As the opposition gears up for its protest rally during the official celebration of the revolution's 31st anniversary on February 11, reports have cited the regime's efforts to bus in as many 'supporters' as it can on that day in order to impress public opinion and the hand-picked members of the foreign media who have been invited to Azadi Square.
It had been unclear how exactly the regime would be able to separate the protesters from the official demonstrators during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech in Azadi Square on February 11.
But a new video posted on YouTube by OnlyMehdi seems to provide the answer: a flower-covered fence has been erected around the massive traffic circle and there is only one way in...
For those who are interested: I'll be live-blogging on 22 Bahman, February 11, 2010, from 6:30 AM GMT.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
'Death to Khamenei' banner hung over Tehran Freeway
A banner proclaiming 'Death to Khamenei' was hung on Komeil Bridge, at the intersection with Navab Freeway, on February 3, 2010.
View 'Death to Khamenei' banner over Navab Freeway, Tehran, Iran in a larger map
This video showing the banner was posted on YouTube on February 8.
For those who are interested: I'll be live-blogging on 22 Bahman, February 11, 2010, from 6:30 AM GMT.
View 'Death to Khamenei' banner over Navab Freeway, Tehran, Iran in a larger map
This video showing the banner was posted on YouTube on February 8.
For those who are interested: I'll be live-blogging on 22 Bahman, February 11, 2010, from 6:30 AM GMT.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Iranian journalists caution foreign colleagues invited by regime to cover anniversary celebrations
The Islamic regime is fond of organizing mass rallies which provide it with a veneer of legitimacy and popularity. The 'Ten Days of Dawn' (NB daheyeh fajr), a series of celebrations for the anniversary of the revolution from February 1 (The day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini flew from Paris to Tehran in 1979) to February 11 (V-Day for the revolution in 1979), have been a cornerstone of this policy for the past 30 years. Until now... The opposition has announced plans to exploit the official ceremonies to hold protests across the country, particularly in Tehran on February 11. Reports indicate that the regime plans to bus in as many 'supporters' as it can to fill Azadi Square in west Tehran on Thursday and that it has invited some 200 foreign journalists to cover the event. The official marching route goes from Imam Hossein Square, along Enghelab (Revolution) Street, to Azadi Square. Last week, a group of Iranian journalists published the following open letter to their foreign colleagues who have been invited to Tehran, cautioning them to not become tools of the regime and calling on them to ask their hosts why over 40 journalists are currently in prison in that country (The list of jailed journalists can be seen at the end of the letter):
Dear Fellow Journalists:
We are writing to those of you who have been invited to go to Iran in February 2010 to provide media coverage of the celebrations of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. We are a group of Iranian journalists who have been forced to live in exile. There are many others like us around the world, 45 of whom will be in Iranian prisons when you arrive in Tehran. They will be under torturous conditions in Iranian prisons that are, as you know, among the most hideous in the world.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
As imprisoned or exiled journalists, our crime is nothing other than our desire to report freely on events in Iran, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides.
Since the electoral coup that took place in Iran last summer, the Iranian regime has intensified its suppression of press freedom and has also strived to suppress the country’s peaceful movement through sophisticated oppressive means.
After failing for eight months to achieve its goals, the illegal and fraudulent government has now prepared a new show. We have received precise information that Ahmadinejad’s electoral coup-perpetrated administration is busy preparing to muster its own crowd in Tehran through the use of all possible means and the government’s extensive resources.
Its plan is, on the one hand, to prevent the pro-green million-strong group from approaching the location of the celebrations in Tehran's Azadi Square, where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to give a speech, and on the other, to fill this area with pro-government demonstrators.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Inviting foreign journalists to provide media coverage of the anniversary of the 1979 revolution on February 11, 2010 is another part of the deceitful plan of Ahmadinejad’s illegal administration. As you know, this government has until now arrested many foreign journalists and accused them of being spies while banning the activities of most international media. Now, it is using them, through its invitation, so they can show the world that it is a government that enjoys popular support.
