Azarmehr gives a good account of the fallacy of the main argument presented last night that Iran was the victim of the Unites States of America.
However, what was shocking was when Mehri argued that Iran is more about the 'people as a whole, and less about the different groups that "separate" the people in Iran, such as the human rights activists and those groups who struggle for the rights of women'. "Separate"? Perhaps in the sense that it serves to separate the victimised people from the guilty govenment. Iran has the second largest number of human rights violations next to China! The very essence of the tyranny experienced by the Iranian people is the gross violations of their fundamental rights to freedom from torture, arbitrary detention and the execution of minors! Sixteen year old Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh was hanged because a maried man, old enough to be her father, sexually abused her; she was charged with 'acts incompatible with chastity'. The very same government now intends to execute a girl for a crime that she allegedly committed as a minor; even though there is evidence to demonstrate she may be innocent, the Iranian judiciary have violated her internationally protected right to an appeal.
It is those very humman rights and womens' rights groups that illustrate who and what the Iranian people really are - exhausted, oppressed, abused and in need of their freedom. Mehri's comment served to downplay this terrible reality that plagues Iran today. Mehri argued that sanctions should not be made against Iran as it adversly affects the Iranian people; yet she is not concerned with the human rights activists who are trapped by the software sold to the IRI Government by Siemens and Nokia...She is not concerned with the adverse effects the lack of human rights activists and womens' rights campaigners would have on the Iranian people, because Iran is about the 'people as a whole', and not the [separated] human rights groups'. Poor choice of words, Ms Holliday, wouldn't you agree?
During the speeches made by the panelists, there was a slide-show of the Iranian mullahs and military bands drumming in a parade. Could this possibly be a 'calling card' of the IRI Government, who have assisted in the funding of CASMII?
I think its disgusting. Ive looked into the event and read other blogs about it - clearly it is a platform for the islamic republic of irans government, and CASMII is their little baby.
ReplyDeleteno one cares about human rights. its all about who can make the most amount of money and gain power. obviously this mehri character and her CASMII chums follow the smell of money, no matter who bloody it may be. Just nuke the country and start fresh.
ReplyDeleteGood read. Also visited azarmehrs blog and want to know what you think about the hecklers (see video clip of event).
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is, thank you for posting 'anonymous'.
ReplyDeleteFred - Whilst you may be correct about people selling themselves for the sake of money and possibly power, I do not agree with nuking the country; innocent people would perish, and the whole point of fighting against the God-forsaken government is in order to protect the people of Iran. Nukes is not the solution.
Kourosh - I am glad that you have consulted Azarmehr's blog, he is very knowledgable and speaks the truth without polishing it. I have seen the footage, and can add that it has been edited to blow the matter out of proportion. For example, what was shown on the clip to be hecklers were in fact i) a man discussing his views with the panelists AFTER the event had been brought to a close ii) the chap being forcibly removed from the event was making a pertinent point on persecuted student activists in Iran. Instead of respecting freedom of speech, and the so-called democracy they wave the flag of, they removed somebody for merely having a view that contradicted theirs. Further evidence that the event was established to support and act as a platform for the IRI.
Dear Mehrtash,
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the very informative note on the recent occurrences at SOAS.
I must say, this is a very surprising and startling to what Ms Holliday said and its a shame that such people have now found power in Iran, I hope those millions that walked in streets in support of such occurrences are now eating away themselves.
Nevertheless, by keeping grudges we won't get anywhere. I feel that the way to bring freedom to Iran to stop such atrocities like Miss Sahaaleh's happening again and again would be to get rid of the sanctions. By getting rid of sanctions, Iran could go two ways. 1. Iran could become a stronger and more developed nation in which the people of Iran will then not question.. On the other hand, this could give the people the money and resources available to try to rise up against the 30 years of tyranny which is the IRI. In all honesty I'm not too sure whether lifting sanctions would be good enough.
