'Who's on first?': Ahmadinejad-Chavez press conference turns into farce

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, self-professed religious millenarian, and Hugo Chavez, Socialist atheist, share a few moments of confusion as they try to sort out the difference between Imam Mahdi, the 12th Imam and Messiah of Shiites, and Imam Reza, the 8th Imam who is buried in the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran. Ahmadinejad invited Chavez to come on a pilgrimage to Mashhad.

The rest, as they say, is comedic history...



(For those unfamiliar with the 'Who's on first?' reference, click here)

Dead protester's mother wants answers: Sohrab Aarabi's mother Parvin Fahimi says she cannot remain silent

A dead protester's mother says in a videotaped statement that she is still haunted by key questions more than four months after her son was killed. (video and translation at the end of this report)

Sohrab Aarabi disappeared on June 15, 2009, a particularly deadly day for protesters in the streets of Tehran. He was 19. His mother Parvin Fahimi sought him for 26 agonizing days, before the authorities told her to retrieve his body at the morgue on July 11.

(The following video provides a summary of Sohrab Aarabi's story)


Fahimi has called for the killer of her son to be identified and brought to justice, but her latest statement shows that the authorities have denied her even the most elementary information.

'I want to know where he died. No one has answered this question yet,' Fahimi says in the new video. 'Was he killed in prison? Was he killed on the streets?'

The exact circumstances and time of Sohrab's death have never been revealed by the Islamic regime, although tantalizing clues and facts have emerged. One crucial document is the coroner's report which indicates that Sohrab's body was delivered to the morgue on June 19. The identity or function of the individuals who brought the body to the morgue were not given.

'If he was killed on June 15, where was he during those four days?' Fahimi asks.

In the months following Sohrab's death, the 53-year-old mother's determination to obtain the truth and her refusal to be cowed into silence have turned her into an iconic figure of the opposition. She has participated in mass rallies and given numerous interviews, particularly to the foreign Farsi-language outlets which are anathema to the regime.

The following footage shows her during the Ghods Day protests on September 18. The crowd around her takes up the chant, 'Sohrab has not died. It is the government that is dead.'


In early October, she told the Voice of America that Sohrab had been shot from a distance of 'three to 15 meters by a Kalashnikov,' according to information garnered by her lawyer.

'His arms were lowered. They shot him in such a way that the bullet broke his left arm, passed under his heart, and punctured his lung. But it is unclear whether they took him to a hospital or not,' she told Radio Farda around the same time.

Asked whether she now thought that her son had died in vain, she responded, 'No. He went out for his beliefs and these children will always live on.' (For videos and report on those interviews, go here)

---

Fahimi's latest statement:


Parvin Fahimi:
A key question for me is, Where was Sohrab killed? And no one has responded to this question yet. I want to know where Sohrab was killed. Was he killed in prison? Was he killed in the street? And where was he during those few days? Especially those four days. In the coroner's letter, they wrote that he was delivered on June 19. Where was he during those four days? If he was killed on June 15, where was my child during those four days? Did they take care of him or did they not? What did my child ask for, what did he say? They haven't given back his personal belongings. None of his personal belongings have been returned. One of our friends dreamt that Sohrab was looking for his shoes. These things hurt me, pain me. I can't remain silent.

News briefs - Friday 20 November 2009

• The Islamic regime has vowed that 7 million Basijis will rally on Friday, November 27, 2009, on the occasion of Basij Week. No official routes have been announced for the day's marches. This follows reports that over 30,000 Basij militiamen were bused into Tehran and paid 400,000 toumans each to counter anti-regime protesters on November 4. This plan was allegedly hatched by the new commander of the Basij, IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, and cost $14 million.
  
  
• Some mobile telephone owners have been randomly receiving SMS messages warning them to stay away from political demonstrations, according to Tabnak news site, close to former Revolutionary Guards commander and presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaee. Such messages were also dispatched prior to the November 4 protest rallies across the country. The regime appears concerned by opposition plans to organize mass rallies on December 7. The text of the latest message: 'You have been identified as a participant in post-election gatherings and must refrain from such participation from now on.' One such message landed on the mobile telephone of a bakery worker in Khuzestan province. The man told Tabnak's reporter, 'I haven't been to Tehran in years.'
  
  
Mohseni Ejei
• And if you missed the SMS message, Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei voiced his own warning about December 7 at a press conference yesterday. 'The judiciary is determined to firmly deal with any new unrest on the part of those protesting the results of the presidential election,' Mohseni Ejei said. 'Any action that disturbs the regime will be confronted without any restraint and no excuse will be acceptable.'
  
