Fifty Lashes for Somayeh Tohidlou

"Be happy, for if you wanted to humiliate me, I confess that I feel my entire body is suffering with degradation."

These are the words written by Somayeh Tohidlou on her blog after she received fifty lashes yesterday while her hands and feet were chained together.

Somayeh Tohidlou, a PHD student in Iran was one of Mir Hussein Moussavi's campaigners.

Somayeh was arrested one day after the 2009 fraudulent elections. Eight men broke their way into her house at 3:00 am and searched her residence for an hour, confiscating her camera, laptop and other belongings. She was sentenced to one year prison and fifty lashes but was finally released on a $200,000 bail. Her sentence of fifty lashes, for having insulted the 'president' remained however and it was executed yesterday.

Today, Somayeh's facebook page was inundated with messages of support. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former advisor to Khatami, wrote: "Everyone who knows Somayeh Tohidlou, regard her as a symbol of   reasonableness, moderation and character. Today when I learned she had received 50 lashes for having insulted the 'very respectable president', I felt it was the Iranian pride which had been flagellated and not Somayeh's body. Somayeh, you are the only one who has not been humiliated as a result of this sentence"

And indeed, Somayeh should feel the proudest. It is this regime which has humiliated itself by whipping Somayeh and it is the rest of us who should feel humiliated for having allowed this to happen. It is us, Iranian men, who sit by and allow our mothers and sisters to be treated in this way who should feel the humiliation and it is us, the Iranian expats, who allow the likes of Ahmadinejad to travel around to UN and grab the limelight in his TV interviews and make absurd remarks such as 'Iran is the freest country in the world' and receive celebrity treatment by incompetent American interviewers, who should feel humiliated.

Bashar's Soldiers Massacre Donkeys

I remember years ago, there were massive protests in UK against the cruel transportation of cattle from UK to France. Protesters were horrified that the cattle transported to be slaughtered for meat, were packed too close to each other inside the lorries and were not enjoying a comfortable ride.
One woman protester was even 'martyred' after she threw herself in front of a lorry that was carrying the cattle.

The unbelievable barbarity shown against fellow human beings in Syria however, has not resulted in any significant similar protests in UK and I wonder if this massacre of donkeys by Bashar's soldiers will either. In the footage below, you see innocent donkeys, completely unaware of Syria's political tensions, machined gun by Bashar's "courageous" army:

Despite all their valour in battle, one donkey seems to get away. The Syrian security forces are probably desperately seeking its whereabouts.

Times Seminar in Support of Prisoners of Conscience in Iran

I thought the Times seminar last night, held in support of the prisoners of conscience in Iran, was an excellent event to raise awareness for Iran's political prisoners.

The highlight of the evening for me was when British actress, Diana Quick, read Nasrin Sotoudeh's letter to her three year old son, Nima, which really stirred the emotions amongst the attendees at the Times seminar.

Iranian born comedian, Omid Djalili, did an excellent job of both making the audience laugh but also highlight the brutalities of the regime in Iran and the discriminations against Iran's minorities.

Fazel Hawramy, an Iranian Kurdish activist, also raised a very good point during the event. The vasts amounts of money, the Law Enforcement Forces in the Islamic Republic of Iran receive from UK and the EU, supposedly for fighting narcotics. Something to ponder about.

Times Newspaper Front Page, Today:

The Times full article on the event last night:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3163555.ece

Press TV is 'Not Doing its Job Properly'

Press TV was the target of some harsh criticism last week, but this time surprisingly, the criticism was by a website in Iran affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. Nedaye Enghelab - Message of the Revolution - a news website which reflects the views of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, published an article, Wednesday last week, with the headline, '$25 Million News Network with No News'.

The article's main criticism was Press TV's "weak" coverage of the UK riots or the "uprising of the UK's dispossessed" as it calls it. While Press TV's coverage of the student protests in UK was applauded, the article harshly criticised this $25 Million outfit for not taking more of a lead role in covering UK's "Justice Seeking Protests".

The criticism was directly pointed at the professionalism of the staff at Press TV. 'There can be no excuse of a budget shortage, the problem is purely lack of professionalism', the article categorically stated.

War Against War, is the subheading of this article, which explains why there has been so much investment by the Iranian government in this news network and what is expected from it in return. Below is a translation of the paragraphs after the subheading of War Against War, which explains what was expected of Press TV during the UK riots:

' To match the BBC Persian's 'provocations' during the post-election protests in Iran.

BBC Persian made 31 reports fabricating election fraud in Iran. These reports helped to make many people in Iran disillusioned with the accuracy of the election results. Hence Press TV which has a well equipped office in London, with several English reporters and analysts in its employment, including the former UK MP, George Galloway, who is receiving a huge salary, should have counter acted similarly and covered the UK protests more extensively as well as provided ideological leadership to the protesters.  Had Press TV done this,  not only it would have avenged the British government's role during the 2009 seditions but it would have also provided a pro-active offensive attack in the Soft War against Britain.

The second reason why it was necessary for Press TV to have gained the ideological leadership for the protesters, is Iran's extensive interests in Britain. Currently much of Iran's assets have been frozen in UK banks and the British government has carried out many sanctions against Iran, hence Press TV as the overseas arm of the Iranian government in its Soft War with the enemy had the means to take over the leadership of the protesters in UK to create a background for the Iranian regime to resurrect its interests in UK and be able to barter with the British government.

The most important reason for Press TV to have been more active during the protests however, is the need to support the protests movements across the world that seek justice. Islamic Republic is the flag bearer of the awakening movements in the world and the export of its revolution to the rest of the world. Had Press TV provided more of a leadership during the UK protests, it would have compensated for the weaknesses shown by our diplomatic services during the recent justice seeking movements in the region and beyond the region.

Although undoubtedly, if Press TV was unable to be useful during the recent events in England, this is just the beginning of the road for the English and in a not so distant future, we will witness the English masses raise the flames of their wrath from under the ashes once again. Hence our officials must appoint more committed and competent staff in this network to provide an appropriate reaction in the future events which will unfold on that island'

So there you go, from the horse's mouth itself and despite claims by the likes of Lauren Booth that Press TV is a 'UK registered company' and not led by the Iranian government, it is clear what is expected from this 'News Network'.

