A medical doctor who worked at the notorious Kahrizak detention center died in his sleep at the age of 26 on Tuesday, November 10, according to Iranian media reports.
Ramin Pourandarjani was fulfilling his military service obligations by serving as a physician for Greater Tehran's police force at the Kahrizak detention center prior to his death. Peyke Iran published what it claimed was Pourandarjani's Facebook photo.
Pourandarjani had been called as a witness before the special committee investigating the abuse and deaths of post-election protesters.
The exact cause of his death is in dispute. Norooz initially reported that Pourandarjani had taken his own life, but on Sunday Roshangari news site published a story at odds with the suicide scenario.
According to Roshangari, Dr. Pourandarjani passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at the dormitory of the police health services building in Tehran. His family was informed that the cause of death was a heart attack.
The atrocities committed against jailed protesters at Kahrizak detention center were so egregious that Leader Ali Khamenei had to order its closure in late July. It is unclear whether the makeshift prison has been shut down or not.
Pourandarjani had examined several abuse victims at Kahrizak, including Mohsen Rouholamini, 25, whom he had seen two days before his death. Rouholamini's murder by torture, which took place sometime around July 10, provoked an outcry even among conservatives because he is the son of a senior aide to former IRGC head and presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaee.
Pourandarjani allegedly refused to attribute Rouholamini's death to meningitis, as the regime and Health Minister Kamran Lankarani had insisted, and was arrested for a week in late July. He was released on bail after the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was repeated blows to Rouholamini's head.
Pourandarjani had been questioned since his release by the internal investigations unit of NAJA (nirouyeh entezamiyeh jomhourieh eslami or the Security/Police Forces of the Islamic Republic), the military authorities, and the disciplinary council of the medical examiner's office. But the doctor, who had intimate knowledge of the atrocities and perpatrators at Kahrizak, was also put under pressure and threatened by plainclothes forces, according to Mowjeh Sabzeh Azadi news site.
His body was washed and placed in a shroud without the presence of his family. His remains were transferred to Tabriz, where he was buried on Thursday.
The special committee's investigation into the abuses at Kahrizak has been dogged by delays and hurdles. (For a report on this, click here)
While none of the actual perpetrators of the torture, rape, and murder that took place at Kahrizak have been formally identified, Pourandarjani was charged with medical malpractice and risked being sent to prison for five years and having his license revoked.
There is a history of inconvenient witnesses passing away in the Islamic Republic. After a string of murders of intellectuals and dissidents in the 1990s and early 2000s, referred to as the chain murders, Saeed Emami, the only senior regime official who was arrested in the case, committed suicide in prison under suspicious circumstances.
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(For video and english translation of Pourandarjani's graduation speech, go here)
A senior Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) official has announced that the Basij militia will soon be established in Iranian elementary schools for the first time since the Islamic revolution.
The extensive plan calls for the introduction of the Basij into 6,000 elementary schools across the country, according to IRGC General Mohammad Saleh Jokar, head of the Schoolchildren and Teachers' Basij Organization. 'We want to expand the Basij's activities at the primary-school level because students are more influenceable at a young age than at other times in their lives,' Jokar told Mehr News in an interview published on Monday. 'We intend to promote and instill a revolutionary and Basiji thought process among elementary school students.'
The militia has been present in middle schools and high schools since its inception 30 years ago, but the founding law of the schoolchildren's Basij, passed by the Majlis on April 29, 1996, mandated its presence in elementary schools too. 'We had not formed Basij units in elementary schools until now because of budget restrictions, but more funds were allocated this year,' Jokar explained to Mehr news.
