Families of War Martyrs Express Support for Shargh Cartoonist

Families of 25 martyrs and veterans of the 1980s Iran-Iraq War have signed an open letter in support of Hadi Heydari, cartoonist for the Shargh newspaper, which was closed down on Tuesday.

Despite all the efforts by the Ministry of Guidance and the hardliners in the Islamic Republic to use their self-interest driven interpretation that the cartoon printed on the back page of the Shargh newspaper, was an  insult to the war veterans and war martyrs of Iran, the people who matter most, i.e. families of war veterans and martyrs, have expressed their support in an open letter for the Shargh cartoonist, Hadi Heydari. 

Twenty five family members of some of the most prominent war veterans and martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war said in an open letter that they have always admired Hadi Heydari's 'awareness raising' and 'thought provoking' cartoons over the years. 

The open letter addressed as 'Dear Brother Hadi Heydari',  said "We see that these days, some are misinterpreting your latest cartoon and using it as an excuse to silence the pens...We are familiar with you and your work and back your sincerity and honesty".

So there we have it, if anyone should have been offended by the cartoon, it should have been the families of the war veterans and war martyrs but in fact they see nothing offensive about the cartoon and back the cartoonist of Shargh newspaper.

Closure of Shargh Newspaper

At the same time that Ahmadinejad was speaking at the UN  on Wednesday and while bamboozling the useful idiots around the world with his rhetorics of "justice", "freedom", "human integrity" and the coming of the saviour Messiah to rid the earth from tyranny and corruption, another newspaper, Shargh Daily, was closed down in Iran.

The official reason for the closure of Shargh, was this cartoon that was printed on the back of its pages. The cartoon that shows people blindly following one another and tying up each other's blindfolds, was interpreted as deriding the martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war going to the fronts!!

More than 100 hardline Islamic Republic MPs also signed a petition to close down the newspaper. Member of the Cultural Commission of Majlis, a parliamentary body in IR, Hojat-ol-Islam Ali Taheri,  who was a signatory to the petition, admitted he had not seen the cartoon but nevertheless signed the petition to close the newspaper! Perhaps the best case of manifesting the spirit of the controversial cartoon itself.

In the Islamic Republic, all the newspapers have to appoint someone as the "Accountable Manager". Basically if anything goes wrong and if anything outside the red lines is printed, the buck stops with the "Accountable Manager" and it is his neck which will be on the line.  The closure of Shargh, not only resulted in all its staff losing their jobs overnight but also the arrest of Mehdi Rahmanian its accountable manager and the cartoonis, Hadi Heydari.

Rahmanian has served 18 months at the war front and the cartoonist, Hadi Heydari, is son of a war martyr.

Yet somehow employing this Saddam sycophant by Press TV is not an affront to Iran's war martyrs!!

The Mossadeq Deception

Ask a useful idiot or an Islamic Republic apologist how they justify the tyranny and the religious apartheid in Iran and you can bet your bottom Dollar that they will mention the Mossadeq affair.

What happened in 1953 is their panacea for anything that can not be justified in the Islamic Republic. "Iran has suffered a lot, the CIA overthrew the popularly elected Prime Minister Mossadeq" is their cliche reply and they say it in such a pompous way as if they are the most learned scholars of Iranian post-war history.

Except that the story they have been taught to regurgitate isn't quite what happened. Mossadeq was not elected by the people, he was appointed by the Shah and when the CIA backed coup failed, it was the clerics led by Ayatollah Kashani, the darling of the ruling clerics in Iran today, who let the thugs and hoodlums loose and toppled Mossadeq.

I have written about this before and I have also written about some of the animosity and utter contempt that Iran's ruling clerics have towards Mossadeq.

Today, I came across an old cartoon from Iran's satirical magazine, Towfiq, which back then was the most popular of its kind. It shows the Shah trying to flee Iran with his wife but the clerics are frantically trying to grab him, pleading with him not to leave them. It is written Ghanat Shams Abadi on the second mullah pulling the Shah. If I am not mistaken it is a reference to Shams Ghanat Abadi, the cleric seen here below on the right next to Ayatollah Kashani, sitting under the portrait picture on the wall.

Below is the translation of one of Ghanat Abadi's speeches at the Majlis during the Mossadeq time:
"I am afraid respected representatives. If no thought is given to the hungry and unfortunate people, this country  will fall into Communist hands and Communism will swallow Iran and our Muslims. Have they not told you that once again the Communists have beaten up some of our patriotic workers?...."

How the Islamic Republic apologists have turned the Mossadeq affair into a way of rallying support by Western Lefties for the Islamic Republic is a major achievement in public deception.

Man Who Cannot Read Numbers

You would forgive this man for not being able to read a number larger than a million if he was an ordinary layman, but he is in fact Deputy Minister of Economy and General Director of Privatisation in the Islamic Republic. In a regime where meritocracy has no place and only cronies are promoted, one can not expect more:

Galileo's Second Inquisition

One of the most vivid memories I have from the "Cultural Revolution" was before the final onslaught, when a leader of one of the gang of thugs who was sent to beat up the students and rip up the posters  became confused when he came across a notice on the wall which had no pictures or insignia and was just writing.

