The Empress and Me - Farah Diba in the eyes of an exiled Iranian Filmmaker

Nahid Persson-Sarvestani, a former activist of the student branch of the Tudeh party and in the late 70s among the demonstrators against Shah Reza Pahlevi, now lives in Sweden as a film-director. In her 3 parts documentary, she interviews Farah Diba, the last empress of Iran, who now lives in exil in Paris.

part 1

part 2

part 3

Farah Diba speaks with a broken voice, and Nahid Persson, although with a politically active background, seems to be more interested in the private life of the Shahs widow. The Shahbanou, however, is a professional when it comes to any media contacts. She only repeats the details of her life with the Shah, how they first met, how Reza Pahlevi asked her to become his wife - stories, she already told too often to be published in the yellow press. Sometimes, Farah Diba tries to shift the conversation more into a political and historical context, asking Mrs. Nahid Persson-Sarvestani on which side she was on during the 1979 revolution, the communists Tudeh people, or the peoples Mudjaheddin, or the violent islamists of the Fedajin. Persson apparently fears a clear confession at this point, since the blunt anti-Shah activities she was involved in prepared the ground for the most inhuman, hypocrite and stupid regimes ever seen in recent history: the so-called "Islamic Republic of Iran". So these two woman who 35 years ago were on opposite sites of the battle line in pre-revolutionary Iran, now find them self in exile, one in Paris the other in Stockholm, and both see with bitterness their lost dreams. If the two would be ready to give up their wounded pride, maybe they would find out how much in common they had in their youth. Both were dreaming of a modern and liberal society, with secular education, open to the rest of the world, liberated woman and social and economic prosperity. But each of the two, the aristocrats and the socialist, both were wrestling for leadership in this movement. And both were loosing everything. What arose after the Shah and his family had to leave in 1979, and the Tudeh for a short moment thought their triumph is in sight, was the worst nightmare of an extreme conservative, religious, anachronistic and brutal dictatorship of uneducated and corrupt Mullahs. The people of Iran have to suffer since 34 years under a totalitarian regime, that tortures, rapes, kills everybody who is not following its islamic hypocrisis and dares to question the political regime of the mullahs with their basidj thugs. It would have been nice to see in the documentary that both, Farah Diba and Mrs. Nahid Persson-Sarvestani would finally admit that the two blocks they belonged to, the progressive Tudeh party and the Shahs court, did a historical mistake by not finding a way to cooperate and anticipate how much their dreams had in common.

Thank you, Ninelia, for pointing me to this gem of political documentation.

Where has my blood gone ?

Ghazal my Dear, Two month ago, in September 2012 Israel seemed to be the most relaxed and calm country one could imagine. Except for very rare security checks at the entrances of large shopping malls, concert halls or the Jad Vashem museum, there were hardly any signs of the immanent threat of violent attacks. As travelers we were more concerned about the possible failure of the air-conditioning in our flat, or about the trouble to release our car from the car-park that was suddenly locked on Sabbath. In an attempt to dissociate myself as far as possible from the tourists (many of whom visit Israel for its christian heir or because they come on a cruise with a one-day break in Haifa) I was lurking around Lev Hamifratz Shopping Mall. There, a memorial plate told that during construction of the mall in 1991 it had been hit by a scud missile launched by the lunatic Saddam Hussein. Some years later an attempted car bombing attack by the Libanese Hisbollah was prevented by police that sapped the vehicle on the car-park outside the building. This suddenly reminded me of an ever-present, albeit latent danger for life or injury in Israel, and this might to a certain degree prompted me to decline to the invitation by the Magen David Adom (the Israeli equivalent to the Red Cross) to donate blood right there at the shopping mall. 

 

I never donated blood before, except when it was recommended before a surgery in hospital. When I laid down on this rubber-covered bed I had some time to talk to the doctor and the nurse about the most likely occasion when my blood (of course processed and perhaps mixed with a lot of Israeli blood to dilute out the Goi-factors) was used for transfusion. Anything could happen in Israel like anywhere else: car accidents, surgical operations with sudden complications, caesarian sections. The prospect of a military conflict was rather unlikely, two month ago.

Now, after Israel started its counter-attack to protect its people from the Gaza-launched rockets, it appears that victims of air-strikes, bombs or rockets blowing living-houses will be more likely to be in need of blood-transfusions. If my blood finds a way out of the deep-freeze storage into the circulation system of a patient, it could be a civilian who's house in Ashkelon or Ofakim or even in the suburbs of Tel Aviv were hit by Hamas rockets. It could be an IDF soldier who is about to enter Gaza in an attempt to neutralize the terrorists of Hamas. But most likely, it will be an innocent person living in Gaza, who has been misused by the terrorists as a living shield, who finally is be the most vulnerable and least cared-for victim. Israels IDF recently circulated a Twitter news promising that it will open the Gaza check points to permit delivery of emergency medical goods, maybe including my blood.

When I donated blood in September in Haifa, I had to fill in the form below, and of course without understand much hebrew I simply followed the suggestions of the Magen David Adom nurse and clicked any field she recommended to me. I did not asked her, if any of these fields to fill in were refering to the intended usage of my blood. Did it possibly exluded its use during military operations ? Or for certain minorities ? Or could it even be that non-kosher blood from a Goi like me would only be used to rescue non-Jewish victims ? Everything is possible, but I hope in the case of life emergency, people forget about race, nation, faith, and give the blood to those who need it most.

Andrej Sakharov price for two Iranian prisoners

Hi Michael, I was happy to hear that the EU is not only very generous in finacially supporting our life-science research and keep our genetic and mutagenesis projects running, but they at the end also became aware of the human rights situation in Iran. They gave this years "Andrej Sakharaov Price for Freedom of Thought" to two Iranians who are imprissoned for their continous fight for intellectual freedom and against political oppression: film director Jafar Panahi and the lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. It was an important message by the Europeans, since many politically active Iranians were disillusioned by the West for its hypocrisis when it comes to Iran. The oppression of the Iranian people was often considered a minor issue for the West, who was more concerned Irans nuclear program.

