IRANdokht

What's Important Here.....

...isn't when this picture was taken. The fact that these conditions still exist in this day and age is what truly matters. 3,000 years and we still have a backwards society.

Unlike 30 years ago, those in Iran who would like to see changes don't know if they have support from outside Iran. All of you monarchy-bashers can say blather on and on, but the fact is information flowed more freely back then than it does today.

Abarmard, I agree that there isn't just one problem. But, Iran is not politically independent. It is politically impotent.

Past regimes are just that......in the past. It should make no difference what past regimes did, or what neighboring regimes do at present. It's a lame cop-out of a response, and frankly I expected more from you than such a childish thought.

If they all jumped from the roof of a skyscraper, are you going to do the same thing?

See what I mean?

As a society, we're all so concerned with what other people are doing, and are so quick to criticize other countries or groups, and in the meantime, our dirty, filthy, smelly,laundry is piling up in front of our big Iranian noses and we're oblivious to the stench.

so sad

Try to look at it from a broader angle. You seem to think that it is the IR that has brought upon us a dictatorial system and historically we have been a free nation!!!

I have no more to say. I can't try to convince those who shut their eyes and find "ONE" reason to blame the entire Iranian problem. Re read your comment and think which one of us is what you have described!

IRANdokht has changed

Have you noticed? Not only her avatar has changed but her approach to expressing her views too. From a Hilary Clinton/Obama worshipper, calling on people to make love, not war, to a little more gutsy protester showing (a little late - by 2 years) pctures of student protesters or a minister handing money to a little girl and so on.

Your evolution is slow but interesting Irandokht. Keep it going.

to Sh. head

I urge you to contact the families of Mohammad Hashemi, Ali Nikoonesbati, Ali Vefghi, Bahareh Hedayat, Mehdi Arabshahi, Hanif Yazdani, Abodllah Momeni, Bahram Fayyazi, Habib Hajiheydari, Morteza Eslahchi, Mojtaba Bayat,, Arash Khandel, Ashkan Ghiasvand, Ahmad Ghassaban, Majid Tavakoli, Ehsan Mansouri, and Amir Yaghoub-ali as soon as possible...so you can tell them that they should enjoy the the extent of freedom in Iran (with or without their kids)...

azarin

Abarmard: Your continued

Abarmard: Your continued craven disregard (read unscrupulous and immoral whitewashing of the whole truth and presenting false picture of realties ) for injustice, torture, murder, out-and-out rape of the country under the banner of anti-war, pacifism, gradual evolution, or the most pathetic of all "Iranians-are just-too-retarded-to-deserve not to be stoned or killed for expressing and asking for their natural and god given rights are beyond pale.

Your patronizing attitude toward "religious and unsophistcated poor masses of Iranians" is elitist and displays a major disconnect with your own soul. You talk about Iranians as if they are retarded children and don't understand what's right and what's wrong. You don't need a lesson in democracy to know that murder, rape, thieving, corruption, dishonesty are wrong and should not be tolerated by any decent human beings.

And I assure you Iranians are fully aware of all of these injustices and are not whitewashing them like you do.

Dirfahm

The picture speaks for itself. Life in Iran is strange, there are many opposites running parallels that normally would not make sense. What you would like is a clear solution or answer, similar to this picture, Iran is a complicated society with no straight line solution. You can argue that this represents a certain freedom for the students to be able to declare their point, since you know this would be impossible in China, or you could also claim that the exact opposite. What would it be today Dirfahm?

Words are easily misunderstood, Democracy in a society such as Iran could meant things that you have not thought about in your life! Our societies are at parts traditional with absolute lack of civility. And you may find the opposite in some other areas...certainly not the majority!

It has not been too long since we have become politically independent...Is that good or bad? We certainly have not seen much of good coming out of it. Is this it? Time will tell.

What would you like today? Would you like to swear a few curse to the Mullahs and make everyone feel better? Be my guest.

Torture does not yield

Torture does not yield reliable information and is actually counterproductive in intelligence interrogations. This was the conclusion released by retired senior military interrogators and research psychologists during a press conference at Georgetown University.

(see the report here) .

However, Mr. Mortazavi (Canada has called for his arrest), the savage butcher that he is doesn't think so. Mr. Mortazavi once again is displaying his persistent bloodlust that can only be satisfied by more guresome methods of torture and even death.

He seems to be of a family of vampires with a constant need to kill and torture the innocent people. ( Note:Vampires are doubly bloodthirstier than Darculas). How long must innocent Iranian people continue to pay the price so that the vampires can continue their parasitic lives?

Kamangir: Saeed Mortazavi called the parents of the three imprisoned students Mansouri, Ghasaban and Tavakkoli to meet them in his office. The Public Prosecutor of Tehran told the families, “We warned you so many times to not talk to anyone, to not give interviews, to not spread the news about section 209 in Evin Prison, to not meet anyone, and you have done them all. I have transferred your kids to solitary confinement and they will be there while you keep doing what you have been doing.

Till then, you will not meet them and there will be no phone call. When the families complained that their sons have confessed under torture, he said “Who says they were tortured? I am the person who says if they were tortured and I say they were not. We have not started the torture yet for you to know what torture is. The confessions have not been made under pressure”. “Your kids have to sign self-condemnation to be released”

//kamangir.net/2007/08/19/torture-we-have-not...

