The Doctor Who Defied Tehran

By FARNAZ FASSIHI

At the height of Iran's bloody civil unrest this year, a young doctor named Ramin Pourandarjani defied his superiors. He refused to sign death certificates at a Tehran prison that he said were falsified to cover up murder.

He testified to a parliamentary committee that jailers were torturing and raping protesters, his family says. He told friends and family he feared for his life.

And on Nov. 10, the 26-year-old doctor was found dead in the military clinic where he lived and worked.

The family of Dr. Pourandarjani, who occasionally treated prisoners in fulfillment of Iran's obligatory military service, says he was killed for his refusal to participate in a coverup at the notorious Kahrizak detention center, widely criticized for its unsanitary conditions.

In a series of interviews over three weeks, Dr. Pourandarjani's family spoke in detail for the first time about their son's mysterious death.

Iranian officials first blamed the doctor's death on a car accident, then a heart attack, then suicide and then poisoning, according to family members and government statements.

The controversy over his fate is transforming the doctor into a martyr for the opposition movement challenging the legitimacy of Iran's rulers. In a sign of his mounting symbolic importance, on Dec. 8 Iran's national prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, was pressed by local reporters at a news conference for answers. He said the case remains under investigation.

Mr. Mohseni-Ejei couldn't be reached for comment. A spokesman for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations said the case is being probed and declined to answer questions.

"I sent off my young, healthy and beautiful son to military service, and I got his dead body back," says his mother, Ruhangiz Pourandarjani, who lives in the northwest city of Tabriz. "Anyone who says he committed suicide is lying and should be afraid of God."

In Iran, protestors now carry the doctor's picture in street marches and chant his name along with that of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman whose shooting death in June was captured on video and broadcast world-wide. A popular new slogan at some marches: "Our Neda is not dead, Our Ramin is not dead, it's the Supreme Leader who is dead," a reference to Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mothers of individuals killed in Iran's antigovernment protests this year have formed a support group, Grieving Mothers, who march silently Sunday afternoons at Laleh Park in Tehran holding pictures of their dead children. This month, security officials arrested 15 members. They were freed a few days later when crowds gathered near the jail, demanding their release.

The opposition says more than 70 Iranians have been killed since June in a crackdown on the protests that erupted after the nation's disputed presidential election. The government says 17 people have died, including a dozen of its own security forces.

Iran denies allegations that jailed protesters were tortured or raped and blames the deaths in Kahrizak on a meningitis outbreak. The prison has been closed in the wake of torture allegations there.

An influential Iranian parliamentarian and former health minister, Masoud Pezeshkian, is pressing for a full investigation of Dr. Pourandarjani's death. The claim of a suicide by "someone who was a witness in Kahrizak, and has no background for mental illness, is suspicious," he told local news agencies. Mr. Pezeshkian couldn't be reached for comment.

This past Wednesday, the head of a parliamentary committee investigating the broader allegations of torture at Kahrizak prison said Dr. Pourandarjani's death didn't warrant examination. "As far as we are concerned, the death of the Kahrizak doctor is clear and doesn't need investigation," said the lawmaker, Farhad Tajari, according to the main parliamentary news service. Mr. Tajari couldn't be reached for comment.

Dr. Pourandarjani was born into a middle-class family in the ancient city of Tabriz, near a place that some researchers claim is a possible geographical location of the Garden of Eden. His mother is a retired elementary school teacher. His father, Ali-Qoli Pourandarjani, works in the city's traditional bazaar.

Ramin, the future doctor, was their first child.

They took his name from an epic poem, "Vis and Ramin," one of many legends of heroic battles against unjust rulers that help define Iranian culture and provide popular names for boys. "Vis and Ramin," the story of a prince who fights the king to free his lover, may also have inspired the story of Tristan and Isolde, some scholars say.

Dr. Pourandarjani's mother recalls that her son showed his intellect early. By the age of 1, she says, he was speaking full sentences in Farsi and Turkish. He could read and write by 3. Before entering first grade, Ramin was reading aloud from a children's newspaper aimed at 10-year-olds.

When he was 11, Ramin entered a school for gifted and talented children. At an age when most teenage boys were interested in playing videogames, his father says, Ramin read and wrote poetry. At 13 he won a national contest for young poets.

Relatives and friends described Dr. Pourandarjani as the family star. "I always told my son he should strive to be like Ramin. What can I say?" says his cousin, Sima, 44, reached by phone in Tabriz. "He was exceptional."

In Iran, students are placed in universities based on their performance on a national entrance exam. In 2001, Ramin Pourandarjani ranked 1,069 out of more than a half-million applicants. He won entrance to Tabriz Medical University, one of the top schools in the nation.

Ramin's younger brother, Amin, described his brother as a bookworm when it came to medical studies, but said he also loved watching French movies to practice his own French.

Last year, Dr. Pourandarjani graduated from medical school at the top of his class. A YouTube video shows him delivering the graduation speech in a new navy blue suit and a pink shirt and necktie. Although wearing neckties at public events and at universities is frowned upon by Iranian authorities as being too Western, Dr. Pourandarjani wanted to mark the occasion with special attire, his family recalls. Behind him, an Iranian flag fluttered in the breeze.

"Thank you to all our beloved families and distinguished professors for attending the celebration of the day we take flight and open our wings," Dr. Pourandarjani said. "If I could go back in time, I wouldn't change a thing."

Then he quoted some poetry. "The person whose heart is filled with love will never die," he said, citing a well-known Persian verse. "Our perseverance is recorded in the book of time."

Like all Iranian males, Dr. Pourandarjani was required to complete a 19-month military service. Doctors serve at government hospitals and clinics as part of their military obligation.

Luck of the draw placed Dr. Pourandarjani at a clinic in Tehran, a 75-minute flight from home in Tabriz. The clinic is in the district that oversees Kahrizak, a rundown detention center for drug addicts and dealers.

The job mostly amounted to routine medical work, until July 9. That day, some 140 young men and women were arrested at a particularly large protest in Tehran. Some detainees were brought to Kahrizak.

It marked the beginning of a prison scandal that shook Iran. Members of the opposition have made allegations of widespread violence and rape in the prison during this time.

Over a period of nearly three weeks, Dr. Pourandarjani was called to the prison four times to treat the wounds of the detainees, according to his parents and Iranian media reports.

At least three prisoners died during this time.

One of them was Mohsen Ruholamini, the 19-year-old son of a conservative politician, who died in late July.

The government publicly blamed Mr. Ruholamini's death on meningitis. Mr. Ruholamini's family immediately disputed that. In public statements at the time, his father, Abdol-Hossein Ruholamini, said his son suffered a broken jaw and died from torture in prison.

In the medical report, Dr. Pourandarjani described Mr. Ruholamini's cause of death as physical stress, multiple blows to the head and chest, and severe injuries, according to the doctor's family and local press reports.

The news of deaths at the prison sparked an unusual public fury, even among government allies. Particularly shocking to Iranians was the death of Mr. Ruholamini, the son of a conservative politician who openly supported the republic's leadership.

In a televised meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr. Ruholamini's father told Mr. Khamenei: "The fact that I support the Islamic regime does not mean that I will give up my rights. I demand justice."

Mr. Ruholamini couldn't be reached for comment.

Two influential conservative lawmakers called for prosecution of individuals responsible for Kahrizak. Parliament named a special committee to investigate. Some of the highest Shiite clergymen in the holy city of Qom issued statements condemning the government for its handling of Kahrizak.

In the face of the allegations, Mr. Khamenei ordered the prison shut in late July.

The chief commander of the Iranian police, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, told state television in August that the detention center was closed "because the conditions inside were not very desirable. If some guards were a little rough with detainees, it was their bad judgment."

Over the next few months, security authorities called in Dr. Pourandarjani for interrogation, according to family members and reports in the Iranian media. They ordered him to revise the cause of death on medical reports from physical wounds to meningitis, his family members say. He refused.

When the parliamentary committee called him to testify, he told them what he had witnessed, his family says. Dr. Pourandarjani's statements to the committee aren't public record, and the committee has said it won't make its findings public.

In the fall, Dr. Pourandarjani was arrested.

According to his family and official Iranian media reports, he was detained in Tehran for a few days and interrogated by the police and medical officials. Family members say he was warned that if he continued to challenge the authorities, he could face medical malpractice charges and jail, as well as the loss of his medical license.

Iranian officials say in public statements that the doctor was questioned about whether he had given detainees appropriate medical care.