Take Care

Ghazal

 

Black and Blue

Coming from the north-east into Munich, perhaps one of the worst examples of 70th urban architecture awaits the traveler: The Arabella high-rising building, which harbours not only a large hotel of the same name, but office, medical practises and flats. What is less known: In the basement of this block once resided the most important music recording studio “Musicland”. It was of little domestic importance, because the innovative sound that sound-engineer Mack and pop-composer Giorgio Moroder produce there was more acknowledged by international stars like Freddy Mercury, ELO, Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones. They recorded a few of their best songs and entire records at Macks and Moroders Musicland Studios. For some of them, a special regulation in the british tax-law might have played a role in their decision to come here and live and work for at least a year in Germany, thus evading the astronomic income taxes of the labour government. But to large degree, it was the special Moroder sound and the savior-vive in the Bavarian capital that made Munich so attractive to them. Freddy Mercury liked to take the tram in the afternoon, to drive down across the Isar river to hang around at the beer-garden “Chinese Tower”.
The Rolling Stones produced the entire “Black and Blue” album at Musicland in 1975, but had enough time to meet Uschi Obermeier, the most enchanting of the Munich communards.
At the end of the eighties, Mack and Moroder came under growing pressure from the property owner Schoerghuber, who tried to rise the rent for the studio. At the same time, a new subway-line was build, only a few meters aside the studio rooms. From now on, subway trains running along caused too much noise to permit further music recordings. Giorgio Moroder left Musicland and went to the US, and Mack relocated the entire studio to the Munich suburbs.

About ten years later, rich Arabic families from the Emirates and Saudi Arabia discovered Munich as a save, convenient and pleasant place to spend the summer time, escaping the heat at home, spending large sums at daily shopping walks and visit high-class medical clinics for annual check-ups. It might be, that the Arabs were fascinated by the idea that the name “Arabella-Hotel” was a reference to their home.

I tried with little success to shoot a picture with one of them, and the record cover of the Stones “Black and Blue” in front of the former entrance to the Musicland studios. It took me several days to find out a trick, since none of the black veiled women or their husbands were very fond of appearing on a photograph, with reference to the Stones rock music.

Black and Blue - in front of the former Musicland Studios

75 political prisoners from Evin received pardon

Dear Michael,
You wrote last year about the imprisonment of Bahar Hedayat, who while beeing in the notorious Evin prison send such a wunderful letter to her husband. Somebody from the Iranian community told me today that 75 political prisoners from Evin have been granted pardon, probably in occasion of the end of ramadan, which the Iranian regime likes to exploit to demonstrate a certain degree of “clemency”. Do you know by chance if Bahareh Hedayat is among those who were released ?   If so, you should up-date your Evin-Rosetta website.

Hope that everything is fine with you. That you have a great summer in Munich and that work is fine.
I am fine. Just started my 2 weeks holidays. will travel with some friends so I am looking forward to it.
My phD is good. i like having students. almost 2 years have passed from my research. feels that a lot of time passes but not much gets done. but guess it is always like that.

So you are going to Israel, when will you go?
Yes it is stupid that you have to get a new passport to go to Iran! But what to do.

Take care!!
/ghazal

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

Ghazal my Dear,

Thanks a lot for writing, and thanks for forwarding this great news. In fact, I don’t care so much what was the intentiomn of the Tehran authorities when they gave pardon to 75 Evin prisoners. I doubt they did it for any philantropic reason. I’m sure they did it because they felt pressure, either from their own people who more and more show unease with the hypocracy of the regime, or maybe there is some battle within political system, and hopefully even the international pressure to make public the unjustice in Tehran contributed to this development. I doubt that the website I set up last year (evin-rosetta.persian-cat.de) had a measurable effect, since I received very little response through the internet community.

The first prisoner, for whom I collected many translations of her letter, was indeed Bahareh Hedayat. I did not found her on the list of the prisoners who received a pardon now. I think I have to inquire about her. But at least one of the political activist about whom I wrote, Mehdi Koukan, was released now.

We will leave for Israel today in a week. I go with mixed feelings, considering the stupid speech by Ahmadenijad, where he repeated his prospect of destroying Israel.

I hope you are well up, and wherever you spend you vacations, you can relax.

Take Care

Michael

33rd aniversary of Tehran hostage crisis

No, the headline of this post does not mis-calculate the days of the year 1979. In my eyes, the hostage crisis in Tehran started on March 31st 1979, and not in November of the same year. Sure, Wikipedia and history textbooks will consider the occupation of the US embassy as THE Tehran hostage crisis, and this event indeed took place at the end of the year. This "performance" of angry students, however, only temporarily caused a freeze in the US-Iranian relationship and did not caused any direct victims. In my eyes, the real hostage crisis happend already 7 month earlier, at the 31st of March. This was the day when the islamist regime took over power, after the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi and his entire family fled the country. The majority of the Iranian people, however had no chance of turning away from their home country, and these people are the real hostages since 33 years. Although there might have been a real majority being in unease with the authoritarian monarchist power of the Shah, the real tragedy for them started when the so-called Iranian Revolution established a cruel, in-human regime that refuses people their basic rights of freely expressing their opinion, chossing their life-style, clothing or religion. Hundred thousands of Iranian people were branded as enemy of Islam by the regime and cowardly killed by police and basidj thugs. The tragedy of many political activists of Iran, who in the 70s for honest reasons were engaged in the fight against the political unfreedom under the Shah, but suddenly found themself in a system of uncomparable opression and hypocracy is exemplified by the story of Maryam Farman Farmaian, nicknamed the Red Princess. When Princess Maryam was 10 years old she continued to learn at the first Tehran school for girls, where her sense for social rights and equal opportunities and human progress developed. She received a liberal education for the Persian women of her time, and attended university later in life while living in exile. She was a linguist, fluent in Persian, Arabic, French, Russian, German, and English. An independent thinker, she appreciated communist theory. She chose to become a member of the Tudeh party, because this political organisation was the only party willing to accept her as a woman and give her a chance to become active in the women's rights movement. Maryams enthusiams for political changes and a new society with equal rights for everybody was so strong that she decided to abandon her aristocratic name and adopted the surname Firouz in her political struggles;  her grandfather's name. She became known as Maryam Firouz in the political arena. She retained her legal name as Maryam Farman Farmaian with pride.

Read the full story here Princess Maryam

When an irrational power reaches for hellfire

While Israel prime minister Netanjahu warns the Iranian regime of a military strike against their nuclear facilities, Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) explains the background motivation of the mullahs attitude to gain full access to nuclear technology. But his interview with the US late night comedy "Daily Show" appears more as a promotional event for his book, than the thoughtful explanation of one of the most dangerous geopolitical constellations of our times.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Persian Cat rules its Empire from the Back of a Horse

Dear Michael,

While I have been away in the lab,  Shava must have found a link to your blog.  When she red the short profile of persian-cat.de, she first thought that your blog is all about child stories (o.k., I have to tell you that sometimes even your posts appear a bit fairy-tale kids-style to me !!).

