie Mama has claimed I have defended Abdulmalek Rigi on my Voice of America interview! The funny thing is in this day and age we can’t fabricate the truth. The interview can be obtained from VOA and it will show that I have spoken about the 700 Iranian Baluch who are to be executed in Iran. That said who can we trust when these people lie to our face and try to rephrase our words according to their mindset! Our Noble peace prize winner has her own double standards, our world renown humanitarian is financially supported by a gambler who may or may not be involved in a prostitution ring, our Iranian-American lobbyist has his hand in marriage with a regime that not only commits crimes against its own people but also supports worldwide terrorism, most of our women activists are either communists or Islmaists and don’t really recognize secularism, and well the Iranian political dinosaurs, they are just what they are!

Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead

Recently I read a short note on a Bahraini blogger by the name of Esra’a Al Shafei and some of her fellow bloggers who are trying to bring attention to the crimes the Iranian regime commits against Iranian Baha’is. Al Shafei is from Bahrain. It is an amazing work she is doing emphesising the Baha'is condition in Iran but the question is why we don’t find anything about the human rights violations where human rights defenders have been subjected to harassment, including prosecution on false criminal charges, threats or assault, the social discrimination that goes against Christians and official discrimination against Shi'a Muslims who are classified as "bidoon" and mostly living in extreme poverty, violence against women, and foreign workers who are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation without no protection at all in Bahrain, her country of birth, on their website. As some of us know there are Bahraini refugees in Iran as well as in Europe who have had to flee their country because and due to their belief system. The question is, are these Mideast Youth bloggers thinking ahead or some of them just turn a blind eye to what is happening in their own countries and to their fellow countrymen! It would be as if I as an Iranian born would not discuss the crimes committed against the Baha’is in Iran but only discuss the discrimination acts against the Shi'a Muslims, Mirzai's a.k.a Ahmadiyyah (Qadianis/Lahorites), Christians, and the ethnic cleansing of Kafirs in Pakistan.

Iranian Regime’s National Honours

Once again the Iranian regime denies requests and visitation rights to the attorneys of the two young Iranian Kurds Adnan Hassanpour, journalist and Hiva Butimar, civil and environmental activist, who are sentenced to execution.

Truth is not a self-serving tool.

Flowers every night
Blossom in the sky;
Peace in the Infinite;
At peace am I.

Sighs a hundredfold
From my heart arise;
My heart, dark and cold,
Flames with my sighs.

-- Rumi

IRAN: Urgent Medical Treatment Needed for Jailed Trade Union Leader

Mansour Osanloo, the jailed leader of the bus workers' union in Tehran, faces the possible loss of his eyesight unless he receives urgent medical attention -- which the Iranian authorities are denying him. Amnesty International has just now launched an online campaign calling on the Iranian government to allow Osanloo to receive medical attention.

IRAN: Woman Poet and Publisher is Threatened to Death and Disappearance

The first recipient of the Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Prize in 2003 was Farkhondeh Hajizadeh, an Iranian publisher who is also a writer, poet, and the editor of two literary journals. Now she is threatened to death and disappearance and her publishing firm is being shut down. It is part of the systematic crackdown by the regime on independent publishing houses and writers, specially women in Iran.

رژیم حاکم بر ایران عملیات تروریستی در خارج از کشور را مثبت می داند و قاتلین را پاداش می دهد و علاوه بر آن چنین عملیاتی را بر علیه کسانی که تنها جرمشان دگر اندیشی است طراحی و به جامه‌ عمل در می آورد. رژیم، مخالفان سیاسی اش را به خاطر حفظ قدرت نابود می کند.

Mykonos

On September 17, 1992, several Iranian-Kurdish opposition leaders were assassinated at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin, Germany. In its 10 April 1997 ruling, a German court declared that the assassination had been ordered by Iranian intelligence minister with knowledge of supreme leader Ali Khamenei and then president Hashemi Rafsanjani. The court found Kazem Darabai, an Iranian national, and Abbas Rhayel, a Lebanese national, guilty of the murders and sentenced them to life in prison. However after serving only 15 years in prison, these two terrorists are set for early release by German authorities. The free world should be outraged by such lenient treatment of terrorists. Cutting secret deals with terrorists only emboldens them to pour more innocent blood.