He was released on bail and continued working at the military health clinic, where he also lived in order to save money. He downloaded applications for medical schools in France and Germany and told friends he wanted to study abroad. His military service would end in April 2010. He asked his mother to look out for a nice young woman in Tabriz for him to marry.

In October, a few weeks before he died, both parents say Dr. Pourandarjani confided in them that he feared for his life because he refused to cover up what he had seen at the prison. He described threatening phone calls and said he was being followed.

His mother immediately phoned Abdol-Hossein Ruholamini, the conservative politician whose son had died in Kahrizak. She pleaded with him for help.

"My wife called the Ruholamini family and said, 'My son's life is in danger because he told the truth about the circumstances of your son's death. You must help him,'" Dr. Pourandarjani's father said in a telephone interview.

In early November -- the day before he died -- Dr. Pourandarjani took the unusual step of visiting the offices of Iran's parliament, his mother says, to ask for help because he felt his life was at risk.

That night, Dr. Pourandarjani phoned his parents to say he planned to come home to Tabriz for a family visit. He also emailed several friends that evening, according to an opposition Web site, Norooz, that obtained the email from the friends.

In the email, the doctor described the heavy pressure of the prison scandal but said he was looking forward to his trip home. He signed off by asking if his friends needed him to bring anything back from Tabriz, the friends said.

The next morning, Dr. Pourandarjani's father received a call from Tehran. His son had been in a car accident, he says he was told, and was unconscious with a broken leg. The caller asked him to travel to Tehran immediately.

When Mr. Pourandarjani arrived in Tehran, he was taken to a morgue. He says he was told his son had died from a heart attack.

He flew back to Tabriz with the body. Security authorities prohibited the family from viewing the body or opening the kafan, the traditional funeral shroud. The funeral took place under the supervision of several security agents, the family says.

Initially, authorities refused the family's request for an autopsy. This month, because of the public outcry, the government conducted an autopsy, indicating that his last meal, prepared and delivered by the clinic where Dr. Pourandarjani had lived, contained propranolol, a blood-pressure medication that can cause cardiac arrest at high dosages. The government cites the report as evidence of possible suicide, which the family dismisses.

Dr. Pourandarjani's parents are still in mourning. Mrs. Pourandarjani said she sometimes goes into Ramin's bedroom. "I want to turn on his computer to read his poetry and look at his pictures, but I can't bring myself," she said.

This Thursday, in keeping with Islamic tradition, the family held a memorial service at a local mosque on the 40th day after Dr. Pourandarjani's death. These are usually private affairs. But this ceremony attracted hundreds of strangers who came to pay their respects.

In an unexpected gesture, one of the strangers, a university student from Tabriz, stood up and read from a statement, the doctor's relatives said.

"We are all children of Iran," the student said. "And today we mourn our dear Ramin."

The crowd spilled into the streets. It included a heavy presence of plainclothes government security agents, according to several people in attendance


Photo:The funeral for Ramin Pourandarjani, a young doctor whose death is now a rallying point for the Iranian opposition.

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A Veiled Movement for Women's Rights Sweeps Iran

Nasim Novin
December 18,

Iran's Green Movement has embraced a new symbol of protest: the woman's veil. In an unprecedented show of support for women's rights, Iranian men have posted photos of themselves wearing the head covering typically worn by Muslim women. The images show hundreds of men clad in bright green headscarves posing mockingly for the camera.




This campaign was sparked by the government's attempt to humiliate leading student activist Majid Tavakoli. Authorities arrested Tavakoli after he delivered a fiery anti-government speech during Iran's Student Day demonstrations on December 7th. Following his detention, the semi-official Fars News Agency published photos of him wearing a woman's veil, claiming that he had been found trying to escape from campus using it as a disguise. Many members of the opposition believe the photos were fabricated to discredit and disgrace the young activist.
Once again, Iran's young and tech savvy opposition has cleverly utilized new media to bypass government censorship and laugh in the face of authority. The online campaign highlights the absurdity of the regime's attempts at character defamation. A similar strategy was used after the government subjected hundreds of reformers to show trials following the disputed June election. People posted YouTube videos of themselves confessing to the most ridiculous things in order to show how baseless and empty the government's forced confessions and accusations against its critics have become. By co-opting the government's own tools of repression, the opposition has rendered such tactics ineffectual.

Given the politically fraught history of the veil, this campaign is deeply symbolic. In 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi banned women from wearing a head covering in public in an attempt to move Iran away from what he considered religious backwardness and toward modernity. Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, there was a revival of social traditionalism and women would don the veil to reaffirm their Iranian-Islamic identity against the perceived onslaught of Western influence. Today, young women flout Islamic dress codes by exposing their hair from under colorful headscarves in mass defiance of the Islamic Republic.

Now, men too have taken up the veil as a symbol of political protest. This campaign is not only a reaction against the mistreatment of political prisoners, but also against male chauvinism. From the government's perspective, it is insulting to be likened to a woman. This only highlights the divide between Iran's ruling clique and the mass of young, progressive students who have spearheaded the veil campaign. One Iranian blogger who calls himself Blondie writes:

"With great pride I will wear women's clothing, and I am proud to fashion myself as an Iranian women. Do you know why Dictator? Because they were the ones who demanded their rights from the very beginning...From now on, in a show of respect towards Iranian women and girls, I will take a veil with me as a symbol of protest to every demonstration I attend, whether in the streets or in the university."

The world was surprised to see women at the forefront of the Green Movement, going face to face with baton-wielding Basij militiamen. The truth is, Iranian women are fearless because they have withstood years of harassment by the morality police who try to enforce Islamic dress and comportment upon them. They have fought tirelessly for democratic reform because they have the most to gain from it. For the first time, Iranian men have also organized to promote gender equality. As an Iranian woman, I am both amused and heartened by their rather unconventional show of support. I would even venture to say that this campaign marks an important milestone in the struggle for women's rights in Iran.

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Women attacked most in November 4 protests in Iran

By Persiantoenglish

Leadership of Women in Recent Protests is the Reason for Widespread Repression of Women in13 Aban Demonstrations

During the protests of November 4th, the repressive forces did not respect the former usual security limits of women and treated them the most agressively. Although the repressive forces have already displayed violent behaviour with women during the former demonstrations, on November 4th they had a much more violent and brutal approach.

The security forces attacked women more than ever and beat them in public. Some political analysts believe that less violent behaviour toward women in public by military forces has resulted in leadership of women in recent protests. On November 4th, women were beaten more than men. It should be mentioned that during the last months, the repressive forces have had very violent encounters with women, but some analysts believe that this violent behaviour was not publicized enough, therefore it resulted in an increase in participation of women in recent protests.

During the protests of November 4th, harsh encounters with women were displayed in different areas of Tehran. Many reports have been published highlighting the aggressive attacks against women by repressive Basij and revolutionary guard forces.

Some witnesses told Iran News Agency that women arrested on November 4th were taken to an area around Shiroodi Stadium and then were transferred by two buses to an unspecified location. It seems that the security forces planning for widespread arrests of women had prepared several buses for this purpose to place them in certain location. A report presented by reliable withnesses indicates extreme behaviour against arrested women.

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"I Worked Very Hard to Prove Myself"

The effect of the polygamy laws on the lives of women
"I Worked Very Hard to Prove Myself"

Interview by: Mariam Zandi

Monir is the resident of a town where the cold spells far exceed the warm spells and its shivers are more frequent than its fevers. She has gotten her life back together after going through a separation brought about by her husband. I talked to her about herself and her life.

Mariam Zandi: Greetings. Hope you’re doing well. Tell me about yourself.

My name is Monir. I am 45 years old. I have a high school diploma. I have two children. I still can’t believe that the long and hard winter is over. But it is a fact that the winter is over! I live in a town that has a cold climate. The passing of winter seems like a miracle. I was in fear and shivering all winter.

Why was that?

It was winter. I was alone. I was afraid of becoming lonely after so many years of married life. One morning my husband left home and never came back. He had lately become bad-tempered and aggressive. He no longer had any consideration for anything. He had decided not to get along with me anymore. He no longer had to be considerate because of our children. Both of our children had passed university entrance exams and had gone to different cities to continue their education. I was terrified of being alone, especially because I soon found out that he had married another woman with whom he had had a relationship since much earlier! His action had made me the talk of the town and family. I felt very humiliated and lonely.

