Regime's propagandist welcomed by two German television network presidents

Ezatollah Zarghami

Earlier this week, the head of the Islamic Republic's radio-television broadcaster (IRIB), Ezatollah Zarghami, canceled his trip to the Netherlands where he was to have met with Dutch network heads. The official reason was that he had conflicts in his schedule, but perhaps protests planned by opponents of the regime which could have embarrassed Zarghami during his photo ops also played a part in the cancellation.

So where does the top media executive of a pariah regime have to go to get some love in Europe?

Germany, it seems, where Zarghami was welcomed by not one, but two network presidents in Mainz yesterday, Friday, July 9, 2010. Islamic Republic TV cameras were present to film Zarghami's meeting with ARD chairman Peter Boudgoust and ZDF director-general Markus Schächter:

Peter Boudgoust

'In a friendly meeting with Mr. Zarghami, ARD chief Peter Boudgoust expressed satisfaction with the encounter and said, "We would like to increase our cooperation with [IRIB] by collaborating on all facets of program production and exchanges,"' IRIB journalist Jafar Azizi gushed. Boudgoust also asked Zarghami to help ARD set up an office for its radio operations in Tehran, according to the segment.

'Schächter, the head of the ZDF network, welcomed a close relationship with IRIB and said, "We seek to pave the way for cooperation in all fields of radio and television with Iran,"' IRIB's correspondent said in the report. 'In an official letter, ZDF's president requested the establishment of a representative office in Tehran.'

Markus Schächter

At a time when major German companies such as Siemens and Mercedes are pulling out of the Islamic Republic, the cozy meeting and the statements attributed to the heads of the media outlets, which happen to be public-service networks, are bizarre.

A beaming Zarghami said, 'ZDF and IRIB are two powerful organizations which can engage in extremely worthy cooperation in the field of media. The people of Iran and Germany will be able to see the results.' I'm sure they will.

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In order to congratulate these two pioneering German media executives on their spirit of entrepreneurship:

Peter Boudgoust
ARD chairman
ARD
Neckarstraße 230
70 190 Stuttgart
Telephone: +49-7 11-92 90
Fax: +49-7 11-9 29 2600
Press office: Harald Dietz
ARD contact page

Markus Schächter
Director-General
ZDF Enterprises GmbH
Erich-Dombrowski-Str. 1
D-55127 Mainz
Tel. +49 (0) 6131-991-0
Fax +49 (0) 6131-991-1552
ZDF contact page

Regime's populist riposte to bazaar strike: 'Merchants sell rugs adorned with pictures of Angelina Jolie and half-naked women'

Following three days of strikes in Tehran's Bazaar over increased taxes on tradesmen, a semi-official news site launched an attack on rug merchants because they allegedly sell decorative carpets with pictures of female movie stars and bare women in an article posted on Thursday, July 8, 2010. (The photos of the 'offensive rugs' are courtesy of Jahan News)

The regime has long depended on the support of the bazaar and the current unrest which was triggered by reports of a 70% tax hike and has spread to at least two other cities, Tabriz and Khorramshahr, has provoked concern in the government. Rug merchants, along with gold, home appliance, shoe and textile traders, have played a central role in organizing the strikes.

Yesterday, Jahan News, widely considered to be a mouthpiece for the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), published a report entitled 'Angelina Jolie and half-naked women instead of traditional rug designs.'

The author of the piece bemoaned the fact that in most stores in Tehran's rug bazaar 'there were wall carpets bearing half-bare women and girls, and the faces of [Indian superstar] Aishwarya Rai, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, and some Iranian actresses were more prominently displayed than [traditional rug designs].' But there were more sinister signs of moral decay, according to Jahan News. 'Regretfully, master rug weavers, who in the old days would not sit before their looms before performing ablution, now weave pictures of skulls and swastikas of Satanist groups into Iranian carpets. And even more regretfully, the bulk of rug traders' orders to weavers consists of vulgar pictures of women in various poses.'