Recently I was interviewed by Tehelka. Here are three of those questions and my answers.

Q) After September 11 attack, often heard that people from Middle East and Asia are under suspicion in US and Europe? Do you feel so?
A) Yes. I do feel so when I go to the airport. Last month my husband, the director of a research center in Washington, D.C. was humiliated on the airplane and his safety was put in danger by the flight attendant. He could easily have been shot by US air marshals. But truth be said the United States is where we can voice our concern.

Q) How you evaluate the governments in Iran and US.
A) There is no comparison between the Iranian regime and the U.S. government. The Iranian regime commits crimes against its own people and supports terrorism around the world. The United States has a democratic government and if people are dissatisfied with one political group they have the chance to elect a different one four years later. When the U.S. committed war crimes in Abu Gharib prison in Iraq we did hear and read about it and people get convicted. The same doesn’t apply to the ruling regime of Iran.

Q) Lot of Iranian writers are now in exile? What is their contribution generally? Exile literature has any major role in total.
A) Exiled writers are contributing a lot, not only to the Persian literature but to the world literature as well. Exiled and immigrant writers and poets have, throughout history, had an important role to play in discovering new frontiers in articulating experience and finding new means of expressions. Think of Russian exiles like Marian Tsvetaeva or Josef Brodsky. Think of German exiles like Paul Celan. The same applies to Persian literature. Not many people might know the bright exiled Iranian writers now. But in time they will.

We sit in the car waiting for the buffalo wings and carrot juice. She asks why we are born to die. I answer laughing at the fact she is 5 and I am 34 and neither have a clue. I tell her I don't know. But I thought moms know everything. Love, moms don't know everything.

Ahmadinejad

Iranian people are arrested, executed, and public hangings are the norm of the society. Women are bruised in the streets and at home without much rights and legal protection. However the Islamic Republic representatives shamelessly say: "The freest women in the world are women in Iran and our people are the freest people in the world" and "We have no homosexuals in Iran." Perhaps inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University is Hamid Dabashi’s greatest contribution to date. The Islamic Republic is on full display in the Western Media and more people get to see the true nature of the regime.

An Iranian-Canadian has made one of the most successful short films of all times. In the meantime other Iranian-Canadians
Hassan Daoleslam: "The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president Trita Parsi plan to organize a panel in the US House of Representatives on July 26th, 2007, titled “Human Rights in Iran and US Foreign Policy Options”. According to the published agenda, representatives from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will participate. The sponsors of the program (NIAC and Trita Parsi) are key players in the lobby enterprise of Tehran’s ayatollahs in the United States. The Iranian regime’s violations of human rights have reached unprecedented levels. Its barbaric suppression of women, workers, students and dissidents, and the stoning of a man after 11 years of imprisonment, have been the subject of broad international condemnation."

FREE SPEECH
Stalin alive and well!
Shemma Kalbasi
August 12, 2007

Hossein Derakhshan's blog is suspended by Mehdi Khalaji! Apparently Khalaji having had worked for and under the current regime of Iran before he was revolutionized has brought his Mullah mindset to the United States.

I by no means defend Derakhshan for I have observed his actions and his support for the current regime of Iran but am surprised at Khalaji. He is supposedly promoting a democratic Iran?! He too can write and express his opinion but to shut down a blog is nothing short what we observe in today's Iran where newspapers and blogs are shut down or filtered every day.

I am sorry to see Khalaji and his like minded friend Trita Parsi do nothing but sue and threaten people for their ideas and writings. It was last month that Parsi threatened to sue Voice of America for re-inviting Hassan Daoleslam and calling him MKO member and a supporter of war on Iran without facts to support his accusations.

These people are Iran and Iranians lobbyists? These people are bringing Iranians Democracy? These people are human rights advocates? Well I for one say such democracy, such lobbyists, and these people who seem to have the mindset of dictators, these people who can't stand their opponents, yes these people are only good as their actions are!

Is Haleh Esfandiari the ambassador of Iran's PR group now?

