tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153952852009-11-27T11:04:13.802-08:00This weblog was created to act as a platform for the voice of secular pro-democracy activists in and outside Iran who are struggling against the religious dictatorship of the Islamic clerics in Iran. My favourite quote: "Evil only prevails when the good stay silent"Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.comBlogger842125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-81812708717770343642009-11-26T03:21:00.000-08:002009-11-26T03:55:05.234-08:00

Kaveh Afrasiabi is one of those 'academics' who has his fingers in every pie. Wikipedia introduces him as an Iranian born political scientist who teaches at Boston University, Bentley College, Harvard University, UC Berkeley and Binghamton University. Just like all other Islamic Republic affiliated 'academics' posted around the world to defend and to promote the regime, he has managed to get

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-38278416602840274402009-11-25T02:47:00.000-08:002009-11-25T03:29:02.042-08:00

Well in case you missed the BBC2 documentary on Neda, you can watch it here on BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p68yf/This_World_20092010_An_Iranian_Martyr/ Iranian hardline newspaper, Kayhan, was quick to react before the program was even aired. It referred to the program as a new staged exercise by the MI6 and continued to blame Neda's fiancé, Caspian Makan and Arash Hejazi

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-64950475615428879202009-11-23T09:13:00.000-08:002009-11-23T10:17:00.979-08:00

It is not often when a prisoner in Iran is put under pressure to appear on a public confession show but manages to resist all physical and mental tortures and defeats his captors and interrogators. Iranian journalist, Ahmad Zeidabadi is one of those few who can hold their heads up high and join this exclusive club of our national heroes. Zeidabadi suffered 13 months imprisonment back in 2000

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-69178235428694677382009-11-21T16:10:00.000-08:002009-11-21T16:11:10.382-08:00

More information about the sudden mysterious death of the 26 year old Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani who served part of his national service in the notorious Kahrizak detention centre has now emerged. The commander-in-chief of the Law Enforcement Forces, Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, said the doctor was accused of not treating the detainees properly! Ramin Pourandarjani's mother however has said she had

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-83909805673250058222009-11-21T15:28:00.000-08:002009-11-21T15:28:58.453-08:00

These photographs are taken from a well funded organisation affiliated to the Islamic Republic of Iran operating outside Iran. Which country do you think they operate freely in? United States of America.

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-54584905096348961622009-11-19T02:32:00.000-08:002009-11-19T02:32:37.310-08:00

Iranian blogger, Ali Behzadian Nejad, was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment by the Islamic revolutionary court. What makes his sentence a first however is not so much what he himself has written on his blog but what other people have left as comments on his posts! In other words he has been sentenced for other people expressing their opinions. His blog can still be seen here : http://

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-25723406669290921992009-11-19T02:06:00.000-08:002009-11-19T02:06:20.536-08:00

We Are Countless

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-50405046115411044432009-11-17T11:46:00.000-08:002009-11-17T11:51:31.086-08:00

Slovaks celebrate the 20th anniversary of the velvet revolution which freed them from the yoke of Communist repression. Look at this magnificent sculpture in the SNP square to mark the anniversary. Its a huge illuminated heart made out of the same barbed wire that went round the borders and made the country a huge prison for all who lived in it. We envy the Czech and the Slovak people of

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-49345303758188862712009-11-17T06:15:00.000-08:002009-11-17T08:20:39.034-08:00

This Sunday will be yet another anniversary of the extra judicial killing of Iran's secular dissidents, Daryoush and Parvaneh Forouhar. The elderly couple were stabbed repeatedly in their home by 'The Hidden Imam's Anonymous Soldiers', the term Iran's intelligence officer operatives like to use for themselves. The daughter of Forouhars, Parastou has once again travelled to Iran to lead the

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-45690426243016384472009-11-17T00:24:00.000-08:002009-11-17T00:24:28.673-08:00

It is the International Student Day today and we are all doing our part for the next day of protests in Iran on 7th December, the National Students Day in Iran. Let us not forget our fallen bravehearts who have been at the forefront of the struggle against the enemies of knowledge. As the anthem says, we swear in the name of freedom and to the moment they gave their lives that we will continue

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-39376137389059681942009-11-16T05:51:00.000-08:002009-11-16T05:51:21.717-08:00

I wonder if Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead read the Times interview with the Supreme Leader's envoy in UK, published last Saturday? Those of us in UK who wrote to our MPs asking why the Supreme Leader is allowed to have a representative office in UK were referred to Baroness Kinnock who dismissed our concerns and replied 'the Centre was a charity engaged in spiritual matters only!' It is precisely

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-37129757323930629372009-11-15T03:04:00.000-08:002009-11-15T03:04:13.870-08:00

Make sure you read the interview with Caspian Makan, Neda's fiancé, in today's observer.A short version of a documentary made about Neda will be shown on PBS on the 17th and the full version, 'An Iranian Martyr' directed by Monica Garnsey will be broadcaston BBC2 on 24th November, at 9 pm.