The goal of the Iranian government is to direct journalists towards the pro-government demonstrations and prevent them from going to other locales.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
You are going to Iran not only as media representatives of the free world, but also as representatives of your Iranian fellow journalists who are either in prison or in exile outside Iran. Your host is a government that is against freedom, against free media, and one that violates the most basic human rights of people.
You will be stepping onto streets that still bear the blood of Iran’s best and the brightest. You must have seen the film that shows how Neda Agha Soltan was murdered. This young woman is a symbol and representative of those who have been arrested, raped, tortured and murdered by Iran’s coup administration. While Neda and others like her were killed on the streets, there are hundreds of others who have been raped, tortured and murdered in dungeons, prisons or unknown places by this government.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
We are providing you the names of Iranian journalists who are now in prison (below), based on the list prepared by Reporters Without Borders, and we request that you search for them and find them. Ask them and their prison wardens why they are in prison.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
As you go to our country that is under a dictatorship, we ask that you not to be duped by the schemes of those who murder freedom.
We draw your attention to these points:
· Demonstrations will begin on the night of February 10. The cries of 'Allaho Akbar' that will fill the night in Iranian towns will be the cries of people’s protests and the start of the million-strong marh of green Iranians who will fill the streets at the invitation of Mohammad Khatami, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
· The main march will start from Enghelab street in east Tehran, go through Imam Hossein Square, and end at Azadi Square in west Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has already made plans to close the streets leading to Enghelab street and to crack down on people in order to prevent them from taking to these streets. The Green Movement should be visible around this route and all over Tehran and not only on the routes that pro-government demonstrators will be provided.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Like on other similar occasions, the coup government will attempt to control all the routes so that the only people that will come in view of your cameras will be the Basijis, who will present a caricature of the Iranian nation for your television cameras.
You will hear the protesting voice of the Iranian people clearer than ever if you look beyond the fences, cordons, and barriers and look at the real people of Iran.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
We are confident that you will push aside the bloody hands of the coup perpetrators and that you will shake the hands of the suffering people of Iran. You are going on a historic trip. We will see you off with our hearts filled with dreams of freedom and eyes filled with tears.
We hope that the world's headline on February 12, 2010 will recount “The Victory of a Nation.”
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Do not be fooled by the deceptions of your hosts, look at everything that is worth looking at, expose their shows, and listen to the true calls of the Iranian people. And on this historic trip relay and report the innocence of the Iranian people. This is the request of your suffering fellow journalists.
Parnaz Azima (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter arrested in Iran in 2007), Samnak Aghai,