Within fifty three days there have been seventy nine executions in Iran. Twenty seven of those were public hangings. Twelve of those broadcast on the Iranian TV and Haleh Esfandiari comes on the U.S. TV and tells us how polite and friendly the regime has been to her! Is she the ambassador of Iran's PR group now or she simply can’t care less to discuss prisoners, hangings, human abuses, and women's conditions in Iran.

Lemon Trees

I am sick with vomiting and nausea and physically and emotionally exhausted with this pregnancy. Back when I was pregnant with my little girl, the sound of crickets, rain, and the smell of summer had become unpleasant to me.

Today as I write down these words all I want is to to squeeze the leaves off lemon trees and have the scent ride on my fingers. I want the air to be spiced up with the smell of lemons and limes.

Is NIAC calling for a Jihad?


Ah! Who knows what comes next with these NIACies and the rest of these Iranian regime appeasers! Depending what they have had for dinner they wake up to a whole new horizon the morning after! I guess freedom of expression is limited to what they think is right or wrong and not what Freedom of Expression is about! In addition to these entire why do they speak on my behalf? They have so boldly spoken for each and every Iranian-American as if they really believe each and every Iranian-American supports their actions!

Yesterday

Despite my sever nausea and vomiting I managed to accompany my husband and our little girl on her first day of kindergarten. I was excited and smiling so big that my husband said it feels more like my first day of school. That’s true. I loved my first day of KG where as my husband had cried the whole day so that he could stay home and go canoe riding with his mom! Anyway back at home my day got better. I had received a box full of beautiful gifts from my poet-painter friend Katayoon Zandvakili. Ah, I was so excited that I felt I have my hands in a jar of cookies! To make my day even better -- and despite the fact I had my mouth and half my head hidden in a plastic bag while being driven-- I managed to meet Kellye Kathyrn Betancourt later that afternoon and saw her at home exhibition. The night ended while trying to answer my daughter’s question about the creation. I drew Creation versus Evolution on a napkin and she said she likes the Evolution theory more because of the monkeys but both theories seem interesting!

Freedom of Expression

Iran protests over Swedish Muhammad cartoon by Lars Vilks? What need to be protested against are stoning women to death, executions, killing people in the name of religion and ideology. Why don't these people stand up to the crimes committed in the name of their religion?

Colorful beads, a newly bought orange and yellow umbrella, pink and purple clothes, red sparkly shoes, and changing from one dress to another are back in the game. It is wonderful to see the little girl is trying to play dress up, and walk without her crutches even if it’s for five min. every day.

این مطلب در پاسخ به متنی که ملیحه تیره گل تحت عنوان و چنین است که چرخه هم­چنان می­چرخد (پیرامون فضای پیرامون «زندانی­ی تهران») نوشته شده است.


ما در کجای تاریخ ایستاده ایم؟

اخیرا در پی چاپ کتاب "زندانی تهران" مطالب زیادی در باره نویسنده زن این کتاب، مارینا نعمت، نوشته شده است. متاسفانه بیشتر این مطالب توسط افرادی است که خود کتاب را نخوانده اند. این افراد نه نقد و بررسی که نامه های اعتراض آمیز نوشته اند! متاسفانه در این مطالب بیشتر از آنکه به جنایات رژیم پرداخته شود به نعمت و انگیزه های وی در نوشتن کتابش و درستی یا نادرستی حرف ها و ادعاهایش پرداخته شده و این از دید من معلول زیستن و شکل گرفتن در همان نظام استبدادی است که کتاب نعمت قصد افشایش را دارد.

اگرکلمه «تواب» را با بهایی، مجاهد، کمونیست، ساواکی و یا هر چیز دیگری عوض کنیم باز با اعتراضی مشابه روبرو خواهیم شد، گیرم که از گوشه ای دیگر و به وسیله جمعی دیگر. یکی از ویژگی های ذهن بسته و مستبد همین است که در رفتار فکری خود بسیط است و وابسته به چند محرک مشخص و از پیش تعیین شده. ذهن استبدادی فردیت نمی شناسد. دیدش سنگی است و واکنشش سنگی. نه تعادل می فهمد و نه تکامل. مثل سنگ بسیط است و فقط یک چیز! مثال چنین رفتاری نوشته اخیر ملیحه تیرهگل است. افرادی مثل تیره گل نه هرگز پیرامون حقوق زنان، بهاییان، کردها، بلوچها، و سایر اقلیتهای مذهبی، جنسی و قومی نوشته اند و نه به آن توجه ای نشان داده اند. اما هم اینان ناگهان با چاپ کتابی از یک بازمانده ستم و سرکوب به اوعلاقمند شده و پیرامون کتابش قلم فرسایی می کنند.

