Thursday, March 18, 2010

Where joy is a crime: Woman arrested as child runs after her

For more videos and coverage of chahar shanbeh souri in other parts of the country, please click here.

The following video and accompanying message were posted on YouTube. I have translated the message verbatim. Although it appears genuine, I cannot vouch for its veracity.

'Police and plainclothesmen (NB Usually refers to Revolutionary Guards intelligence or security agents, or Basij militia members, not plainclothes police officers) raid a home at midnight on chahar shanbeh souri (NB Fire festival, 16 March 2010) - The savage arrest of a woman as a child runs after her - Iran

'On the night of chahar shanbeh souri, after we had all celebrated chahar shanbeh souri together in our street and had returned to our homes, our neighbor had a small family gathering with music and dancing. At around 2 in the morning, the police, led by plainclothesmen, raided the home. The screams of the women can be clearly heard in the film. Even some of the guests who were escaping over the rooftops were arrested. In the middle of the film, a woman, a boy, and two men rush out of the house, but they are arrested before reaching the end of the street. The bitterest moment of the film is where the police force the woman towards their car and the innocent child is running behind them.

'The whole film lasted 20 minutes and has been edited down to 5 minutes. For your information, as an eyewitness, I say that from the number of parked cars it can be surmised that it was no more than a small family gathering. I am sorry for the police force, which was ordered around by 3 or 4 Basijis and which did not even show mercy to this woman and child. Given the slow speed of the Internet here, please upload this film to YouTube and other sites and send it everywhere.'

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