Houshang Asadi (Imprisoned and tortured by the Islamic regime for six years, 1981 to 1987), Nooshabeh Amiri (Rooz Online reporter), Asieh Amini (Her reports on covert stonings carried out by the Islamic Republic led to a campaign against this barbarous capital punishment. She is a tireless activist against the death penalty), Farahmand Alipour (Rouz Online reporter), Shabnam Aza, Fariba Amini (Amini is a writer and human rights activist. She was instrumental in the formation of the Alliance for Defense of Human Rights in Iran and was the editor of its bi-weekly newsletter. Daughter of Nosratollah Amini, Mohammad Mossadegh's personal attorney), Maryam Aghvami (Reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and VOA), Nima Amin, Massoud Behnoud (One of the founders of Adineh magazine and Jameh daily, both of which have been closed down by the Islamic regime. He spent 6 months in prison, some of the period in solitary confinement), Arash Bahmani, Maziar Bahari (Newsweek correspondent, arrested and jailed after the disputed June 12 election), Babak Dad (Dissident journalist and blogger, who spent months in hiding before recently escaping from Iran), Farzaneh Bazrpour, Hadi Ebrahimi (Editor of Sharvand magazine), Pouyan Fakhrai, Farshid Faryabi, Fereshteh Ghazi (Rouz Online reporter), Maryam Ghavami (Ziba Foundation, art for humanity), Saghi Ghahraman (Escaped from Iran in 1982. She now resides in Toronto where she works with PEN Canada’s Exiled Writer program, and is on the board of editors for Descan, a literary magazine in Canada), Massoud Ghoraishi, Arash Ghafouri, Manouchehr Honarmand (Editor of Khandaniha), Linda Hosseininejad, Vahid Jahanzadeh, Nikahang Kowsar (Caricaturist and journalist, arrested in 2000 for a cartoon that he drew.), Malihe Mohamadi, Javad Montazeri (Photojournalist), Roozbeh Mirebrahimi (Journalist for a number of dailies including Etemadeh Melli and Shargh), Mehdi Mohseni (Jomhour blogger), Searajedin Mirdamadi, Hanif Mazroui (Journalist for Vaghayeh Etefaghi. Jailed in 2004), Ebrahim Nabavi (Satirist and journalist, jailed twice), Javad Moghimi (Former Fars News photojournalist, escaped Iran after some of the photos he covertly gave to foreign media appeared on the front pages of prominent magazines and newspapers, including Time Magazine), Alireza Noorizadeh (Veteran journalist and analyst), Nahid Pilvar, Shahram Rafizadeh (Jailed in 2004), Bahram Rafizadeh, Saman Rasoolpoor (Human rights activist and journalist, jailed in 2008), Khosrow Raesi, Ferydon Shaibani, Mohamad Sefriyan, Beniamin Sadr, Vida Same, Mohamad Tajdolati (Journalist Radio Zamaneh), Hamed Yousefi…
For more information:
Roozirani@yahoo.com
TELEPHONE:
France : Nooshabeh Amiri : 0033-674307842
England: Alireza Vorizade :0044- 7717400500
Canada : Nikahnag Kowsar : 001-6478341348
USA : Omid Memarian : 001-510 6379590
Netherlands : Afshin Ellian :0031- 613316819
Germany: Babak Sina :0049-17622622512
Non-exhaustive list of Iranian journalists who are now in prison
· 11 February 2010 – Nooshin Jafari- Etemad
· 11 February 2010 – Mazeyar Samii – journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Ali Mohammad Eslampoor- journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Sahar Ghasen-Nejad – journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Nazanin Hassan-neya- journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Kaveh Ghasmi Kermanshahi- journalist
· 11 February 2010- Alireza Saghafi - journalist
· 5 January 2010 - Kivan Farzin - Farhangeh Ahang
· 5 January 2010 - Behrangh Tonkaboni - Farhangeh Ahang
· 2 January 2010 - Mohammad Sadegh Javadihessar - Editorialist in banned Etemad Melli newspaper
· 2 January 2010 - Mahssa Hekmat - Journalist in banned Etemad Melli newspaper
· 2 January 2010 - Ali Hekmat - Member of the committee for freedom of the press
· 2 January 2010 - Rozbeh Karimi - Shargh and Kargozaran dailies
· 28 December 2009 - Emaddedine Baghi - Journalist and emblematic human rights activist
· 28 December 2009 - Abdolreza Tajik - Journalist at Farhikhteghan daily
· 28 December 2009 - Mostafa Izadi - Etemadeh Melli newspaper
· 28 December 2009 - Mortaza Kazemian - Journalist for several reformist newspapers
· 28 December 2009 - Badrolsadat Mofidi, - Secretary-general of the journalists' association
· 28 December 2009 - Kivan Mehrgan, - Journalist at Etemad newspaper
· 28 December 2009 - Nassrin Vaziri - Journalist at ILNA
· 28 December 2009 - Mashaollah Shamsolvaezin - Spokesman of the journalists' association and the committee for press freedom.
