Arseh Sevom is Launching a Podcast!

Arseh Sevom announces its new podcast: Barabari (Equality)

Premiering Thursday, October 29 at 6 PM Tehran Time 

Eighty million people in Iran are expected to submit to the 12-member Guardian Council. The “dirty dozen” are appointed in an undemocratic and opaque process. They have the power to reject any law that they do not consider to be in the best interest of themselves or the ruling elite.

For the past 40 years, the Guardian Council has stood against democratization and change. Their word is quite literally the law when it comes to providing interpretations of Islam and the constitution. Systematic discrimination, human rights violations, the removal of critics from the structure of the system, and the consolidation of theocratic rule are the result.

Kamran Ashtary, Director of Arseh Sevom says:

“The Guardian Council is one of the biggest obstacles to democracy in Iran. Every hour it gets even more powerful with its own militia, control over elections, and especially the law.”

The first season of Barabari is entitled, The Guardian Council: Obstacle to Democracy. You can find it on Arseh Sevom, Castbox, iTunes, and several podcast platforms (see links below).

The nine-episode season looks at the following issues:

• The experience of being marginalized by the Islamic Republic of Iran, featuring voices from activists, women, and ethnic minorities.
• The process that leads to undemocratic laws and the violation of human rights
• The Guardian Council’s interpretation of the constitution and the rejection of international conventions
• The historical changes of the Guardian Council from the beginning of the revolution until now
• The role of the Council of Experts
• The organizational structure of the Guardian Council and the process of uncontrolled expansion
• The Guardian Council’s role in election engineering
• The Guardian Council election budget
• The shadow seats of the Guardian Council, as well as its legal and jurisprudential advisory bodies

Barabari is the result of Arseh Sevom’s research in 2019 and 2020, which can be found on the Arseh Sevom website.

Some of Barabari’s Voices

In this nine part series, we’ll hear from lawyers, journalists, civic, and political activists. Some of the people who commented include:

Asieh Amini, Rajabali Mazrouei, Pezhman Tahoori, Azadeh Kian, Fred Petrosian, Padideh Sabeti, Kamran Ashtary, Mahmoud Ahmadi Moghadam, Mohammad Reza Sardarzadeh, Behnam Daraiezadeh, Melkia Zar, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, Mozhgan Novi and Hossein Ahmadi Niaz.  

Barabari Hosts

Mostafa Khosravi and Mahsa

Subscribe to Barabari on any of the following podcast platforms

Castbox 
Anchor
Breaker
Google podcast
iTunes
Radiopublic
Spotify
Soundcloud
Pocketcast

Find the podcasts in Persian here.