Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

I don't know if it is because the situation in Iran has deteriorated, or if his statement was far worse than the usual, or just because I am depressed, but Mr. Mottaki's address to the UN Human Rights Council gave me a bad migraine.

I mean, he started with "I would like to reiterate our firm commitment to work towards making the Human Rights Council a strong, effective and efficient body capable of promoting and protecting all human rights for all on the basis of inclusion, equality and human dignity..."

-- as if all human rights for all, inclusion, equality and human dignity existed in Iran --

and then he ended with: "Our commitment to human rights stems from our firm belief and it is aimed at realizing our goal which is the "inherent dignity of man".

Of course, it is dignified to be beaten so hard that you lose your hearing, it is dignified to have your face plunged into excrement, it is dignified to be flogged...

Just as a footnote, just before the quote, our Minister said that Iran's commitment was based on the Divine Teaching of Islam and in accordance with its International obligations...

Perhaps while writing all this his assistants should have sought help from the Japanese.

Abysmal

Looks like we have entered a descending whirlwind, which is slowly encompassing all Iranians. It reminds me of Brecht's "first they came for the communists, ... , then they came for the trade-unionists, ... , then they came for the jews, ... , then they came for me..."

Now they have come after two doctors who ran a very successful anti-AIDS programme. Yeah, right, they were attempting a "velvet revolution".

They arrest anyone who is speaking up for human rights, they close down offices of human rights defenders.

They arrest young Iranians who were doing some project for the children in poor suburbs -- oh! but I forgot, they are Bahais!...

And now, doctors who help drug addicts.

And who are "they" exactly? Ah yes! Those who are supposed to bring justice and well-being to the people of Iran.

And in the meantime some eat sushi...

A women's rights defender

Don't you love it when Mr. Ahmadinejad implies that the US is not advanced enough to elect a woman as president?

A MehrNews wire was quoted in the New York Times but unfortunately, I was not able to find the original article.

We all know what the situation in Iran is. I have blogged about it a number of times and things aren't getting better.

But my question to our president is: can a woman be elected as President in Iran in the first place? And since he said that: "Presidency of a woman in a country that boasts its gunmanship is unlikely." Does it mean that Iran is also great at boasting its gunmanship? (and I have no wish to posts links about this...)

No words

I just saw the photos of Zahra Baniyaghoub's funerals and the pain of her relatives is heart wrenching, and there is nothing more to say.

A sober reality check

Once again, I am too late for my posts... Last week, Mrs. Ebadi was in Paris saying how US sanctions were bad and Mr. Ganji wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post finally explaining why US money was so bad. But then, a friend sent me this and it takes us away from all the rethorics of human rights to what day to day life means in Iran ... particularly if you try to stand up for your rights, whether you be a woman, or part of any other group that would make you less good than the average.

The hard way

Thanks to this blogger, I found out about the site in support of Ms. Haleh Esfandiary's release. Very quickly set up and quite sophisticated. I don't think I have seen such a high quality site put together for any Iranian prisoner of conscience before, not even for Mr. Ganji.

I once heard Ms. Esfandiary speak at Asia Society in New York, on women's rights. That evening she said that Iranian women are protected by the Constitution...

We all hope that Ms. Esfandiary will be released very soon, Evin is no place to linger in, and I hope that when she returns to the US safe and sound she will take on the defence of those who will (unfortunately) still be suffering from human rights violations in Iran and who will not have the benefit of such public attention.

Cover that bosom... *

They are making a statement:

and paying for it...

and so did the owners of these satellite dishes:
but Nikahang has an advice...


* Molière, Tartuffe, Acte III, Scene II

Women and human rights activists

When most in Iran do not dare to come out and speak of human rights, these ladies demonstrate, write a petition open for signature, create a website, are prosecuted, and demonstrate some more and get arrested some more.

Their courage is remarkable, particularly as we all know too painfully that torture and rape is not unheard of in Iranian prisons.

Here's a remarkable piece written by one of them and translated by another, just a week ago.

Delos made in Iran...

... or more precisely Azerbaijan?