Jahan News did not publish any photos of rugs with Hollywood stars or Satanic symbols in its article.

While one merchant told the reporter that he was merely following the shifting tastes of customers -- 'People aren't willing to pay anything for a picture of a vase full of flowers any more.' -- Jahan News pointed an accusatory finger at rug merchants. 'The main culprits are the leading rug traders and merchants who order such carpets in large numbers,' Jahan quoted an anonymous weaver and designer.

Jahan News expressed anger at an alleged CD of designs that rug traders gave to weavers. The CD, according to Jahan, contains designs of Koranic verses and holy cities such as Mecca and Medina along with 'designs of bare women and girls and famous vulgar Bollywood and Hollywood actresses.' Perhaps a digital curtain should have been placed between the sacred and the 'vulgar.'

The editors of the Jahan site took this opportunity to take a jab at the Cultural Heritage Organization. Though the organization is not mentioned in the piece, the title of the post was preceded by the line 'The Cultural Heritage Organization is asleep.'

Rahim Mashai

The CHO was formerly headed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief-of-staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, who was in charge of the arts at Tehran's City Hall when Ahmadinejad was mayor. Rahim Mashai, not a choirboy himself, has been the focus of attacks by some regime hardliners, including portions of the IRGC, and anti-Ahmadinejad Principlists (The reasons for and history of this enmity are too convoluted to explain in this short post). Last year, a majority of Majlis representatives managed to block Ahmadinejad's efforts to name Rahim Mashai first vice-president. Ahmadinejad subsequently made him his chief-of-staff.

Hamid Bahjai

Rahim Mashai was often faulted for his lack of cultural and historical knowledge. He was replaced at the CHO by one of his proteges, Hamid Baghai, who is an IT specialist and whose main qualification for the post appears to have been his close relationship with Rahim Mashai.

Majlis deputies acclaim Khamenei more loudly than the Prophet Muhammed

A video posted by Jonbesheh Raheh Sabz on Thursday, June 1, 2010, allegedly shows Principlist Majlis representatives mumbling a prayer after the Prophet Muhammed is mentioned at the start of a speech, but enthusiastically acclaiming Leader Ali Khamenei when Speaker Ali Larijani utters his name a few minutes later...



Conservatives who seek a return to the founding principles of the revolution are called Principlists. Though they form one parliamentary group, they have splintered into smaller factions, most notably those who are pro-Ahmadinejad and those who support Larijani. The group as a whole has been accused of deifying Khamenei as the surrogate of the Mahdi, the messiah of Shiites.

Taking Tehran’s Temperature: One Year On

On June 8, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace organized a fascinating round table on the situation in Iran a year after the fateful and disputed presidential election of last summer. National Public Radio's Steve Inskeep moderated the discussion between Abbas Milani of Stanford University, Gary Sick of Columbia University, and Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour:

'Long live a free Iran!': Paris mayor calls for Iranian democracy on the eve of June 12

Painting the Iranian people's struggle for freedom with the broad brushstrokes of history, popular Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë invoked his own city's tumultuous battles for liberty minutes before he made Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi an honorary citizen on Thursday, June 10, 2010 (video at the end of this report).

'At this particular moment in time, June 10, I would like to tell all Iranians if they are able to hear me, Paris stands alongside you. The Paris of the French Revolution, the Paris which with its people and its allies overcame Nazism at the liberation of this city on August 25, 1944,' said Delanoë, a senior Socialist leader and national figure. 'In exactly eight days, we will commemorate General de Gaulle's call for resistance, dignity, and love for the homeland, which unified, by the way, all religions, cultures, origins, and even all political opinions. The struggle of Iranians today is simply a struggle for Iran. It is a struggle for the greatness and nobility of this people.'

The press and guests had been called to Paris's city hall to attend a ceremony in honor of Shirin Ebadi. It was the third time the Iranian lawyer and human  rights activist had been officially welcomed by Delanoë. Hundreds of guests and dozens of television, radio, and print journalists attended the event.