Fresh Protests to Save Lake Oroumiyeh

Tabriz and Oroumiyeh in Iranian Azerbijan were scenes of more clashes yesterday, between protesters and Islamic Republic's security forces. Protesters say government policies and mismanagement are the direct causes of Lake Oroumiyeh, drying up, which if not prevented will result in the  world's third biggest salt lake becoming a salt desert, causing an environmental catastrophe which will affect 14 million lives. The Iranian regime, as usual, has responded in the only way it knows, to any meeting and gathering not sanctioned by the regime, brute force and arrests.



Protesters in this footage chant "We are ready to lay our lives, We are all Babak's Soldiers" - Babak being the National hero of Iran from the Azeri province who resisted the Arab invasion for 22 years.


Youth who had participated in the protests are tracked down and arrested

So far the German Green Party, has issued a statement condemning the Iranian government's crackdown on protesters and its mismanagement of the lake. No word yet from UK environmental groups however. Perhaps Iranian activists should alert them to what is happening.

About the Release of 100 Prisoners in Iran

So the Supreme Leader once again showed his magnanimity and released 100 political prisoners upon the Eid Fetr celebrations. Just like everything else, this show of magnanimity was nothing but a window dressing and a farce. Although the regime got the publicity it wanted and the Western media once again grabbed the headline without much looking into, the truth was rather different than the headlines would want us to believe.

First of all, the 100 was actually 70, but when has the regime ever been precise with figures? It reminds me of when the casualty figures were announced in the aftermath of the Islamic Republic party headquarter explosion; "more than 72 martyrs". Seventy two, of course being an emotive number, the number of Imam Hussein followers who were martyred at the battle of Karbala. What does more than 72 mean however? was it 73? 80? 100?

Lets not digress however, so instead of 100 political prisoners, there were seventy who were pardoned, these were mostly ordinary protesters who had been arrested during the post-election protests. Lets look at some individual cases to learn more about the magnanimity of his holiness, the Supreme Leader:

- Mohsen Mokhtari, sentenced to 12 months and had spent 11 months and 3 weeks of his sentence. i.e. he had one week left! Thank you, O divine Supreme Leader.

- Laleh Hassanpour, had spent more than half of her one year sentence and according to Iran's prison laws should have been considered for parole

- Susan Tabyanian, was sentenced to 18 months and had spent 16 months of her sentence, i.e. only had two months left.

- Artin Ghazanfari: Had spent 9 months of his 12 month sentence

- Kayvan Farzi, was sentenced to 2 years and had spent more than 18 months of his sentence.

- Nazanin Hassannia, would have finished her sentence in February, 2011.

- Rouhallah Mirzakhani - Has been in prison since April last year, without ever being sentenced. So the magnanimous Supreme Leader, released him without ever having sentenced him for a crime!

and the list goes on like this. What a supreme Supreme Leader!

Too Many Ties with Bashar’s Regime

Seeing pictures and footages of heroic protesters in Syria, where they too, like Iran’s citizens are fed up with their government’s constant meddling in Palestinian and Lebanese affairs, had prompted us to organise a joint counter demo with expat Syrian opposition to the annual Al-Quds parade in London, which is funded and directed by the Islamic Repubic. Yet I was horrified at the Syrian expat opposition’s lack of courage and enthusiasm and when I saw some of them actually take part in the Al-Quds march; it prompted me to become inquisitive as to who exactly were these so-called exiled Syrian opposition.

New Footage from Oroumiyeh’s Clashes on Saturday

Motorbike mounted special units firing at protesters:

Lake Orumiyeh, an Environmental Catastrophe

The Orumiyeh lake is Iran's second biggest lake, between East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan. It is the largest lake in the Middle East, and the third largest salt water lake on earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km², but it is drying up as a direct result of government policies. Irregular dam projects, uncontrolled digging of underground wells and building a motorway bridge which has drained parts of the lake has caused 60% of the lake, so far, to dry up and it could disappear entirely, turning it into a salt marsh which will directly effect the climate of the region.

Any protests against these government policies, like any other protests in Iran, have been severely dealt with. In April, last year, Special Units were deployed by the regime to beat up peaceful protesters.
The Iranian parliament, the Majlis, recently rejected an emergency bill to save the lake and the Friday Prayer leader of Orumiyeh, the notorious Mullah Hassani who shopped his own Marxists son that led to his son's execution, called the protests illegal and against the national interests!

Despite all this, the people of Orumiyeh came out in their thousands today and chanted "The lake is on its last breaths and the Majlis issues its death sentence"



The very regime which supported the UK riots and condemned UK police brutality against the rioters responded to the protests by firing plastic bullets and mobilising more troops to Orumiyeh. At the same time there are reports of protests spreading to Tabriz, with clashes reported at Marlan and Taleghani districts of Tabriz.

Son of Assassinated Doctor Speaks Out

Western press have been keen on covering the assassination of Iranian physicists, publishing the trickle of information that have been released to them by Iran's regime. As I have said in a previous post, the story that these Iranian physicists have something to do with Iran's nuclear project and have therefore been assassinated by Israeli Mossad agents, seems to suit all involved.

It is easy however to forget that apart from Iranian physicists, there have also been medical doctors who have been assassinated since the election protests began in 2009. The assassination methods are remarkably similar too. i.e. assassins on motorbikes committing the murders and then leaving the scene. Somehow the Western press do not find the stories of assassinated medical doctors as interesting as that of physicists. The assassination of medical doctors just can't be connected to Iran's nuclear project and the more exciting spy stories.

One of these medical doctors who was assassinated 11 months ago, was Dr. Abdulreza Soudbakhsh. He was also a Tehran university lecturer and the head of the Infections Unit at Imam Khomeini hospital.