دیدگاه تیره گل و زبانی که وی در نوشته خود به کار گرفته سرکوبگرانه و به قصد ارعاب است. تیره گل ابتدا خود را آزاداندیش جلوه می دهد و سپس از طریق خلط مبحث و برچسب زدن به دیگران، سعی می کند که حرف خود رابه کرسی بنشاند. کار او مثل کار کسی است که پول می گیرد تا فعال حقوق بشر باشد! تیره گل می نویسد تا نوشته باشد. می خواهد که از قافله عقب نماند و در این راه از تحریف و مسخ حرف های دیگران ابایی ندارد. او نقل قول را خلاصه می کند و در زمینه ای کاملا متفاوت با زمینه اصلی به کار می برد تا به نتیجه گیری های مطلوب خود برسد. به طور مثال وی نوشته های چند خطی وبلاگ *مرا که در آن همه گونه مطلبی، از تعویض پوشک کودکم تا بیماریم به سبب بارداری، پیدا می شود به عنوان «مقاله» معرفی می کند. بعد مرا (به عمد؟) با یک زندانی سیاسی سابق عوضی می گیرد. من هرگز ادعا نکرده ام که زندانی سیاسی بوده ام. من حتی ادعای فعال سیاسی بودن هم نداشته ام. زمانی که انقلاب ایران اتفاق می افتاد من تنها ۵ سال داشتم. ده سال بعد اما، یعنی زمانی که داشتم ایران را به قصد پاکستان ترک می کردم به اندازه کافی خفقان و بیرحمی و سانسور و سرکوب دیده بودم تا بدانم که دارم از چنگال رژیمی بی اعتنا به هرگونه مفهوم انسانی می گریزم. تاریخ انقلاب ایران چیزی نیست که بتوان به دلخواه در آن دست برد. همه می دانند که در روزهای پس از پیروزی انقلاب، عده ای، تعدادی دیگر را در خیابان ها به جرم ساواکی وارتشی و طرفدار شاه بودن از هم دریدند. آیا اعتراض کردن به این امر دلیل دفاع از شاه وساواک است یا دلیل پایبندی به حقوق بشر و سیستم داوری و جزا دهی معقول و انسانی؟!

‌ من از معدود نویسندگان و شاعران ایرانی هستم که جنایاتی که در حق بهاییان، کردها، بلوچها، سیاسیون مذهبی، چپی ها و سایر اقلیتهای مذهبی، سیاسی و قومی شده را همواره در مصاحبه ها و نوشته های خود مطرح نموده و به آن اعتراض کرده ام. چگونه کسی مانند تیره گل که خود را منتقد می خواند به مصاحبه اخیر من در سایت گزارشگران** توجه نکرده است ولی نوشته های وبلاگی مرا تحریف کرده و سپس به عنوان مرجع مورد سؤ استفاده قرار داده است؟! او حتی برای درج نوشته های من در مقاله اش از من اجازه نیز نگرفته است!

