Kamangir (Archer)

Memories from the e-Republic of Iran

Kamangir | February 14, 2007 | Category Iran

Important Notice: Please read this note before reading this post.

I wrote this article for Global Journalist, based in Missouri School of Journalist. But, for some reason, still unknown to me, the regarding person does not reply my emails. I remind you that this piece still needs to be proofread.

June 12, 2006, 5pm, Haft-e Tir square, Tehran. A few hundred men and women have gathered to “demand the end to all forms of legal discrimination” against women. People who pass by wait for a few seconds to read A4 sheets which read “women condemn all types of discrimination”. Before the group manages to unfold their banners Police raid. Aside from the brutality, pictures show new faces in the anti-protest police force. That day, in order to obey the Islamic law, the police use the help of muscular women who use batons very professionally on women. They twist hands and punch people in the face and arrest tens of individuals. A blogger wrote about the incident, “I think Red Bull should sponsor these events. These ladies and gentlemen [from the Police force] beat people so hard they really needed some extra energy”. (more) (more) (more)

For someone not familiar with the social/political atmosphere of Iran, the first question after reading the above paragraph would be who managed to take pictures and report on the incident? If they attack a peaceful protest so harshly, how does information come out of Iran so detailed and from so many sources? That’s where e-Iran comes to play.

The IR’s Latest Invention

Kamangir | February 14, 2007 | Category Iran

The Pedestrian writes,

Phone bills carry the warning, “connecting to illegal web sites might results in international call assessment”.

Bypassing Ahmadinejad

Kamangir | February 14, 2007 | Category Iran

Ali Akbar Velayati, the Supreme Leader’s adviser on international affairs, spoke to French daily Liberation, Italian newspaper La Republica, and a newspaper from Switzerland. While a few hints from his remarks are carried by the media, many important sentences of him are missed. It is amazing that even Iranian English sources have not translated these parts: Baztab, Mehr, IRNA. Through the Persian text IRNA has provided, I find these points very interesting,

Question: How could anyone make sure that Iran does not pursue an atomic bomb, while it asks for the annihilation of another UN member?

Answer: You mean Israel. The leader…asks for a democratic solution carried out by Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Democracy is the solution.

Question: … but Iran just held a conference on denying the Holocaust!

Answer: I did not attend that conference, but [I know that] the conference’s aim was not to deny the Holocaust. In fact, it was an attempt to review the events. We can talk about the number of victims without denying the whole incident.

Question: So, the Holocaust did in fact happen?

Answer: Yes, but we do not accept it being used to justify oppressing Palestinians.

Speaking about Iraq and the situation in that country, Velayati stated,

We propose to hold a regional stability conference with focus on terrorism. After the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the September 11 attack, which is the worst disaster in the contemporary history, we must all fight with terrorism, because the victims [of 9/11] were innocent people.

This added to Larijani’s efforts, Ahmadinejad is being bypassed, to my understanding. I hope it is not too late…

Thanks to Soheil for the link.

Explosion (and Execution) in Iran

Kamangir | February 14, 2007 | Category Iran

Seven in the morning, Zahedan. A car stops in front of a bus carrying Sepah personnel, with the pretext of a technical problem in the engine. Immediately, the passengers get off the car and the car blows off. Two members of the group are arrested while capturing pictures of the scene. Twenty four people are killed or wounded. According to Baztab, the bus has been carrying 24 people, 8 or 10 of whom are “martyred” and the rest are wounded. One of the detainees has reportedly tried to blow himself off after the arrest. BBC reports that prior to the explosion a couple of motorists pointed rifles at the bus driver, forcing him to stop. Jondollah has accepted the responsibility and Zahedan MP has asked for diplomatic blame on Pakistan. More pictures here.

p.s. For some reason, Fars, which is told to be close to Sepah, insists on calling this incident “an event in which eleven Zahedani citizens were killed”.

Update: Three members of the group which carried out a series of explosions in Ahvaz were executed today (Baztab).