Poor hoodlum couldn't read or write and didn't have a clue what the notice was about and was asking others if it was dissident writing. I had gone along to one of the universities with my other school friends to help the students who were resisting the orders to evacuate the university grounds and looked at my friend and remarked "Look at this goon, he can't read or write and he wants to say how universities should be run!"

Today I came across an interview with Hojat-ol-Islam Nabavian, a disciple of Ayatollah Messbah Yazdi, in this website in Iran, Mashregh News. The title immediately grabbed my attention, "Galileo's Theory was the Origin of Man's Diversion from Monotheism/Universities are the Manifestation of Satan".

To make the long story short, they think the "Cultural Revolution" in the 80's has failed and Iran's universities remain secular, which is why the university graduates are not pleasing the establishment. Therefore another cultural revolution is needed and Hojat-ol-Islam Nabavian, who also became an MP in the last Majlis "election", explains in this interview that Iran's universities are copied from Western universities and they need to become Islamised and teach religious-science. Nabavian is also a member of the Education and Research Commission of the Majlis and heads its "Expert Committee".

Hojat-ol-Islam Nabavian, like most other clerics in Iran, has to show that he is a well read man. His interview with Mashregh News is full of name doppings. He mentions Descartes and the Aether medium, he quotes George Holyoake, gives examples of what happens to car running at 50 "miles" per hour, if its engine is suddenly switched off and at the end of all that; he gets Galileo and Newton mixed up!

Another version of the illiterate hoodlum I remembered who wants to tell others how universities should be run.

Iranians in Holland Join the Syrians Against Bashar Assad

Iranians in Holland join the protest march by the Syrians to condemn Bashar Assad’s crimes against humanity:



video by Persian Dutch Network

Festival of "Useful Idiot" Film Makers in Tehran

Once again, the Islamic Republic with the help of its petro-Dollars has gone the full monty in gathering a wide selection of "useful idiots" for another conference in Tehran. This latest gathering by "useful idiots" is named "Festival of Independent Film Makers" and is hosted by none other than Mohammad Ali Ramin, the Neo-Nazi crony of Ahmadinejad who had organised the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, or better put, gathering of holocaust denying fruit cakes.

One of the "Independent" film makers who is attending this festival is the Italian female film maker, Santa de Santis. Seen in the picture above, wearing the compulsory scarf while being interviewed by the IRI state TV and contributing greatly to the propaganda efforts of a tyrannical regime. Of course, this beautiful "Independent" film maker, doesn't always wear the hejab, in Rome she dresses rather differently and a lot more provocatively, as seen in the picture above on the right.

One thing which has always puzzled me about the "useful idiots" in the West, is that they regard themselves as "progressive" when they stand up for the right of women to wear the hejab, good for them, I too support this choice; but they are always silent when it comes to defending the right of women not to wear the hejab. A choice which they take for granted and probably never think about.

Amusingly, Santa de Santis also posted this interesting status on her Facebook. I used the FB translator to unravel her status in Italian and it said this:

Bless the useful idiot, Santa de Santis, for she has just realised that connecting to Facebook from Tehran is very difficult! I wonder if she has ever thought why connecting to Facebook and surfing the internet , something else she must take for granted, is so difficult from Iran.

In fact, I wonder if she has thought about many more things before attending a conference hosted by a neo-Nazi sympathiser? For example has she thought what would happen to Iranian film makers if they attended a state organised conference outside Iran? Does she even know about the film makers jailed in Iran? Does she realise how demoralising her attending this conference is for her Iranian colleagues who do not have the same privileges as her? Will she ever speak up for them? or as is more likely the case, she will just enjoy the attention and wining and dining she always craved for?

Mohammad Ali Ramin, opening the conference yesterday:

Supreme Leader Praises the Great Leader

You can tell a lot about a man, from the friends he keeps and what better friend for the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic than North Korea?

IRI websites enthusiastically reported the meeting held, during the recent NAM conference in Tehran, between the Supreme Leader and Kim Yong Nam, the North Korean Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, or as some suggest the de facto head of state in the People's Democratic Republic of Korea.

"During the meeting, the Supreme Leader reminisced about his trip to North Korea, when he was a president and praised the late North Korean leader, Kim Il-Sung".

Supreme Leader praised the Great Leader sort of thing, it is a usual tradition amongst big huge leaders.

Supreme Leader's trip to North Korea during his presidency, must have been a big landmark in his life, on his official website he claims it was after his speech in North Korea that the late Ayatollah Khomeini remarked about his potential to be the next leader of the Islamic Republic:
 "When Ayatollah Khamenei was visiting North Korea, the late Imam watched the T.V. reports including a large number of people who gathered to welcome him, as well as his marvelous speeches and debates. Then he said that Ayatollah Khamenei really deserves to be a leader."

Every year, the Supreme Leader edges Iran more towards becoming another North Korea and lets not forget the small detail that slipped through on Russia Today Television, when it mentioned the Supreme Leader as one of the notable alumni of the Patrice Lumumba University. The RT program was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the university.