On the Butcher of Zahra Kazemi and in general Butcher of Tehran:

News in Persian:
//www.autnews.info/archives/1386,05,0004528

This is the Islamic Republic highest judiciary wanted for murder. This is the Islamic Republic in its glory:

"Mortazavi became well-known as a hardline special judge for the press court. During his term at the press court, he ordered the closure of about 80[citation needed] pro-reform newspapers that supported Mohammad Khatami in 1999 on blanket charges. In 2003, he was appointed as the general prosecutor of Tehran, Iran. This promotion caused an outcry from the reformist members of the Majlis of the time.
Mortazavi received international attention and a call for his arrest after he attended the first meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council as a representative of Iran. Canada called for Mortazavi’s arrest in Germany due to his suspected complicity in the illegal arrest, rape, torture and murder of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in 2003. Official Iranian government inquiries found that Mortazavi took part in Kazemi’s interrogation and repeatedly attempted to obstruct the investigation into Kazemi’s death, including through intimidation of government officials and coercion of witnesses to produce false or altered testimony. Human rights organizations have implicated Mortazavi in illegal detentions, the torture of detainees, and coercing false confessions, and he is considered one of Iran's highest-profile rights violators, as he bears significant responsibility for turning Iran's judiciary into a tool of ongoing political crackdown.
The Canadian criminal code now gives the Canadian courts jurisdiction to prosecute torturers even if the torture occurs outside of Canada. If Canada can build a case against Mortazavi, it can request his arrest and extraditon...read the rest below:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeed_Mortazavi

Below story and pictures

Below story and pictures show the Islamic Republic in it's glory:

Iran: Student Activist Executed as Arazel Obash last year.

Archer's blog: Meisam Lotfi (میثم لطفی) was reportedly executed for being a gang-member. He is in fact a student activist. Shahrzad News, a reputable independent website, talked to his mother, before he was executed.

//kamangir.net/2007/07/24/student-activist-to...

Meisam spent six month in the infamous Evin Prison after the July 1999 student riots. His sister was also attacked by the Police and received 40 stitches. Meisam had spent 55 days in solitary confinement after he was accused of setting tires on fire during the protests which followed the fundamentalists’ raid to the dormitory of University of Tehran.

For more pictures published anonymously at the night he was arrested see here..

A confirmation

Mr. Abarmard, You say, "A great picture. It shows Iran very well." Is that in your collective belief a confirmation that it shows Iran in her " vibrant quasi democracy" very well?

Thanks

A great picture. It shows Iran very well.

This shows FREEDOM in Iran !

I bet if someone does this at a reception to say "W", his name and picture will be scanned by the FBI, CIA, IRS, ICE, and all other 14  USA intelligence services, and possibly nabbed for a slightest mishap -- if nothing else!. We should be happy that there is such freedom in Iran and that  students are free to express themseleves openly. 

Under the Shah, he was not even brave enough to show up at the universities, let alone allow decent. I WAS THERE. I know!

I agree

 Ebi you and IRANdokht are correct in that  this picture is still very relevant today. Students are still putting their lives on the line by speaking up in Iran

solh va doosti/paz a vosotros/paix et amitié

ناتاليا

It's an uphill battle

Unfortunately unlike 30 years ago, our students are not organized and our intellectuals abroad are still arguing and accusing each other of being traitors.

Thank you NG for the link to this horrifying article that shows so many of these young Iranians are still fighting alone. 

It takes a lot more to sway the masses in Iran against their "religious leaders" and towards freedom, but the brave ones continue to speak up and get arrested, tortured and killed.

Iranians need a wake-up call.

Thank you my friends for all your comments. 

IRANdokht

عفو‌ بین‌الملل: ایران ۱۲ دانشجو را آزاد کند

And there seems to be no end to the brutal treatment of Iranian students who would dare to protest:

//radiozamaaneh.com/news/2008/08/_12_5.html

These are the names of those

These are the names of those students who were arrested. Some were tortured in the most humiliating way a la abu Ghraib in Iraq:

Mohammad Hashemi, Ali Nikoonesbati, Ali Vefghi, Bahareh Hedayat, Mehdi Arabshahi, Hanif Yazdani, Abodllah Momeni, Bahram Fayyazi, Habib Hajiheydari, Morteza Eslahchi, Mojtaba Bayat,, Arash Khandel, Ashkan Ghiasvand, Ahmad Ghassaban, Majid Tavakoli, Ehsan Mansouri, and Amir Yaghoub-ali.

If anybody has more info on the current status of these would you please post it here on this thread. Thanks, and thank you Irandokht.

FYI

Neither has IRI!

So is IRI's!

FYI

This type of pictures have no " Expiration Date".

Their message is always fresh !!.

Thanks Irandokht!

My dear friend,

Each time I look at this picture, I remember how lucky I am!! I feel lucky because I am not living in a place where a simple act of expressing one's opinion is an act of bravery! (yes, I know. I know...I am not brave at all!!)

Thanks again for reminding me of my blessings!

Azarin

PS: I really like your new avatar! So lovely! 

More than a thousand words...

Those brave kids were later rounded up and arrested and tortured for delivering that message to Mr. Ahmadinejad.  Tortured, barred from continuing their education and continually harassed ever since, they have had to pay a dear price for that day and for those acts of protest.  Whenever we see a young Iranian holding a sign like that, a bloody T-shirt, or those upside-down posters of Ahmadinejad, we have to remember how a whole life is risked in Iran for making that single statement.  Thank you for sharing and reminding us again IRANdokht.

FYI

This picture was taken in December 2006.