It appears that the indoctrination of children, despite falling state revenues, has become a priority of the regime as the protest movement seeps into schools. The following footage shows students at a girls' school singing a university protest anthem on November 4:
Another video shows students chanting 'We don't want a potato government,' alluding to rumors that the Ahmadinejad campaign had bribed voters with bags of potatoes prior to the June 12 election:
On the occasion of Schoolchildren's Basij Week which culminated in the November 4 ceremonies, Jokar proudly told Fars news in late October that 36,000 schoolchildren had been 'martyred' during the Iran-Iraq War. The organization cultivates a culture of martyrdom in its literature and posters. Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh was honored during this year's Schoolchildren's Basij Week and held up as a model for youngsters. According to the official story, Fahmideh volunteered to become a soldier in 1980, at the age of 13. In the battle for Khorramshahr, he pulled out a grenade's pin, before crawling under an advancing Iraqi tank. He died in the suicide blast which also stopped the Iraqi column in a narrow canal.
The schoolchildren's Basij organization claims on its site that it has 4.6 million student members. However Jokar's contention to Fars news that three million schoolchildren would participate in the November 4 ceremony makes any figures emanating from this source somewhat suspect. '60% of middle school and high school children are Basijis,' he told Fars news in the same interview.
Jokar asked all interested elementary students to fill out special forms available at the Basij units in their schools. 'Basij identity cards will be issued to them,' Jokar assured Mehr news.
Stephen Colbert, host of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, took a look at the crumbling 'sacred taboos' of the Islamic regime with journalist and researcher Karim Sadjadpour on the November 10 episode of his show.
Colbert discussed November 4, the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the American embassy, and Mahmoud Vahidnia, a star math student whose lone stand against Leader Ali Khamenei at a public gathering has made him a hero. (For a report on Vahidnia, click here. For a live blog of November 4, click here)
'Delusions of candor' is an ongoing series on the regime's efforts to spin the news, create disinformation, and spread propaganda.
A publication of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) contended in its latest edition that the Green movement is being controlled by foreign powers and that its supporters are not only rabble-rousing anti-revolutionaries, but also worshipers of Satan. Literally.
Brigadier General Yadollah Javani made the outlandish claim in a front-page editorial in Sobheh Sadegh (True Morning), a weekly news publication of the political bureau of the IRGC. Javani heads the political bureau, a subdivision of Leader Ali Khamenei's representative staff within the Revolutionary Guards.
Though not in the first tier of the Islamic regime's power structure, Javani is considered close to the inner circle of IRGC officers and clerics around Khamenei and the views he expresses give an indication of the predominant ideology and tactics within that circle.
He has been a strong proponent of efforts to paint the opposition as an instrument of foreign powers seeking the 'soft overthrow' of the regime.
On August 16, he spoke to the Islamic Republic News Agency about Hedayat Aghaie, a jailed senior member of the Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaraneh Sazandegi) which is close to Expediency Council chief and Ahmadinejad rival Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. 'In his confessions, Hedayat Aghaie [...] said that they had conducted polls in the subway, but that when they had submitted the reports to Mir Hossein Mousavi, they had said that the figures reflected the whole country,' Javani told IRNA. '[Aghaie] also confessed that their strategy was to gain power at any cost.' Javani apparently did not consider it unusual that the IRGC political bureau boss had access to the interrogation reports emanating from the regime's jails. Aghaie was sentenced to five years in prison in late October, according to his lawyer Alireza Jafarian.
Also in August, a busy month for the indefatigable Javani, he called for the prosecution of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, the head of the Etemad Melli Party, and former President Mohammad Khatami.
The following is a translation of Javani's editorial in the Monday, November 9, 2009 issue of Sobheh Sadegh:
Who is pulling the Greens' strings?
In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful.
The Greens, whatever term is used to describe them, are a part of the reality of Iran's political landscape. This group, with green as its symbol, found its identity in the campaign rallies of Mir Hossein Mousavi. They showed their support for Mousavi by using in different ways the green color of the scarf he wore over his shoulder because his mother was a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. Today some people insist on employing this color. Now the question is, Who is pulling these Greens' strings? (NB The regime has become extremely sensitive about the opposition's use of the color green, which is associated with Islam. Steps are being taken to create a counter-group, favorable to the regime, called the Sabzhayeh Alavi or greens who support Imam Ali, one of the most beloved figures in Shiism.)