· 27 December 2009 - Reza Al-Bacha - Dubai TV
· 27 December 2009 - Mohammad Javad Saberi - Journalist
· 20 December 2009 - Mohammad Norizad - Journalist and editor of the blog http://mohammadnurizad.blogfa.com/
· 22 November 2009 - Sasan Aghaei - Journalist at Farhikhteghan daily
· 4 August 2009 - Reza Norbakhsh - Editor-in-chief of Farhikhteghan daily
· 31 July 2009 - Mehdi Hossinzadeh - Journalist
· 4 July 2009 - Masoud Bastani - Editor
· 4 July 2009 - Issa Saharkhiz - Journalist
· 26 June 2009 - Reza Rafiee Foroshani - Freelance journalist
· 20 June 2009 - Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee
· 17 June 2009 - Saide Lylaz - Sarmayeh newspaper
· 16 June 2009 - Mohsein Azmodeh - journalist at Mehr news agency
· 14 June 2009 - Ahmad Zeydabadi
· 14 June 2009 - Omid Salimi - Photojournalist
· 13 June 2009 - Kivan Samimi Behbani
· 26 April 2009 - Sajad Khaksari - Ghalameh Moalem magazine
· 18 November 2008 - Bahman Totonchi - Karfto
· 1 July 2007 - Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand - Payameh Mardomeh Kurdestan
· 25 Januray 2007 - Adnan Hassanpour – Aso
Dear Fellow Journalists:
We are writing to those of you who have been invited to go to Iran in February 2010 to provide media coverage of the celebrations of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. We are a group of Iranian journalists who have been forced to live in exile. There are many others like us around the world, 45 of whom will be in Iranian prisons when you arrive in Tehran. They will be under torturous conditions in Iranian prisons that are, as you know, among the most hideous in the world.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
As imprisoned or exiled journalists, our crime is nothing other than our desire to report freely on events in Iran, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides.
Since the electoral coup that took place in Iran last summer, the Iranian regime has intensified its suppression of press freedom and has also strived to suppress the country’s peaceful movement through sophisticated oppressive means.
After failing for eight months to achieve its goals, the illegal and fraudulent government has now prepared a new show. We have received precise information that Ahmadinejad’s electoral coup-perpetrated administration is busy preparing to muster its own crowd in Tehran through the use of all possible means and the government’s extensive resources.
Its plan is, on the one hand, to prevent the pro-green million-strong group from approaching the location of the celebrations in Tehran's Azadi Square, where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to give a speech, and on the other, to fill this area with pro-government demonstrators.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Inviting foreign journalists to provide media coverage of the anniversary of the 1979 revolution on February 11, 2010 is another part of the deceitful plan of Ahmadinejad’s illegal administration. As you know, this government has until now arrested many foreign journalists and accused them of being spies while banning the activities of most international media. Now, it is using them, through its invitation, so they can show the world that it is a government that enjoys popular support.
The goal of the Iranian government is to direct journalists towards the pro-government demonstrations and prevent them from going to other locales.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
You are going to Iran not only as media representatives of the free world, but also as representatives of your Iranian fellow journalists who are either in prison or in exile outside Iran. Your host is a government that is against freedom, against free media, and one that violates the most basic human rights of people.
You will be stepping onto streets that still bear the blood of Iran’s best and the brightest. You must have seen the film that shows how Neda Agha Soltan was murdered. This young woman is a symbol and representative of those who have been arrested, raped, tortured and murdered by Iran’s coup administration. While Neda and others like her were killed on the streets, there are hundreds of others who have been raped, tortured and murdered in dungeons, prisons or unknown places by this government.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
We are providing you the names of Iranian journalists who are now in prison (below), based on the list prepared by Reporters Without Borders, and we request that you search for them and find them. Ask them and their prison wardens why they are in prison.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
As you go to our country that is under a dictatorship, we ask that you not to be duped by the schemes of those who murder freedom.
