Beginning of the end?

The news of a directive to all Iranian judiciary officials to commute the death sentences of juvenile offenders to life imprisonment, and then in a second stage to 15 years was happily but cautiously welcomed by Stop Child Executions and the human rights activists and organizations worldwide. The announcement by Iran’s Attorney General for Judicial Affairs was made on the eve of the UN General Assembly‘s annual debate on the Rights of the Child. The General Assembly was asked by Stop Child Executions and more than 300 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from 82 countries to fully implement the absolute ban on the juvenile death penalty, as required by customary law, the Convention on the Rights of the child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights>>>

The Little Sparrow

There was a little sparrow that was stuck on their porch somehow, having fallen or gotten lost or something, and the boy of nine, whose name was Babak Ghanbari, walked up to it. Something was wrong when a bird did not fly away when he walked up to it, and he called to his father, who was inside reading the newspaper. When his father came outside, the bird flew up to the corner of the glass porch roof. It flew belaboredly, like it took all it had to get up there. The father saw that it was in bad shape. "There is nothing that we can do for it," he said, and he turned and went inside.>>>

وسوسهء غرب و نوانديشان دينی

من يکی اکنون، در پی تجربه ای بيست و اندی ساله، به اين نتيجه رسيده ام که اين متحول شدگان ـ که خود را با کارت ويزيت «توانديش دينی» معرفی می کنند ـ در مورد کاری که می کنند دچار سوء تفاهم و وهم اند و خيال می کنند که برای همگان حرفی تازه و آموختنی و ديدگاهی نوين آورده اند. و همين توهم هم هست که منجر به نوعی ـ بقول آخوند ها ـ تذبذب مفرط در آنها شده و آنان را بدانجا می کشاند که چنان بنويسند و بگويند که تو گوئی آنها گنگ «خوابديده» بوده اند و عالم تمام کر، و حالا ـ به مدد انفاس قدسيهء الهی ـ طوطی شکر شکن شده اند و با صور بلند و اسرافيلی خود در گوش های پينه و پنبه بستهء ما می دمند تا بيدار شويم و بمدد دم مسيحائی اينان راهمان را از چاه باز شناسيم. من معتقدم که لااقل در مورد نوانديشی پس از انقلاب چنين تصوری اصلاً واقعيت ندارد و نوانديشان مذهبی ما دهشی در نوسازی مذهب نداشته و فقط از کسانی الهام گرفته اند که با مذهب سر و کاری ندارند و در حرف و سخن و احتجاجات آنان نيز نکتهء تازه ای نمی يابند>>>

ريدن از شما ، بقيه اش با ما

با سلام خدمت آقاي احمدي نژاد. من صنعت كاري هستم كه سالهاست در خدمت اين مرز و بوم مشغول به كارم وبا ساخت انواع آفتابه به چرخش چرخ صنعت اين كشور كمك ميكنم. آقاي احمدي نژاد از شما به عنوان يك رييس جمهور(كه حتما تا به حال مشتري يكي از آفتابه هاي من بوده ايد) تقاضا ميكنم كه به صنعت آفتابه سازي اين كشور كمك كنيد چون آفتابه سازان هم اكنون نيازمند ياري سبز شما هستند. از همه مهمتر اينكه با توجه به شعار دولت مبني بر نوآوري و شكوفايي ملي، شركت ياران آفتابه ما هم براي ايجاد نوآوري، به دست نيروهاي بومي اقدام به ساخت آفتابه هايي به رنگ سبز فسفري كرده>>>

The Story of Mohammad

Mohammad worked for nearly a decade in the Roman trade route and became very familiar with both the Christian and the Jewish traditions of the Near East. As an intelligent young man, although illiterate, he absorbed most of the biblical stories, which put his life in a much more appealing prospective. He found solace in the hardship stories of Job and Moses, but perhaps was most influenced by Abraham, a Semitic prophet who recanted his own town and traditions, to build a new Utopia and create a new way of life. At the age of 40, after marrying a wealthy business woman, Mohammad found some spare time to contemplate his past and future, his beliefs and doubts.>>>

What Role Religion Can Play

America is a nation of highly religious citizens and Americans seems to have retained their spiritual life “Full 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82 percent in miracles, according to the latest FOX News poll. Though belief in God has remained at about the same level, belief in the devil has increased slightly over the last few years — from 63 percent in 1997 to 71 percent today” (2004). Such information, however, should not be viewed as an indication of the status of religion in public life. When it comes to public life, this nation pretends that religion does not really matter. We are not supposed to let our religious believes interfere with our public life>>>

The Newlyweds (6)

Salam Khaleh Joon, I hope this letter finds you and yours well. I wish I could say Shahab and I are doing fine here but this would be far from the truth. We recently got into a major fight and it was much, much worse than the last time, when he punched the wall. But before you get worried, I am okay. I mean, I am not hurt or anything. Not physically at least. As for my emotional state, that is another story. It all started when we were invited to Maryam’s house for a party. Remember the last time, I told you about bumping into Maryam, my old friend from Iran>>>

از تخریب گنجی بترسیم

وقتی نوشته نوری‌علا را خواندم بی‌اختیار اشک در چشمانم حلقه زد. نمی‌توانستم باور کنم که به‌نام مدرن‌خواهی و دمکراسی‌طلبی هم می‌توان این‌گونه به‌ تخریب یکی از نمادها و قهرمانان جنبش دمکراسی‌خواهی ایران پرداخت. نمی‌توانستم باور کنم که اکبر گنجی که کیهان و اوین و اعتصاب غذا نتوانستنند او را بشکنند را عده‌ای قصد دارند بشکنند. برایم سخت بود ببینم عده‌ای این همه دلاوری گنجی را در چند جمله ساده خلاصه می‌کنند و به‌فرودگاه رفتنشان و ترجمه مقالات گنجی را تا آن حد بزرگ می‌کنند که بخواهند بر سر شخصیت ملی بزرگی چون منت او بگذارند و او را نمک‌گیر خود بدانند. مدام از خودم می‌پرسیدم: «آیا این گروه یادشان رفته که گنجی برای یک نسل از جوانان ایرانی که در میان خرابه‌های جنگ زاده و بزرگ شدند یک قهرمان است؟>>>

We believe

We believe in the Universal Human Rights, we believe that every inhabitant of a state has to be equal before the law, in a society regardless of race, skin-color, beliefs etc. Because all the colors together establish the rainbow and if one is not participating, there would be no rainbow, it would be incomplete! And I know this sounds very simple, but that is what we miss in Iran: Simplicity. It would be fantastic if I, with my provocative ideas, could be treated the same as a man with his Islamic philosophy in Iran. Why won’t it be fantastic if EVERYONE gets equal treatment?>>>

Getting real

On the eve of his departure from political life, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Olmert delivered a stinging parting shot – putting under question not only the wisdom of holding on to Palestinian land, but also the feasibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “We have to make a decision, one that goes against all our instincts, against our collective memory,” he told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Recognizing that no other Israeli leader ever had uttered these words publicly, Olmert went on to declare that “Israel must withdraw from almost all, if not all” of the West Bank to achieve peace. On Iran, Olmert argued that Israel had lost its “sense of proportion” when stating that it would deal with Iran militarily. “What we can do with the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Lebanese, we cannot do with the Iranians,” Olmert said >>>