Who is truly guiding the green movement now? Which person or individuals are leading this movement? Is the leadership of this movement in the hands of Mir Hossein Mousavi and is he managing the Greens? Are Seyed Mohammad Khatami or Mehdi Karroubi playing a role in the leadership of this group? Instead of individuals, are parties and groups such as the Mojahedin Organization (NB Javani uses a shortened version of the reformist Organization of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution, making the name resemble that of the Mojahedin Khalgh Organization, a broadly despised armed group which collaborated with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War.), the [Islamic Iran] Participation Front or other 2nd of Khordad groups leading the Greens? (NB The 2nd of Khordad is the date of the election of reformist President Khatami.)
...the group appeared under the color green in just a few streets on days such as Ghods Day and November 4...
This writer believes that the group which appeared under the color green in just a few streets on days such as Ghods Day and November 4, and acted in a different way from the masses of millions of people, is not controlled by Mousavi or like-minded individuals, but rather by foreign enemies. (NB The regime was particularly shaken by the opposition's exploitation of official events, such as Ghods Day -- in support of Palestinians and against Israel -- and November 4 -- the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy -- which embody the ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic, to launch counter-demonstrations with counter-slogans. For more on Ghods Day, go here; November 4, go here; regime sensitivity to counter-slogans, go here)
There is no doubt that this movement was created by Mir Hossein Mousavi and his campaign staffs and his supporters. Mousavi appeared among the crowds of his supporters again and again and spoke of the green wave, and after the election called the Greens to the streets, thus paved the way for pockets of rebellion and unrest and public insecurity. It was Mir Hossein Mousavi who, by issuing a statement, founded the Green Path of Hope. On the surface, it looks like Mir Hossein Mousavi is leading this group, but the truth is that not only does Mir Hossein [sic. Javani forgets his manners from this point on.] not control this group, but that he and this movement are being controlled by foreigners.
The truth is that not only does Mir Hossein not lead this group, but that he and this movement are being controlled by foreigners.
It is not difficult to prove this point. Mir Hossein claims that he is faithful to the constitution, the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic, and the goals of Imam Khomeini. Does the behavior of this small and seditious green-clad group in the events after the tenth presidential election, particularly on Ghods Day and November 4, correspond to Mir Hossein Mousavi's claims? If it does not correspond to them, why does Mir Hossein Mousavi not repudiate these actions and chide his supporters? Let us look at examples of such behavior.
1. One of the slogans of the green-clad groupuscule on Ghods Day was 'Neither eastern, nor western, an Iranian Republic' instead of 'Neither eastern, nor western, an Islamic Republic.' If Mir Hossein claims that he is advancing the ideas of the Imam, why is he silent in the face of this deviation of his supporters? Why does he not issue a statement warning his supporters against this deviation? Did the late Imam, after reflecting on the term to be used to describe the political system of Iran, not say, 'An Islamic Republic, not one word less, not one word more?' Does an Iranian Republic represent anything less than the elimination of Islam from the political scene?
'Neither eastern, nor western, an Iranian Republic'... Does an Iranian Republic represent anything less than the elimination of Islam from the political scene?
2. 'Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life only for Iran' was the Greens' famous slogan on Ghods Day. What is the position of Mousavi, who claims to follow the Imam's Line, on this slogan? The Imam declared Ghods Day (NB Jerusalem Day) to be the day of Islam and by setting the strategy for the elimination of Israel from the pages of time, he defined Jerusalem and the Palestinian problem to be the most important issues for Muslims. If Mir Hossein is true to the goals of the Imam and he leads the Greens, why did he not condemn this deviant slogan on Ghods Day?
3. Consuming during the Ramadan fast, disregarding Islamic propriety, mixing boys and girls in the worst possible manner, and attacking Friday worshipers with stones were among the actions taken by the Greens on Ghods Day. (NB State media published photos of Ghods Day protesters smoking, which is banned during fasting hours in Ramadan. The news reports failed to mention that the protesters were blowing cigarette smoke into each other's eyes to counter the effects of tear gas.) Does Mir Hossein condone such behavior? If not, why doesn't Mir Hossein chide his supporters and condemn such actions?