  
• Rooz news site has obtained email correspondence between deceased Kahrizak witness Ramin Pourandarjani and two of his friends days before his suspicious death. Pourandarjani reportedly told one of his friends that he had met with two intelligence agents from Leader Ali Khamenei's office. The men had asked the young doctor to reveal everything he knew about the Kahrizak atrocities for a report that they were preparing for Khamenei. A day later, Pourandarjani had started receiving telephone threats. Several days later, he was summoned by the judiciary once again.
  
  
• Amir Ali Soltan, a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi's presidential campaign staff, was arrested yesterday.
  
  
• Two Shiraz University students were arrested on Tuesday with the complicity of university officials. Neda Eskandari and Khadijeh Ghahremani had been summoned before the university's disciplinary committee for having participated in the November 4 protest rallies. They were arrested by intelligence agents when they arrived for the committee hearing.
  
  

• The Supreme Audit Court reported to the energy committee of the Majlis that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government had failed to transfer $1 billion in revenue from gas and oil sales to the country's treasury. The sum was to have been transferred by the Oil Ministry. Instead of demanding answers from the government, 65 legislators have responded with a bill limiting the Audit Court's powers and its ability to communicate information.
  

The Iran Problem: Hoover Institution discussion with Robert Baer and Victor Hanson

On October 20, 2009, former CIA case officer Robert Baer and war historian Victor Hanson sat down with the Hoover Institution's Peter Robinson for an episode of Uncommon Knowledge starkly titled 'The Iran Problem.' The program revolved around recent events in Iran, the country's nuclear program, and possible outcomes of the nuclear crisis.

The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, one of the preeminent think tanks in the United States, is based at Stanford University.

The program's inclusion in this bog should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement. I find some assertions by the participants to be questionable.

Baer's latest book, 'The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower,' was published in 2008.

'Eternal is the one whose heart has awakened to love...': Dead Kahrizak witness's speech at graduation ceremony

Ramin Pourandarjani, a medical doctor who worked at the notorious Kahrizak detention center died under suspicious circumstances at the age of 26 on Tuesday, November 10, according to Iranian media reports. He had been called as a witness before the special committee investigating the abuse and deaths of post-election protesters and had refused to validate the regime's attempts to whitewash the atrocities. (For a report on Pourandarjani's death, updated at 12:00 PM GMT, Tuesday, 17 November 2009, go here)

A new video posted on the Internet shows Pourandarjani giving a speech at his medical school's graduation ceremony last year. His youthful idealism and words of farewell take on a new poignant meaning, given his untimely death. A translation of his speech follows the video.

Rest in peace.



Ramin Pourandarjani:

In the name of God. Greetings.

I'm speaking on behalf of all the friends (NB Pourandarjani uses the word bacheha, literally 'kids,' which is a term of endearment referring to friends and peers.) who are present here today to celebrate their graduation in the company of their families, friends, and professors.

I must start by welcoming our dear guests. I begin with our inestimable professors who have gone to the trouble of coming to this celebration where, as a result of their hard work, we will spread our wings and take flight for the first time. Their presence strengthens our hearts. We kiss your hands and will forever cherish your efforts.

Next, I would like to welcome our honorable mothers and fathers who have gone to the trouble of coming here from Tabriz and other parts of Iran. (NB Pourandarjani was buried in Tabriz on Thursday, November 12) We cannot repay you for your efforts. We only hope that we will bring you pride and not shame.

My next remarks are directed at the kids. Kids, seven years have gone by, more or less. We have shared many, many memories over the course of these seven years, some bitter, some sweet. Memories that are perhaps difficult to understand for someone who has not been a medical student. From running in the hallways to delay a biochemistry exam, to the exhausting shifts in the emergency rooms. We've had so many memories.

And now the day of farewell has arrived. Farewell is a bitter word, but we've come together to bid each other a sweet goodbye.

Kids, the emergency room shifts were tough, the shifts as interns were tough. We were sometimes so exhausted. We used to chat with each other. One of the kids said, What did we get ourselves into? And then a long debate would be launched, at the end of which we would reach the conclusion that if we turned back the clocks a thousand times, we would still make the same choice that we made seven years ago.

Kids, we are the heirs of great individuals. Men such as Rhazes, Hippocrates, Avicenna, and Hakim Jorjani. From the start of human history, a great and sacred spirit has been passed down through these celebrated figures to us, in the form of our white coats. Our professors, who are present here, awakened this spirit in our hearts.

And kids, we are here today to say that we will continue on our path, with love.

O wine-bearer brighten my cup with the wine,
O minstrel say good fortune is now mine.
The face of my Beloved is reflected in my cup,
Little you know why with wine, I always myself align.
Eternal is the one whose heart has awakened to Love,
This is how Eternal Records my life define.

(NB The start of ghazal number 11, by the beloved Hafez, 1315-1390. Translation courtesy of Shahriar Shahriari.)