Robert Sole is a specialist of Egypt, but this time he decided to dedicate his column in Le Monde to Iran. The original story was relayed by Reuters: the island of Arezou (on the Urumiyeh lake) will be for women only.

The cycladic island of Delos (which also happens to be the birthplace of Artemis) was created from the body of Asteria fleeing Zeus' ardour, thus protecting her chastity.

The difference is: it was her own choice.

(Un)veiled thoughts

As a woman not wearing the "hijab", I still respect those who, out of their own free will, wish to cover their hair/head/body in whichever manner they wish. It's their right, it's their belief. And this post contains a number of interesting links regarding the debate on this issue.

But I must say that yesterday, my heart sank when I saw this -- the First Exhibition of Islamic Covering.

Also, on the same day a Press Conference was held at the outset of the First International Conference on Women's Rights and Responsibilities in an Islamic System. The photos speak for themselves... I suggest this post be considered as a written contribution to the debate.

Where I want to be

I have recently finished "Let me tell you where I've been". The collection contains three remarkable pieces by Farnoosh Moshiri, Mimi Khalvati and Mojdeh Marashi.

Each in their own way and style have been able to take me back to the scent and the feel for the first, the rhythm and the mood for the second and our contradictions for the third.

But aside from those remarkable moments, the taste left is more of a slight bitterness: why only women, as if yet again we have to be separated from men, even in a book, why an overwhelming sadness, as if our culture can only be shrouded in black, why mainly anger and shame...

A Beacon

Manouchehr Mottaki never ceases to impress me with his statements. This time he bade us the good news that human rights will be high on the agenda of his Ministry... and that "detailed reports have been prepared on the human rights issue in the US and many European countries".

Indeed, why bother about human rights in Iran? Just yesterday we saw how women's rights and freedom of expression were respected, today we hear about the right to a fair trial. As for the rest of them, I would just be repeating myself...

Football and populism

The strategy involved various entities in power and the orchestration was smooth: Mr. Ahmadinejad played the card of women's rights by announcing that he was allowing indiscriminate access to football stadiums, then a number of grand Ayatollahs publicly expressed their disapproval (one of them being the President's own mentor) and finally the Leader himself said that it was inappropriate and the President bowed to Ayatollah Khamenei's wish, of course. Back to square one, with a few popular gains.

A few days ago I came across an article about a talk given by Ramin Jahanbegloo at the Amir Kabir University some months ago (unfortunately it is in Persian). During the talk Mr. Jahanbegloo made reference to the present government by calling them "populists" and in response to a question on the present situation in Iran he cited Jean-Paul Sartre saying France was never as free as during the Vichy regime. Later in the presentation, he went on to strongly criticize the Reformists as well, saying that the Populists appeared in our society because people no longer trusted the Reformists...

No wonder the man is now in Evin.

Big bad wolf

The motto is: rather than leaving it up to your wild imagination, discover Iran by understanding who Iranians are -- and this through 7 women.

One of them is a great artist, the other one a little too much for me. I thought the books of two of them were more about themselves than about Iran, and have yet to think much of a third one's regular Op/Eds. Never heard of the last two (shame on me...)

But it could be interesting, if you are in New York next Wednesday...

Women, ladies and girls

There has been some talk about women’s rights in Iran lately, whether it was concerning the access to the Iran/Costa Rica match or our first lady accompanying Mr. Ahmadinejad to Malaysia, or on the subject of domestic violence.

Today, the BBC had on its site a piece by its correspondent on how increasingly difficult it was to be a female journalist in Iran. Interestingly, however, there is just one bit of the audio that does not appear in the text on the page, although to me it is perhaps the most revealing, so I have transcribed it:

“Every time I go to the weekly foreign ministry briefing the security officials reprimand me for some tuft of hair showing, then there is one public relations official in the foreign ministry who delights in leaving my name off the list of reporters who want to ask a question during the news conferences. His clear enjoyment of humiliating me borders on some perverted kind of flirtation. He clearly gets a kick out of it. And when I once accused him of having a problem with me because I was a woman, he just laughed as if I’d complimented him. In retrospect, I thought it was quite amazing that I could tell an official he was a male chauvinist, and he wasn’t at all offended.”