The Greens chanted 'Death to Russia.' In which backroom was this slogan devised?
4. On the national day of struggle against world arrogance (NB World Arrogance generally refers to the United States.) and the day of 'Death to America', meaning November 4, the Greens chanted 'Death to Russia.' What is Mir Hossein's position on this slogan of his supporters? In which backroom was this slogan devised? Has Mir Hossein forgotten these words of the Imam: 'Some chant death to Russia to make us forget America.' If Mir Hossein does not agree with such slogans and considers them to be a deviation from the path of struggle against world arrogance, why doesn't he admonish his supporters?
5. From the first days after the election, Mir Hossein's green supporters were rioting, attacking banks, burning buses, attacking Basij bases, burning Lolagar Mosque, and damaging people's property.
(NB Many videos show it was actually Basijis and security forces who damaged property. Just one example follows.)
They continued their ugly acts on Ghods Day and November 4, by burning garbage cans in the streets. Does Mir Hossein, who claims to be working within a legal framework, agree with such acts? If he doesn't agree, does he strongly condemn them?
6. On November 4, some of Mousavi's supporters, sporting green signs and chanting 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein,' attacked Majlis representative Marandi's car with knives and machetes and damaged the automobile. What is Mir Hossein's position on these actions of his supporters? Why doesn't he call on his supporters to put aside such actions? (NB Javani would have us believe that on a day with a record number of security forces on the streets cracking down on protesters with such violence that even conservative web sites have voiced complaints, bands of machete-armed protesters with green wristbands were at large.)
Does Mir Hossein know that some green-clad young women and men who attended campaign rallies and ceremonies on Ghods day and November 4, wore symbols of deviant groups, including Satan worshipers?
7. Mir Hossein Mousavi considers the color green the symbol of the people and their ideals. Does Mir Hossein know that some green-clad young women and men who attended campaign rallies and ceremonies on Ghods day and November 4, wore symbols of deviant groups, including Satan worshipers? If he does know, how does he justify the combination of green and Satanist symbols? If this cannot be justified, why doesn't he warn his supporters against it? Aren't these Greens supporters of Mir Hossein?
There are many examples like these. And if Mir Hossein or others like Khatami, Karroubi, or parties such as the Participation Front and the Mojahedin do not react to such actions and do not warn the Greens against such actions and slogans, it is because they know that these Greens are being controlled by others. They know that slogans like 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein' and 'Karroubi, Karroubi, we will defend you!' are only tools which exploit their names to oppose the religious regime.
Mir Hossein knows that the Greens will disregard any admonishment or warning he issues and then it will be even clearer that the Greens and Mir Hossein are both playing in a field designed by foreigners. Mir Hossein spoke of green wisdom and founded the Green Path of Hope, but now this green movement is going in a direction which is warming the hearts of all anti-revolutionary groups.
An example of the hope that the Greens have instilled among exiled anti-revolutionaries can be heard in the words of Reza Pahlavi, the dead Shah's son. In an article he wrote in an American newspaper, Reza Pahlavi wrote about his meeting with 40 members of Congress and said, 'I told the members of Congress that if America wants to engage Iran, it must choose the best interlocutor in Iran, and in my opinion the best option is the green movement.' From America, Reza Pahlavi wants to garner support for the green movement. Does Mir Hossein accept that in Reza Pahlavi's opinion, he is the best option for advancing the goals and interests of America in Iran. If he doesn't accept this, he should know and accept that the strings of the green movement that he set in motion are being pulled by others now. This is the very point that the wise Leader of the Revolution [Ali Khamenei] raised: 'On the day after the election, I sent a message to the gentlemen, that you might start a movement, but others will continue it.'
Former Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi was once again heckled at a university event, this time in Gilan University, northern Iran, on Sunday. Saffar Harandi's speech was interrupted loudly with chants of 'Death to the Leader's dictatorship' and 'Our shame, our shame, our Culture Minister.'