Anyhow, Shava was surprised to read that the blog is a "dialogue between a cat and a mouse", and she asked me if this is part of the european and western idea that all social conflicts will eventually be settled peacefully and all creatures in the society will have equal rights to express their opinion ? She says in her opinion this is a big illusion, because there are natural differences between different people, same as there are natural differences between creatures. She came up with an old comic from her child-hood (Moosh o Gorbeh - موش و گربه),  which is about cats (persian) and mice (also persian).

[caption id="attachment_2327" align="alignleft" width="438" caption="Moosh o Gorbeh 1"][/caption]

And here you see the reality: The last thing that a cat will do to mice is to have a long conversation with them about science or the meaning of life. If a cat does not eat the mice right away for dinner, it might "rule them" from its high thrown (perhaps only to keep the poor mice nearby and have it ready to be eaten for the next meal).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other picture from this nice old book you can see the typical situation in a "civilized society":  Those who are in power (the fat cat) can sit, and have their subordinates (the other cats) standing below them in rows, awaiting an order.

 

The picture we found at Shahre Farang.

Take Care   /ghazal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Ghazal,

This blog is phantasie, I agree. But my intention is just to defend the right of mice against the cats. A cats are widely considered a lovely pet, and benefical to man, whereas mice are always seen as vermin. But who (except us scientists) know how much the mice have contributed for the progress in bio-medicine ? Without mice, we would know very little about tissue- and bone-marrow transplantation. Our knowledge about the generation of blood cells and the regulation of the immune-system would be very basic. The first oncogenes involved in leukaemia and breast-cancer were identified in mice that developed a tumor. And the evolving field of stem-cells (which are the key for life of multicellular organisms) was 95% based on laboratory mice. As compared to all these achievements, the perception of mice and its role for mankind is too negative.  When Shava finds it strange that cats and mice could live peaceful together, she is absolute right. But I am wondering if the two could not have a distant dialogue, an exchange of thoughts ?  Couldn't it be that the natural relationship of a predator and its victim would turn into a intellectual partnership as soon as they are separated from each other ?

I like very much these old pictures from the persian book "Moosh o Gorbeh".  Too bad I cannot read the story in original persian language. But I found a german and english version of the book, by Farangis Yegane, who also draw modern illustrations for the book. I think I will read it on his website. In particular he announces a chapter where the mice plotted a rebellion against the cat.  I am really curious how they are doing this.

A rediculous spelling mistake by the UN

In 1971 the Princess of Iran Ashraf Pahlavi, sister of Shah Reza Pahlevi, presented the United Nations Secretary General U Thant with a replica of Cyrus Cylinder. This archeologic artefact stems from the 6th century BC and was excavated in 1879 by Hormuzd Rassam, an Iranian-British archeologist. On the clay cylinder a declaration is written in Akkadian cuneiform script, guaranteeing equal rights to every subordinate of the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great, independent on nation or religion. In the late 1960s the Cylinder gained new prominence when the last Shah of Iran called it "the world's first charter of human rights". The cylinder was a key symbol of the Shah's political ideology and is still regarded by some commentators as a charter of human rights, despite the disagreement of some historians and scholars. He wrote that "the history of our empire began with the famous declaration of Cyrus, which, for its advocacy of humane principles, justice and liberty, must be considered one of the most remarkable documents in the history of mankind."

On top of the UN protocol about the ceremony are some handwritten remarks, which show that even in the surpreme international organisation some people had difficulties in not mixing historical characters and places of the mideastern hemisphere.  Instead of linking Iran to the "Edict of Cyrus", they "newly invented" an "Edict of Cyprus". It would be interesting to find out if a copy of this protocol was ever forwarded to the Shahs palace in Teheran, maybe with a post-it saying "For your information" !!  This typo remained unnoticed for more than 40 years,  although the protocol must have been available in the web since several years.

The entire UN protocol can be found here.

               

Fighting christian dominance on Blogger"s blogosphere

Where have all these babtists, evangelicals and other "born-again christian" morons learned how to write a blog ????  Is it only me who feels like sitting in the wrong movie (as we germans like to say), because always when I click the Next Blog command in the header row of my own Broken-Radius I got the impression to be thrown into a christian fundamentalists propaganda machinery. Most of these blogs then display personal profiles aiming of presenting its owner as a more faithful person than holy Thomas of Aquin or Margaretha of Bingen. What a crap christian conspiracy is occupying the cyperspace here ? I feel surrounded by dumb christian fundamentalists flooding  the web with their bigotry. 

This is as worse as it is nowadays on short-wave radio, where you dont hear BBC, VOA, Radio Moscow or Deutsche Welle any more, but all free frequencies are taken over by Radio Maria, Radio Vatican, Bible Radio and their islamic counterparts.

However small my contribution to fight this spread of christian stupidity and lies might be, I will counterstrike with some photos showing that the battle is not lost jet. and in particular to show, that the real life and the real battles are still happening on the streets. One of these street-born counteractions took place May 2010 in Munich (sorry Asal, I forgot to invite you to this event), where me and Jane from west-coast USA demonstrated our discomfort with Pope Benedikt personal cult. The demonstration under the slogan "Jolly Procession" was organized by the Munich branch of the "Freidenker Verband". 

Please note that we were escorted by the German Police, which expressed its sympathy and defended our march against the furious participants of a religious pro-Benedict festival that took place at the same time.

 

Thats NOT me and Jane, but the brave organizers of the event. This fake priest looks more disgusting than Joker from Batman, but the fake nun looks as pretty as Michele Pfeiffer.

We gave this grey day a lot of extra and vivid colours. Click on the "PLAY VIDEO" bottom below, please.  Never click on the "NEXT BLOG" bottom in the header row.

Berlin Pirates win local election using Facebook campaign

Dear Ghazal,

the lastet blockbuster export from Sweden that hit the headlines in Germany without doubt is the Pirates Party. At the recent elections to the Berlin municipal gouvernment they surprised everybody as soon as the ballots were  open and the first estimates saw them appoaching 10% of the votes. Although the final confirmed number was fixed at 8.9%, this guaranteed them 15 seats in the Senat of Berlin, that until recently was dominated by the social democrates, conservative christian democrates, liberals and the left party. 

