Tag Archives: Islamic republic of iran

Mar 17 2010

Why are there political prisoners in IRAN?

A Tehran revolutionary court has sentenced political activist Ms. Azar Mansouri to 3 years in prison.  Mansouri is the deputy head of Iran’s largest reform party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front.  She was arrested by security forces in September of 2009 a few months after the disputed presidential elections.

Mansouri’s lawyer, Mohammad Reza Faghihi, said the charges against his client included endangering national security, spreading propaganda against the regime, and disturbing public order by participating in rallies.

But here is the bigger question.  Why are there political prisoners in Iran at all? 

If the Islamic system is so sure of itself, and claims that it represents the interest of Iran and Iranians then why the coercion, arrests and abductions, the beatings, the torture and the savage rape of its youth by a shadow security apparatus? 

Why must the Islamic regime take such great effort in muzzling and labeling political activists as being a threat to national security when their interest is nothing but to improve and modernize a nation’s political system in accordance with 21st century standards?   And why is it that anyone in Iran who dares to speak out in support of progress and reform ends up paying a price of reprisal with their life?    

The fact of the matter is that the Islamic regime is a political system that came to power through manipulation and brute force.  Its birth mark is visibly dark filled with horrifying stories of mass executions, and its subsequent way of governance throughout its 31 years of existence is tarnished with injustice, from orders of public flogging, to stoning of men and women, to public hangings and bodily mutilation to rape of women and girls as young as 16 and not to mention the embezzlement and corruption that has broken the economies back.

And so the climate of protest we see in Iran today should be of no surprise.  It is a manifestation of 30 years of built-up frustration and anger against a political system that has lost its legitimacy and right to govern a country where freedom, human rights and civil liberties grew out of.  And therefore what Iranians are demanding  today is nothing more than a greater say in their nation’s political discourse.  

Can the Islamic regime accept such a demand to democratize Iran’s political system?  Obviously not since Evin Prison is filled with political prisoners such as Azar Mansouri and the likes.

Mar 14 2010

Iran’s supreme leader calls for the abolishment of a 7000 year old Iranian tradition

Anyone who knows Iranian customs and traditions will tell you that “Chaharshanbe soori” is one of the country’s longstanding festivities dating back to the days of the Persian Empire some 7000 years.  It is an occasion where Iranians rejoice, celebrate and jump over small fires, ridding themselves of the old and making way for Nowrouz “the new day”, that marks the first day of spring (on March 21st).    

This year however something out of the ordinary but not unexpected has occurred.  Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Iranians to shun next week’s Persian fire festival (which falls on March 16th) by labeling it as being un-Islamic.” 

The supreme leader of the Islamic regime has stated on his website that Charshanbe Soori has “no basis in Sharia (Islamic religious law) and is the cause for great harm and corruption, which is why it should be scrapped.”

The opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has also urged his supporters not to use the event for anti-government rallies in fear that provoking the hardliners during this night of celebration could lead to more crackdown, imprisonment and even deaths.

Mar 14 2010

The Revolving Door

A week prior to the Persian New Year (March 21st) a number of high profile political activists, scholars and journalists associated with the Green movement have been release from Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, people to the likes of Kian Tajbakhsh, Leili Farhadpour, Vahid Pourostad, Somayeh Momeni and Mostafa Tajzadeh.

While news of their release has been publicized in Iran and around the world, the secret police, a shadow militia group under the order of the sepah and accountable to no one, continues to arrest figures such as Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and tens of lesser known activists, students and women’s rights advocates under the pretense of working for the United States, having affiliations to opposition groups outside of Iran, and for being part of the “Iran proxy group” assisting Iranians bypass state internet filtering. All bogus charges of course, but nevertheless, it is a method the regime uses to clamp down on discontent and freedom loving people that are desperately trying to win back their civil liberties, establish democracy and have greater say in government.

What is of great importance however is that such token gestures ought not to divert the Green movement and the world’s attention from the true nature of this military dictatorship and its threat, both domestically and internationally. This is a cunning and calculated regime with a mission to preserve power by suppressing its people and fooling the international community into passivity at all cost.

And so in my opinion what the free world can do best to support the Iranian people is to continue taking a firm stance on human rights and shaming the regime for its brutality, while in parallel, freezing all economic and business activities with the country. This will tilt the balance of power in favor of the Iranian people as they push forward in their pursuit of institutional political change in their country.