We draw your attention to these points:
· Demonstrations will begin on the night of February 10. The cries of 'Allaho Akbar' that will fill the night in Iranian towns will be the cries of people’s protests and the start of the million-strong marh of green Iranians who will fill the streets at the invitation of Mohammad Khatami, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
· The main march will start from Enghelab street in east Tehran, go through Imam Hossein Square, and end at Azadi Square in west Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has already made plans to close the streets leading to Enghelab street and to crack down on people in order to prevent them from taking to these streets. The Green Movement should be visible around this route and all over Tehran and not only on the routes that pro-government demonstrators will be provided.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Like on other similar occasions, the coup government will attempt to control all the routes so that the only people that will come in view of your cameras will be the Basijis, who will present a caricature of the Iranian nation for your television cameras.
You will hear the protesting voice of the Iranian people clearer than ever if you look beyond the fences, cordons, and barriers and look at the real people of Iran.
Dear Fellow Journalists:
We are confident that you will push aside the bloody hands of the coup perpetrators and that you will shake the hands of the suffering people of Iran. You are going on a historic trip. We will see you off with our hearts filled with dreams of freedom and eyes filled with tears.
We hope that the world's headline on February 12, 2010 will recount “The Victory of a Nation.”
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Do not be fooled by the deceptions of your hosts, look at everything that is worth looking at, expose their shows, and listen to the true calls of the Iranian people. And on this historic trip relay and report the innocence of the Iranian people. This is the request of your suffering fellow journalists.
Parnaz Azima (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter arrested in Iran in 2007), Samnak Aghai,
Houshang Asadi (Imprisoned and tortured by the Islamic regime for six years, 1981 to 1987), Nooshabeh Amiri (Rooz Online reporter), Asieh Amini (Her reports on covert stonings carried out by the Islamic Republic led to a campaign against this barbarous capital punishment. She is a tireless activist against the death penalty), Farahmand Alipour (Rouz Online reporter), Shabnam Aza, Fariba Amini (Amini is a writer and human rights activist. She was instrumental in the formation of the Alliance for Defense of Human Rights in Iran and was the editor of its bi-weekly newsletter. Daughter of Nosratollah Amini, Mohammad Mossadegh's personal attorney), Maryam Aghvami (Reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and VOA), Nima Amin, Massoud Behnoud (One of the founders of Adineh magazine and Jameh daily, both of which have been closed down by the Islamic regime. He spent 6 months in prison, some of the period in solitary confinement), Arash Bahmani, Maziar Bahari (Newsweek correspondent, arrested and jailed after the disputed June 12 election), Babak Dad (Dissident journalist and blogger, who spent months in hiding before recently escaping from Iran), Farzaneh Bazrpour, Hadi Ebrahimi (Editor of Sharvand magazine), Pouyan Fakhrai, Farshid Faryabi, Fereshteh Ghazi (Rouz Online reporter), Maryam Ghavami (Ziba Foundation, art for humanity), Saghi Ghahraman (Escaped from Iran in 1982. She now resides in Toronto where she works with PEN Canada’s Exiled Writer program, and is on the board of editors for Descan, a literary magazine in Canada), Massoud Ghoraishi, Arash Ghafouri, Manouchehr Honarmand (Editor of Khandaniha), Linda Hosseininejad, Vahid Jahanzadeh, Nikahang Kowsar (Caricaturist and journalist, arrested in 2000 for a cartoon that he drew.), Malihe