Kamangir (Archer)

Akbar Ganji, the respectable political activist who spent over five years behind the bars, has written an open letter to Iranians asking for their help to release the imprisoned Iranian students from prisons. Remembering his days in solitary confinement and reminding everyone of the crimes the Islamic Republic has committed under the name of holiness, [...]

Pictures of Police brutality against low-level gang members accused of alcohol- and drug-related charges as well as selling satellite dishes or violent behavior. See more picture here.

It started when a top-ranking Police commander spoke about 5,265 “street-women” who were “talked to” during the veil crackdown. street-woman is the polite version of prostitute in contemporary Persian. That caused a few people to scratch their heads asking how many prostitutes really live in Iran. So, an official from the Judiciary came to the [...]

A group of Iranian bloggers have started a movement to remember and cause awareness about the Iranian imprisoned student bloggers. The idea is to rename as many blogs as possible to “August the 5th: The day of support for jailed Iranian students”. I am not among the organizers of this movement but I am sick [...]

Judiciary spokesman stated today: “7 people accused of rape will be executed on Wednesday”.

In Iran, politics always influences other matters, such as movies. However, sometimes, their intersection becomes rather ironic. Recently, a movie titled “Ali, the Santour [an Iranian musical instrument similar to Dulcimer] Player” was banned from the theaters. Many think the movie is banned because there are rumors that the Supreme Leader, whose first name is [...]

It is mentioned that Imam Sadegh, one of the twelve holy figures in Shia after the Prophet, stated, “Whenever the prophet wanted to marry a woman, he would send someone to see her. He would tell them, ’smell her neck, because if that smells good, she would smell good and look at her ankle, because [...]

 Full Text (Persian): Download

Warning: Very Graphic.
Scenes of Islamic Sharia being carried out in Iran. I had seen parts of this in different websites but this compilation is definitely another look at the brutality of the Islamic Republic. The footage includes scenes of stoning as well as cutting off fingers with a machine and pulling an eye out. Is [...]

Struggle between the people and the Police during the crackdown on the veil. A comment in the Iranian Digg asks “should she not be happy because of the death of Ayatollah Meshkini?” The comment refers to a top cleric who passed away today after a long sickness.

The head of Tehran Firefighters announced that they only have gas till the end of the week. Reportedly, half their vehicles use petroleum but despite their huge responsibilities they have been assigned three liters of gas per day. This is after ambulances and also Police cars started to cut their activities for gas rationing. The [...]

The families of Adnan Hassanpour (عدنان حسن پور) and Hiwa Boutimar (هیوا بوتیمار), the Kurd activists sentenced to execution in Marivan, Iran, say they have no information regarding their whereabouts (source). The detainees were tried in a closed court in the absence of their lawyer (source).
Related: Statements by Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders.

Iran News Agency reports that UFOs visited Tehran on Friday and also on Saturday. Reportedly, residents of the eastern part of Tehran went to their rooftops and also parks to watch the UFOs on Friday at 21pm-23pm and also on Saturday at 5am. While UOFs have been observed in many other Iranian cities, this is [...]

It is a well-known and very sad reality in Iran that some people have to resort to selling their kidneys for survival. These pictures are taken in Iran from banners stuck to a wall.

“Kidney donation, B+”, note that “donation” does not mean this transaction does not include transfer of money.

“Twenty-three-year-old youth with blood type O+ [...]

One of the methods Iranian banks use to attract customers is to give out prizes. On top of cars and cash prizes, pilgrimage is a good way to show a religion-conforming gesture while also giving out a rather smaller amount of money. After a person wins the prize, the local branches announce it by banners, [...]

The ultra-right website Rajanews was irritated after Iranians celeberated the achievements of an Iranian lady in an Asian contest (don’t ask me about the details because I am not a fan of sports). Rajanews asks “should we really be happy because of this?” Stating that “sometimes not following the accepted norms is the way to [...]

Who says clerics must always talk about the heaven and the hell. They do have the right to appreciate earthly things such as body and muscles, at least if they are preparing to run for a seat in the parliament. The picture is from Kerman News.

It all started randomly, when Azadeh and I met Chantal in a meeting in University of Manitoba. Soon after she knew that we were Iranian, we started to realize how much she knew about the Persian culture as well as the geography of Iran, and even its politics. She even knew details such as the [...]

 

 Chantal [5:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Last May, a group of students were arrested in Amir Kabir University (AKU), following the suspicious distribution of student newsletter which insulted the Supreme Leader. Soon, there were strong reports that the newsletters were counterfeited to create the pretext for arresting and oppressing students. For the background and the related cartoon see here.
Recently, shocking [...]

If you have also seen the “Quote Exceeded” screen when logging into Kamangir, I apologize. Following the recent incidents of DoS attacks, Kamangir was attacked today by a distributed DoS attack. I have talked to my host and they are figuring out a way to deal with this issue. Thanks for your support. Also, thanks [...]

See more pictures here.
Update: The original title of this post could have been offensive to some people. I apologize for that.
Sources: FARS, FARS, FARS.

An Iranian bookstore’s efforts for selling the last Harry Potter book in Tehran, exactly in time with the other parts of the world, outraged the ultra-right state-run newspaper Kayhan,
One of the questionable events of this week was the sale of the last Harry Potter book in a bookstore in the north of Tehran [the wealthier [...]

This is the English translation of a satirical post by Labyrinth. The picture is from here, taken recently in Iran right when the executed guy is being taken down. Warning: Graphic picture!

Record

Executing twelve men in one day is a good record, but it is not enough. If we are willing to add our country’s name [...]

“I confess, so I am”, by Nikahang Kowsar. referring to the recent confession show.

Update: Tie and turban have long been rivals in the Iranian society. Shortly after the clerics, who wear turban, took over the power tie was banned and called un-Islamic and Western. Here, the photographer has been able to take a picture of a man who seems to be wearing tie and turban at the same [...]

Source: Papery Messengers.