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Abu Saeed
Cover story
Qartoons!
Faramarz Rahmani's fresh approach to Qajar art
November 29, 1999
The Iranian
All we know about Faramarz Rahmani is that he was born in Tehran in
1961 and has had five individual and 25 group exhibitions. But you don't
need to know much more. Just look at his paintings. I'm very close to getting
tried of this Qajar craze. But Rahmani's cartoonish portraits are original
and fun. Imagine them in huge sizes hanging from a wall in a bare room
with high ceilings. Awesome! ... GO
TO FEATURE
Outlook
Court Silences Iran Reformist With Jail Term
 By JOHN F. BURNS
The New York Times
December 28, 1999
Iran's most powerful religious court Saturday imposed a five-year jail
term and a five-year banishment from political activity on a Muslim cleric,
Abdullah Nouri, who is a close ally of Iran's reformist president and has
won wide popular support with demands for an end to authoritarian rule
by the religious hierarchy...
Nouri himself maintained a scornful attitude toward the court and a
seeming indifference to his own fate, which characterized his defiant speeches
at his trial before the Special Court for the Clergy this month. This week,
he told reporters he would not appeal the court's sentence and predicted
that the trial would only accelerate demands for sweeping changes in Iran's
political system that would take power from the religious authorities and
bestow it, under a democratic system, on Iran's 70 million people.
"It might take them a long time to learn this lesson, or it might
take them a short time," Nouri said, referring to the ruling clerics.
"What is clear, and beyond doubt, is that the case we have put before
the court will have an effect, on society and the state. What we know for
certain is that there will be change." ... FULL
TEXT
Hmmm...
TEHRAN, Nov 28 (AFP) - Sir John Keer, the most senior British diplomat
to visit Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, met Sunday with Iranian
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, the Iranian ministry said ... FULL TEXT
More Letters
* Predictable behavior
Dariush Rafaei, PhD
writes: So far as procrastination is concerned, there has not been
a more powerful tool invented. I read your article ["The
search"] with some interest as I, like many other young products
of our time, have been coming to grips with assorted questions of identity.
Although your article read well, it sounded more like an introduction to
a thesis (a long-winded abstract perhaps) than a sharp inquisitive article.
You suggest a hypothesis, which although sounds trendy is hard to define
or justify, and then you fail to refer to it again...
... There is no specific handbook for being an Iranian or an exiled
Iranian. However what you have failed to grasp here is that there is a
pervasive pattern in each set which is easily defined based on various
parameters including socioeconomic background, education and alike. So
as you see, in most cases there is a predictable pattern of behavior which
is governed by the competing and dominant forces in an individual's life
... FULL
TEXT
* Erotic Sufi tradition
Dr Fereidoun Abbasi
writes in response to Rasool
Nafisi's letter:
There are a few specific themes that I wish to explore in Sufi mysticism.
The Prophet Mohammad was the starting point of Islamic mysticism; Rabi'a,
as the founder of the theme of Sufi love; al-Hallaj, whose writings are
the locus classicus of impassioned union; al-Ghazzali, as the clear-headed
systematizer and reconciler of mysticism with orthodoxy; Ibn al-Farid,
as the composer of what is perhaps the greatest erotic love poem in all
of Sufi literature; Ibn al-'Arabi, as the supreme philosopher of the erotic
in the Sufi tradition; and Rumi, as the exponent of love best-known to
the West ["Let's
not talk about sex"].
The earliest foundation of the theme of the erotic in Arabic poetry
predates Islam. Poetry was the primary form of literature, indeed, the
main form of artistic expression, of the jahiliyya period, circa 500-622
C.E. While there were a few different types of poetry, the qasida, or ode,
was the only finished type. The qasida tended to have a fairly invariant
structure: a nomad would stumble upon the remains of a desert camp and
sing of its desolation. His loneliness would inspire him to recall his
fondness for those who had once encamped there, and he would describe with
great nostalgia the strength of his affection for his beloved and not infrequently
would describe her in detail. This section of the poem is called the nasib,
"erotic prelude." ... FULL
TEXT
* Music: Shahin & Sepehr concert,
Washington
Shahin & Sepehr will be giving a free concert at the Discovery Flagship
Store in the MCI Center in Washington DC on Saturday December 11th from
1-4 for the Holiday Celebrations. Address: 601 F Street NW Washington.
Tel: 202/639-0908.
SELL
TICKETS ONLINE AT YOUR SITE
Books of the Week
* Saaniyeh-yeh
aakhar (1999)
Y2K issues in Iran
By Dr. Ali Parandeh
* Barandeh-haa
ham baazandeh-and (1999)
A memoir by a former mayor of Tehran, with photos
By Ahmad Nafisi
* Jazireh
sargardaani (2nd edition, 1998)
Novel
By Simin Daneshvar
* Mumia
va assal (1996)
Novel
By Shahriar Mandanipour
* Mehr-e
giaah (1998)
Novel
ByAmir Hassan Cheheltan
See more
Iranian books for sale
THE IRANIAN
Bookstore
Video of the Week
Divorce
Iranian Style
A new documentary that goes where Western camera s have never before
gone: into an Iranian divorce court. The film is directed by award- winning
independent filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Iranian
anthropologist and writer, based in London, whose specialty is women's
rights and family law in the Mid-East.