Today, 11 months since Dr. Soudbakhsh was murdered, his son, Behrang spoke out. Many of Dr.Soudbakhsh's patients were victims of Kahrizak detention centre, where unspeakable crimes, including rape, were carried out against some of those who had been detained in the post-election protests. Behrang told an Iranian news website that the authorities had asked his father to say his patients were killed as a result of a meningitis outbreak and if he did not comply he would be eliminated.

Eleven months after Dr. Soudbakhsh was murdered, his son says the authorities have shown no interest in identifying the killers. Behrang also described how the two assassin motorcyclists were roaming around on their bikes for half an hour without even wearing a crash helmet, outside his father's clinic. An unidentified taxi had closed the road access for 10 minutes and the authorities have made no effort to identify the taxi, only saying the CCTV cameras were not working in the area for the duration of the assassination. A pharmacy opposite did have CCTV cameras and the authorities took the films away without ever mentioning the tapes again. The assassins were also using silencers, the mere possession of which carries a heavy jail sentence in Iran.

The authorities at the time also denied any connection between Dr. Soudbakhsh and the Kahrizak patients, but Behrang says all the files are available and prove this was the case. He also told the Iranian news site, how his father was extremely perturbed and talked about the many Kahrizak victims, who were his patients. Behrang recalls his father saying "how can they be so callous? to have raped an 18 year old boy to the extent that he was killed after the rape ordeal"

Behrang also added that his father was due to travel outside Iran, three days after he was assassinated, and the authorities may have feared that he would have spilled the beans about Kahrizak more freely to the media. 

Forgive us for We Have Misled You

Hojat-ol-Islam Sheikh Hossein Ansarian is an expert orator. In fact most Shiite clerics are, unlike most Iranian opposition figures who have not had much training or opportunity in public speaking, it is part of a Shiite cleric's training how to keep the people's attention when they speak to them from the pulpits. Hossein Ansarian can be regarded as one of the best amongst Iran's Shiite clerics in public speaking for the masses.
His highly charged sermons during the three special nights, 19th to 21St of Ramadan, in Shiite  calendar from the night Imam Ali was struck by the sword until he died of the injuries three days later, are amongst the busiest sermons throughout the year. Ansarian's sermons are often broadcast from state TV as they were this year.

This year there was a twist to his speech however, Ansarian publicly apologised to the people of Iran for having misled them with slogans and promises that were never delivered.

"We who made up slogans, went on the pulpits and gave statements, we who sent you to the front lines to carry out the revolution, we did not seek power or position and we do not seek it now, but we did not want this present situation either. This was not the revolution we wanted"

As he placed the holy Koran on his head, part of the ceremonies on these nights, he continued saying emotionally: "People, please forgive us, we made promises to you which did not materialise, we didn't want you to be in this dire economic situation, we didn't want to see these soaring prices, the revolution was hijacked by the wrongdoers'

Ansarian's apology which lasted for three minutes ended by telling people, "have no expectation from anyone other than the Hidden Imam who will one day come out of occultation and liberate the world." 

We Stand Against ALL Dictators

There was something different about the Al-Quds march this year. First of all the number of participants were remarkably less than previous years. After waiting for one hour, at the Portland Place, where the marchers gathered for more busloads to arrive, the policeman I spoke to put the best estimate of their numbers at around 300 max.

I also saw no flags of the Islamic Republic and no posters of the Supreme Leader this year. It was as if the organisers were more careful to hide the Iranian connection this time.

As usual there were hardly any Palestinians on the march, the rest were a hardcore of Iranian regime loyalists and Supreme Leader worshippers plus mainly Asian Muslims. There were very few English 'useful idiots' on the march this year, didn't see any Socialist Worker Party members or banners, there was still however at least one 'useful idiot' Leninist who joined the marchers with a red flag which had a hammer and sickle inside a five pointed star waving on the back of his push bike with cpgb written at the bottom of it, Communist Party of Great Britain, I assume. I always have the most contempt for these UK Communists who lend their support to IRI sponsored events. Do they not know how many young Communist sympathisers have been executed by the Islamic Republic? Have they no sympathy with the mothers and fathers who lost, in some cases all of their children who had become Leftist supporters after the 1979 revolution in Iran? Like the Behkish family for example, who had five of their children executed by the regime. It irritates me to no end to see these comfortable champagne Socialists never express an iota of solidarity for their Iranian comrades and yet march with their murderers.

I also saw one woman with peroxide hair, wearing a mini skirt in the march. I felt sorry at her stupidity, does she not know what would happen to her, if she went out in the streets in Iran dressed like that?

Most people we managed to speak to had no idea the march was organised by the Iranian regime and most of the ones who we managed to speak to, decided not to join the march, like these two Irish friends of Palestine who decided to leave after they realised the Al-Quds march was a propaganda march sponsored and organised by the Islamic Republic of Iran

After all who in their right mind that didn't have a hidden agenda could argue with what we were saying? how can the Islamic Republic, which is neither Islamic nor a Republic and nor Iranian, and has brought misery, despotism and poverty for the Iranian people, liberate Palestine or anywhere else?

On the whole it seems the naked brutality of the dictatorships in Syria and in Iran has finally opened some eyes and it has definitely cost these dictatorships a lot of supporters.

Another thing that irritated me, was the two BBC Persian reporters who had popped out of their offices in Portland Place, to see what was going on. They were mingling and chatting with the IRNA reporters and when I asked them why they don't make a report of our counter protest and talk to us, one of them gave a condescending smile, saying there is only a few of you! Well if BBC Persian for once reported the event instead of copy/pasting its mundane news, may be more people would find out about what Al-Quds march is and join us. In any case what difference does it make how many of us there were, the important thing is we were being effective by talking to people and persuading them not to join the march and our message that the Islamic Republic or Bahsar Assad can not bring liberty for Palestinians was worth reporting.

When I came home, the news was all about the Rebels closing in on Gaddafi. It looks like the Libyan dictator is seeing his last days in power after more than four decades of absolute rule. The Al-Quds march this year also seemed to have the same message, dictators in the Middle East are losing support and are on their way out. Good riddance to all of them.

