Kamangir (Archer)

These are the last days before my long-awaited trip to Europe and Africa, partly because of my presentation in an IEEE conference. In fact, Azadeh and I were supposed to go together before her visa application was rejected. Mine, however, was accepted given that I provided them with more information, and I did. Since then, [...]

As you might have noticed, and as also the localmalcontent pointed out, there was a critical problem in the database tables of the photoblog which caused a fatal error. The issue is not dealt with. Because many readers were not able to see the pictures, I post the link to the most recent incident of [...]

Persian blogger Reza Valizadeh (رضا ولی زاده) was arrested for his report about expensive German dogs being used in Ahmadinejad’s guard team.
On November 16th he wrote about the four dogs which are recently added to Ahmadinejad’s security team, after they were purchased form Germany for $150,000 each [Persian]. Read the complete translation of his post [...]

Maryam Hossienkhah, women’s rights’ activist, was arrested about a week ago (see: Activist Woman Arrested, Feminist Activist behind the Bars). Today, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic, IRNA, accused Hossienkhah of being involved in a separatist group. IRNA wrote [Persian],
Maryam Hossienkhah’s arrest, on charges against the national security, caused a lot of reaction [...]

Another session of beating men arrested for drug trafficking right in their own properties. For more pictures see the photoblog.

I have been asked before if the gentleman who writes under the name Kamangir in Iranian.com is me. The answer is no. I have not read many of his pieces, but I found his last one rather disturbing,
…[After the regime collapses] It’s [Khomeini's Shrine's] destruction must be a very interesting and waited event by the [...]

I do recommend getting some background information about this video clip at Iranian Irony.

You might remember this post: MP’s Website attacks Kamangir. Since then I have been in contact with one of the editors of the Pajamas Media. We have been working on a piece which is now posted with the title “It’s Rough Out There In the Iranian Blogosphere“.
I copy the text here for archival purposes.
It’s [...]

I just stumbled upon a post in Mystical Politics about FBI’s 2006 Hate Crime Statistics in the US. Rebecca writes,
…in the most serious category of crimes against persons (aggravated assault), the number of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim offenses is almost identical, but in all other categories, especially intimidation and destruction/damage/vandalism, the number of incidents directed against [...]

This is from MEY TV.
Migrant rights abuses in the Middle East are getting worse, with very little NGOs specifically dedicated to their cause. This video was created by contributors of the Migrant Rights campaign at Migrant-Rights.org which hopes to ensure human rights and decent working conditions for the millions of domestic and labor workers of [...]

It was November 2006 when I first got to know Esra’a Al’shafei and her work at the Mideast Youth, through our mutual friend Tori Egherman. Since then, my respect for this young Bahraini lady has always been on the rise. She seems to have expanded her days to 48 hours, to be able to [...]

 

 Interview with Esra'a [8:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Maryam Hossienkhah is behind the bars for her work with women rights’ groups (see: Activist Woman Arrested). Today. Shahrzad News published her first picture behind the bars, taken during a meeting with her in Evin Prison [Persian].

Iran: the anti-democracy - Akbar Ganji
The Islamic Republic of Iran is master of the double standard. For instance, the regime believes it has the right to establish political groups in other countries, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Iraqi Islamic Supreme Council and a number of groups in Afghanistan. It openly supports Hamas to the tune [...]

There are unverified, but strong, reports that an Iranian pilot has lost his life in a plane crash deliberately kept secret from the public.
On September 23rd, as every year, Iranian cities were the scene of military shows, to acknowledge the ignition of the eight-year war with Iraq (see: Big Military Show in Iran and pictures [...]

For and against Chavez - Antony Loewenstein
The Amir Taheri Story - Mother Jones Blog
Amir Taheri is one of the strangest ingredients in America’s media soup. There may not be anyone else who simply makes things up as regularly as he does, with so few consequences.

The Iranian blogger Arash Ashoorinia reports that Maryam Hossienkhah, Journalist, a member of Women’s Cultural Center, and an active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign was arrested earlier today [Persian]. This incident follows the shut-down of the website in which Maryam used to post (Read Crackdown on Iranian Internet Hosts). Arash continues, “She was [...]

The Persian blogger Istgah reports that the four dogs recently added to Ahmadinejad’s security team have been purchased form Germany for $150,000 each [Persian]. The bomb-seeking dogs are used before his public attendances. The blogger reports that quite often the security team treats people offensively during the operation of the dogs. The “Discover and Defuse” [...]

The Persian blogger Jadi writes about the recent crackdown on Iranian hosting services for shutting down “inappropriate” websites [Persian]. Reportedly, Zanestan, a feminist website, and saghar, a Bahai’i’s blog, have been the first victims.
Jadi writes, “This seems to be the second round of filtering. The administration is disappointed with their unsuccessful attempts to filter websites [...]

General Prosecuting Attorney, Cleric Dorri Najafabadi, issued a letter blaming the administration for their lack of strict control over Iranian students abroad. According to Roozonline [Persian], the letter advocates for a decision made earlier for creating Islamic councils in foreign universities, as well as secret surveillance of the students in order to discover and persecute [...]

When you are a blogger, blogging is what you do. Sometimes, however, things we do to prepare for blogging, such as dealing with technical issues, distract us from doing what we have exactly set up our blogs for, i.e. blogging. This rather twisted sentence is maybe the best way to describe my situation during these [...]

In his trip to Southern Khorasan Province, Ahmadinejad stated [Persian],
The whole world has been created for that holy day to occur [the Islamic Armageddon]. The day in which all the prophets and martyrs and good people will arrive and will help. Some people ridicule this. They have no faith in their hearts. These are modern [...]

French-Iranian filmmaker Mehrnoushe Solouki came to Tehran to shoot a documentary about the burial rites of Iran’s religious minorities. Unfortunately for her, she stumbled upon a massive gravesite of opposition opponents slaughtered by the regime in 1988. Follow the story in Gateway Pundit.

The Great Uncircumcision Debate and The Backlash Against Circumcision, to cut or not to cut, this is the problem.
The Islamic Republic abuses children for their politics.

Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Blog Outreach - Deadline: November 30th.
Sleep-walking to war - Great piece by Iason Athanasiadis,
A few nights ago, a high-level former official in the Clinton administration predicted to me a strike on Iran by March next year. In her Harvard speech, Dergham concurred, adding that “the logic of it would [...]

Please forgive us, Iranians, for the foolish behavior of a few flag-burning, slur-shouting citizens of my country. Although having occupied the political power in my country, they do not represent me and many other Iranians.
See more pictures of the rallies for celebrating the anniversary of the hostagetaking at the American embassy in Tehran in the [...]