Maryam Nayeb Yazdi2013-05-21T13:58:29-04:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=maryam-nayeb-yazdiCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Maryam Nayeb YazdiGood old fashioned elbow grease.Iranian Student Wins 2013 Student Peace Prizetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26825262013-02-13T22:01:22-05:002013-04-15T05:12:01-04:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/Majid Tavakoli, an Iranian university student activist will receive the 2013 Student Peace Prize award in absentia during an official award ceremony in his honor. Sadly, Majid won't be able to attend because he's locked up behind bars in Iran. The ceremony, which begins at 19:00 Central European Time, will be held at the Olavshallen, a historical concert hall in Trondheim, Norway. The event will be streamed live on isfit.org.
We're dedicating this Friday to Majid Tavakoli by changing our Facebook profile pictures to reflect our support for him and the Iranian student movement. Find a photo of Majid for your profile picture here.
Find more information on Majid Tavakoli and the ceremony on Friday here.]]>This Man is in Exile for 10 Years...For That?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23441412012-12-21T17:39:22-05:002013-02-20T05:12:02-05:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/Zia Nabavi's 29th birthday. This is the fourth consecutive birthday the university student activist is spending in prison. He was arrested at a relative's house on June 15, 2009, following his participation in a peaceful post-election protest. He's been trapped in prison since then.
Zia received one of the top scores in the country on his university entrance exam and graduated from the Babol Noshirvani University of Technology with a degree in Chemical Engineering. While he was completing his master's in Sociology, Iranian regime authorities labelled him a "starred" student, which meant he was banned from continuing his education.
Following the ban, Zia became more active in pursuing students' right to education. He frequently visited the admission's office and made unsuccessful attempts to convince officials to allow him to study again. On a positive note, Zia's persistent efforts led him to meet other starred students. They quickly united and coordinated their efforts to form an organization called the Advocacy Council for the Right to Education (ACRE). One of the main goals of ACRE was to prove to authorities that the actions of starred student activists were peaceful and did not violate the laws of the country. The greatest challenge they faced was finding ways to convince authorities, specifically Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, to admit that starred students exist in the first place. Sadly, to date, Iranian regime officials continue to deny the existence of starred students. Read this report by ACRE for more information on starred students.
In the days leading to the June 2009 Iranian Presidential election, student activists held several demonstrations -- mainly outside the Ministry of Advanced Education building, the state television and radio building, and the University of Tehran -- to expose the regime's lies by proving starred students do exist.
Zia Nabavi
Weeks before the election the regime had lifted some restrictions on censorship to help create the illusion of freedom of speech in Iran. During that time even the ban on Facebook was temporarily lifted. Presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi took advantage of the more open atmosphere and pushed Iran's state-controlled media to air a revealing video about the existence of starred students. Though the move helped raise national awareness on the issue it also outraged regime hardliners.
Following the announcement of the rigged election results many Iranian activists were arrested, including members of ACRE, and issued outlandish prison sentences. Shiva Nazar Ahari, Saeed Jalalifar, Majid Dori, and Zia Nabavi are ACRE members still locked up behind bars.
The Iranian judiciary initially issued Zia a sentence of 15 years in prison and 74 lashes. His charges, like in the case of Iranian political prisoners, were bogus: "Conspiracy to act against national security," "Propaganda against the regime," "Disturbance of public order," "Agitation of the public mind," and "Moharebeh (waging war against God) through collaboration with the MEK." In the appeals court hearing, the charges against him were dropped, all except for Moharebeh (Learn more about Moharebeh in this UN report) His sentence was changed to 10 years in prison exile.
After hearing the appeals court's decision, Zia wrote a letter to the head of Iran's Judiciary titled, "I am not a Mohareb." He explained that the charges laid against him are so ludicrous that the whole situation "resembles a joke." He elaborated:
"It's clear my charges were connected to my activities with the Advocacy Council for the Right to Education, because that was the basis of my interrogation. If we accept the verdict issued by the [courts regarding the] Moharebeh charge, then we can conclude that the charge against me is 'Waging war against God through defending the right to education'. Does the judicial system really regard defending the right to education equivalent to a fight against the Islamic establishment?"
However, the Judiciary had used the excuse that Zia had family members in Camp Ashraf as grounds to issue him the Moharebeh charge. Until recently Camp Ashraf, located in Iraq, was home to more than three thousand members of the MEK. In the same letter he wrote:
"...my familial background was mentioned as grounds for the charges against me...Is it not evident that each person may only be responsible for [their] own actions? Family ties, which one has no control, power, or responsibility over, cannot be the premises for issuing charges. Do we have such a problem with the system of creation that we accuse and even condemn people based on their familial background?"
The Iranian regime authorities could not openly admit to arresting and imprisoning students for pursuing education rights, so they searched for any excuse to keep them locked up. In Zia's case, they accused him of acting under the influence of the MEK.
Zia was held in Tehran's Evin Prison for more than a year before he was abruptly and unlawfully transferred to Ahwaz's Karoun Prison in September 2010. Upon arrival, Iranian authorities severely beat him and sent him to solitary confinement for 48 hours. Since then Zia has endured some of the most brutal prison conditions while held with drug addicts and dangerous criminals.