تیره گل نه تنها پایبند به معیارهای اخلاقی نقد و بررسی نیست که با توسل به تحریف، شعور خوانندگان خود را نیز تحقیر می کند. او و نویسندگانی مانند او نمی توانند تشخیص بدهند که مارینا نعمت حق نوشتن دارد، چه تواب باشد و چه نه، چه با رژیم جمهوری اسلامی همکاری کرده باشد و چه نه، چه دیدگاه هایش اورینتالیستی باشد و چه نه. فعال حقوق بشر بودن یعنی همین که آدم از حق فردی که با او موافق نیست دفاع کند. و اگر نه سنگ ایده ئولوژی خود را به سینه زدن از کسی فعال مدنی و حقوق بشری نمی سازد! امثال تیره گل بر مارینا نعمت انگشت می گذارند و او را مسبب تباهی می دانند. دیگران چنین نظری را راجع به مجاهدین وکمونیست ها وسلطنت طلبها دارند. ولی هیچکدام دقت نمی کنند که مردم یعنی همه این ها وهمه این ها بخشی از همان مردمی هستند که باید از حقوق پایمال شده شان دفاع کرد. توابان غیر از زندانیان سیاسی نبودند. عده ای مقاومت کردند و از بین رفتند و عده ای زیرشکنجه های جسمی و روانی طاقت فرسا مجبور به همکاری با رژیم شدند. حقوق بشر می گوید که با اینان نه به مثابه مجرم که به مثابه افرادی که در حقشان جرمی صورت گرفته رفتار شود. و اولین کار برای انجام این مهم، گوش کردن به حرف های آنان است، تشویق کردنشان به بیان خاطرات زجزآور خود و یادآوری کردن به آنان (و به خود) که آنچه که ما را از جمهوری اسلامی جدا می کند همین رفتار متفاوت ما با «دیگران» است.

گزارشگران

عدنان حسن پور و هیوا بویتمار دو ورزنامه نگار کرد محکوم به اعدام وارد سی و هفتمین روز اعتصاب غذای خود شدند و گزارشها در مورد وضعیت جسمانی آنها نگران کننده است.

After 37 days the two kurish journalists are still on hunger strikes.

And I finally got my anars (pomegranates) last night after several months of waiting to bite my teeth in them.

منت خدای را عز و جل که طاعتش موجب قربت است و به شکراندرش مزيد نعمت

و بالاخره بعد از چندین و چند ماه انار گیرم اومد و تونستن دندونهام رو توی پوست نشسته اشون فرو کنم.

Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'

Washington Post: "The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances."

via Serendip and Winston.

The Misery the Qajar Dynasty Brought to Iran

I have been an avid reader of Ms. Fariba Amini's interviews. It is her recent writing titled "Slander in black and white" that made me realize she is nothing short of an Iranian who takes pride in her tribe and chooses to side with her relatives rather than being honest about historical facts! First of all I write this response as some one whose father was imprisoned during Shah's regime and I by no means support the Pahlavis, and personally do not believe a king or queen is the answer for the future of Iran. That said, unlike Ms. Amini I refuse to close my eyes to the facts and not recognize the misery the Qajar dynasty brought to Iran or the modern and positive improvements the Pahlavis brought to the country and the nation.

The Qajar kings committed crimes similar to what Iranians have endured for the past three decades under the current regime. Ms. Amini has boldly named poets who have been killed by Rezah Khan. Than she goes on to describe the life of Mosadegh, another Qajar, and how he would have single handedly changed the history of Iran. I don't deny that there have been Iranians among the Qajar who were noblemen and an example of such is Mosadegh. Unfortunately we will never know what Iran could really have been under his government, but we do know what the Qajar kings did to Iran, and what Mohammad Reza Shah and his father did for Iran.
What exactly did the Qajar kings do for Iran, but kill thousands of innocent Iranians? Why does Ms. Amini choose to ignore even more historical facts - that thousands and thousands of Kermanies were blinded by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar because they had given shelter to Lotf Ali khan Zand? What about the Bobbies and Bahaies who were persecuted and executed because of their belief, including the renowned Iranian poetess Tahereh Ghoratolein, by Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar and his prime minister, Amir Kabir? In fact, the same poet's birth records, her books, and clothing were burned the day after she was killed by the Qajar king. In addition to such horrendous crimes the Qajar spent the nation's wealth and earnings on their fests and thousand and one wives. It was as the result of this dynasty that Iran lost many important cities, young soldiers were killed in meaningless fights under incompetent Qajar rulers, the nation struggled with poverty, and the country was left to take care of hundreds of thousands of Qajar kids born illegitimate or legitimate who today proudly celebrate Family Galas in Paris and elsewhere. I wonder where they have earned their money to maintain such luxurious life in the west?

