The Iranian Times

Monday June 21, 1999 / Khordad 31, 1378, No. 752


Sehaty Foreign Exchange


    Rumi


Cover story

Shamlu
A small tribute

June 21, 1999
The Iranian

The past few years have been difficult for 74-year-old Ahmad Shamlu.

Iran's greatest living poet and one of the most influential literary figures of the century has been battling various health problems, some associated with diabetes. In Mid-June he was hospitalized in Tehran mainly because of mental fatigue, according to his family.

A few days earlier he was awarded Sweden highest prize for writers who emphasize human rights and freedom of expression in their work. Here are just a few of his poems ... GO TO FEATURE


Outlook

The 13 Arrested Iranian Jews:
Spies or Victims?

Iran Press Analysis
20 June 1999

Last February and March, 13 Iranians of Jewish faith were arrested in Shiraz and Isfahan. The news of the arrests broke out only last week in the press. Prior to that, various groups - domestic and foreign- were trying to keep the matter out of public eye, in an attempt to quietly resolve the problem behind the scenes. It is not clear why the behind-the-scenes negotiators decided to bring the problem into international limelight, but chances are, their clandestine bargaining was just not working ... FULL TEXT


    Anyway

    Gaz

Do you know how they make that delicious gaz (i.e. nougat)? Here's how they do it at the Ashrafi Food Company ... QUICKTIME VIDEO

Always funteresting: Harper's Index


More Letters

* Mentally trapped

Parviz Kuhkan writes: This morning I read Laleh Khalili's account of her trip to Abadan and Khorramshahr ["Palm groves survive"]. It was very well written. Of course the things she is describing are awesome, but there was also the style and the economy and precision that served the telling.

Twice I broke down reading that part where she tells of the veterans taking off their shoes to observe heart-felt respect they feel for those killing fields when they visit their baked salty dusts. Compare this purity with the mercenary posture and utterances of the vacuous "intellectuals" and despicable "poets" etc.

Mentally trapped in a world of spent customs and habits, we are, all of us, sleepwalking on a tight rope, that is also worn out, when we think and talk about our society, its politics and culture.

* Iranian blood not enough

Cyrous Jame writes: I visited the Iranian web site and I saw Andre Agassi's pictures ["Andre the great"]. They are really nice pictures. However, I don't ever recall Agassi talking or mentioning anything about his Iranian background. As a matter of fact, I don't think he has ever acknowledged that.

Keeping that in mind, my question is why should we, as Iranians, try to relate him to ourselves. In my opinion, to being Iranian has nothing to do with having Iranian blood, but it has everything to do with one's love and interest toward Iran, its people, its culture and its history.

Unfortunately, I can't see this interest in Andre Agassi despite the fact that his father is an Iranian and, if I am not mistaken, served in Iran's national boxing team. I think he is a great tennis player, but I just can't picture him as an Iranian.

 


* Acting: Iranian actors needed in San Francisco

Golden Thread Productions is casting for the following roles as part of Six Plays- en short, a collection of short plays exploring life in and after the Middle East. Male, 30-40's, female, 30-40's, 20's boy. Rehearsals in July, evenings & weekends, in San Francisco Bay Area. Performances in August at the Exit Theatre in San Francisco. Wed- Sat, 8 pm. Send headshot & resume to Golden Thread Productions, BMP 153, 4096 Piedmont Ave., Oakland, CA. 94611... MORE INFO HERE


Book of the Week

Iranian Nationality and the Persian Language

By Shahrokh Meskoo
Foreword by Ali Banuazizi
Translated by Michael Hillmann

    In this insightful study of Iranian cultural history and national identity, Shahrokh Meskoob, one of Iran's leading intellectuals, reviews the roles of three social classes in the development and refinement of the Persian language during the past one thousand years and gives the reader a fresh perspective on Iranian cultural heritage and the struggle to forge a distinct national identity ... GO TO BOOK