One day when I returned home, I found it empty with no furniture in it. My husband had taken everything. The only thing that was left was me and the empty house. The situation even made my neighbors cry, but I decided to stay alive for my children. My husband was of course gone. It was an intensely cold, icy year. I was afraid of snowfall. I was terrified not to have a man in the house. I was worried about not having money. At last, I dressed warm and got up on the roof. I shoveled the snow on the roof on several occasions and found out that it is not that hard of a job and found out that I can do it too.

How was your relationship before he left?

The first few years weren’t like that, but later, there was a big difference between the way he treated me at home and the way he treated me in front of other people. If there had been a hidden camera in our house, it would have shown how cold and dark our relationship was. Our relationship was at the level of saying hello and how are you. There was no respect. And verbal abuse had become the spice of our life.

How did you provide for yourself and your children after your husband left?

I was very afraid. I was scared of being alone. For years, I had been used to getting our day to day expenses from my husband. He paid erratically as he pleased and he behaved differently from day to day. Now I had to provide for myself and my children on my own. I had frequently thought about what would happen if this man one day stopped providing for us. This was a nightmare for me!

I had no choice but to work. Because my family is well-known and has a good reputation, they were against it. We argued for days on end because I did not want them to provide for me. They were finally convinced. They helped me for only a few months.

The only thing that I could do was to buy a car on installments. Because my family was well-known in that town, I was able to contract with several schools and institutes that teach foreign languages to transport their students in my car.

How did the people of the town accept you, especially in a small town where families are very harsh on divorced women?

It was probably unbelievable for me. I worked very hard to prove myself so that the families and children would accept me. I treated them all with respect. I listened to what they had to say and I even had to read a few books on psychology (after all, I was going to major in sociology when I quit in my freshman year at the university to get married). The children found my knowledge and life experiences fascinating. They told me about their problems. And I helped them to the extent that I could.

After you went through that initial period, wasn’t it difficult for you to work, keep your job and deal with your new circumstances?

I tried very hard to keep my job. The thought of the car freezing at night and not starting in the morning kept me awake at night. I used to get up two hours earlier in the morning so that I could start the car to pick up the students on time. I tried not to have any accidents on icy roads of this cold town. Every day that I dropped off the children safely, I would call my father because I knew that he would be worried about me. I used to say: "I had another accident free day!" To tell you the truth, I get tired, but I like getting tired this way. Fortunately, because of the confidence that people have in me, during the last few months, they have asked me to transport the disabled children as well. I like this job very much. It gives me satisfaction. When I hug the children in the morning and seat them on the car seats and listen to them until they get to their destination, I feel a sense of relief. They say: "Madam, we prayed for you all night last night so that you would always be with us." These comments give me satisfaction. Being positive, being useful and loving people is my life.

You deal with young girls. How do you see their world?

The circumstances of the young people in high school are not good at all. They almost never read any books other than their school books. Their goals and hopes are limited to what the society has prescribed for them. Studying and marrying a rich man!

How have your separation from your husband and his remarriage affected your children?

My husband forgot me and the children very fast. The separation was only between me and him but he stopped supporting the children altogether. He even took a few trips abroad with his new wife. He has made a very comfortable life for his new wife. When he was in our house, he did not give much thought to buying new things for the house, but in his new life, he has gotten a new house, a new car and new everything. He has put all his assets in his new wife’s name.

My youngest son, who has finished his studies and has returned home, has become very irritable. He has become very vindictive after the incident when his father emptied our house and has become very spiteful of him. I try to calm him. The first few days after he came back, he used to constantly say: "Mom, if you did not have this house, where would we live? We would have to be on the streets." He used to wake up at night and ask: "Mom, where can I go if you marry too and go away? What can I do?" My son’s morale and psychological well-being have been very negatively affected.

Are you thinking about remarriage?

It is very hard to be lonely. However, I now have a strange sense of security. I am lonely, but I am not afraid!

During this time, I have received strange and bizarre marriage proposals directly or indirectly despite the fact that I am 45 years old. Finally, out of curiosity, I agreed to meet with one of these gentlemen to find out why he wants to have a second wife! I asked him: "Do you have any problems in your married life?" He answered: "No!" I asked: "So, why are you after me?" He said very nonchalantly: "I love my wife and children. I just want us to be together a couple of nights a week to have some variety in life. If you accept, we can go to Dubai or travel abroad a couple of times a year." I said: "Thank you very much!" In my mind I wanted to say: "I have just gotten out of a relationship with someone like you. I no longer want to have to beg any man to provide for me."

I was thinking to myself whether our mothers ever allowed themselves to think of variety or having an escape from the daily routine of their lives by having private moments with other men. Usually women cannot even imagine such a thing in their mind.

Do such men allow their wives to have this variety in their lives as well?

Or no, if a man even imagines that his wife might be having an affair with someone else, he has the right to kill her without any fear of retribution!

Have you heard about the One Million Signatures Campaign?

Yes. I know about it through one of my friends and I have signed the petition. I get revitalized whenever I come to Tehran. I feel very pleased especially when I see all the activity that takes place in Tehran. It was hard for me to believe that anything could be done about women’s issues. A great number of people are trying to change these unjust and unequal laws. I too believe in this movement and want to take part in helping women and achieving the goals of the Campaign.

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Green Movement, Hijab and Ending the Death Penalty

Asal Akhavan

In all the months following the June 12 coup, Iran has been engulfed in a massive movement and while this real people’s movement has become known as the green movement, it is in fact a kaleidoscope of colors portraying all political and social movements in it, which under normal and stable political conditions would have probably been facing each other rather than standing next to each other.


The goal of this movement, as its leaders and spokespeople inside and outside Iran have said is the establishment of some democratic rights of the people, such as freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of parties, syndicates, and associations, freedom in elections, press freedom, and freedom of association. It is clear that these democratic rights are the minimum requirements for a civil life for all political and social groups which is why these minimum rights can constitute the basis of an effective political coalition, which may only be temporary.

The most recent movement of the Iranian people, while different from the 1979 revolution, carries with it three decades of bitter experience from that revolution. During the last three decades, the death penalty has been one of the most common words in the political literature of the country and the Islamic republic has created a new record in the number of political executions not only in the history of Iran but the whole Middle East. “Must be executed” was the one of the main slogans of the 1979 revolution, something that in time gradually began to include those that advocated it.

This is something that the Green Movement is aware of and has experienced. But how does a movement that has been created to build the future stay away from its bitter past and damage?

There is no doubt that this movement must succeed. But as we currently focus on winning, we must also be conscious and sensitive to possible future deviations and harm. The very fact that “must be executed” has been eliminated from the slogans of people is a hopeful sign but we need greater guarantees about the future ahead of us.

For example, the views of many individuals and groups in the movement regarding two important issues are still unclear: the death penalty, and forced Hijab.

One cannot use the battle against Ahmadinejad’s administration as an excuse to ignore these two and other important issues that concern fundamental human rights. It appears that the manner by which intellectual and political groups look at these two issues is a good criterion to see their practical commitment to human rights.

The groups in the Green movement, ranging from right to left, from new religious and liberal thinkers to national-religious groups and the Marxists must expressly respond to the question of their views regarding banning the death penalty. They must also specify their position regarding forced Hijab. Specifically, does the government have the right to impose and dictate what women must wear?

Those groups that dominate this movement have a larger duty to clarify their views, and specifically Messer Mousavi and Karoubi, and those who inside and outside Iran act as their spokespeople and have specific views in this regard must express their views categorically so that we can remain a bit calmer and more trustful, in view of past experience and events.

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No ones thinking of the FLOWERS

Lila's Notes
At the age of nine, Soghra Najafpour was sent by her family to work as a servant in a doctor's home in the northern city of Rasht (Iran).
Four years later she was accused of the murder of the eight-year-old son of the family. Soghra Najafpour reportedly confessed to the murder during interrogation; soon afterwards, however, she denied that she was involved. Nevertheless she was sentenced to death, as the judge did not believe her to be innocent. At the age
of 17, Soghra Najafpour was taken to be executed, but the family of the victim changed their mind at the last minute.
Confidential information of Soghra’s case reveal that once she began working as a maid for the family of the decedent, she was subjected to sexual abuse and was repeatedly raped by Amir’s father. On the day of the incident, Amir’s father had once again attacked Soghra and was raping the 13 year old when his 8 year old son, Amir, walked in and witnessed the crime. In an attempt to get rid of him, Amir’s father pushed the young boy away, and that is how young Amir hit his head to the wall, fell to the ground, and lost consciousness. Soghra’s employer then forced Soghra to dispose the boy’s body in a well because he could not bring himself to do so.
Soghra’s claims of sexual abuse were corroborated by the medical examiner, who, in his report to the court, stated that the young girl’s body bore countless signs of prolonged violent sexual abuse. Furthermore, the investigators had determined that Amir’s father was, in fact, the man who had subjected Soghra to years of sexual and mental abuse.
When the trial judge reviewed this evidence, he ordered Soghra to receive 100 lashes for having engaged in inappropriate sexual relations, but refused to find Amir’s father guilty of rape. The judge explained that Soghra was guilty of inappropriate sexual behavior because the medical records clearly indicated that she had engaged in sexual activity. However, no such evidence was available to prove that Amir’s father was the man who had had sex with the young girl.
And now, the man who sexually abused Soghra from the time she was 9 years old, the very man who is responsible for confining Soghra to the horrors of life in prison for the past 18 years, the man who forced a 13 year old child to take responsibility for a crime that he himself committed, seeks to take away whatever is left of Soghra and her life by ensuring that she is hanged to her death.