Mohamadi, Javad Montazeri (Photojournalist), Roozbeh Mirebrahimi (Journalist for a number of dailies including Etemadeh Melli and Shargh), Mehdi Mohseni (Jomhour blogger), Searajedin Mirdamadi, Hanif Mazroui (Journalist for Vaghayeh Etefaghi. Jailed in 2004), Ebrahim Nabavi (Satirist and journalist, jailed twice), Javad Moghimi (Former Fars News photojournalist, escaped Iran after some of the photos he covertly gave to foreign media appeared on the front pages of prominent magazines and newspapers, including Time Magazine), Alireza Noorizadeh (Veteran journalist and analyst), Nahid Pilvar, Shahram Rafizadeh (Jailed in 2004), Bahram Rafizadeh, Saman Rasoolpoor (Human rights activist and journalist, jailed in 2008), Khosrow Raesi, Ferydon Shaibani, Mohamad Sefriyan, Beniamin Sadr, Vida Same, Mohamad Tajdolati (Journalist Radio Zamaneh), Hamed Yousefi…
For more information:
Roozirani@yahoo.com
TELEPHONE:
France : Nooshabeh Amiri : 0033-674307842
England: Alireza Vorizade :0044- 7717400500
Canada : Nikahnag Kowsar : 001-6478341348
USA : Omid Memarian : 001-510 6379590
Netherlands : Afshin Ellian :0031- 613316819
Germany: Babak Sina :0049-17622622512
Non-exhaustive list of Iranian journalists who are now in prison
· 11 February 2010 – Nooshin Jafari- Etemad
· 11 February 2010 – Mazeyar Samii – journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Ali Mohammad Eslampoor- journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Sahar Ghasen-Nejad – journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Nazanin Hassan-neya- journalist
· 11 February 2010 – Kaveh Ghasmi Kermanshahi- journalist
· 11 February 2010- Alireza Saghafi - journalist
· 5 January 2010 - Kivan Farzin - Farhangeh Ahang
· 5 January 2010 - Behrangh Tonkaboni - Farhangeh Ahang
· 2 January 2010 - Mohammad Sadegh Javadihessar - Editorialist in banned Etemad Melli newspaper
· 2 January 2010 - Mahssa Hekmat - Journalist in banned Etemad Melli newspaper
· 2 January 2010 - Ali Hekmat - Member of the committee for freedom of the press
· 2 January 2010 - Rozbeh Karimi - Shargh and Kargozaran dailies
· 28 December 2009 - Emaddedine Baghi - Journalist and emblematic human rights activist
· 28 December 2009 - Abdolreza Tajik - Journalist at Farhikhteghan daily
· 28 December 2009 - Mostafa Izadi - Etemadeh Melli newspaper
· 28 December 2009 - Mortaza Kazemian - Journalist for several reformist newspapers
· 28 December 2009 - Badrolsadat Mofidi, - Secretary-general of the journalists' association
· 28 December 2009 - Kivan Mehrgan, - Journalist at Etemad newspaper
· 28 December 2009 - Nassrin Vaziri - Journalist at ILNA
· 28 December 2009 - Mashaollah Shamsolvaezin - Spokesman of the journalists' association and the committee for press freedom.
· 27 December 2009 - Reza Al-Bacha - Dubai TV
· 27 December 2009 - Mohammad Javad Saberi - Journalist
· 20 December 2009 - Mohammad Norizad - Journalist and editor of the blog http://mohammadnurizad.blogfa.com/
· 22 November 2009 - Sasan Aghaei - Journalist at Farhikhteghan daily
· 4 August 2009 - Reza Norbakhsh - Editor-in-chief of Farhikhteghan daily
· 31 July 2009 - Mehdi Hossinzadeh - Journalist
· 4 July 2009 - Masoud Bastani - Editor
· 4 July 2009 - Issa Saharkhiz - Journalist
· 26 June 2009 - Reza Rafiee Foroshani - Freelance journalist
· 20 June 2009 - Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee
· 17 June 2009 - Saide Lylaz - Sarmayeh newspaper
· 16 June 2009 - Mohsein Azmodeh - journalist at Mehr news agency
· 14 June 2009 - Ahmad Zeydabadi
· 14 June 2009 - Omid Salimi - Photojournalist
· 13 June 2009 - Kivan Samimi Behbani
· 26 April 2009 - Sajad Khaksari - Ghalameh Moalem magazine
· 18 November 2008 - Bahman Totonchi - Karfto
· 1 July 2007 - Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand - Payameh Mardomeh Kurdestan
· 25 Januray 2007 - Adnan Hassanpour – Aso
Iranians protest around Europe
Demonstrators kept up the pressure in the lead-up to mass protests against the regime on February 11.