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-62490363649681929352009-11-15T00:51:00.000-08:002009-11-15T00:51:01.761-08:00

On 4th November, hardly anyone from Isfahan managed to get online, which is why there was very little footage from the protests there. The material is gradually coming through however. Here is a clip from a school protest on November 4th in Isfahan: Next planned big day of protests in Iran is on 7th December, marking the University Student Day. To prevent further protests, the regime is using

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-9568853427687833492009-11-12T15:08:00.000-08:002009-11-12T15:08:54.885-08:00

I was lucky enough to be one of the guests at the Kurt Schork Awards tonight. The award honours the contributions of freelance journalists who cover conflicts overseas and make exceptional acts of courage to bring the news to us. I don't want to do a report on tonight's speeches and the people that won the awards. I feel I won't be able to write well enough to describe the valour of these

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-49282538029771993272009-11-11T01:07:00.000-08:002009-11-11T09:50:33.959-08:00

It was only a few weeks ago when I reported from a conference about a brilliant idea of the symbolic gesture to rename the streets in European cities where the Islamic Republic embassies reside to Neda. I explained how that would boost the confidence of the people in Iran and it won't require the usual obstacles of bringing the Chinese and the Russians on board etc. The announcement by Oxford

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-15425929097938476362009-11-10T06:44:00.000-08:002009-11-11T00:22:24.774-08:00

Last night as I was browsing through the Iranian news websites, or what is left of them rather, I came across the pro-Ahamdinejad Fars News, which reported on the commemorations held in Isfahan for the 'great  martyr of Shiite Islam', Edoardo Agnelli. Somehow the name rang a bell but I was relating it to football not martyrdom and Shiite Islam. Something in the back of my mind was reminding me

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-23289842223869766002009-11-09T12:39:00.000-08:002009-11-09T12:39:58.630-08:00

They have everything needed to win a fight, permission for brutality, weapons, state backing and tear gas. But what happens when a tear gas is kicked back in their direction? The Baseej and plain clothes hired thugs run away like all bullies do when you stand up to them. Another footage from the 4th Nov protests:

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-69516591881138524762009-11-08T12:12:00.000-08:002009-11-09T08:19:08.860-08:00

Here is yet another example of the nobility of Iranian protesters. An anti riot guard henchman has fell off his motorbike as he rammed into young and old protesters indiscriminately. He has been pulled away from his burning motor bike but the people are not beating him up, they are not mutilating him, just asking him 'why do you beat up innocent people?' Facebook

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-22467074820359747192009-11-08T00:53:00.000-08:002009-11-08T00:59:38.489-08:00

The Baseej has become so hated and despised, the very word which actually means mobilisation has become synonymous with filth, scum and a brainless mercenary thug. So interestingly in the Pro-Ahmadinejad Fars News website yesterday there was a desperate attempt to buy some credibility for the Baseej. Fars News Agency reports with much enthusiasm, a Baseej member by the name of Mohsen Abbaszadeh

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-47104817745705375232009-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:002009-11-06T11:36:38.947-08:00

Revolution is all about the balance of confidence. Once the people feel confident they can take on the regime and the regime no longer feels confident they are in control, that is when change comes about. And how is this footage below as an indication of how confident the Green Movement feels? Could anyone have ever imagined it six months ago? Right at the beginning of the clip you see a traffic

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-23864634224591041262009-11-05T20:16:00.000-08:002009-11-05T20:16:46.190-08:00

So far this is the only video footage of protesters being shot at on 4th November, but as you can see even bullets are not enough to push them back. In fact it motivates them further and they shout slogans against the Supreme Leader, chanting Supreme Leader is a Murderer and His Legitimacy is Over.

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-81440349056742050292009-11-05T00:01:00.000-08:002009-11-05T03:19:45.533-08:00

Look at this lioness standing on a bench to get above others and lead the chants. 'He who says he is just, Is a lying Murderer'. The writing on the wall which the camera zooms on says 'Down with Khameneii' in case you are wondering who they are chanting against :)

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-43000790892620478132009-11-04T16:01:00.000-08:002009-11-04T16:01:44.469-08:00

There are so many images and video footages from today's protests in Iran that I have to go through still, but so far this one here below vividly sums up what the Iranian people are up against. A girl is walking away and a riot guard stops her, she is all alone against the big metal gate, defenseless and not bothering anyone, but an anti-riot guard decides to lash her across the sheens a couple

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-3406731061895849242009-11-04T04:58:00.000-08:002009-11-04T04:58:07.432-08:00

Its going to take me some time to collect all the film footage from today's protests across Iran, but the first one is probably the most important one in terms of relaying today's protest message to the world. First footage shgows people of Iran chant 'Obama You are Either on Their Side or on Our Side'. I have always said the vast majority of numerous American think tanks should be renamed as

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15395285.post-34792048671047323432009-11-04T00:39:00.001-08:002009-11-04T00:39:57.569-08:00

Azarmehrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01111103133622095142noreply@blogger.com0