Note:
International law strictly prohibits the use of the death penalty against
people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. As a state party
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the
CRC, Iran has undertaken not to execute child offenders. However, since 1990,
Iran has executed at least 24 child offenders. There are fears that at least two other executions may have taken place on 17 October 2007. At least 77 child offenders are currently on death row in Iran. This number may be even higher as according to yet unconfirmed reports at least a further 15 Afghan child offenders may be under death sentence

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Can Women Save the Republican Party?

From Atlantic Wire:
Pundits are predictably split lines on whether to love or fear Liz Cheney's new red-blooded, anti-Obama, neoconservative foreign policy group, Keep America Safe. But they agree that she is part of a vanguard of conservative women who are rising to lead the GOP. Here's why two prominent columnists from different ends of the political spectrum think women could help Republicans stage a comeback:

Women Will Lead GOP Out of the Wilderness Kathleen Parker declares at The Washington Post. "In the past few months, several conservative women have emerged as candidates and critics to challenge the notion that the GOP is the party of men. They're also putting to rest any thought that Sarah Palin is the female face of the party. The McCain campaign had the right idea; it just picked the wrong woman." Who is Parker talking about? Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Meghan McCain, and Liz Cheney, "Among the newer comers are two mega-businesswomen and two famous daughters, representing younger generations with divergent ideas," she writes. "Although these aren't the only Republican women rising, they offer a glimpse at what could become a surge of hormonal correction on the conservative side."
The Liz Cheney-Sarah Palin Apocalypse One pundits dream is another's nightmare. Republican women can champion the same failed policies as the men who came before them, Mauren Dowd writes in The New York Times, but they'll still be failed policies. She finds former Vice President Cheney's daughters particularly troubling.
Kristol joked to Politico’s Ben Smith that the venture might serve as a launching pad for Liz to run for office. (A Senate bid from Virginia, where she lives, or Wyoming, which she still calls home?)That raises the terrifying specter that some day we could see a Palin-Cheney ticket, promoted by Kristol. Sarah would bring her content-free crackle and gut instincts; Liz would bring facts and figures distorted by ideology. Pretty soon, we’re pre-emptively invading Iran and the good times are rolling all over again.
But at Commentary, Jennifer Rubin is unfazed by Dowd's taunts. The left, Rubin says, is simply afraid of strong Republican women. Why else, after all, would Dowd bring up Sarah Palin? "What if the Republicans come up with a conservative standard bearer who is smart, attractive, and dedicated to debunking Obama’s weakling foreign policy — and female?" Rubin writes. "The invocation of Palin is telling as well. She was the last (and not so coincidentally also female) Republican who unhinged the Left."

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I smile

The beautiful and brave people of Iran young and old rich and poor,
I Smile

as I feel my lonely heart parched from a sea of green I smile
I smile as I walk the mountain of apathy to create a tiny crack that I would tear open onlBy Fariba Safai


I smiley if I could only if I could with my saber of love draped in black and green, I declare myself look at me I need you and you need me too I smile

I smile at your incomprehension your fear your pity and your sympathy I smile
I smile knowing that you cannot see we are one of the same flesh and blood veins I smile
I smile when you walk with me and say that you care yet frustrated by the unknown I smile
I smile for I wish I could tell you that you will never know and we will die not knowing I smile

I smile as I think of those beautiful young blossoms that are perishing as I write in hopes of capturing their brave hearts I smile
I smile knowing they are kept in dungeons were tortured is inflicted to render the spirit dead and if that is not enough, hung like lambs from light posts dangling like majnoon by their necks
I smile through my tears for the human struggle for self-liberty and freedom from tyranny I smile
I smile for I know the color of freedom is not always red white and blue I smile.

I smile listing as the bay speaks to me in code beating against the dark gray boulders holding it back from me and me from it I smile
I smile oh how I wish I could wash away all the hurt and sorrows from sea to shining sea and dry it out on ropes made from laurel tolerant and evergreen I smile

I smile as I see words written clearly on a black board carved in red held up by an empty frame I smile
I smile as I hear the anthem of our struggles beating in my head wishing I could be there singing it with you I smile
I smile knowing those same words are sung for miles and miles across rooftops Ala O Akbar Ala O Akbar Ala O Akbar Ala O Akbar in the city of my childhood where houses were white and the smell of jasmine filled the air, now replaced by the stench of your weapons of tears I smile

I smile when you are hit by the bullets that pierce through your golden brown skin the same skin that every morning you covered with shirts made in china with American logos I smile
I smile as you fall to the ground holding my hand with your last breath you whisper
I am human
I am human
My religion is love
I am human I smile
I smile as I promise you will not die in vein I smile

I smile with the knowledge that even in death your mother can not speak your name or morn for your loss, that is the price she will have to pay I smile

I smile when I am told all the young prostitutes in Dubai are Persian I smile
I smile when I know of loved ones addicted to sheesheh wow sheesheh I smile

I smile knowing those who hide under turbans that they have dipped in blood and hatred for all that is alive, colorful, hopeful, lyrical and beautiful I smile
I smile at your agents of fear and pain as I scream
Islam means peace not war I smile

I smile of your attempt to rewrite history hundred and hundreds years past with pens that you use to stab through the hearts of mothers the same mothers that gave you birth in that pit of despair I Smile

I smile for I know this mooje of love you cannot stand in the way of for it is even bigger than you can ever comprehend or imagine I smile
I smile and scream shame on you for killing your children your mothers your father's shame on you for striking them with sticks that you sharply carved to insert suffering I smile

I smile as pain reels through my spine I smile for I know my pain is nothing in comparison with you burden
I feel pain
It feels good I smile
I smile for the generation of young whom only have the morsels left to them from your greed your ignorance and intolerance that they must bear, I smile

I smile and call you out for what you are a cheaters a liar a butchers with chains, chains that they must break with bare empty delicate virgin hands wounded and forgotten as to rip apart and bring down your Iron curtains of oppression I smile
I smile and write with fingers bound by ribbons of brotherhood of man remembering I was you 30 years past I smile
I smile for the soul that has forsaken itself I smile
I smile screaming Darius, Cyrus, Khayyam, Rumi, Hafez, Ferdosee, Farokhzad where are you to see your children are falling like butterfly's shot by the hands of their brothers I smile
I smile as their guns pluck the beautiful flowers of your Golestan Sadi, sacrificed in the name of God I smile

I smile and scream, what God who's God kills, let alone its own.
If the right to choose ones own destiny is so much to ask for then I reject your God and I still smile.

I smile for I see clearly as one can through water the day will come when the love worriers will join hands in celebration and songs will be heard from the streets were once red tulips laid and the nightingale will fly free once again. For we are the lions and the sun is behind us.

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Mourning Mothers join activists

A mother protecting her child isn’t anything unique. But in Iran, humanitarian activist mothers are now becoming global icons for human rights causes worldwide. In silent public protest, the ‘Mourning Mothers of Iran,’ known locally in Tehran as the ‘Mothers of Laleh,’ stand together each week, on Saturday evening vigils in Tehran’s Laleh Park.

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I Smile

The beautiful and brave people of Iran young and old rich and poor, I Smile
By Fariba Safai



I smile as I feel my lonely heart parched from a sea of green I smile
I smile as I walk the mountain of apathy to create a tiny crack that I would tear open only if I could only if I could with my saber of love draped in black and green, I declare myself look at me I need you and you need me too I smile

I smile at your incomprehension your fear your pity and your sympathy I smile
I smile knowing that you cannot see we are one of the same flesh and blood veins I smile
I smile when you walk with me and say that you care yet frustrated by the unknown I smile
I smile for I wish I could tell you that you will never know and we will die not knowing I smile

I smile as I think of those beautiful young blossoms that are perishing as I write in hopes of capturing their brave hearts I smile
I smile knowing they are kept in dungeons were tortured is inflicted to render the spirit dead and if that is not enough, hung like lambs from light posts dangling like majnoon by their necks
I smile through my tears for the human struggle for self-liberty and freedom from tyranny I smile
I smile for I know the color of freedom is not always red white and blue I smile.

