It was the tremendous pressure that was mounted on the Iranian government that eventually and despite her eight year sentence, led to the release of Roxana Saberi. Of course, Ms. Saberi is a journalist with convictions and a very brave young lady and we were all joyful because she was released and I don’t want to take anything away from her. The fact is before her release, first there were protests by Northwestern University students and faculty, and then the news spread to the media and the political scene. I am not sure how much of that all determining pressure can be attributed to the university and media, our Iranian community, the covert efforts of Japanese government or maybe even the US. Similarly, here is a brave young man, Mohammad Yusef Rashidi, who stood up in front of Ahmadinejad and the IRI machine of death and torture and held up that all famous handwritten sign. Now he is braving torture while on hunger strike and his young brave life will, in all likelihood, end in the hands of the IRI hangmen as he is sentenced to death.
All the while, there are no protests and news reports letting the world know about his fate. He does not have any universities or influential governments taking up his cause. All he has is the Iranian community abroad, you and I.
Who bears the responsibility to be his voice and to put his story and his face on the mass media in every corner of the world?
We are the only hope he has.
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I enabled the contact in my profile.
by Hovakhshatare on Tue Feb 23, 2010 01:32 PM PSTH.
........
by yolanda on Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:34 AM PSTHi! bachenavvab,
I watched Batebi's interview by Anderson Cooper on TV. Batebi said that his front cover picture (holding a bloody T-shirt) on "Economists" magazine got him into trouble with IRI and also saved his life. Rashidi and Batebi pretty much have the similar situation.......if we keep spreading the word and if some magazine(s) can put his picture on magazine's front cover, his life may be spared......of course, general public has to understand what he wrote on the sign......I am sure Persian people understand, but non-Farsi speakers don't know what was going on..... We need to raise the awareness about this guy's plight.
Here is a video with Batebi holding the bloody shirt. Thank God that he made out of Evin alive! I hope the video is the right one, I got it from Natalia's blog.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw8Nc64-YKs
Great acts are made up of small deeds
by bachenavvab on Tue Feb 23, 2010 09:02 AM PSTHovakhshatare, is your contact setting enabled? Maybe it's me, but I don't see anything.
Yolanda, thanks for the encouraging and kind comment, just might take you up on your offer! Yes, poor fellow, Ahmad Batebi was put through a lot in prison and I am happy he is in DC and relatively well. M.Y. Rashidi also reminds me of the Tianamen Square tank man, not that we are short of Iranian examples.
Anybody out there with activism experience?
You can use the generic email from my profile
by Hovakhshatare on Mon Feb 22, 2010 07:43 PM PSTI have MMs and it maybe on his profile as well.
bomannyali, that may be true but not an established 'fact'. Roxanna had global media behind her and that may have pushed U.S to make the alleged deal as well. Perhaps you can think of ways to help and contribute rather than just jump in with an I know better comment, not relevant to the core point of this blog. If you can't contribute, just keep quiet.
Please correct your info
by bomannyali on Mon Feb 22, 2010 04:20 PM PSTRoxanna Saberi was released after a deal was reached to release the iranian deplomats held in iraq.
Please Get it right
.....
by yolanda on Mon Feb 22, 2010 03:29 PM PSTThank you for your blog. You are kind 'cause you heard a calling to save this brave young man's life! Thank you! Please let us know what we can help with. I will be back to read the suggestions. This guy reminds me of Ahmad Batebi, who held up a bloody shirt and got sentenced to death......but miracle happened and his life is spared.....I hope God will give us more miracles ......of course we have to do our shares of work.
Thank you for sharing and for spreading the word....
MM & Hovakhshatare
by bachenavvab on Mon Feb 22, 2010 02:21 PM PSTThank you for your offer. I will be happy to prepare a draft to get things started. What’s the best way to do this, is there a need to connect or continue on IC's public forum?
please post ur plea on other ACTION-oriented sites too.
by MM on Mon Feb 22, 2010 01:05 PM PSTSuch a brave man, to be sacrified in the name of Islam as a Mohareb or whatever the !#$% they call this crime now.
Here in IC, we can start a chain email to the Amnesty International to put pressure on IRI. Hovakhshatare and I can help you draft emails and post on multiple sites as well as IC.
We are responsible to be his voice and countless others
by Hovakhshatare on Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:39 PM PSTBut it seems email, Facebook, Twitter, IC... has lulled everyone into believing clicking is sufficient or same as activism. //iranian.com/main/blog/hovakhshatare/urg...
There is a 2 million signature general campaign ongoing against executions in general.. //www.k-a-e.com/
List of Evin prisoners //behsan.blogfa.com/post-68.aspx
and helping refugees in Turkey (that does not recognize them as refugees): //www.norooz.org/
We the diaspora have yet to put our blood and sweat into saving our country let alone the current victims.
Your question is valid.