Kamangir (Archer)

Happy Persian New Year (Norouz)!

Kamangir | March 19, 2007 | Category Iran

Norouz (means the new day, or the day to renew), the beginning of the Persian year, is due in two days. I started doing a New Year card and ended up with this (click to enlarge),

The handwritten text reads “Happy New Year 1386, Arash Kamangir”. The text at the middle is a part of the famous Arash Kamangir poem by Siavash Kasraei.

To be alive, a flame is needed…
That flame needs to be nourished…
If you take care of it, it would be visible afar,
Otherwise, darkness is our fault.

Happy Persian New Year to all those who celebrate it!

I took the picture in last year’s jump-over-fire celebration (Chahar Shanbeh Suri).

Askari, again

Kamangir | March 19, 2007 | Category Iran

Family members of the missing Iranian general, Askari, gathered in front of the Turkish embassy in Tehran, marking the 105-th day of his disappearance. More pictures here.

The Naive IR Liars

Kamangir | March 19, 2007 | Category Iran

Apparently, the Islamic Republic is still living in the era when you could deny what you had said formerly.

The story began with a sentence in the AP’s translation of Ahmadinejad’s speech in Ardakan, Yazd Province. AP carried the sentence “If all of you gather and also invite your ancestors from hell, you will not be able to stop the Iranian nation.” Although, these words quite perfectly match Ahmadinejad’s vocabulary, when I failed to find the sentence in the official Persian sources, I contacted the AP and asked them what their source had been. They responded, rather quickly, that the sentence does exist in the text published by IRNA, the Islamic Republic News Agency. I did a more extensive research on it and again failed to find any trace of the sentence anywhere, except for a Persian blog which did not indicate its source. So I asked the AP to send me their link.

Now, thanks to my friend Shimbalkhan, a rather meaningless name in Persian, we actually found out that the official newspaper of the government, Iran, published the speech and it did include the rather rude sentence. Thus, to this point, the conclusion is that AP did not make any mistake in the translation and that the IR, rather naively, tried to cover up Ahmadinejad’s remarks. It is interesting to know that the sentence is in fact printed on the front page (pdf).

Guys, this is the year 2007. I guess Khomeini and others did manage to change their words and deny what they had said, but, fortunately, your words are archived forever.

Shahram The Hero

Kamangir | March 19, 2007 | Category Iran

This is a translation of a Persian post written in the first hours after Shahram Jazayeri was rearrested. The post has been the center of enthusiastic discussions in Balatarin. For background on Jazayeri see this post. More pictures here.

Shahram, The Hero

I have seen only a few people delighted after hearing the news of Shahrah Jazayeri’s arrest. Especially, after his pictures in the airport were broadcast and people saw his sad face with traces of slapping on it. Shahram Jazayeri, whom the regime tried to portray as the symbol of economic corruption, in order to exhibit its determination for fighting against corruption, has now turned into a hero, for many people.

The Judiciary and the Intelligence tried to emphasize on his arrest to show off their power. However, they have not been so successful, because many people now support Jazaiery, for many reasons. Thus, the support from the public has pushed the project run by the Judiciary and the Intelligence for orchestrating a show of lawfulness towards complete failure.

It was quite a trend for the regime to make heroes out of political suspects. This time, it was the turn for someone accused of having bribed administration figures. Yet, he is now enjoying the attention of layers of the public and is close to becoming a full-scale hero.

I believe that a true poll will show that people felt pity for him. However, we are sure that no independent poll will ever be carried out, and thus we have to listen to how people in the streets are judging. This judgment, however, is the farthermost from what the Judiciary and the Intelligence are looking for.