I smile listing as the bay speaks to me in code beating against the dark gray boulders holding it back from me and me from it I smile
I smile oh how I wish I could wash away all the hurt and sorrows from sea to shining sea and dry it out on ropes made from laurel tolerant and evergreen I smile

I smile as I see words written clearly on a black board carved in red held up by an empty frame I smile
I smile as I hear the anthem of our struggles beating in my head wishing I could be there singing it with you I smile
I smile knowing those same words are sung for miles and miles across rooftops Ala O Akbar Ala O Akbar Ala O Akbar Ala O Akbar in the city of my childhood where houses were white and the smell of jasmine filled the air, now replaced by the stench of your weapons of tears I smile

I smile when you are hit by the bullets that pierce through your golden brown skin the same skin that every morning you covered with shirts made in china with American logos I smile
I smile as you fall to the ground holding my hand with your last breath you whisper
I am human
I am human
My religion is love
I am human I smile
I smile as I promise you will not die in vein I smile

I smile with the knowledge that even in death your mother can not speak your name or morn for your loss, that is the price she will have to pay I smile

I smile when I am told all the young prostitutes in Dubai are Persian I smile
I smile when I know of loved ones addicted to sheesheh wow sheesheh I smile

I smile knowing those who hide under turbans that they have dipped in blood and hatred for all that is alive, colorful, hopeful, lyrical and beautiful I smile
I smile at your agents of fear and pain as I scream
Islam means peace not war I smile

I smile of your attempt to rewrite history hundred and hundreds years past with pens that you use to stab through the hearts of mothers the same mothers that gave you birth in that pit of despair I Smile

I smile for I know this mooje of love you cannot stand in the way of for it is even bigger than you can ever comprehend or imagine I smile
I smile and scream shame on you for killing your children your mothers your father's shame on you for striking them with sticks that you sharply carved to insert suffering I smile

I smile as pain reels through my spine I smile for I know my pain is nothing in comparison with you burden
I feel pain
It feels good I smile
I smile for the generation of young whom only have the morsels left to them from your greed your ignorance and intolerance that they must bear, I smile

I smile and call you out for what you are a cheaters a liar a butchers with chains, chains that they must break with bare empty delicate virgin hands wounded and forgotten as to rip apart and bring down your Iron curtains of oppression I smile
I smile and write with fingers bound by ribbons of brotherhood of man remembering I was you 30 years past I smile
I smile for the soul that has forsaken itself I smile
I smile screaming Darius, Cyrus, Khayyam, Rumi, Hafez, Ferdosee, Farokhzad where are you to see your children are falling like butterfly's shot by the hands of their brothers I smile
I smile as their guns pluck the beautiful flowers of your Golestan Sadi, sacrificed in the name of God I smile

I smile and scream, what God who's God kills, let alone its own.
If the right to choose ones own destiny is so much to ask for then I reject your God and I still smile.

I smile for I see clearly as one can through water the day will come when the love worriers will join hands in celebration and songs will be heard from the streets were once red tulips laid and the nightingale will fly free once again. For we are the lions and the sun is behind us.

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Outing Iran: Marg Bar

by Patrick Appel

A reader writes:

I wanted to make a few comments on the slogan of "death to Russia" from the Friday prayers:

1. "Death to ..." is not a correct translation for "Marg bar ..." although it is a literal translation, the real meaning is closer to "down with ..."; it is an expression of extreme dissatisfaction rather than the wishing of death. Remember "death to potatoes" from the campaign (as a sign of dissatisfaction with Ahmadinejad's distribution of potatoes among likely voters)? My guess is that it originated with "Marg bar shah", which at the time probably was literally meant; it was a particularly powerful and defiant slogan at the time and that memory has perpetuated this line of sloganeering.

Please follow the article here

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36 Hostages started "DRY hunger Strike":defend the HR

Mullahs’ Intelligence Ministry: Mojahedin through an intermediary are indirectly in our custody

In contrast to an order by Iraqi Prosecutor General to all police stations that the 36 PMOI hostages must be freed immediately, the mullahs’ Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the Iraqi Government’s godfather declares “The Iraqi Government plans to send documents and the cases concerning the offenses of these [36 abducted] people to the court in this country”

Read More AND A CHRONOLOGY OF THE INCIDENT:

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Universities start the academic year with angry demonstrations against Ahmadinejad.

By Iason Athanasiadis — Special to GlobalPost

Published: September 28, 2009 19:47 ET

^-A ⁺A

LONDON, United Kingdom — Hundreds of students shouting anti-government slogans took to the streets of Tehran and other cities Monday in another sign that Iran's opposition is still active, despite arrests and allegations of state torture and rape.

These renewed domestic protests add to the international pressure mounting against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader is now coping with both internal and external pressure, as U.S. President Barack Obama joined with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to urge Iran to cease testing missiles and allow international inspections of Iran's nuclear program.

At the start of the academic year, university students clashed with police in the streets, reportedly prompting Ahmadinejad to cancel his attendance at a Tehran University inauguration ceremony and send Minister of Science Kamran Daneshjoo instead.

Daneshjoo was the head of Ahmadinejad’s electoral committee in the 2009 elections and strongly supported the incumbent president’s claim in the post-election fallout that vote-rigging did not occur.

“The regime has always been fearful of the universities since they are a source of organized uprising,” said Ali Mohseni, a student protester who fled Iran after being arrested and is currently in exile in Turkey. “In the past few days, members of (presidential candidate Mir-Hossein) Mousavi’s youth wing have been arrested because the regime saw that detaining the heads of the movement was not enough so now they’re going after the grassroots.”

Another student, who insisted on just being called Ali for fear of retribution was detained before the elections for his activism and who participated in all the summer demonstrations. His university friends were amazed to see him following the long summer break.

“They looked at me funny and said: ‘You’re alive? They didn’t kill you?’” Ali said.

“They (the government) are pressuring us excessively by blackmailing us,” he added. “They even use the girlfriends or boyfriends of the politicized ones to threaten them with public or private humiliation before their families should they not give up their activity.”

Mousavi youth activists were instrumental in organizing demonstrations, publishing allegations of election fraud and prison torture, and publicizing images of several freshly dug graves which they allege contain the bodies of those killed during the demonstrations.

University guards wearing ceremonial sashes over their uniforms stood at the university gates checking the faces of those entering and ensuring they were not wearing any green items of clothing, the color adopted by Iran’s opposition. Student activists reported that additional student Basij militiamen had been bussed in from the ideological Imam Sadegh University that is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard.

Fearful that they would be targeted for intimidation, many students simply watched the demonstration or participated with faces covered. Under Ahmadinejad’s first presidency, dozens of university professors were fired and student activists expelled. Ahmadinejad — himself a university professor — introduced a star system that singled out politically-involved school students and banned them from attending class. Those who amassed the maximum three stars were banned from attending university.

“Our Supreme Leader is a killer, his state is illegitimate,” the protesters shouted inside the grounds of the university.

One university professor reached by GlobalPost in Tehran described how her morning class was cancelled by the authorities who told students there would be no classes tomorrow, either.

"It was getting rowdy as of 9 a.m. in front of the university library," the professor said. "About 150 student Basijis were swearing at Mousavi when suddenly it became really violent."

Academics are worried that a new purge of universities is on the way, following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s denouncing in early September of the humanities and social sciences as a corrupting influence that causes students to doubt and question Islamic values.

He called for a revision of what is taught in a reminder of the Cultural Revolution in the early Eighties when the universities were closed for three years and faculties were ideologically purified by revolutionary committees.

Outside Tehran University, security forces beat up passers-by who shouted slogans in support of the students. Witnesses said that the police broke cellphones and attacked anyone filming or photographing. Several entrances to building were locked to control the flow of the demonstration and at least three students were arrested in a raid on the dormitories.

For the first time in several months, none of the plainclothes forces that played such a large role in repressing previous protests appeared.

“They cannot use the plainclothes police in broad daylight and at the heart of the university after the experience of the past three months because they know that instead of scaring most of the students they’re just making them more angry,” said Mahmood Delkhasteh, a London-based researcher. “They also know that clips of fighting can turn these demonstrations into headline news around the world.”