This is how the New York Times describes the members of the Pirates Party: "With laptops open like shields against the encroaching cameramen, the young men resembled Peter Pan’s Lost Boys more than Captain Hook’s buccaneers when they were introduced Monday as Berlin’s newest legislators: They are the members of the Pirate Party."

This landslide change in the political spectrum of the german capital demonstrates, that the power of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+ is not limitted to political movements in the arab world. 

Verse aus dem EVIN Gefängniss

Bahareh Hedayat has been sentenced again to 7 years in the notorious Evin prison. The following letter she send to her husband. I have collected translations of this and other prisoner letters into various languages at the partner website Evin-Rosetta If you want to read other than the following german version, or if you want to contribute a translation into your own language follow the aformentioned link.

Ich sehne mich nach Deiner stillen Umarmung

Ich würde gern wissen, wo Du jetzt bist,
Und wie Dein Tag vergeht,
nachdem Du aufstehst,
und Dich wäscht.
Ich möchte wissen, was Du trägst,
wen Du morgens zur Arbeit gehst,

Ob Dir langweilig ist,
oder Du erschöpft bist,
oder müde oder ob Dich friert.
Der Wind, der durch die Gitterstäbe weht,
Trägt den Staub der Stadt herein.
Spürst Du das auch,
Wenn Du zu Hause die Fenster öffnest ?

Ist es noch dunkel,
Wenn Du morgens das Haus verlässt,
Und Dich auf den Weg zur Arbeit machst ?
Ist das Licht im Treppenhaus immer noch kaputt ?
Warum denke ich gerade daran,
obwohl mir die Erinnerungen an unser Haus langsam verblassen.
Ich habe vergessen, welche Farbe seine Mauern hatten,
Und auch wenn Du mich versuchst daran zu erinnern,
In meiner Vorstellung werden sie doch wieder grau.

Wo schläfst Du jetzt in der Nacht ?
Wer wäscht Dir Deine Sachen ?
Hast Du neue Freunde kennengelernt,
Seit dem Tag, als Sie mich von Dir fortgerissen und eingesperrt haben ?
Mit wem streitest Du jetzt, und worüber ?
Was liest Du Neues, und welche Musik hörst Du ?
Ich mache mir Sorgen, dass Du ohne mich noch länger vor dem Computer sitzt.
In den endlosen Stunden hier in dieser betonierten Zelle
wird jeder Augenblick Deines Lebens unendlich wichtig für mich.
Zum Beispiel was Du Dir kaufen gehst, wenn Du Hunger hast,
Gemüse oder Obst vielleicht.
Jetzt ist doch gerade Sommer bei Euch draussen, oder ?
Gibt es jetzt schon Aprikosen, Pflaumen und Himbeeren ?
Und die Berge von Wasser- und Honigmelonen bei den Strassenhändlern -
Die Erinnerung an ihren Duft macht mich schwindlig.

Bekommst Du immer noch Kopfschmerzen, wenn der Tee zu lange gezogen ist ?
Wirst Du unruhig, wenn Du wieder mal vergessen hast
Dein Telefon aufzuladen ?
Wäscht Du Dir immer noch die Haare im Abwaschbecken in der Küche,
und isst den Jughurt mit trockenem Brot ?
Hast Du Dir endlich eine neue Brieftasche geleistet,
und ein neues Hemd ?
Ich will nicht, dass Du Dich vernachlässigst,
nur weil ich nicht bei Dir sein kann !

Ich werde verrückt, wenn ich nicht weiss,
Woran Du denkst, wenn Du an mich denkst.
Worüber würdest Du mit mir sprechen,
Wenn Ich jetzt bei Dir sein könnte ?

Wenn Du mir etwas kaufen könntest,
Was würdest Du aussuchen ?
Sehnst Du Dich nach der Zeit, als wir zusammen waren,
Und denkst Du an die all die Jahrestage ?
Als ich im Juni zum ersten Mal nach Majideyeh kam,
Und Du mich in Isfahan herumgeführt hast.
Wir sind ziellos durch die Stadt gelaufen,
Nur um zusammen sein zu können,
bis der Sonnenuntergang im Saei Park uns daran erinnerte,
Dass der Tag langsam zu Ende geht.
Und dann Zav, und wie wir mit Ahmad nach Darband fuhren,
In jenem Frühjahr 2008.

Erinnerst Du Dich noch an meine Kochversuche ?
Ich habe Sie vergessen,
Wenn Ich frei käme, müsste ich wieder neu Kochen lernen.
Weisst Du noch, wie wir unsere ersten Möbel erstanden haben,
Stück für Stück ?
Und wie wir 2008 das Neue Jahr gefeiert haben,
Am Strand des Kaspischen Meeres.

Erinnerst Du Dich was am 6. Jui 2002 passierte ?
Ich kann es Dir genau sagen:
Du warst verzweifelt, weil ich mich nicht entscheiden konnte,
zwischen Dir und meinem früheren Leben.
Doch sechs Jahre später wurde mir klar, dass ich mich richtig entschieden hatte:
Denn vor dem Gefängnisstor hast nur Du auf mich gewartet.
Und kurz darauf hast Du mich an die Hand genommen,
so als würden wir ein ausgelassenen Spaziergang durch die morgendliche Stadt machen.
Dabei ging es zur Gerichtsverhandlung, und wir beiden wussten,
Dass das die uns wieder für lange Zeit auseinander reissen werden.

Als ich dann schon im August wieder raus kam,
Warst Du da und brachtest mich weg von diesem Ort des Schreckens
und wir fuhren zu uns nach Haus,
und die Abendsonne blendet mich so dass ich nichts sah.
Auf den Treppenstufen drehtest Du Dich um zu mir und sagtest:
"Warte eine Sekunde, ich will Dir etwas sagen.
Ich bin erst in den letzten Monaten aufgewacht, als Du plötzlich fort warst,
und erst da habe ich gespürt wie sehr Ich Dich brauche".

Weisst Du noch der 7. März vor 7 Jahren ?
Ich weiss das Du Dich erinnerst !
Amin, ich vermisse alles, was wir hatten,
Mein Leben hinter diesen Mauern und Gittern ist voller Schmerz,
weil ich die Sehnsucht nach Dir nicht ertrage.

Meine Nächte sind voller wüster Träume.
Soll ich etwas bereuen, doch was würde es ändern ?
Ich weiss es, genauso so wie Du.
Hier in der Einsamkeit der Zelle
Machen einen diese Hirngespinste verrückt.
Ich habe im letzten Jahr drei Mitgefangene sterben sehen,
hier in diesem Dreck,
und doch hatten Sie bis zum Schluss ihre Engelsgesichter behalten.