'By bestowing honorary citizenship of the city of Paris on you, I would like to offer our support to you -- for who you are -- and beyond that to the Iranian people. When I say that I would like to proffer the support of Paris to the Iranian people, I am not speaking of politics in the partisan sense of the word. I am not speaking of this or that candidate. I am speaking of the Iranian people in all their diversity, who have the right to live upright, free to express their beliefs as masters of their own destiny.'

In her acceptance speech, Ebadi recalled the events of a year ago, when millions took to the streets of Tehran and were countered with unabated state violence. 'They expressed their opposition peacefully, based on a right enshrined in the constitution,' Ebadi reminded the audience. 'The only response they obtained was bullets and violence. Over 70 people were killed and thousands were jailed. Some died under torture and others testified that they had been raped in prison.'

And of the regime's hypocritical and cynical release of some political prisoners, the Nobel peace laureate said, 'Some prisoners have been released temporarily, after having paid astronomical bails. The threat of extremely long prison sentences still hangs over them and there are still many detainees who have no access to due judicial process.'

Asked by a blogger after the ceremony how the cyber community can help prisoners of conscience, Ebadi responded, 'Tell the world what they are doing to the Iranian people.'

Ebadi shared the stage with representatives of Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation for Human Rights, who have launched a joint campaign for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Iran. Before the ceremony, the groups distributed leaflets bearing the names of 40 Iranian journalists currently in prison -- from Emadeddine Baghi to Ahmad Zeidabadi -- and recounting the Islamic regime's sorry record over the past year. The web site created by the two organizations contains a petition, naturally open to the general public, which has already been signed by dozens of artists, writers, and activists. 

To date, the mayor of Paris is the only political leader to have signed the petition which demands the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners held by the Islamic Republic. Delanoë has been a staunch supporter of the Iranian democratic movement from the start.

The day after the ceremony with Shirin Ebadi, Bertrand Delanoë published a virulent post on his blog entitled 'Long Live a Free Iran.' I invite readers to visit this page and leave a message of appreciation for this true friend of the Iranian people.

'Today, the intense hope for the future has not abated and the desire for freedom still inflames this proud people who aspire to live upright,' wrote Delanoë. 'Do we understand the extent of the courage these women and men exhibit by defying such a regime? In one year, 23 newspapers have been banned, opposition web sites have been blocked. Dozens of protesters have been arrested and torture appears to have become a sinister norm. On May 9, five political prisoners were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison.'

'Meanwhile, Iran, the one and only, the true Iran has risen up to express its yearning to live free. This is the Iran I would like to address today,' continued the Paris mayor on his personal blog.

And who represent the face of this free Iran? After mentioning Ebadi, Delanoë added, 'It has the face of filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who could not break his chains in time to attend the Cannes film festival and whose empty chair we will never forget. It has the face of poet Simin Behbahani, who was supposed to come to Paris at my invitation to attend International Women's Day on March 8, and who was informed by border police that she had been subjected to a travel ban as she tried to go through Tehran airport. It bears the faces of those young men who defied an order which pretends to be immutable and demonstrated with a veil over their heads, while young women marched with their heads uncovered. It has the face of Ahmad Zeidabadi, Shiva Nazar Ahari, and all prisoners of opinion who have committed no other crime than to want to think, speak, and write freely. It has, alas, the face of those who have left us: Neda, Taraneh, Sohrab, those victims of a security force which is becoming all-powerful as the regime falls increasingly into impotence.'

'To all of them, I wish to express my admiration and affection. And from Paris, on the anniversary of the start of their revolt, we join them in their struggle and their hopes, to cry out alongside them: Long live a free Iran!' concluded Delanoë.   

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Further information

Bertrand Delanoë's latest post on Iran: 'Long Live a Free Iran!' (and a previous post on Iran)
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Joint campaign for the release of prisoners of conscience in Iran

Video of the Shirin Ebadi ceremony at Paris's city hall, June 10, 2010