Conservative Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most senior clerics in the country, urged the judiciary to put those responsible for some of the regime's post-election abuses on trial as soon as possible. He made the comments at a meeting with the president of the High Court, Ayatollah Ahmad Mohseni Gorgani, aka Mohseni Araki, on Sunday. According to a report on Makarem Shirazi's personal web site, 'At the conclusion of the meeting, Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi told the honorable High Court president, "Convey my greetings to Ayatollah Larijani (NB judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani) and tell him that the people await the trials of those responsible for University Street, Kahrizak prison, and the Sobhan complex. (NB Referring respectively to the attack by Basijis and plainclothesmen on a Tehran University dormitory on June 15, 2009, which allegedly left at least 5 students dead; Kahrizak detention center where prisoners were killed, tortured, and raped; and the attack on the Sobhan residential complex by Basijis and plainclothesmen on June 16, 2009). It is necessary to take action as soon as possible to prevent a weakening of the people's trust in the judicial system. Such trials undoubtedly require courage, which I know that you and he possess."'
Aftermath of the Tehran University dormitory attack
Attack on Sobhan residential complex
Saeed Mortazavi, former Revolutionary Prosecutor for Greater Tehran, may be moving to greener pastures once again. As a loyal soldier of Leader Ali Khamenei, Mortzavi was not only instrumental in jailing and harassing dissidents, journalists, and opposition newspapers, but was actively involved in the torture and abuse of prisoners during interrogations. He is one of the officials held responsible for the death in custody of Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi in 2003 and the atrocities which took place at Kahrizak detention center. He was recently rewarded for his services by being 'kicked upstairs' to the post of Deputy Prosecutor General under former Intelligence Minister Mohseni Ejei. There is now talk of another 'promotion' to get him out of the limelight even more as the new head of the economic crimes division of the Justice Ministry.
Jailed dissident Behzad Nabavi, a senior member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution (not to be mistaken for the MKO), rejected all charges against him during a trial which was held behind closed doors on Sunday, according to his lawyer Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht. Nabavi famously refused to make any derogatory comments against opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi during the first sessions of the Revolutionary kangaroo court, saying that he 'could not betray Mousavi.' Nabavi read from 12 pages of notes he had prepared while in the hospital as he defended himself against a series of accusations which include 'disrupting traffic on June 13 and 15.' Massive protests against the results of the presidential election (June 12) took place on those days.
Queens College, Oxford University, has established a scholarship in memory of Neda Agha Soltan for students working towards a graduate degree in philosophy. Neda Agha Soltan, who obtained a degree in philosophy from Azad University, was killed by the regime's security forces on the streets of Tehran on June 20, 2009. Queens College announced on its web site that the Neda Agha Soltan scholarship was made possible by 'two generous gifts' and that although it was open to all graduate students in the field of philosophy, students of Iranian descent or nationality would have preference. The first student to benefit from this scholarship is Arianne Shahvisi who is studying for a masters degree in the philosophy of physics. Shahvisi said on the Oxford University web site, 'It is a great honor to be the first student to receive the scholarship in the memory of Neda Agha Soltan, which is particularly meaningful to me, being a young woman of Iranian descent, also studying philosophy. In accepting the scholarship, I extend my sincere condolences to the Agha Soltan family, and hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford, I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter.'
The Secrets of Khamenei's Life The secret life of Iran's Leader, Ali Khamanei, is exposed by former staff members of the Intelligence Ministry and his household in a fascinating article by internationally renowned filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf... (part 1)(part 2)(part 3) Humiliation even in death Detailed analysis of several videos shows the final moments of a protester run over by a car and the refusal of her body by a medical center... (more)
The banality of evil Shocking footage of a man being lashed in Iran reminds the viewer of what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil... (more) Provisional list of 72 dead protesters Originally compiled by the opposition committee looking into the abuse and deaths of protesters, the list has been enhanced with photos, video footage, and commentary... (more)
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