Kannst Du Dir vorstellen, was für einen unerträglichen Schmerz das bereitet ?
Ich wünschte, dass weder Du noch irgendjemand anderes das jemals erleben muss.

Nur Deine stille Umarmung wird mich wieder erlösen von diesen Alpträumen.


BAHAR, 9.Juni 2011, EVIN Gefängniss




Bahareh Hedayat ist eine iranische Studentin, Aktivistin für Frauenrechte, Mit-Initiatorin der Tausen-Unterschriften-Kampagne sowie Sprecherin und Zentralrats-Mitglied von Daftar Tahkim Vahdat. Sie wurde am 9.Juli 2007 festgenommen, und am 9.August des selben Jahres auf Bewährung entlassen. 2008 wurde Sie erneut vorübergehend verhaftet. Seit 2010 ist sie im berüchtigten EVIN Gefängniss (Abteilung 209) eingekerkert. Die Abteilung 28 des Revolutionsgerichtes setzte Ihre Haftstrafe auf  neun einhalb Jahre fest.


Den oben wiedergegeben Brief an ihren Mann Amin Ahmadiyan (Mitglied der Islamischen Studentenverbindung)  konnte Sie kürzlich aus dem Gefängniss herausschmuggeln. Er verleiht ihren Gedanken, Ängsten und Wünschen, vor allem aber ihrer Liebe zu Amin Ausdruck. Die deutsche Version folgt einer englischen Übersetzung von M.P.D.
 
 Source www.iranian.com

We are Green - Morteza Mofahari

Morteza Mofahari is an iranian composer. He had to flee Iran and currently lives in Germany.
Together with many more iranian people who suffered from the political oppression in their country, Morteza Mofahari is among those whom a international solidarity campaign dedicated the entire July.

This country deserves more than material wealth ------ A debate

Amir Parviz (for a secular Monarchy in Iran)

I find too many Iranians living in the west are solely influenced by western propaganda, which I define as media being produced by the UK/Israel/France/Germany/USA and their junior affiliates, Poland, Italy, Spain etc.

Look at the information we know for sure...

Iran used to give loans in the Billions to Germany, USA, UK, France during Shahs time. Iran could not spend the wealth it was creating quickly enough, it was cash rich.

Those same countries, western democracies, portrayed the shah a despot, crook, tyrant, megalomaiNIAC, corrupt etc, etc, etc.

So the same Iran and Shah they could not hold back economically or rob, by using manipulation, deceit and coercion they destroyed. The style of effective Propaganda was specifically designed for Iranians and their village gossip way of dealing with life.

What is clear is the Shah would not sign off on corruption and never accepted a No as far as technology or development for Iranians by any nation.

Today these same countries USA/Germany/France/UK with the IMF give loans/debt to democratic goverments they have can have a big influence on, and their leaders are not called corrupt megalomaniacs, but great countries... what a joke..

Look at the level of debt their democratic governments have incurred.

Greece "$485 Billion Dollars"

Ireland "$1,045 Billion Dollars"

Spain "$1,100 Billion Dollars"

Italy "$1,100 Billion Dollars"

And Iranians want to pursue a DEMOCRATIC future.... what a dirty , even perverse joke in comparison to what Ira was honestly during the time of the late shah, today we see arguments are won with out right lies. So you don't have the ability to choose based on the truth. You can only choose based on deceit and manipulation. Is that what you think will serve Iranians?

It is no wonder these countries and their leaders are not called despotic tyranies, even when we know they participated in secret torture chambers by of the CIA. Is this the type of free worlds mass media we want for Iran? These periferal countries do not serve their own people but serve the USA/Germany/France/UK, all nuclear super powers. During the Shahs time Iran was poised to overtake all of these countries except for the USA economically speaking.

No wonder the USA and it's partners wanted the IRI for Iran and now lead Iranians to seeking more democracy for IRAN. Democracy is code for control and foreign domination. As Russia discovered under Yeltsin, which is why the russian secret service brought Putin and now yet again the so called free world media is used to attack putin "saying he is corrupt" but the truth is the exact opposite as we can see from russia's success.

Iranians used to chant Freedom, Independence, Islamic Republic, clearly we were independent and free, it was those things that the west stole from us by removing the Shah at our own deceived hands. It was exactly because we had a king that was involved in politics upto the neck that Iran did not suffer the same fate as all these countries and Iran under the shah served Iranians and was independent. It was progressing because he served honestly and without corruption, unfortunately the Iranian people due to disingenuous reporting on issues of human rights stopped trusting the Shah.

My view based on what information I have is Iran needs a Shah that should have his hands in politics and that we leave Irans politics to polticians seeking power at our own peril. That is assuming we are serious on how to make Iran a Champion leading country, like it was under the Shah.

Those that want a multi-party system without an arbitror like the Shah are talikng based on what information. Shouldn't responsible people look at both sides of the equation, not just what it is that Iranians say they want, but also looking at what that desire will create in reality. Isn't it dangerous to ignore key information, regarding what a democracy will really give birth to in Iran.

I strongly doubt a parliamentary democracy like the UK will create a leading country, a winning country, a country rich in splendour like Iran was in the late 60's and early 70's, especially because that is the easiest way to be dominated, when strong democratic institutions do not exist. I feel people don't have information and are influenced by propaganda make stupid decisions. Sadly they put their lives behind those decisions. But I'd like other knowledge and expertise on this subject of restoring freedom and justice for Iranians.

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Reply by Radius

Amir, I dont care about the impressiv economical figures that you present here. Whatever you wrote about national income and debts and loans, thats not the problem of the people of Iran. I guess in this matter, they are doing much better than a lot of other countries in the middle east.

What the people of Iran deserve, and what is all the political unrest about at the moment is freedom in the first instance. The green movement is mainly based on the young generation, and their concern is not material wellfare. If this would be the main issue, You would rather see the older generation on the streets. 