THE IRANIAN
Video Store
Copyright © Abadan Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
May not be duplicated or distributed in any form
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More
news
Khatami defends jailed reformist Abdollah
Nouri
TEHRAN,
Nov 28 (AFP) - President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday sprang to the defence
of his close ally Abdollah Nuri, Iran's leading reformer who was sentenced
to five years in prison for religious and political dissent ... FULL TEXT
Pro-reform press slams jail sentence on
leading reformist
TEHRAN,
Nov 28 (AFP) - Moderate press on Sunday unanimously slammed a five-year
jail sentence on former interior minister and leading reformist Abdollah
Nuri, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami ... FULL TEXT
Culture minister deplores Nuri sentence
TEHRAN,
Nov 29 (AFP) - Iran's moderate culture minister Monday deplored the conviction
of leading reformist Abdollah Nuri by a conservative clerical court, saying
like Nuri he contested the tribunal's competence, the state news agency
IRNA reported ... FULL TEXT
Conservative papers get lenient court rulings
TEHRAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - An Iranian court, which has closed several
reformist publications, on Monday handed down lenient rulings against two
conservative newspapers, effectively letting off both of their publishers
with warnings ... FULL TEXT
MPs propose amnesty to include regime's
opponents
TEHRAN,
Nov 29 (AFP) - Iranians living abroad, including opponents of the clerical
regime, could be granted amnesty for the first time since the 1979 Islamic
revolution under a new draft bill, papers said here Monday ... FULL TEXT
Definitive report on Iran's July riots
out soon: radio
TEHRAN,
Nov 29 (AFP) - Iran's military justice system will make public in the next
few days a definitive report on last July's riots in Iran, state radio said
Monday ... FULL TEXT
Iran not able to grant US request for consular
presence: Kharazi
TEHRAN,
Nov 28 (AFP) - Iran is not able to grant a US request to open a consular
office in Tehran, foreign minister Kamal Kharazi said Sunday. "The
situation in both countries is totally different and we are not able to
grant the request," said Kharazi at a press conference with his Russian
counterpart Igor Ivanov, who is visiting Tehran ... FULL TEXT
Iran spared criticism at Gulf summit for
first time
RIYADH,
Nov 29 (AFP) - Iran was spared criticism at a summit of the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) on Monday for the first time since the six-nation grouping
was set up in 1981 ... FULL TEXT
More than 100 foreigners arrested at Tehran
residence
TEHRAN,
Nov 29 (AFP) - More than one hundred foreigners, including women from various
European and South American countries, were arrested during a dance evening
in a residential suburb of Tehran, the government newspaper Iran reported
Monday ... FULL TEXT
Parliament passes Khatami economic plan
TEHRAN,
Nov 29 (AFP) - Iran prepared Monday for a major shake-up in its economic
system after the conservative-dominated parliament approved the last clauses
of reformist President Mohammad Khatami's ambitious five-year plan ... FULL
TEXT
Iran says it has no debts with Britain
TEHRAN,
Nov 29 (AFP) - Iran denied Monday that it owes money to Britain following
reports that British officials came to Tehran to discuss debts. Iran "is
not in debt to the state or individuals ... in Britain," the Iranian
economy ministry said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.... FULL
TEXT
Women publishers
Tehran
(Iran daily) - More than 70 publishing houses specializing in women's books
have participated in a fair in Ahvaz ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Theater awards
Tehran (Hamshahri) - Winners of a theater festival in Tehran have
been announced ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Abu Saeed conference
Tehran
(Iran daily) - Turkmenistan will host a conference on the Persian poet Abu
Saeed, attended by Iranian and Turkman scholars ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
World record shattered by Nasirinia
Tehran (Hamshahri) - Shahin Nasirinia broke the world record in
world weight-lifting championships. Other medals by Iranians lifted the
team to fifth place ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
Esteqlal loses to al-Ittihad
Tehran (Asr-e Azadegan) - Esteqlal 1-0 loss to Saudi Arabia's al-Ittihad
was not so bad. Esteqlal now has a good chance for a victory in the return
match in front of a home crowd in Tehran ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
BBC
Persian Service
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Quote Unquote
Competent colleague
We have been deprived of an experienced and competent colleague. We could
benefit from his services more than before... We should work to promote
the people's power of choice. Any action bringing a tense situation will
not serve the interests of the country."
-- President Khatami on the imprisonment of Abdollah Nouri
AFP
November 28, 1999
Photo of the Day
Front
page: Nouri's imprisoned
Music
Musician of the Week
Dastan
Ensemble with Shahram Nazeri: Homage to Rumi
Music
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