They are All Mark Duggans

Baseej protesters outside the British Embassy, try to imitate Neda protesters by holding Mark Duggan masks on their faces:

These two female protesters, hold a copy of the ultra conservative daily, Kayhan, the title reads:
"England's Youth: We Are Standing to the End, We Do Not Want Monarchy"

Video of the rioters, who according to Kayhan Daily, are protesting to reject British monarchy and are "standing to the end", robbing an innocent passer-by motor-cyclist:

Video of Iranian protesters, tending a mounted Special Unit anti-riot troop, who had come off his bike after attacking the peaceful protesters:



As all the evidence suggests Mark Duggan or Starrish Mark, was a drug dealing gangster and a founding member of the North London, Star Gang, perhaps the Baseej supporters are right, they are all Mark Duggans.

Resisting the Morality Police in Iran

6th August, the Day a Voice of Reason was Silenced

Today is the anniversary of Shapur Bakhtiar’s murder. A great man with guts and foresight was assassinated by the agents of the Islamic Republic and with the collusion of Mitterand's Socialist government in France.

Assassination of Iranian Academics, a Convenience for All

In the last two years, since the fraudulent elections in 2009, four assassinations in Iran, have grabbed the headlines of the world media. Headlines which have been duplicated in a relentless copy/paste exercise and articles which are prime examples of lazy journalism and factual inaccuracies.

Spiegel’s article on the latest round of these assassinations, that of Dariush Rezaee Nejad, is what prompted me to write this blog post. Spiegel concludes that the assassination was the work of Mossad, based on a reported smile by Ehud Barak during the interview and claims made by an unnamed, unknown and un-identifed Israeli 'intelligence source'. Yet a mountain of facts and evidence surrounding these assassinations are completely ignored and unreported. 

The first assassination of an Iranian academic where some kind of connection with the nuclear industry was assumed was that of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi or as one of these “accurate” news media outlets refers to: Mohammed Ali Masoudi !!

So lets examine who Ali-Mohammadi was and who would have benefitted most from his assassination. Ali-Mohammadi was in fact a Quantum field theorist and elementary particle physicist. His academic achievements included some 53 research articles and numerous translations of text books like the Modern Quantum  Mechanics. He was NOT in any way related to the nuclear weapon or the nuclear power industry, nor was his name on any sanctions list. More importantly, he was an active supporter of the Green Movement. Ali Mohammadi actually actively encouraged and organised his students to take part in the post-‘election’ protests. He was one of the 240 university professors who publicly and openly expressed their support for Mir Hussein Moussavi, one of the main leaders of the Green Movement, now under house arrest with his wife.

Professor Ali Mohammadi was also a council member of International Centre for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science Applications in the Middle East (SESAME).  A regional experimental physics project which includes Israel as one of its members. It stretches the imagination to assume the Islamic Republic of Iran would include one of its key Nuclear Weapon/Power scientists, who could be a possible target for assassination by Western agencies, on this SESAME project, where he would regularly meet in conferences with colleagues from other countries, including Israel.

The manner of Ali Mohammadi’s assassination also does not suggest a clean professional hit. With the amount of explosives used to blow up his car, it was lucky that no other person close by was killed. His assassination which followed the assassination of Moussavi’s nephew, was a turning point in quashing the Green Movement in Iran.

Earlier this year, the regime paraded Farshid Jamali Fash on state TV, confessing to Ali Mohammadi’s murder and describing how he was trained by the Israelis. The Iranian regime claimed Jamali Fash was part of a 9 member team who were all arrested in connection with Ali-Mohammadi’s assassination. The TV confessions of Jamali Fash were full of contradictions and it later emerged that he was an ardent pro-Ahmadinejad devotee and a kick boxer member of the national team. I managed to talk to one of his former opponents in a tournament in Australia, who confirmed, Jamali Fash seemed to be very pro-regime. No more of those claimed to have been arrested by the Iranian intelligence minister were either named or paraded on TV. Almost 9 months after Jamali Fash’s TV appearance, there is still no news that he has been executed, as one would expect to have been the punishment of a crime of that calibre.

Next were two assassinations on November 29, 2010, which took place on the same day, that of Majid Shahriari and Fereydoon Abbas Davani.

Majid Shahriari, again was a theoretical quantum physicist and not on any sanctions lists, although unlike Ali Mohammadi, he had no interest in politics and supported neither side during the post-election protests, but he too worked alongside other regional scientists on the SESAME project.

He was assassinated by two assailants on a motor bike in broad daylight and in middle of the heavy morning traffic on his way to work. The assailants attached an explosive to his car and drove off. Both assassins got away. Shahriari was killed as the result of the explosion and his wife was injured. Pictures of Shahriari’s car after the explosion show the driver’s side door completely blown off by the explosion.

There was no appeal made by the state for the public to come forward as witnesses and until now no one has been arrested or charged with his murder.

I have come across one eyewitness myself however. A former employee of the interior ministry, who saw the whole thing and told me it bore all the hall marks of an Iranian regime hit squad.

Fereydoon Abbas Davani, the other target for the “assassination” that day, was connected to the Nuclear program however. He is a revolutionary guard member and he is on the sanctions list and indeed he is now the Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation. Unlike Ali-Mohammadi and Shahriari, it would have been understandable for Western agencies or Mossad to plan his assassination, but he was not even hurt! Immediately after the “assassination” he spoke at a Baseej gathering.

Javanonline, affiliated to Iran’s Revolutionry Guards, quickly gave too much detail about the assassinations and even confidently reported a third explosion had taken place. The news was later denied and the page removed.

Footage of Abbassi Davani’s car shown afterwards, show a few bullet holes on the bonnet and windscreen and unlike Shahriari’s car, his car was not blown up. If these assassinations were the work of highly sophisticated Western/Israeli sent hit squads, how is it that a theoretical research physicist not on the sanctions list is eliminated so efficiently but the more obvious target who is clearly connected to the nuclear program and is on the sanctions list, is not even hurt.

It seems Fereydoon Abbassi Davani’s assassination was a fake and staged attempt to justify the Western/Mossad hit squad story to give it more credence.