What frustrates the young and innovative generation in Iran is the political and ideological oppression, that is absolutely toxic to creativity. It destroys their dreams. Don"t compare Iran (under Shah or under the ajatollahs) with debt-loaden european countries. Compare it with Israel, for instance. Israel is not really rich, and the material living standard might be much lower than for instance in Saudi Arabia or some european countries.  But the gouvernment in Israel knows exactly that the best thing you can give to your people and to make them loyal is freedom of thoughts and ideas. People in Israel dont think their country is heaven on earth, but it allows them to work on their dreams, some of them are gorgious, other might be funny, others might be silly. But Israel can beat every other nation in the world by its creativity output (scientific, technological, cultural). But you can get this only if you give freedom to the people. This is why totalitarian regimes fall behind sooner or later in science and technology. Ask why all our new technologies, GSM, GPS, internet, satellites, biotech, modern transportation, chemistry, pharmceuticals were invited in "free countries" like the europeans, US, Japan ? I tell you there is nothing genetically, the people from arab countries or china or russia are not less intelligent or innovative. But to rise this creative potential, they had to leave their country and try it in US or europe. There is also no link between a high living standard and creativity, otherwise we would see most of high tech coming from countries like SA, Emirates, Singapoor, Lichtenstein or Monacco. 

Creativity, which on the long term is the only thing bringing happiness and satisfaction to man, needs free spirits in an open world.

And this is why (thanks god) totalitarian regimes only seem to be made for eternity, but never survive for very long. If you keep your people in mental custody, their loyality will erode quickly.

And therefor what I wish to the Iranian people after the IRI went to the scrap-yard of History is not the type of material wealth and intellectual degradation like in SA or Emirates, but I wish them a liberation of ideas and creativity. Material wealth will come automatically with it.

And whether a "secular monarchy" is more likely to guarantee this (as in UK or skandinavia) or a grassroot democracy is more appropriate (like in switzerland) is hard to tell from the outside and depends on tradition and mentallity. I agree with you that western-style democracy can not be taken as a "conditio sine qua non" for a new Iran. I also agree with you that the global power-players should stop trying to exploit Iran for their purposes. They did this for too long time, and what the english and russians and americans considered THEIR Great Game prepared the ground for the unjustice under which the iranian people have to suffer for too long time now.

Radius, that is another point of mine (Amir Parveniz)

I believe that what people really want is FREEDOM and this is what was stolen from Iranians as a result of the revolution, which is why it was such a true pity it occured. If we as Iranians pursue Democracy, then i believe we will lose our ability to have freedom.

Whereas, if we pursue a secular monarchy, the Institution by virtue of what it can accomplish against foreign domination and their exploitation of political parties in 3rd world countries like ours will unlike a democratic govt help people accomplish freedom. Just like it existed and was growing every day during the 1970's with the late Shah.

Consider the Voice of America Show funded by the US goverment, Parazit, which at the begining says Azadi, Edalat, Democracy, Barabari, Jameheyeh madani. I feel that as the US Government tries to popularize the concept of democracy for Iranians a people with no institutions for it, their aim is not to help us restore freedom for Iranians. Which is a totally different subject. The USA already undermined freedom from Iranians once before, when will Iranians learn? They are behind and support muslim fundamentalism.

While I don't agree with alot of what this Journalist Mr Evans has to say, conclusions, I agree that his facts are accurate... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpHAe70ohEk . The truth is it has been US foreign policy to maintainand expand fundamentalism, both parties liberals and republicans.

The goal of all Iranians should be freedom and justice first, this is more easily brought about by a sovereign, than groups of politicians attempting to share power.

Monarchy or Parlamentary Democracy (Radius)

Dear Amir Parviz, There is not much to contradict from your last post, I have to admit. My yesterdays comment requesting a free society for the iranian people is perhaps a very long term aim. It is nothing that can be guaranteed from the next morning after the ajatollahs are removed from power. My hope that Iran will face a future in Freedom, with same civil rights for everybody and a prosperous economy is shared by the majority of people here. But at the moment, it is like a dream, and even when the green movement overcomes the IRI regime, it will be a long and stony way to get there. In particular, one has to face the problem that all the supporters of IRI, the Basidj, Revolutionary Guards, Pazdaran, Sepah and all the others who currently benefit from the regime, that they might resist a new liberal society. It is hard to tell what it needs to make them loyal to a new, liberal gouvernment, if they loose all their privileges. In the best case (what I hope) there really might be a peaceful transformation like in post-war germany or the eastern european countries after fall of communism. Here, the former elite lost its influence (theoretically, but in some countries just converted into the new economic players). Ideally, they should face trials, not neccesarrily to punish them, but to clear and document what had happened and what was their function and help them to finding a way into the new society.

In the worst case, the former elite could go in the underground and start an endless fight against the new system. Usually the risk for the later is very high if there is no new identification, just as in Iraq of Afghanistan, where the US-backed Hamid Kazai or el-Maliki are considered puppets of the foreign powers and democracy as we said yesterday just a tool to rule the country from the outside. This is the reason why so many support the Taliban or partisan and sectarian groups there. Nobody respects the new rulers. In particular, if you have a multi-ethnic society with religious and cultural heterogeneity, what is even more pronounced in Iran due to its rich and long history.

There is no way around a strong personality at the top, at least for the first years after the political changes. This personality must be respected by all ethnic groups and must protect minorities and all religious groups equally. And for this I could really follow your idea of a secular monarchy. I agree that a strong Shah would be the best guarantee to unify the country and protect freedom and civil rights for everybody. Otherwise he/she will face again resistance and illoyality from religious leaders, who in Iran like in any other country always believe that they have their own rights and values.

But a modern monarchy simply cannot work like the european courts hundred years ago or the persian empire under Xerxes or Darious, where autocracy was the most efficient form of ruling a country. I think an efficient parlament is essential to give the people the feeling that the new system works in their own interest rather than in the particular interest of a dynasty. I think there are plenty of examples that a constitutionally monarchy as in skandinavian countries or UK or even Marocco can provide a long term stable society with the best ballance between personal freedom, responsibility for the whole country and certain degree of security. This is what I hope for a future Iran as well.

Frank Zappas rock opera inspired by the 1979 islamic "revolution"

To all Swedish Zappa Afficionados: enjoy the post today and the rest of May 2012.
Sorry for the two blocked Zappa Videos below. I'll try to change them to free versions soon.
If you enjoy, leave a message or comment.