The conservative Jahan News downplayed the demonstrations, reporting that 150 pro-regime students faced off with “around 250” pro-Mousavi students. The pro-regime students shouted slogans such as “Death to the Velvet Dictator” and “We don’t want a Green Card” in reference to government claims that its violent confrontation with the post-election protesters was in anticipation of a Western-funded Velvet Revolution.

Pro-government media have described the protesters as Western pawns being manipulated in a bid to overthrow the Islamic Republic without seeking recourse to military action. The Mousavi supporters claim that they have not been in touch with Western pro-democracy groups and their movement is spontaneous.

The pro-Ahmadinejad Raja News reported that pro-Mousavi "militia" disrupted a ceremony by “swearing at the nation’s elected President”.

“The protests continued until the midday call to prayer when one group departed for the mosque and another to have lunch,” said the Jahan News article.

Iran’s revolutionary guard fired more missiles Monday in ongoing war games that began after Tehran’s surprise declaration of a mystery second enrichment site tunnelled inside a mountain close to the religious city of Qom. State television reported that the army had tested its medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles which can fly up to 1,200 miles.

“The regime intentionally tries to heat up the atomic crisis in order to distract attention from the uprising,” said Delkhasteh.

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What Is Iran Afraid Of?

Forget sanctions; forget bombing. Tehran's worst fear is a human rights campaign.
By Anne Applebaum

It's an odd thing about Iran, but sometimes I could swear there are two of them. On the one hand, there is the Iran of the nuclear issue, the Iran analyzed by security experts, the Iran covered by the White House press corps. This is the Iran that made the news last week when President Barack Obama revealed the existence of yet another hidden Iranian nuclear reactor, the Iran that will be judged by the U.N. Security Council this Thursday.

At the same time, there is another Iran—a completely different country, as it were. This is the Iran of the democracy movement, the Iran analyzed by human rights activists, the Iran covered by the sort of journalist who takes covert photographs with a cell phone. This is the Iran that made the news last week when protesters turned a government-controlled anti-Israel march into a spontaneous anti-government demonstration.

he people who care about this second Iran are rarely much interested in the first one—and vice versa. The two groups sometimes seem almost antagonistic. When demonstrations exploded across Iran after the June 12 elections, for example, there were many well-meaning people who urged the U.S. president to distance himself from both the riots and the rioters, at least partly on the grounds that any involvement might affect his ability to deal with the nuclear issue. Indeed, that choice seemed to suit President Obama, a highly rational man who clearly dislikes fuss, mess, and emotional upheaval. At that time, the White House made a choice: It would deal with the Iran described by security experts and leave the other Iran to sort itself out. Iranian human rights issues, Iranian democracy—these were domestic matters, the president's men concluded. And they repeated their offer to meet Iran's leaders.

Nothing came of that offer, of course, because Iran is not two countries. It is one country. And the people who make decisions about Iran's nuclear program are the same people who order the arrest, torture, and murder of dissidents. Indeed, one can learn quite a lot about how these Iranian decision-makers will behave abroad by observing their behavior at home. For example, it is unlikely that a regime that publicly and repeatedly describes its opponents as American stooges and British spies is going to change its tune and cooperate with America or Britain. At the same time, a regime under immense political pressure that is losing its legitimacy is not in a good position to break any new diplomatic ground and is therefore unlikely to end its nuclear program any time soon.

If that sounds bleak, it doesn't have to. For the observation that Iran is one country also suggests that the West has some foreign-policy tools in Iran that it has not yet seriously tried to use. Many, many security experts over the last several days have again pointed out that we don't have many good options once we officially declare that Iran plans to build a nuclear bomb. There are sanctions, which probably won't work; there are bombing raids, which might not hit all of Iran's nuclear facilities, given how many appear to be secretly hidden inside mountains; and there is war, which would be a catastrophe.

Very few security experts point out that there is another option. What do Iran's rulers truly fear, after all? I'll wager it's not sanctions, and it might not be a bombing raid. An economic boycott can be circumvented, after all, with the help of Venezuela or maybe the Russian mafia, and an attack on Iranian soil might help the regime once again consolidate power. By contrast, a sustained and well-funded human rights campaign must be a truly terrifying prospect.

What if we therefore told the Iranian regime that its insistence on pursuing nuclear weapons leaves us with no choice other than to increase funding for dissident exile groups, to smuggle money into the country, to bombard the airwaves with anti-regime television programming, and above all to publicize widely the myriad crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran? What if President Obama held up a photograph of Neda, the young girl murdered by Iranian authorities, at his next press conference? What if he did that at every press conference? I bet that would unnerve President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and even the supreme leader far more than the loss of some German machine tool imports or Dutch tomatoes.

I do realize that many will roll their eyes at these suggestions and argue, as the Obama administration did this summer, that an aggressive focus on Iran's mass human rights violations would allow the regime to cry "foreign meddling" and attack its opponents as foreign spies. But so what? They do that already. Given the potential for disaster that lurks behind almost every other policy option, we certainly have nothing to lose by trying.

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Feminist Political Scientist Analyzes Transformations in Iranian Society Today

By Fatemeh Sadeghi, Alborz

Why Don't They Believe It?
. . . Many have tried to present minor or major documents to prove that a great fraud has taken place in this election, and that the results have been rigged in one way or another in favor of a particular candidate. In the following notes, my goal is not to present these documents which are quite considerable. My goal is to present a brief sociological analysis to demonstrate that given the social developments of the past few years, it is highly unlikely that the majority of voters would have voted for Ahmadinejad. Based on many predictions, Iranian society is heading toward a different choice. These developments could be detected even during the June 2005 election which was boycotted or treated with indifference by many who were called the silent majority.

Below, I will demonstrate why part of the voters, whether those who had boycotted the previous presidential election or the silent majority who account for the high rate of voter participation in this election, demanded change. This fact will give credence to the doubts about the announced results of this election. First I will examine some general development in Iran during the past few decades. Then, I will examine Ahmadinejad's cultural and social resume and its effect on people's participation in the recent election. The arguments below are by no means new. I am only emphasizing them as a reminder. Considering these arguments will allow us to better comprehend Iranian society's protests against the recent events and its concerns about the latest trends.

Political disillusionment in post-revolutionary Iran has increased in all the years after the revolution. This phenomenon can be explained by many factors. The most important factor is the inability of the Islamic system to satisfy many of the demands of the middle and lower classes and realize their dreams. I am referring to freedom and social justice in particular. Prominent signs of this political disillusionment can be found in the daily increase in open and hidden forms of opposition. These forms of opposition have continuously increased during the past several years. Two phenomena in the past few years can be considered symbols of this opposition.

One is the increasing use of internet sites as sources for obtaining news and analysis. The other is the increasing use of satellite news and information stations as the most important source of news and analysis inside the country. There has been a turn away from the government's "Voice and Face of Iran." [The name of the Iranian government's television and radio network -- tr.]

The number of internet users in Iran exceeds 25 million [Iran's total population as of 2008 was 72.2 million -- tr.] Despite extreme forms of media censorship, the internet became an important medium for transmitting news, especially during the ninth government [2005-2009 – tr.]. Even many of those who sympathized with the ruling current turned to the internet to obtain news and analysis. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 Persian language weblogs and news and analysis websites. Most are in one way or another critical of the status quo or opposed to it. . . .

Most remember that up until a few years ago, it was not easy to speak of satellite [television –tr.]. I was very surprised to see that intensely religious people in remote areas and in religious cities such as Qom were turning more and more to satellite [television—tr.]. Their earlier reluctance has almost disappeared. The increasing use of the internet and virtual space to obtain information and news reveals that the official ideology cannot satisfy searching and critical minds. During all these years, the government's "Voice and Face of Iran" has emphatically adopted an approach which resists change and underestimates its audience's ability to reason. This approach has resulted in people's disillusionment and their turn to other sources and media for news and analysis.

Political disillusionment revealed itself openly in the voters' behavior. Many voters refused to participate in the June 2005 election because they were not satisfied with the pace of the reforms in Iranian society and expected the reformists and Mohammad Khatami to be more decisive and to take more action in creating changes. However, the rates of disillusionment were even higher in the post-reformist period.