Copenhagen, Denmark - Sunday, 7 February 2010
Regime diplomat gets egg on his head...
Paris, France - Sunday, 7 February 2010
A large procession through the capital...
Toronto, Canada - Sunday, 7 February 2010
'Our nation's slogan: separate religion from politics...'
London, UK - Friday, 5 February 2010
Protesters disrupt IRI embassy cultural center seminar on 'The Islamic Revolution: a Model for Anti-Tyrannical Resistance.' Security head at door denies protesters were killed and says everything is quite dandy in Iran. 'Why have you stayed in London for 40 years, then?' asks a protester.
Vienna, Austria - Friday, 5 February 2010
Guests arrive for a regime-organized dinner at the Imam Ali mosque marking the start of ten days of celebrations for the anniversary of the revolution. Protesters kindly provided them with a sound system across the street...
Copenhagen, Denmark - Sunday, 7 February 2010
Regime diplomat gets egg on his head...
Paris, France - Sunday, 7 February 2010
A large procession through the capital...
Toronto, Canada - Sunday, 7 February 2010
'Our nation's slogan: separate religion from politics...'
London, UK - Friday, 5 February 2010
Protesters disrupt IRI embassy cultural center seminar on 'The Islamic Revolution: a Model for Anti-Tyrannical Resistance.' Security head at door denies protesters were killed and says everything is quite dandy in Iran. 'Why have you stayed in London for 40 years, then?' asks a protester.
Vienna, Austria - Friday, 5 February 2010
Guests arrive for a regime-organized dinner at the Imam Ali mosque marking the start of ten days of celebrations for the anniversary of the revolution. Protesters kindly provided them with a sound system across the street...
Monday, February 1, 2010
Iranian ambassador scuffles with French police as his garden party is disrupted
A few dozen green protesters managed to disrupt the Iranian ambassador's garden party in the village of Neauphle-le-Château, west of Paris on Sunday.
Ambassador Seyed Mehdi Mir-Aboutalebi lost his diplomatic poise and charged the protesters who were peacefully standing on the other side of the street and chanting slogans. He was forcefully reined in by the police, as he was in a country other than Iran. A young man, identified by the protesters as the son of an Islamic Republic diplomat, was pinned to the ground and handcuffed. He was released minutes later and silently returned to the compound.
The garden party was part of the anniversary celebrations of the Islamic revolution which officially begin today, February 1. For the past thirty years, the regime has organized commemorations and ceremonies spread across what is known as the Ten Days of Dawn (NB daheyeh fajr). The events lead up to official demonstrations on February 11, the day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in 1979. The opposition has announced its intention to infiltrate official events and protest the regime during the ten-day period, especially on February 11.
View Khomeini's house - Neauphle-le-Château in a larger map
The house in which Khomeini resided was torn down years ago, however the Islamic Republic's embassy in Paris organized a luncheon under a tent erected in the property's garden on Sunday. Members of the Paris-based Independent Committee Against the Repression of Iranian Citizens gathered on the sidewalk across the street, holding signs and large photographs of some of the demonstrators who have been killed in Iran. A team from the '20:30' news program on the Islamic Republic's radio-television was also present, but stayed inside the tent. The following is footage of what transpired (NB Go to 1:00 mark to skip the text):
A protester approached the garden gate and told a young man inside, 'You, as a young man, should join the people.' The youth reponded, 'You're not the people.' As the young man walked back towards the tent, the protester said, 'You're my brother. I have no enmity towards you.'
Meanwhile, a caterer's truck was being unloaded next to the house. The letters on the side of the vehicle read 'Emami Tea Paris,' an import-export company and caterer based in Genevilliers, outside of Paris. The Islamic Republic's Paris embassy often calls upon this company's catering services. 'Emami Tea, lackey of the coup plotters,' the protesters shouted (2:30 mark).