Dear Michael,
do you remember the CD you gave me last year with the compilation of some rock, pop and jazz music? In fact I never really  had  time to listen to it while I lived in the Helmholtz Guesthouse. Last year in Munich I was so busy with other things, with my MSc project and learning the complicate mouse genetics, I also felt homesick for Sweden and my parents and therefore only listened to persian music. And of course, every other free moment you have been around and drove with me to the river bank and the beach, to nice restaurants and music-clubs and theater and many more. It was a busy time, you know, and hence the CD compilation got somehow lost among many other silverplates with scientific stuff and photographs and lecture hand outs.
Today in the evening, my brother found this CD and was attracted by the hand written label on it: 20th century rock music. He put it into his stereo and turned on the volume, and there started a nice song, very easy listening style, but I never heard it before. My dad immediately listened up and called us all. He told us that this song "Bobby Brown goes Down" is by the great rock singer Frank Zappa, who already in 1979 foresaw that the so-called "islamic revolution" in his home Iran will end in a cultural dictatorship. My dad just asked me to send you his warmest regards for introducing this intelligent, brave and tallented musician to his daughter.
(and I have to say sorry for not listening to the music on the CD before).

Take Care, Michael, I hope you are doing fine.
/ghazal

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Ghazal, my dear,

I think me and your dad would have a lot in common, in particular if it comes to politics. Your dad, however was obviously much more strikt in his decisions, and left the totalitarian regime in Iran, whereas myself always tried to find a niche in the east-german pseudo-democracy. And Frank Zappa, whom we could easily listen to via west-Berlin radiostations, was part of the entertainment in this socio-political niche.

Frank Zappa was one of the most innovative and influential, but also controversal rock-musicians. His huge oevre covered jazz-rock classics like “Peaches in Regalia” , but also some top ten hits like  “Don’t eat that yellow snow” and “Bobby Brown goes Down” from the 1979 album “Sheigh Sherbouti”.




Zappa always acknowledged his music being influenced by 20th century classic music, in particular by composers Igor Stravinsky and Edgar Varese.  In 1970 Zappa met Zubin Mehta, conductor of LA Philharmony Orchestra and descendent of an indian Parsi family. Zappas Mothers of Invention and Mehtas Orchestra played together the concert 200 Motels

Even though his lyrics became more and more complex, and political messages woven into  satirical stories, Zappa never led any doubt what he thought about the Washington establishment and religious bigotry. In the video to the fusion-jazz piece “You are what you is” he calls Ronald Reagan a president from hell. I was always wondering how Zappa, wouldn’t he have died too early in 1993, could bear to live in a country that 10 years later was lead and send to war by the lunatic George W. Bush.   On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the “Parents Music Resource Center” (PMRC), a music organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore. The PMRC consisted of many wives of politicians, including the wives of five members of the committee, and was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. Zappa saw their activities as on a path towards censorship. His high sensitivity for political oppression was seen during production of the 1979 triple LP Joe's Garage,  comprising a rock opera about the danger of political systems, the suppression of freedom of speech and music. Inspired in by the Islamic revolution that had made music illegal within its jurisdiction at the time, it also addressed the "strange relationship Americans have with sex and sexual frankness".


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Whether one likes Zappas very open political statements, denouncing the hypocrisis of the western moral standards and their corruption by the political system, or not, whether you think his language is sexist and chauvinistic or just right to fight the political correctness, one thing about him remains that nowbody can deny:  That he was one, if not the most productive, independent, intelligent and influential musicians of the 20s century.  It is sad that he died before experiencing how a new generation of iranians will reinstall freedom, music and creativity in Tehran. I'm sure he would have greeted the green movement with highest sympathy.   Enjoy and share with your friends and family !

It is pitty you are so far now, so we cannot go to a concert this summer.
Hope for the future,
Enjoy anyhow, TAKE CARE, Ghazal
Michael

Political Power, Sex and the 21st Century E-Communication

Anthony Weiner, highly praised democrate representative and candidate for N.Y. mayor resigned this week over his cyber-sex affair that is in the media since may. Mr Weiners activities outside his office duties, which involved sending explicit photographs of his most precious body areas to several femal followers through Twitter and Facebook are still difficult to judge in terms of their moral or political implications, both for his political peers and voters but even more for his wife Huma Abedin. Are they really as immoral as the Washington Times tries to makes us believe, or is this media outcry rather a hypocracy when it comes to our own secret phantasies, that we like to forbid to those who are paid with our tax money ?  I"m wondering what would happened if Mr. Weiner would not have send his "Bulge" pictures and "Shaved Breast" pictures and testosteron-loaded short messages to younger ladies or university students, but to elder house-wives or congress representatives of the republicians ?  Would have Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, congress speaker and his party fellow demanded his resignation with the same mercyless ?  It is really hard to tell how much Mr. Weiner must be considered a liar and therefore banned from the political establishment, or whether he is a victim of the Big Brother media establishment, who is regularily searching for fresh blood to drink.  I wont make any judgement here myself, I think it is about the people who voted for him as representative to decide over his future, and in particular it is about his wife Huma Abedin to consider if she wants to stay with him for the rest of their life.
What I like to suggest here, however is that Weiners affairs highlights the validity of an old issue: that of the erotic component that is related to power. In particular in the sphere of politics, that in Weiners case very simply ment that he had a sort of power over ~ 50 000 people that he represented of his New York district, power is easily gained by questionable personal qualities such as networking, bribing, lobbying. What comes with this political power is an ever increasing media presence, and it was especially the later that Anthony Weiner very obviously exploited for his cyber-sex relationships. If he would have used an anonymous user-name such as "dear-Mr-president" or "democrats-bulge" or "oral-bill" for his twitter and Facebook accounts, instead of clearly showing that it is Anthony Weiner here, your most appreciated and praised democrats futur NY mayor that sends you these steam-hot messages and pictures of his body parts, he would have received much less reponse for this, considering that the photos he send around showed a rather prude clerkes physiology (no tatoos or body piercings or scarves from gang fights or military combats). It was obviously this "added value" of offering his verbal sex and body pictures to young ladies in combination with the thrill of having all this "dirty stuff" with a guy whom the rest of the nation only knows as Mr. Super-Clean and everybodies darling. And for the failure of this attempt, i.e. exploiting a political function that has been given to somebody by his voters to attract femals for love affairs, I praise the public media who exposed this story.