Last in this list was the assassination of Dariush Rezaee Nejad in front of his wife and daughter outside their home. The couple had returned after having picked up their daughter from a kindergarden birthday party. The initial reports in the Iranian dailies were detailed reports with pictures of the wrong man, Dariush Rezaee and not Dariush Rezaei Nejad.

Dariush Rezaee is a nuclear physics scientist but he was not even in Iran on that day, instead the man who was killed in front of his family, was an MSc student, studying power electrics at Khajeh Nassir Tousi university. He even had a Facebook page and on his Facebook page, he had included the dissident Iranian singer, Shajarian as one of his favourites. It is unthinkable that an Iranian scientist connected with Iran’s nuclear program would have a facebook page which shared his friends and family and their photos.

Rezaee Nejad also lived at Bani Hashem street, a poor part of Tehran and an unlikely residential area for an elite Iranian scientist connected with the nuclear program who could have been the target of Western agencies.

ِA mistaken identity was the only way the proponent of a Mossad hit squad could explain their James Bond type theories at first but then they resorted to another cock and bull story، that Rezaei Nejad’s research was to do with a trigger mechanism used in nuclear weapons! If all else fails this trigger mechanism always comes to the rescue. Just about anything, product or research can be included under trigger mechanism by these lacklustre Spiegel type journalists who once thought the Hitler diaries were real.

As early as February 2005, I have seen reports of Iran not only having acquired the trigger mechanism
but having successfully tested it too. Six years after having successfully tested the trigger mechanism, it seems all depended on an MSc student to finish his final year project. Media journalists who do not even know how a nuclear weapon trigger works and did not until yesterday even know who Dariush Rezaee Nejad was, suddenly seem to have read his final year project for his MSc certification and concluded that he was a legitimate target for a Mossad hit squad.

One day we may know why these Iranian academics were assassinated but until then, these assassinations seem to be a matter of convenience for all parties. The Iranian regime can assassinate individuals and blame it on Mossad and others. Israelis on the other hand, after their latest operational gaffs, seem to gloat on rumours that suggest their military operations are as awesome as ever and Western media seem happy with being content about lack of detailed reporting and appetite by their readers for James Bond stories.

Meanwhile the dreams of a young couple who had left the small town of Abdanan in the Ilam province for a better life is shattered and a young innocent girl who had been enjoying a birthday party is scarred for the rest of her life after having seen her loving devoted father murdered in front of her eyes.

Water Pistol Fight Organisers and Participants Paraded on State TV

I got up early in the morning to write the previous post on the Islamic Republic's lack of tolerance for a public water pistol fight in a Tehran park. By the time I got home in the evening, the state TV was parading some of the organisers and participants who were confessing to their "crime":

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The head of the Moral Police, Roozbehani : "We have asked the judiciary to deal with these wrong doers as severely as possible. We can not tolerate such public events any where in the country"

Republic of No Fun

It is wrong to assume that you will only be arrested in Iran for political dissent or for not observing the state's Islamic dress code, you risk incarceration if you dare to have fun, particularly if its group fun and if it is in public.

The latest arrests in Iran include those who organised and participated in a water pistol fight in a park in Tehran. The fun event was organised on Facebook:

 

Desperate to have some fun in the Islamic Republic, lots of people took to the idea, young and old, adults and kids:

It seemed too good to be true, after all, its not even the pre-elections period, where the strict rules are slightly relaxed and a feel good factor induces people to turn up at the ballots and vote for the state approved candidates.

Behnam Atabaki, the General Director of the District,  was the first official to publicly condemn the event and those who participated in it. Atabaki also criticised the Law Enforcement Forces and said they were unable to break up the "immoral" gathering which went on from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon time. Park authorities only managed to stop the massive water pistol fight, only after they thought about cutting the water supplies.

More condemnations of the "morally abnormal" event followed in the sate controlled media. Isfahan MP, Mohamad Taghi Rahbar, condemned the water pistol fight in the park and said "the officials should not show indifference to those who are endeavouring to dilute our Islamic values." Rahbar, who is also the deputy chief of the parliament's legal and judicial commission, added "we are pursuing more information on those who organised this and will deal with them severely. "

Another similar event in another park on the following Sunday was simply too much to ignore for the authorities. Tehran's chief of police, Commander Hossein Sajedinia said "Police quickly turned up and all those who took part in the event have been arrested" He added that "Police will definitely deal swiftly with those who try to break the social order"

All this is happening at a time, when the crime rate is soaring throughout Iran. Police are unable to deal with numerous knife fights and stabbings which have also included lethal attacks on several Iranian celebrities in recent weeks. Some of the knife attacks have taken place in front of the police which have simply looked on without daring to interfere. There is also an alarming increase in gang rapes of women, like the one which happened during a private birthday party in Khomeini-Shahr, where armed gangs which included members of the local Baseej stormed into the party, locked up the men and raped the women which included a pregnant mother. Police took several hours to turn up for the rescue and the official reaction of the local Friday prayer leader was to put portion of the blame on the women who were raped, because they had "provoked the peeping local youth by dancing in their own property without observing the proper hejab!". Comments which seem to have only provided justification for several other gang rapes reported since. Yet an innocent water pistol fight where the young and old can have fun, no one is hurt and all enjoy themselves, unthinkable and un-Islamic behaviour for the Islamic Republic of Iran!

Rivers of Blood in Syria

As the holy month of Ramadan begins, the Al-Shabiha henchmen of Islamic Republic's closest ally, the Socialist Baath Republic of Syria, dump bodies of the dead protesters into the river. International outcry by peaceniks in the West: ZERO!

Death to Bashar Assad and his savage henchmen

Hashem Khastar, the Retired Teacher Who Should Have Been Released Last Week

Hashem Khastar is a dissident 55 year old Iranian teacher who was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2009. He has spent the last two years of his sentence in Mashad's notorious Vakilabad prison. Poor hygiene conditions and serious overcrowding has been detrimental to his health and he has been denied any leave from prison. Yet this elderly retired teacher has stood resolute with his head held high. In July 2010, he wrote an open letter to the head of Iran's judiciary and described the appalling prison conditions in Vakilabad prison.

