Bits of news

May 16, 2011
May 16, 2011
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Ahmadinejad Under a Spell?

Hardline cleric Mesbah Yazdi claims that Ahmadinejad's closest adviser has bewitched him, the Washington Post reports.
The cleric said Ahmadinejad’s top adviser, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, has used has hypnotism, spells or charms to take control of Iran’s elected leader. “I am almost certain that he has been bewitched,” Yazdi said.
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April 12, 2011
April 12, 2011
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Take Action: Letter Writing Campaign

  • PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:
  • Calling on Iranian parliamentarians not to pass the Bill on the Establishment and Supervision of NGOs, which would severely limit the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of association and assembly in Iran;
  • Reminding the Iranian authorities that freedom of association and assembly is guaranteed by Articles 26 and 27 of the Iranian Constitution and by Article 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a state party;
  • Urging the authorities to cease harassing and arresting civil society activists, including students’ and women’s rights activists, environmentalists, journalists, human rights defenders and members of professional associations, such as the Teachers’ Trade Associations.
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    February 8, 2011
    February 8, 2011
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    The Netherlands Removes Its Ambassador

    Following the execution of Dutch citizen, Zahra Bahrami, the Dutch government has removed its ambassador from Iran. This move has been criticized by D66 as done to satisfy the parliament, rather than as part of a coherent strategy. (Read more in Dutch in the Volkskrant.)In related developments, following the execution of Dutch citizen, Zahra Bahrami, the US State Department issued a statement of concern over the human rights situation in Iran:
    We are particularly troubled by the recent execution of Dutch-Iranian national Zahra Bahrami, who was denied access to Dutch consular officials. Her execution is one of dozens carried out in recent weeks amid serious questions about the motives of the Iranian government and whether these prisoners were granted their rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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    January 28, 2011
    January 28, 2011
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    Jasmine and Fire

    As Tunisia struggles to develop a civil society that can fill the hole left by the dictatorial regime, Egyptians have taken to the streets. MideastYouth.com is following the story from Egypt here. The blogger states:
    In brief, Tunisia has made people, not only in Egypt but all across the region, to believe that the ousting of any totalitarian regime is within reach, if people actually march into the streets, not only on the internet. Signs of releasing anger has spread all across Egypt by tearing Mubarak’s pictures in several areas.
    Events in Egypt can be followed live on Al Jazeera and Crowdvoice is also keeping track of events. Continue reading...
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    January 16, 2011
    January 16, 2011
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    Who is Speaking Out About Human Rights Abuses in Iran?

    Writing in the Huffington Post, Hadi Ghaemi and Aaron Rhodes of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran write about the politicization of human rights and the equivocation of the international community when dealing with abuses of those rights. They discuss the conflation of those who advocate for more attention to the human rights situation in Iran with those who advocate for military action, arguing that the two are very different. The West, they argue, and many other countries as well, are squandering an opportunity to hold the government of Iran accountable for abuses. They write, "But with Iran, human rights are not bargained away, they are given away, since the international community gets nothing in return for its silence except scorn."
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    January 14, 2011
    January 14, 2011
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    The Great Persian Firewall

    Via Cyrus Farivar, we learn that The Tor Project is reporting that the "Great Persian Firewall" is preventing people in Iran from connecting to circumvention tools such as Tor. The Tor Project reports:
    Over the past 48 hours it seems the Great Persian Firewall is updating to attempt to block a number of circumvention tools, including Tor. Iranians and their diaspora have been reporting to us that Tor, Hot Spot Shield, UltraSurf, and Freegate are all experiencing connectivity problems from inside Iran to the outside world.
    Read more on their site.
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    January 6, 2011
    January 6, 2011
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    Tragic suicide

    Hamid Dabashi comments on the suicide of Alireza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran and the second of his children to take his own life, in a post on CNN.
    Like other young Iranians, the late Alireza Pahlavi and before him his late younger sister, Leila Pahlavi, who also committed suicide in London in 2001, must have wanted to be a source of good for their homeland. There is no reason to doubt that possibility no matter what our politics might be. But historical circumstances and the ending of monarchy in Iran did not allow that to happen, and in exile the former queen and her four children have not been able to find a viable way of having a positive impact in their homeland.
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