Why I don"t feel any sorrow for you, Basidj

Yesterday, I saw your face in this documentary about the elections and post-election demonstrations in Tehran in June 2009. I saw your coward eyes under the black helmet, Basidj. Like all of the other black-dressed and heavily armed puppets of your leaders, you seemed to enjoy this feeling of total power over the students on the streets of Tehran, who had nothing else to defend against you than their T-shirts, canvas slipper and hand-written posters.
You felt so much superior, when you started to beat them and kick those who were already laying on the ground. You felt so powerful, fed with drugs by your fat and conscienceless commanders and equipped with the newest high-tech guns and tear-gas bullets and batons from the top weapons factories of the world. How did you felt, when you did your so-called job out there ? I guess you wanted to impress your commanders and the other members of your squad by the ruthlessness of your beating, by the precision of your shooting. But we all know that you are just a bloddy coward. You think you are strong in the moment when you torture and kill unarmed young people, mostly students, young women but also children and elder people. Did you felt satisfied for pleasing your coward commanders and the heads of this criminal gouvernment.
And when you saw how the bullets from your guns made the streets turn red, didn”t you thought that this is more thrilling than your ego-shooter computer game ? And how does it feel if you kick your steel-armed boots into the belly of somebody whom you first chained feets and arms with a cable ? Does it gives you an emotional blow to imagine how the steel covers of your boots causes pain and internal bleeding in the person laying on the ground in front of you ? Did you considered kicking again and again, not just to score higher at your commanders record, but also to repeat this image of how your stupid steel boots so easily destroy the head of an intelligent young man or girl ? And later, when you throwed those who were wounded and could not escape anymore onto pick-ups and trucks to bring them to Evin Prison or Ghezel Hesar, I’m sure you knew that this was not a journey for medical treatment or recovery, but to further harras and rape and kill them. And if you later saw the pictures of Neda Agha-Soltan and Sohrab Arabi, cowardly killed by you and your commrades, how long did those pictures appeared in your dreams, before you got rid of them with more drugs and blood-money and more violence ?
But you should know, Basidj, that what you did 2009 on Tohid square wont be forgotten. You turned a peaceful demonstration into a blood shed. The hundred thousands that walked the streets those days, wearing green T-shirts and green shawls did not had enough phantasy to think that this day might end up in violence. The girls had put on their most beautiful jewelery and make-up and the men kept their expensive lap-tops with them in their bags. People were sure that this day would demonstrate the power of a peaceful political change and give hope for a better future of this country . The people on the streets felt the dawn of  a grey period of political speechlessness, and they were hoping to meet some of the political leaders to discuss the future of the country after the elections.
The millions who gave their vote in the 2009 election and later formed an endless band of the green movement in the streets of Tehran, they wont forget that their hope for a peaceful move was turned into a violent nightmare by Basidj cowards just like you. And the next time when they meet you on the same streets, don”t expect any more unarmed young intellectuals. The next time, Basidj, you will be attacked, there wont be an option for peaceful settlement any more. And when the magazin of your automatic gun is empty, and you again killed and wounded the first twenty of the protesters, than there will come another twenty and another twenty and the same to each other of your Basidj commrades. There will be hundred thousands again coming out of the universities, of the restaurants and shops and beauty-salons, from all the places they escaped to in 2009, when they had to run away from your guns and butons. But this time they wont run away any more, and they dont want to talk to you any more, but they will attack you and kill you. And then, the streets of Tehran will turn red again, but this time it will be your damned blood.
And if somebody will throw your dead corpse into the gateway of your house, there wont be anybody crying tears for your death. Your mother will come out at night and bring you corpse to the waste bin of the garden, together with the chicken-heads and rotten carrots and the bad smelling polo from last week. Your parents will be ashamed of you, there will be no mourning for you. And for all the cowardize of your life, Basidj, your children will forget your name. To avoid that others would point with fingers on them, they will tell everybody that they don’t know who their father was. Your name will be forgotten in a new, free Iran. And only the history text books will know a precise number of nameless Basidj cowards. And you will have been one of them, not more, but also not less.

Irans New Halal Internet

Irans head of economic affairs, Mr. Ali Aghamohammadi, surprised the whole IT community today by announcing the recent ground-breaking development from the Basiji telecommunication workshop:
The new Internet 3.0 with implemented Halal Option.



At the end of an IRNA press-conference in Teheran he entered the stage in his usual black business suit and started his speech with the words:

“One more thing: Iran will soon create an internet that conforms to Islamic principles and to improve its communication and trade links with the world.”

This next-generation Internet (termed Net 3.0) will include the following advanced features:


1.) Computers will work only if their screen is turned eastward, therefore facing Mekka.

2.) The internet data transmission will be interrupted 5 times a day precisely as determined by the Ajatollah Chamenei to allow everybody to attend the prayer.

3.) Computer mouse will be replaced by a computer lamb, since the first is not mentioned in the Quran as a halal creature.

4.) Before switching on, computer plugs have to be washed thoroughly under running water.

5.) The bus-size will be 11 bit. A 12th bit will be added upon the arrival of the Mahdi.

6.) Each computer will come with a chemical spray to clean it off StuxNet-Virus.

To read how the community of iranian bloggers welcomes this new announcement, klick here.

Munich Tourists and Shoppers Sign Declaration for a Free Iran

The Munich Association for a Free Iran organized a rally to protest against political oppression in Iran and inform about the raising numbers of its victims. Visitors of the city and people comming for Saturday shopping stoped at the Stachus square to see the photographs of people who were imprisoned and humilated for the crime of fighting for liberation of their country. Reading about several individual cases of torture and oppression, many of the passers-by signed a declaration demanding immediate release of all political prisoners, end of violence, torture and killing of political activists. Next to Frankfurt and Berlin, Munich was always one of the main destinations of political refugees from Iran in Germany.

کانون ایرانیان آزادیخواه مونیخ /آلمان

EVIN: A hotel named after a concentration camp

Hi Michael,

When somebody through facebook forwarded this sequence of nocturnal images from Teheran to me, I was almost prompted to ask if this is really the same place one knows from the news headlines of protests or from Ahadis movie "Green Wave".
Suddenly, it look more like a tourist promo for Beirut. Even during my last visit to Teheran in 2008, I have not seen the city in such glamour like here in this Youtube scenes.


but suddenly, at around 3:22 min a very short picture showed a neon-sign pointing to a "Hotel Evin", that convinced me it is Iran. Would like to know, is there really a Hotel in Teheran that carries the same name as the prison notorious for all the violence ? Which hotel owner would call its business after a place of death and violence ? And who are the customers booking in a hotel with this name ?



I heard the most horrible reports about Evin and other prisons, people in particular political prisoners are tortured there with pure saddism using physical and psychic violence in the most inhuman manner. People are killed there systematically. I feel anger imagine somebodies calls a hotel after this place of horror. When we visited last year with Shava the concentration camp near Munich (think it was called Dachau), at least people respected the memory of all those who lost their lives there. Nobody would consider calling a Hotel after this place Dachau, don"t you think so ?

Hope everything is fine with you, Take Care
/ghazal