Four days ago, his sentence ended. He should have been released and family and friends were waiting for him outside the prison gates, but Hashem was not released. The judiciary have now opened a new file against him for the letter he wrote to the judiciary. Hashem now awaits a new trial and a new sentence.

Not only Hashem was not released, his local butcher friend, who had also come to greet him outside the prison upon his release, was also arrested.

Jailed Dissident Student Activist on Trial Again

Dissident Iranian student activist, Abdullah Momeni was jailed shortly after the election coup in Iran, in 2009. As well as a student spokesperson, Momeni also headed Karroubi's Free Citizen HQ.

He was sentenced to 4 years and 11 months prison and is currently serving his sentence in section 350 of Evin prison. Momeni has not been permitted to have his wife and children visit him in jail for the last 16 months. Prison authorities are also denying him medical treatments for his dermatological problems and hearing damage he has suffered since his incarceration in prison.

In September last year, Abdullah Momeni, managed to smuggle out an open letter addressed to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. See the translation of the letter, published in EA, here

In the letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, Momeni was hoping that the treatment of prisoners of conscience in Iran may move the ageing Supreme Leader and says 'I decided to write a letter addressed to you, thinking that perhaps the news about detention centers does not reach you.'

Ten months after writing that open letter, not only the ageing Supreme Tyrant was not moved by what was happening to the best sons and daughters of Iran in jails, but instead Momeni now faces another trial for having dared to write that letter! Only in the Islamic Republic of Iran, writing a letter to the authorities in order to seek a more humane treatment for prisoners of conscience by a prisoner of conscience would result in the jailed person to face another trial.

The Supreme Leader has now proven beyond any doubt, that he is fully aware of the human rights abuses in Iran and that he himself is the Supreme Tyrant and the root cause of all the injustices in Iran.

Abdulla Momeni's brother was martyred in the war against Saddam. He voluntarily returned to the front after he recovered from an injury. As well as his own children, Abdullah also looked after his martyred brother's daughter.

Islamic Republic and Peter Rushton

On the Islamic Republic TV channels, including Press TV, Peter Rushton is introduced to the viewers as a Historian and a Political Analyst. Yeah right!

So, who exactly is this weirdo?

He claims to have a degree from Oxford university, but people I have spoken to, who were with him at Oxford, say he was a university drop out, who was kicked out and never finished his degree. While at Oxford, he did not show any Nazi tendencies, and was more into conspiracy theories, until he joined the BNP in the 90s. In November 2000, he travelled to Spain to celebrate the birth of the Fascist dictator, General Franco. Rushton remained a die hard member of the BNP until 2002 until he was expelled from the party for various accusations made against him, including that he was gay because of his effeminate behaviour.

Here he is as the guest speaker of Oldham BNP, talking about how Asian gangs have been attacking the white people:

After getting kicked out of BNP, Rushton joined a more extreme Nazi group, called the White Nationalist Party. 

Differences of personality caused a split in this party, a  usual trait in extremist groups, and Rushton joined the British People’s Party. Another White Supremacy group which use the Celtic cross instead of a Swastika in their meetings:

This regular guest on Press TV and other IRI state TVs, is now in the England First Party and is the associate editor of its magazine, Heritage and Destiny.

He is also the webmaster for the website of the notorious holocaust denier, (Lady) Michele Renouf, who is also another regular star of the Islamic Republic media.

http://www.jailingopinions.com/default.htm

Watch Michele Renouf and Rushton with the Supreme Leader’s special representative in London, Mohamad Saeed Bahmanpour on Islamic Republic’s state TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXAWRlOrbwE

IR News Agency (IRNA), refers to Peter Rushton, the Nazi White Supremacist, as a “Peace Activist” :)))

So, Press TV continues to gravitate all kinds of weirdos like Lauren Booth and Galloway as well as White Supremacists like Peter Rushton and broadcast all kinds of inflammatory programs and OFCOM is ok with it. Amazing how at 'times of austerity’, some useful services are cut back and useless bodies continue to survive.

Press TV’s Marziyeh Hashemi talking to the White Supremacist, Peter Rushton on Press TV:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182849.html

and it is not a one off appearance:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188333.html

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182991.html

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183250.html

IRI's Moral Police Step up the "Battle Against Enemy"

It is summer again and the Islamic Republic's moral police is out in full force harassing those who digress from the strict observance of the Islamic dress code. The offence for not observing the Hejab code can be imprisonment or fine, but perhaps the humiliation is the most painful, especially when the "offenders" are with their children.

These pictures are taken from the Iranian press.

A mother is harassed in front of her young daughter for showing a few strands of hair under her scarf.

Good God! The sleeves are rolled up slightly above the wrist, how provocative!

How dare you show your toes in an Islamic country?

Moral police arrests ordinary women in the streets.

Socialist Disingenuity

Referring to Ayatollah Khomeini as the Imam Khomeini was a controversial issue. In Shiite theology, the Imams are the 12 descendants of the prophet, who are sinless and immaculate saints and so to have a 13th Imam was very much a touch and go issue bordering on heresy.

Especially since Khomeini only became an Ayatollah, when it was thought that after his arrest, in 1963, he faced execution and in order to save him from execution, Ayatollah Shariatmadari, a moderate and pacifist Grand Ayatoolah, promoted him to the rank of Grand Ayatollah to save Khomeini from execution.

Khomeini as ungrateful as ever, did not reward Ayatollah Shariatmadari after the 1979 revolution,  for having saved him from execution, but instead Ayatollah Shariatmadari's family were arrested and tortured. Shariatmadari himself was arrested, former Minister of Intelligence, Reyshahri, even mentions in his memoirs that he personally took part in beating up the elderly moderate Grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari who did not see eye to eye with Khomeni's rule of jurisprudence. Thus Ayatollah Shariatmadari who had promoted Khomeini to Grand Ayatollah overnight to save him from execution, was forced to appear on Iranian state TV and beg Khomeini for forgiveness.