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More news

Moderate Iranian press puzzles over suicide of murders' mastermind

TEHRAN, June 21 (AFP) - The mastermind of last year's murders of Iranian dissidents was identified as a former intelligence official on Monday as the moderate press here raised a number of questions about his suicide. Saeed Emami, also known as Saaed Eslami, committed suicide by swallowing "vajebi," a highly toxic powder mostly used for hair-removal in Iran, while in the public bath of a prison in the capital on Saturday ... FULL TEXT

Intelligence minister slams outcry over arrested Jews

TEHRAN, June 21 (AFP) - Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi Monday attacked the "hullaballoo" raised about the arrest of 13 Iranian Jews on spying charges. "They were arrested a long time ago, but we did not want to impede the course of the inquiry by making a public announcement, but international Zionism published the news," he said, quoted on state television. He added that the case had been submitted to the courts ... FULL TEXT

Minister says Iran wants full ties with Egypt

TEHRAN, June 21 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said on Monday his country wanted to re-establish closer ties with Egypt, and sharply criticised Islamic hardliners who were trying to undermine them. ``The view of the government and the Supreme National Security Council is to move toward a comprehensive rebuilding of ties with Egypt,'' Ataollah Mohajerani, the government spokesman and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, told reporters ... FULL TEXT

Iran says holds suspects in general's killing

TEHRAN, June 18 (Reuters) - Hardliners on Friday unveiled a mural in honour of the assassin of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, in an open challenge to moves by Tehran to improve ties with the big Moslem Arab country ... FULL TEXT

Iranians protest against Iran says holds suspects in general's killing

TEHRAN, June 21 (Reuters) - Iranian security forces have arrested several members of an armed opposition group suspected of involvement in the assassination of a top general in April, Iran's intelligence minister said on Monday. Ali Yunesi also said that one member of the Iraq-based Mujahideen Khalq group was killed in a clash with security forces in Southern Iran, where the other suspects in the killing of Lieutenant General Ali Sayyad Shirazi were arrested, state television reported ... FULL TEXT

"It was no holiday," say Italians kidnapped in Iran

TEHRAN, June 21 (AFP) - Three Italians held for a week by kidnappers in southern Iran arrived here on Monday as the Iranian authorities denounced their abductors as "enemies of the Islamic Revolution." "We were neither beaten nor tied up, but it really wasn't a holiday," Lorenzo Termite, one of the three, told a press conference at Tehran airport. "We never knew what could happen to us." ... FULL TEXT

Foundation's leadership may change

21 June 1999 (Iran Report - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) - Recent reports about the involvement of an Iranian charitable foundation in a joint-venture with a Norwegian oil exploration company reveal the political, economic, and financial power of these para-statal bodies. These, in turn, indicate that although the foundation's leadership may change soon, its activities will not ... FULL TEXT

Zarrinkub recovering

(Iran daily) - Historian Abdol-Hossein Zarrinkub is recovering at the intensive care unit of a hospital in Maryland after he fell seriously ill on Saturday ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Mehran-Far's film in Sydney

Tehran, (Iran daily) - "Derakht Jaan" a documentary by Farhad Mehran-Far will be a screened at the Sydney Film Festival ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Captain Mahdavi-Kia

Tehran, (Iran daily) - Mehdi-Mahdavi-Kia has been named the captain of the under-23 national soccer team for Friday's match against Lebanon ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN


BBC

Persian Service


$ Rate

Updated June 21

The dollar now offered at 850-882 tomans in the U.S. and 890 tomans in Iran

Source: Sehaty Exchange (U.S.) Tel: 602-595-0777

Business news


The Web

Iran

Gaz & Sohan Ashrafi

It was about time traditional Iranian sweets established a home on the Internet.

Beyond Iran

Emma Sergeant

The online gallery space of British artist Emma Sergeant has many rooms, and while it's not always clear what the floorplan is, it's nevertheless an intriguing tour of her life and work.

More web sites


Quote Unquote

Poor love

aasheq-e beepool baayad shabdar bechineh.

(When povery comes in at the door, love flies out the window.)

"1001 Persian-English Proverbs"
By Simin Habibian


Photo of the Day

Afghan Coke


Music

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Vigen

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