The gendarmerie arrived shortly afterwards and one demonstrator took the opportunity to give a police officer a photo of Sohrab Aarabi, 19, who was killed during the post-election unrest. 'Is that him?' the gendarme asked as he took the photo and looked closely at Sohrab's face. 'That's him, sitting next to his mother,' said the green protester. 'The photo was taken the day he was killed.' The gendarme nodded and pocketed the picture.
The group chanted, 'Honorable diplomat, come towards the nation!'
Another demonstrator held up an Iranian flag, the word Iran written boldly in the white band along the middle instead of the Islamic Republic's 'Allah' device. He was less conciliatory as he shouted, 'You criminal lackeys! You'll have to answer to the people some day! Come to this side while you still have time.'
'For 12 years, we've asked for reforms. We're not overthrowers. We're neither MKO, nor monarchist,' called one of the organizers of the protest to an embassy staff member wearing shades. 'Did you kill the kids in the streets because their demands were irrational?' The embassy man's response: 'In any case, some people have to be thinkers.'
As the protesters grew more vocal and demanded that the killings come to an end, the embassy staff member began chanting, 'English lackeys, shame on you!' He was met with laughter, even shared by a man standing next to him, and he stopped his hackneyed tirade as the demonstrators responded with 'Russian lackey!'
Another embassy member called the demonstrators 'sons of whores' from behind the garden fence, but his insult did not particularly faze the greens.
The situation degraded after the arrival of a coach bearing guests. The police officers quickly stationed themselves between the protesters and the passengers descending from the bus. The demonstrators called out 'Death to the dictator' and police had to restrain a man who apparently did not appreciate the words. The police tried to keep the guests moving, but some individuals found the chanting intolerable and would not budge.
Ambassador Mir-Aboutalebi, wearing a light gray jacket and dark pants, came out of the garden gate to greet the guests (NB 5:41 mark). The embassy staff member with shades came next to the bus and listlessly waved his arm in the air and voiced some inaudible counter-slogans as the passengers got off and filed past him. Mir-Aboutalebi began haranguing the gendarmes (NB 6:23 mark), although he cannot be seen very clearly behind the line of officers. He furiously pointed his finger and flailed his arms, but the gendarmes remained nonplussed (NB 6:39 mark).
'Your celebration's been spoiled,' taunted a protester. A young man behind the garden fence hurled projectiles at the protesters (NB 8:57 and 9:05 marks). 'He's throwing rocks,' a woman can be heard on the video. The greens remained calm and stayed on the sidewalk across the street. The young man who had been held by the police was released and he walked back into the garden. The protesters left shortly afterward.
Relations between the Islamic Republic and the French authorities have been strained since President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner unequivocally denounced the regime's crackdown. The arrest of French lecturer Clothilde Reiss and her prosecution in the infamous Tehran show trials has compounded the situation.
But Mir-Aboutalebi, who took up his post in 2008, has had a run-in with the French police which is not linked to the post-election unrest. In mid-November, an embassy staff member decided, for reasons which have yet to be elucidated, to file a complaint for financial misconduct at the local police station without going through the usual foreign ministry channels. This diplomat allegedly told the police that a large sum of money was missing from the embassy bank account which contains payments for visas, according to one newspaper report. The French bank where the account is kept had notified the embassy in early November that 'several hundred' bank transfers of less than €1,000 had been made from that account to an offshore account. The money had then been moved back to a French bank account held by two embassy staff members. The investigation was led by the fraud division of the French police. Ambassador Mir-Aboutalebi was reportedly enraged that the senior Iranian diplomat had filed a complaint and the case has been stalled due to the embassy's lack of cooperation.
Mir-Aboutalebi, 57, initially a civil engineer and businessman, entered the diplomatic corps rather late in his career. According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, he obtained his engineering degree from 'Columbia University, Missouri, America,' a strange way to refer to the University of Missouri, which is based in the town of Columbia.
Perhaps Columbia University has a nicer ring to it.
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