Many reasons can be given for this disillusionment. Here I will only point to reasons which seem to be significant in explaining the general trend toward disillusionment in the years after the revolution and especially in the past four years. The more time elapsed after the Islamic revolution, the more people disembarked the ship of the revolution. However, disillusionment increased at an accelerated rate during the term of the ninth government [2005-2009 tr.] because of the many criticisms of its record, particularly in the realms of culture and the economy. Naturally, this disillusionment reveals itself in the actions of the voters and their choice of a candidate or candidates who call for change, even if the candidate or candidates are not able to satisfy all of the voters' political and social demands.

The increase in literacy and consciousness among Iranians is most important in explaining all the markers of development and especially the disillusionment with the status quo. The literacy rate has increased during all the past few years. University entrance rates have increased considerably in comparison to the past.

Women's increased consciousness is very significant. During the past few years, the majority of university entrants have been women. We have often heard slogans about how women are the educators of humanity. Regardless of the intentions of those who created these slogans, it seems that this statement is undeniably true in Iran. If Iranian women of [the generation -- tr.] prior to the revolution were the educators of the ideological generation which opposed the Shah's regime and engaged in a ceaseless struggle against it, women in post-revolutionary Iran are to be given credit for much of the sociological developments, the rise in consciousness, and the development in methods of educating the young generation. Once faced with barriers to or limitations in their choices for advancement, these women turned to the universities and became determined to raise their consciousness and increase their knowledge.

I cannot say what percentage of the votes for Mousavi or Karroubi were cast by women. What I can say based on my own observations is that women and especially young women constituted the majority of those who voted for reformist candidates and especially Mousavi. Furthermore, their strong presence in the electoral campaigns of both candidates [Mousavi and Karroubi -- tr.] was completely new. Based on my personal observations I can even say that in many cases, the number of women activists at the campaign headquarters of both candidates outweighed that of men. . .

I don't mean to say that women did not vote for Ahmadinejad. However in the last part of this essay I will argue that Ahmadinejad was unable to draw the votes of the majority of women in this election. Even based on my own personal observations in many parts of Iran, it can be said that those who did vote for Ahmadinejad in 2005 did so not for the sake of nuclear energy or other ideological slogans.

They voted for him because of economic problems and because of his electoral slogans about social justice and combating corruption. In all the interviews that I have conducted with women who have voted for Ahmadinejad, not one has referred to his foreign policy and nuclear energy. All unanimously said that they voted for Ahmadinejad because his platform was against corruption and for social justice. Of course many complained that the government had not taken serious steps in this direction, and all complained about the rising prices and other problems, especially drug addiction. They regretted having voted for him.

It seems highly unlikely that the majority of the rural and suburban [poor -- tr.] population would have voted for Ahmadinejad during the last election. Such a vote would be even more questionable in areas populated by ethnic and religious minorities. . .

During these years [2005-2009 tr.] the number of publishers declined. The government has practically set barriers against the publication of useful books. Many books did not receive a publication permit or faced difficulties in receiving republication permits. Many internet sites were blocked. Censorship increased massively in all areas.

The "cultural revolution" that has taken place during the past few years has led to the expulsion of many university students and professors. At all the universities, the government attempted to replace critical professors and students with its own handpicked students and professors. Many students received stars [reference to students who were suspended for being political activists -- tr.]. Some received warnings from national security agencies or were expelled. Many Islamic student councils or other university student councils were closed and many students were arrested or harassed. Another measure taken by the government was to censor textbooks.

The gender quota system for university students was imposed [to limit the number of female students -- tr.] There has been a campaign to limit female university students' choice of campuses to those in their home province. The government's ideological machine was backed by institutions such as the Center for Women and Family Affairs which had proposed plans such as the Family Bill [Reference to bill introduced in the Summer of 2007 which made it more convenient for men to take a second wife. This bill also imposed taxes on a woman's alimony. In September 2008, after much protest by Iranian women's rights activists, the most controversial aspects of this bill were removed --tr.], the Mercy Plan [introduced in 2006 to teach housewives to be more obedient -- tr.] as well as plans to ban women from work outside the home, and to promote polygamy. Their goal was to force women to stay at home and take care of their husbands for fear that the husband would take another wife.

Furthermore, the government set out to enforce the "Plan to Elevate Public Chastity" which forced all institutions to strictly enforce women's dress codes and the rule against the mixing of women and men in the workplace. The government reduced women's working hours [outside the home -- tr.] to allow them to have more time for family chores. Most important was the "social security plan," the enforcement of which led to harassment and police searches of thousands of women by the Ministry of Culture. Many men were arrested as hooligans and saboteurs, and were taken to unknown places. There are even reports that some were murdered.

The ninth government came to power with the slogans "social justice" and "combating corruption." It did not even elevate social justice and the battle against corruption. The slogan "social justice" was in many cases limited to distributing money and consumer goods among people, without making them economically self-sufficient.

Workers' economic status worsened in all these years. Many workers' organizations were suppressed. Their activists were arrested. The civil rights demands and protests of teachers also faced suppression.

The ninth government set out to dismantle all civil rights organizations by accusing them of getting money from abroad and aiming to create a "soft revolution." Many non-governmental organizations were closed. Their activities were put under severe limitations. Many civil rights activists landed in prison. Newspapers critical [of the regime -- tr.] were banned one after the other. Many journalists lost their jobs or were subjected to harassment by governmental and judicial institutions in one way or another.

Much evidence attests to the increasing level of social dislocation during the past few years. In many urban areas, drug addiction and unemployment are rampant. Analysts attribute this to the government's inept efforts to reduce economic problems. The rates of suicide, homicide, and assaults have increased during the past few years. The roots of most of these phenomena can be traced to economic inequality and to social and gender prejudices.

The ninth government has not left any class or social group unharmed. As a result, all social classes blame the ninth government more than any other government. While it is true that some groups such as women or youth have been subjected to a much greater degree of oppression and prejudice, no class, social or minority group has been left untouched by this government. It is not only the middle class that has suffered. Upper and lower classes, the rural population, bazaris [traditional merchants who have tended to support the clergy -- tr.], and ethnic and religious minorities have all suffered in various ways, and many of them are critical of the government.

Many within the ruling establishment have also criticized the [ninth -- tr.] government during its term in office. It seems that the only ones left unharmed by this government are the minority that the government has enriched as security officials, guards for the existing order, or passive voters. However, the dissatisfied and injured majority protests the results of this election. Perhaps [this majority -- tr.] has by now understood why the ninth government acted confidently and without any concern for people's protests.

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Interesting article about Burqa and how people react!

Bumps on the road towards a burqa ban in France Reuters Blog
Posted by: Tom Heneghan

Remember all the talk about France banning the burqa and niqab Muslim veils for women a few months ago? That project is now in the parliamentary inquiry phase, a six-month fact-finding mission expected to wind up late this year and produce a draft bill to outlaw them. That’s the way France handled it in 2003 when it wanted to stop Muslim girls from wearing headscarves to state schools. But the process seems more complex this time around. There’s less passion and more hesitation in the debate. A smooth progression from the inquiry to the ban and to its implementation no longer looks assured.

To get a feel for the debate, I dropped by the panel’s latest open hearing late on Tuesday and listened to the arguments being made. Five mayors from suburbs with Muslim minorities were due to speak to the panel, which is led by a Communist deputy named André Gerin who makes no bones about his view that a ban is needed. Mayors like these men play a key role in an issue like this, because they are on the front lines dealing with social change and are taken seriously when they clamour for change. Several are also deputies in the National Assembly - France allows them to occupy multiple offices - so they can easily lobby at the national level for something they want.

Sitting alone at the press table in the committee room, I soon saw why the drive towards a ban seems to be hitting some bumps. The mayors don’t know what they want. All think something has to be done, but most are worried that an outright ban wouldn’t work. Here’s my news story on the session.

This was the fifth of 16 hearings planned by the panel, which is officially called the Mission d’information sur la pratique du port du voile intégral sur le territoire national (Fact-finding mission on the practice of wearing the full veil on national territory). They’ve already heard representatives of women’s right groups, spokespeople of associations defending France’s secular system, a Muslim women’s rights advocate and two Muslim intellectuals and they plan to visit the ethnically mixed suburbs of Paris, Lyon, Lille and Marseille. You can often predict what will be said, but not always - some of the militant secularists turned out to be against a burqa ban because it meant the state interfered with personal choice.

To give you a better feel for the debate, here’s a summary of my notes and quotes from the session:

*Claude Dilain, mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois and chairman of the Association of Mayors of French Cities and Suburbs, said “the veil concerns the issue of women’s dignity and it’s clearly a brake on integration”. Within his association, though, “views (about a ban) are divided. Lots of officials are talking about the risks of passing a law. They’re concerned about political and civic risks.”