I am not sure who elevated Khomeini to the rank of Imam, it may have even been the MKO, as I remember their newspaper always used to write Imam Khomeini in bold letters when they were trying unsuccessfully to endear themselves to Khomeini.

After Khamenei succeeded Khomeini as the new Supreme Leader, some sycophants also attempted to refer to Khamenei as the Imam, but to have a 14th Imam was just too much and never became acceptable in Iran. 

Socialist Unity, RESPECT's publication however, has no qualms in publishing an article that praises Iran's Supreme Leader obsessively and refers to him as an Imam. The article is written by Seyyed Mohamamd Marandi, a rich kid whose father is non other than Khamenei's personal physician. Mohammad Marandi, himself was born and educated in Richmond, Virginia in the good old US of A. 

 

Socialist Unity is thus praising an absolute dictator who is responsible for the murder, torture and imprisonment of Iran's trade unionists, students, intellectuals, writers, journalists, workers, teachers, human rights lawyers, minorities and.....

I piss on this 'Unity' and on these 'Socialists'.

 

'Do Not Become Arrogant, for Iran will Rear Many Like Me'

Most people in the West have heard of Leonidas and the battle of Thermopylae, but very few have heard of the Iranian commander, Ariobarzanes, and the way he resisted the invading army of Alexander at what became known as the battle of the Persian Gate. Following the Persian defeat at Gaugamela, it was left to Ariobarzanes to defend the Persian capital, Persepolis.

Alexander split his army and led 14000 of them towards Persepolis through the Persian Gates, the ancient name of a narrow pass way which connects Yassuj to Sedeh. There, Ariobarzanes along with his sister, Youtab and an army which numbered less than a thousand, managed to hold back Alexander's army by inflicting heavy casualties on Alexander's forces. Alexander finally outflanked and destroyed the defenders after a treacherous Iranian showed him a secret by-pass, through which Alexander could move his men.

Ariobarzanes, his sister, Youtab and his men fought to the very last and they became a legend in Iranian history and literature, symbols of Iranian patriotism.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution however, the Islamic Republic has been hell bent on its anti-Iranian agenda. The regime fears all symbols of pre-Islamic Iran. In recent weeks, this anti-Iranian agenda has manifested itself in removing wall paintings that depicted the Epic stories of Shahnameh (Book of Kings) in Mashad, the removal of the statues of another Iranian legendary figure, Arash in Sari and now they want to remove the statue of Ariobarzanes in Yassuj.

The Revolutionary Guards, Commander of the province, Avaz Shahabifar and the local general prosecutor, Hojatol-Islam Moussavipour have claimed the statue of Ariobarzanes in Yassuj is an insult to the Islamic values and our war martyrs!!

This is why the picture of Yassuj youth above, surrounding the statute is so heartening in response to the threats to remove it. Iran's greatest poet, Ferdowsi who wrote the Book of Kings (Shahnameh) described Ariobarzanes's last words to Alexander in beautiful poetry which I will struggle to translate below:

'Know this Alexander
That after my death
You may be able to conquer the Persian gates
You may be able to put on the Persian crown
and sit on the Persian throne
But do not become arrogant
for Iran will rear many more like me'

Public Enquiry, Islamic Republic Style

The attack on Tehran university dormitory, three days after the fraudulent elections in 2009, was brutal even by the Islamic Republic standards.  A combined force of Islamic Republic’s most ruthless crackdown units, LEF’s Special Guards, Special Units and hired thugs and hoodlums resulted in 100 students injured and 5 killed.

A year later,  a film which must have been taken by one of the attackers reached the West, which showed captured students dragged on the floor and piled on top of each other:





Despite all the evidence shown in the film footage that the attack was organised, the regime denied responsibility and promised a judicial enquiry. Two years later this is the verdict of the judicial review into the incident:

Amir Mohammadi - Management student, 91 days prison, $1000 fine.
Ali Refahi - Social Sciences student, 3 months prison, $500 fine
Kamal Razavi, Social Sciences student, 3 months prison, $500 fine
Rassoul Mohsenzadeh, Social Sciences, 10 months prison
Amir Hossein Fazli, 91 days prison, $1000 fine
Kaveh Akbari, Social Sciences student, 10 months prison
Yadollah Nemati, 10 months prison, $1000 fine
Habib Farahzadi, 10 months prison, $1000 fine
Naeem Aghayi, 10 months prison, $500 fine
Ayub Nemati, 10 months prison, $500 fine
Avat Rezania, 3 months prison, 74 lashes or $3000 fine
Vahid Qeysari, 5 months prison, $500 fine
Ali Sahar Vakili, Social Sciences student, 4 months prison, $500 fine.

So there we have it, the students who were savagely beaten, dragged and piled on top of each other were solely responsible for the atrocity. Islamic Republic style justice.

Here is Press TV’s report of UK police brutality against the students, highlighting the extent of injuries of a UK student with a scratched hand:

U2 at Glastonbuty 2011 - Pictures of Neda and Post Election Protests in Iran

U2 at Glastonbury 2011 performing Sunday, Bloody Sunday with pictures of post-'election' protests in Iran and Neda's pictures displayed on the stage

Fears for Missing Iranian Woman Photographer, Maryam Majd

I remember how seeing this picture on the left shook me and how angry I felt. Nothing distresses me more than seeing children frightened, humiliated and unhappy. Today I found out the picture was taken by Maryam Majd, Iranian woman photographer, who is feared to have been held by Islamic Republic security thugs, before boarding a flight from Tehran to Düsseldorf, where she was supposed to cover the Fifa Women's World Cup.

Galloway Loses Another Wager

Once again Galloway denied he ever said, he backed Ahmadinejad’s election campaign and once again he challenged someone for a £1000 wager. Of course losing a £1000 here and there is small potatoes for someone who is paid £25k/month for his programs on Press TV alone, but the point is he loses every time and he still doesn’t pay up.