You and those like you who supported the regime, escaped the country on your Ali Baba carpets when some of us who in fact had nothing to do with the revolution (I, for example, was only five years old) had to leave the country on hands and feet! I guess after all these years of living in the west you haven’t learned to not try to change historical factors to your liking. In the end, dear Ms. Amini, please enjoy many more honeymoons like you have enlightened your readers with. Those of us who are not blind to the historical facts are well aware that honeymooning is what Qajar have been best at! And please don’t insult your reader's intelligence by saying Reza Shah had an uncultured background and moved up the military ladder, and then call Qajar nobility! If you want to believe that Qajar are nobility that is one thing but I for one have read and studied the Iranian history and know where Qajar really came from, what tribes they belong to, and what ladders they climbed to become nobility! We are also a witness to the crimes the current regime of Iran is committing against Iranian citizens. The same regime that Ms. Fariba Amini, her father and many Iranians collectively decided to support, irrationally and emotionally.

It is a historical fact that Reza Shah changed the face of the country in less than two decades, something that was never done before or after him. As for Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, he too wanted a modern Iran and achieved a great deal to modernize Iran. It was during his time that Iran experienced religious and cultural freedom. It was him who, in the end when he realized some of his mistakes that included lack of political freedom, apologized to the people. This is more than what any Iranian politician or leader has ever done. As for Princess Ashraf Pahlavi we should look into her work and the causes she cared for. As someone who has studied nursing in Europe and recognizes the importance of such a field, I want to say this: Princess Ashraf established the nursing schools in Iran, a field that doesn't just center around medicine but also empathy. Nursing is a cognitive and deliberate act of understanding anther person's situation and this tells us a lot about Princess Ashraf's priorities. 

Stalin Alive and Well!

Hossein Derakhshan’s blog is suspended by Mehdi Khalaji! I by no means defend Derakhashan. I have observed his actions and his support for the current regime of Iran but am surprised at Khalaji. He is supposedly promoting a democratic Iran?! He too can write and express his opinion but to shut down a blog is nothing short what we observe in today’s Iran where newspapers and blogs are shut down or filtered every day. The two sides of the same coin, Khalaji and Parsi sue and threaten people for their ideas and writings? It was last month that Parsi threatened to sue Voice of America for re-inviting Hassan Daoleslam and calling him MKO member and a supporter of war on Iran without facts to support his accusations.

Author Taslima Nasrin targeted by Islamic Fundamentalists


These images were sent to me by a friend of mine. The friend is in fact the person who had translated my poems from English to Malayalam some three years ago.


Controversial Bangladeshi novelist Taslima Nasrin was Thursday attacked by leaders of Muslim political party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) at a book release function at the press club.

تسلیمه نسرین مورد حمله تروریستهای مسلمان قرار گرفت.

Condemn widespread, planned, and systematic violations of Human Rights in Iran
Akhbare-rooz: Several people have been arrested today. Ibrahim Madadi, Davari, Yaghub Salimi, Davood Razavi of Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company have been among them.

ناصر مستشار: "ايران تنها کشوری است که در ميادين ومعابر عمومی انسانها به در آويخته می شوند واز کودک خردسال گرفته تابزرگسال مجبور به تماشای صحنه های اعدام می گردند تا از مرگ عبرت بگيرند تا در جامعه رعب و وحشت ايجاد نمايند تا انسانها هرگز به فکر تمرد ونافرمانی از حکومت اسلامی به غريزه همنوعی وانسانی خود راه ندهند."

Naser Mostashar: Iran is the only country in the world where public hangings are carried out.

Let us not forget Human Rights abuses come in all forms and are committed all over the world, and it is important that we treat it not as a local problem but as a global issue.

The Iranian regime's lobby in Washington is offering human rights as a negotiating item. According to the published agenda, representatives from human rights organizations will participate in a program sponsored by NIAC, a key player in the lobby enterprise of Tehran’s ayatollahs in the United States. Let us not forget that the Iranian regime’s violations of human rights have reached unprecedented levels. Its barbaric suppression of women, workers, students and dissidents, and the stoning of a man after 11 years of imprisonment, have been the subject of broad international condemnation."

Meisam Lotfi, a student who was jailed for one year during the student uprising in 1999 was executed today for being a gang-member. The Iranian regime has been arresting students, journalists, minorities, and political activist and sentencing them to death. The recent killings of twelve men falsely accused for offences such as rape and kidnapping are just examples of the regime’s latest crimes against humanity.