“Who’ll be responsible for enforcing this law? There’s a lot of concern about this.” France did not necessarily need a law, he said, but “it’s important that the Republic reasserts its values in a strong symbolic manner … It would be a mistake to look at the full veil just from the religious angle. There are socio-economic causes as well. People are taking refuge in identities.”

“We’d have lots of difficulty trying to enforce a law on the ground. Now, the police in Clichy-sous-Bois don’t even issue parking tickets in some areas at some times… There has been a strong rise in religious demands. We mayors can’t be left alone with this. This is happening several times a day. You can’t make a strong statement defending the Republic now without being called an Islamophobe.”

*Jean-Pierre Blazy, mayor of Gonesse north of Paris, admitted: “I’m hesitant. I can’t say today that we need a law. But we shouldn’t just dump the problem on the mayors. We need a firm dialogue to make secularism come alive in this country.” He stressed that he supported the 2004 headscarf ban and was concerned about growing religious demands by Muslims for exceptions to the usual municipal services. “If we have a law, we have to have accompanying measures with it,” he said, to make the measure more palatable to Muslims. One measure he suggested was to teach Arabic in state schools.

*Renaud Gauquelin, mayor of Rillieux-La-Pape near Lyon, said there were very few veiled women in his town but growing problems with Muslim demands in pools, hospitals and schools. On veils, he said: “Is this a regression for the rights of women in France? Certainly. Is there a parallel development for men? No.”

“I’m tending towards a law,” he said, noting that laïcité, the legal separation of church and state, was written into the constitution, as were women’s rights, and failing to ban the veil would amount to a failure to defend those rights. “What sign would we give to women around the world? To Iranian women fighting for their freedom? To Saudi women who want to be able to drive a car?”

*Jean-Yves Le Bouillonnec, mayor of Cachan south of Paris, thought existing laws would be enough to deal with the burqa issue. “If we pass a law, how would we enforce it? What would the sanctions be for violating it? There could be no worse message to send than to pass a law and tell people to obey it without saying they will be punished for not obeying it… I can’t see a ban working. It’s extremely complex and almost completely inapplicable.”

He suggested the National Assembly might want to pass a strong resolution reaffirming republican principles.

*Xavier Lemoine, mayor of Montfermeil east of Paris, said some Muslims in his town were becoming “reislamised” and this was visible in a rise in veil wearing and pressure some Muslims put on co-religionists who don’t fast during Ramadan. “It’s not always in the poorer areas, but also in the middle class areas that you see these demands,” he said. He noted that the full veil was not required by the Koran “but it’s in the Sunnah”, France had to take a strong position against the veil and understand how Islam was different from Western traditions. “In Judeo-Christian society, the individual is predominant. In the Muslim world, the individual exists through belonging to a community. The weight of the community is terrible.” At the same time, officials should separate Islam from its fundamentalist fringe when analysing religious issues.

Still, he was also hesitant about voting for a ban. “I prefer to do nothing for a good reason than something for a bad reason.”

Several panel members had questions or observations for the invited mayors.

*André Gerin, a Communist deputy, head of the fact-finding panel and former mayor of Venissieux suburb of Lyon, called full veils “medieval customs spread by salafists”. The veil was the I in an Islamisation drive by radical Muslims. Gerin said France should not only consider a ban on full veils but also go after “the gurus” who are not in these neighbourhoods but are spoiling everything”. (BTW Gerin gave no details about who he meant by “gurus”, a term usually used by Hindus and Sikhs. But they call all full veils burqas, using the Afghan term, even though almost all of them worn here are Arab-style niqabs. Go figure.)

*Jean Glavany, a Socialist deputy, said fundamentalism was part of all religions these days. “This idea of separating the fundamentalists from the religion doesn’t work. To say that fundamentalist excesses have nothing to do with the religion is like saying hooliganism has nothing to do with football or doping has nothing to do with the Tour de France.”

“We should refuse to make legislators into exegetists.”

*Jacques Myard, conservative UMP deputy and mayor of Maisons-Lafitte northwest of Paris, warned against turning into a “soft democracy” that could not stand up for its own values. He argued for a ban with punishments for violators. “Sanctions have to be rehabilitated. Not cutting off of heads and hands, of course. But this is the order of things in a structured society with its own values. It has to be respected. They can’t impose their personal order.”

“Is Islam compatible with laïcité? That’s not my problem. It’s not for us to decide if it’s compatible, it’s up to them. In the Muslim world, you find all kinds of interpretations. It’s not our role to solve this.”

Understanding the French approach to its Muslim minority has often proved difficult for outsiders. Does this make it any clearer?

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Les héros enchaînés-1

Recherches sur les prisons du régime des mollahs

Ces recherches ont été effectuée de 1996 à 2001 auprès des familles des exécutés politiques et sur la situation dans les prisons en Iran par l'organisation des Moudjahidine du peuple (OMPI).

Viol

Dans les prisons du régime iranien, il y a eu de nombreux cas de viol de jeunes filles et de femmes en particulier au cours des interrogatoires. Elaheh Daknama, une lycéenne sympathisante des Moudjahidine, arrêtée à Chiraz, a été violée durant sa détention. Après son exécution, quand sa famille a récupéré ses affaires, elle avait écrit sur ses vêtements qu’elle avait été violée à sept reprises.

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Iranian girls defy the anti-Iranian Mullahs by music

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Iranian women on the frontline of protests

For years, women's defiance in Iran came in carefully planned flashes of hair under their head scarves, brightly painted fingernails and trendy clothing that could be glimpsed under bulky coats and cloaks.

But these small acts of rebellion against the theocratic government have been quickly eclipsed in the wake of the disputed June 12 presidential elections. In their place came images of Iranian women marching alongside men, of their scuffles with burly militiamen, of the sobering footage of a young woman named Neda, blood pouring from her mouth and nose minutes after her fatal shooting.

In a part of the Muslim world where women are often repressed, these images have catapulted Iran's female demonstrators to the forefront of the country's opposition movement. It is a role, say Iranian women and experts, that few seem willing to give up, and one that will likely present President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hardline government with even greater challenges in the wake of the recent violence and protests.

Shoulder to shoulder with men
Across the Muslim Middle East, women have often joined men in protest movements.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, women took part in street demonstrations in the tiny Gulf country. Over the years, images of Palestinian women, fists raised in anger against Israel and tears flowing in despair over children and husbands killed, have become a staple of that conflict.

But Iran's protests have elevated such images to a new level.

While Iranian women have been politically active in the past, coming out in large numbers in support of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the latest demonstrations showed them standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts, enduring the same blows and threats.

"We were all together, and we helped each other despite our sexuality, and we will be together," said one 34-year-old Tehran woman who is active in the protests.

Images of Neda linger
They have also given the movement some of its most high-profile arrests — former President Hashemi Rasfanjani's 46-year-old activist daughter — and its first martyr, Neda Agha Soltan.

Soltan, who was allegedly shot by pro-government militia as she walked through a protest Saturday, became the public face of the government's repression — a female martyr in a culture that celebrates such symbols, but usually relegates women to the role of the martyr's mother or wife.

Video images of Soltan lying on the street, blood pouring from her mouth and nose as a few men crouch down, struggling to save her, quickly made their way onto the Internet. From there, they bounced around the world.

"She represents this youth who went there with such hope and idealism," said Ziba Mir-Hosseini, who researches the situation of women in Iran, at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. "In a way, she is the first woman martyr. She is a martyr for democracy."

President Barack Obama on Tuesday summed it up as such: "We have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets."

In the convoluted, and fluid, calculus of Iranian politics, it remains to be seen how the government will deal with these challenges. Also unclear is how these developments will shape policy.

Under previous reformist regimes, Iranian women secured a wink-and-a-nod attitude from the government that allowed them to adopt more casual hair coverings and more freedoms than those seen in other conservative Muslim countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia.

Breaking taboos
Although they are barred from the presidency and religious posts, many Iranian women are in parliament and other political offices. About 65 percent of university students are women.

In 2006, a group of women launched a campaign to gather a million signatures in favor of equal rights for women. And, in the run-up to the presidential election, a coalition of women from diverse economic and social classes worked to ensure that the candidates focused their platforms on efforts to improve women's lives.

Mousavi's bid for the presidency further encouraged them, with women buoyed in no small part by his progressive stance on women's issues and his unorthodox — at least for Iran — campaign appearances alongside his wife, Zahra Rahnavard.

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