Watch Galloway on Andrew Neil’s show

And a reminder of what Galloway actually said in his interview

The General Madhi Fiasco

Jahanchahi showing off with his Russian bodyguard at a
Press Conference in London

For the self-centred ego-maniac Iranian billionaire Amir Jahanchahi, the defected revolutionary guard, General Madhi was his biggest star prize. For Jahanchahi, General Madhi was the living proof that he was buying the regime officials and causing them to defect. Yet General Madhi recently appeared on a state TV program, the Diamond Deception and claimed he had been a regime operative on a mission to infiltrate the Iranian opposition in exile. The egg on Jahanchahi's face that made him look even more foolish was laughable but the seriousness of the farce was the ammunition it has unjustly provided against the incarcerated leaders of the Green Movement, Moussavi and Karroubi.

So what was it all about? Some of the information I have below is solid and where there are question marks, I will point them out. It seems Madhi was a senior revolutionary guards figure who was injured in the Iran-Iraq war as a result of exposure to Saddam's chemical warfare on Iran, as a result of which Madhi was in need of costly treatment. A rift develops between Madhi and his superiors, although we don't know exactly why, it may have been financial or it may have been a gripe over the lack of adequate treatment he was receiving or another reason. In any case Madhi manages to leave Iran for Bangkok with some money, but the cost of his treatment continues to mount. With the start of the protests across Iran, Madhi decides to back the protests against the regime and switch sides. Like most Iranians inside Iran, he considers the Iranian opposition, the usual familiar faces that are constantly paraded on BBC Persian and VOA and thus he contacts Jahanchahi, whose two man outfit, the so-called Green Wave Campaign, is more than jubilant to hold press conferences and arrange interviews with him and announce their alliance with Madhi's claims of heading a group of dissident revolutionary guards, "Association of Fellows". In return Madhi may have expected his medical costs to have been paid, or at least his immigration issues to be sorted, yet as we know Jahanchahi is all mouth and no trousers. The Iranian diplomats who defected had also denounced Jahanchahi's lies in this statement.

As I have seen on so many previous occasions, Madhi must have been disappointed with what he learned about the familiar faces of the Iranian opposition in exile and simply had enough. Whether he did a deal with the regime to go back or he was put under pressure, we don't know, but once again the familiar faces of the Iranian opposition in exile have inflicted a huge damage on Iran's pro-democracy movement. It is not the first time we see an Iranian expat millionaire whose narcissism prompts him to also have a dabble in politics and gloat in the resultant media publicity. Expat millionaires who think because they have made money they can also "save" Iran and be the next leader. Credulous egomaniacs who do not realise the importance of tedious grass root work but think they will become the next leader of Iran simply by holding press conferences and achieving media publicity with their outrageous  aggrandizements or as we say in Persian "Gondeh Goozi" - whopper farts!

Far from starting a mass defection from the body of the Iranian regime, Jahanchahi's two man team, if anything, have put off any other Iranian officials who may have contemplated defecting and the regime's propaganda machines have been hard at work trying to parade zeros like Jahanchahi & co. as the Iranian opposition.

Bashar Assad's Sick Regime

Words can not describe this sick regime of Bashar Assad and its backers

Name a Street After Hoda Saber

Hoda Saber, dissident Iranian journalist, died yesterday in Evin prison, ten days after starting his hunger strike in protest at the killing of Haleh Sahabi during her father's funeral.

Dissident journalist, Hoda Saber has been jailed numerous times, his current sentence started in August last year. Hoda staged a hunger strike 10 days ago in section 350 of the Evin prison, accepting only water, sugar and salt. His inmate Amir Khosro Delresani, who also joined him on hunger strike, is still continuing with his protest.

In 1981, when IRA's Bobby Sands died in the Maze prison after staging a 66 day hunger strike, the Islamic Republic wasted no time to rename a street near the British Embassy to Bobby Sands street. Now it will only be appropriate to rename streets near Islamic Republic embassies as Hoda Saber street. There is of course one difference. Bobby Sands was a member of an armed group which carried out bombings, Hoda was just a journalist.

The Second Anniversary of the Fraudulent Elections in Iran

Lets not forget the Green Movement protests which sparked the new awakening in the region. Iran still remains at the forefront of the yearning for democracy and to get rid of the dictators. Today marks the second anniversary of the fraudulent election which led to these protests. Pictures that tell the story:

Galloway's Denial of Tiananmen Square Massacre

This isn't new but I hadn't come across it before. In this radio program George Galloway, this former stooge of Saddam and now the stooge of the Islamic Republic and £25000 a month Press TV employee, denies there was ever a Tiananmen Square massacre:



There are almost 57000 useful idiots on Galloway's fan page on Facebook, which include the likes of Salma Yaqoob, Muslim Defence League, John Pilger, Stop the War Coalition and some Iranian women like US resident Azita Shafazand on the left here, who boastfully put this picture on her own Facebook page after going to the Conference of Iranians Abroad in Tehran, to pledge support for the Islamic Republic.

Amongst the complimentary comments posted under this picture is one by California resident Taxi driver, Hamed Taghavi who says"Wow! You met this great guy"

Help the Noble People of Syria

Bashar Assad's murderous dictatorship stooped to a new low after what they did to the 13 year old Hamza al-Khatib. Unspeakable crimes were carried out against this fun loving cheeky looking 13 year old Syrian boy, a diligent student who enjoyed football and raised homing pigeons. Hamza and his family had gone to break the siege against the heroes of Deraa, when Hamza was arrested and taken in by Bashar Assad's thugs. Scars on his face shows he was whipped in the face, he had cigarette burns all over his body and his genitals were severed. Hamza is not the only child to have been murdered by Bashar's regime, since the protests in Syria erupted.





Some of Bashar's savage thugs, the Shabiha militia or Bashar's equivalent of Baseej, who carry out these unspeakable crimes against the people of Syria

Iran's Green Revolution and the Arab Spring

I think last time I wrote about a debate at the Frontline Club, was five years ago. This time, it was different, I was one of the panel members :)

Watch live streaming video from frontlineclub at livestream.com