However, i do ask one question. The IRI's motto is 'Esteqlal, Azadi, Jomhouriye Eslami'. I personally believe there isn't much 'Esteqlal' and this can be argued by the fact that Iran has most of its parts coming from Russia and/or China including such recent developments like the missile into space. Again, 'Azadi' this is a more obvious stance that can be challenged. The IRI has cleverly got rid of any type of secular or Non-Islamic party within Iran through numerous purges. The IRI prides itself on being a democracy. That, i personally don't agree with but nevertheless, where is the democracy when only Islamist parties can debate against each other? This then leads me onto onto 'Jomhouriye Eslami', the points of view of many Islamists question each other. I wonder if people like Dr Ali Shariati, Ayatollah Montazeri, Ayatollah Beheshti and even Ayatollah Boujerdi would agree with the way the IRI has become today?
I have never heard anyone specifically question that Government on these three virtues in a row that it considers its Motto. Of course i know people do bring about cases of 'human rights' abuses. But the IRI quickly side tracks itself from it by such narrow minded quotes that Ms Holliday gave.
I personally think that we should confront these unpatriotic souls upfront and truly see what they say right from the core of their beliefs.
On the part of the Iranian People, I believe after speaking to many even the older generation that they know they have made mistakes but can't do anything about it through fear and propaganda through society. Propaganda through society was shown to me when a young family member of mine came from Iran. Everywhere she went, she wanted to put the headscarf on even though she was in London and her mother didn't put it on. This in my opinion was because of the society she has been brought up in that has made her always want to put it on even though at her age (4/5) she doesn't know what it means. Fear, i hope i have already addressed for you.
Ways to tackle this; Non-Violent resistance.. Khomeini had he not done the crimes that he done and simply returned to Iran and sat back while others done the Government work, he would have been a God in the eyes of Iranians.
Might makes right, but hopefully justice will triumph.
Thank you Informed Persian for your post.
ReplyDeleteSanctions may not be the solution; however, there are different types of sanctions, including the ones that target the assets of the governement. Some will argue that Sanctions are seldom effective; however, there are instances when they have been successful, such as in the case of South Africa.
On the note pertaining to the IRI motto, no one has heard of it being challenged because those who do are swiftly silenced. What do you think happened to the $270bn of petro dollars? Whilst Iran gets richer and stronger, the government benefits, and becomes more powerful over its people, and consequently making the oppression over its people a lot easier as they can afford the resources to do such. For example, the rate of opiate usage and its abuse in Iran has rocketed, rendering a high proportion of the young population too intoxicated and in ill-health to be able to realise the govt's evil and stand against them. And how do you think this was funded in order to make it into Iran for kids to get their hands on it? Tyrannous dictators will spend lots of money to keep the masses weak/dumb so they can never question the dictator's power.
One needs to assess methods in weakening and eventually toppling the current regime, instead of methods that target and topple the people in Iran.
Asieh Amini was on the line and was crying and said “they executed Delara today”.
ReplyDeleteDelara's mother was biting herself, her father was talking about how he delivered her daughter to authorities, and everyone was crying, everyone was hitting their head, everyone loved Delara. But she got her peace today. No one will hear her voice again.
Her mother said that she met Delara in prison yesterday. Delara said “If I come out of prison, I want to continue my education. I would like to be free.
“Mom, they want to execute me, I see the gallows, mother save me”. They took Delara to the gallows with nobody around her. No father, no mother no lawyer who could listen to her needs. They put the rope on her delicate neck.
Some say Delara was at fault, some say it was her father's fault, some say it was her lawyer's fault. I say it is the fault of the judicial system here because whereas many countries have abandoned the execution of juvenile offenders, Iran insists on killing them. Why?
Mansor Pooyan
Such activities keep the people in Iran weak with, and controled by fear. They claim to act in accordance with Shari'a; yet they quickly and secretively carry out executions in order to avoid criticism and further condemnation from the international community (albeit the condemnation is merely words without any enforcement).
ReplyDeleteThe nepotistic government of Iran seem to appreciate causing much blood-shed; they appear to be blood-thirsty monsters who thrive on betraying the Iranian people and the Persian heritage time and time again.