Though Zia's conditions in prison have slightly improved, he was living in deplorable conditions for months. He wrote a shocking letter to the Head of the Human Rights Council of Iran's Judiciary detailing the gruesomeness. Here is an excerpt:
"I'm grateful that I have never had to endure sleeping outside in the courtyard or in the bathroom like so many of the other prisoners... Only someone who has experienced prison life understands how torturous it is to be deprived of fresh air and an area to walk a few steps to stretch your legs... I feel as though my life is slowly drifting from one where I live like a human to one where I am treated like an animal. The instinct of self-preservation and the desire to survive have become my main drive and concern. It feels as though there is nothing else to worry about except to stay alive."
I've learned through my activism in the past few years that Zia is a peaceful and calm person who is against violence and breaking the law. I approached one of Zia's friends to understand why regime authorities have acted harsher toward Zia than most other students. He said, "Zia's interrogator wanted him to confess that the MEK influenced him and the other students to pursue the right to education. Regime officials needed an excuse to prove that their issue with these students wasn't their advocacy for education rights, but rather their connection to anti-regime groups. But, because Zia had refused to cooperate with the lies, the interrogator was unable to find proof to support the false accusations. Consequently the interrogator held a grudge against Zia and acted spitefully."
I was only half convinced. Many Iranian activists refused to cooperate with their interrogators, and Zia wasn't the first one to be accused of having ties to the MEK. His friend responded, "Logic and the Islamic Republic clash. It's not easy to explain why authorities would hold more of a grudge against Zia than another activist who also pursued the right to education. Sometimes it just depends on the interrogator who gets assigned to you. Some of them are worse than others. But, nothing is certain when assessing an unlawful system." I suddenly recalled an excerpt from another letter Zia wrote from prison:
"Contrary to the explicit text of the country's criminal code, and without any evidence or proof, I was convicted of a charge so incompatible with my nature, essence, and personality that I became able to grasp the meaning of the phrase 'A bad or oppressive law is better than no law.' With an oppressive law, what constitutes the illegal act is clear and the consequential punishments are known. However, with lawlessness, you think you are supposed to attend university and continue your studies, but then you end up serving a prison sentence in exile."
Despite the confusion as to why Zia was targeted, there is one point that's clear to me. Zia and many other representatives of the youth generation were born after the 1979 revolution. During the Iran-Iraq war they were elementary school children. They grew up in the Islamic Republic and functioned within its system, but at the same time they grew up knowing about the opposition, like the MEK. They lived with these conflicting viewpoints, yet activists like Zia weren't pursuing the overthrow of the system. They were interested in peaceful activism and gradual change. Their main goal was to obtain human rights for Iran's civil society, and their desire for democracy and modernity drove them.
The saddest part of this story is that if people like Zia were given the opportunity they could have helped build a healthier and more prosperous future for Iran and its people. Instead, Iran's future is locked up behind bars, the economy is crippling more each day, and the regime spends its money and resources desperately holding onto power.
Let the imprisonment of people like Zia be a strong indication that the ideals of peace and democracy are a threat to the regime's existence.
We can't do much to convince the Iranian authorities to release Zia, but we can talk about him and spread the word about his plight. We could also morally support him. You could take a moment and send a birthday tweet to Zia using the hashtag #ZiaBDAY. Greetings will be collected and compiled in a birthday card to be sent to his family. You could also create a birthday card and post it on a Facebook page advocating for Zia's release from prison. Let's show him he's not alone.]]>How Iran's Student Movement Has Shaped Democracytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22592442012-12-07T15:08:38-05:002013-02-06T05:12:01-05:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/live updates on Persian2English about mass opposition student protests in Iran. It was National Student Day, or as the Iranians call it, 16 Azar. This year the Iranian calendar caused 16 Azar to fall a day earlier, but there were no signs of opposition protests in Iran yesterday.
National Student Day is an important day not only for students but for many freedom-seeking Iranians. The day reminds us of resistance against dictatorship and suppression in Iran for the past six decades.
The student movement in Iran, a non-violent movement, stands out from other student movements around the world because it extends beyond student rights issues. The Iranian student movement struggles to obtain freedom and democracy for the overall Iranian civil society while resisting dictatorship. Watch student activist Bahareh Hedayat in this video talk about the role of the Iranian student movement. She has been in Evin prison since her arrest in December 2009. Bahareh is sentenced to a total of ten years in prison.
Student Day gatherings became an annual occurrence at post-secondary institutions in Iran following the murder of three University of Tehran students in 1953. However, after the 1979 revolution, the gatherings were largely suppressed by the Islamic Republic and it became nearly impossible to protest in public. It wasn't until the early 90s that Iranian students began to speak out more.
During Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidency, starting in 1989, the number of universities in Iran increased. With the election of Mohammad Khatami as President of Iran in 1997, the activities of the student movement in Iran vastly grew. Once Khatami was elected, freedoms for students increased and the suppressed university atmosphere became more open. As a result, demands for human rights became a main component of the student movement in Iran. And, since students were generally known to be open minded, their overall influence played an integral role in modernizing civil society.
Prior to his election Khatami was considerably lesser known by the general public, since newspapers in Iran were controlled by Ali Khamenei's regime and were only permitted to publish information in favour of Iran's political right. Khatami and other leftist regime members in favour of reforming the system were given one outlet to express their ideas, a newspaper by the name of Salam, which was shut down by Khamenei's regime in 1999. Arguably, students played the largest role in Khatami's presidency. Without Iranian students Khatami would probably not have gained the popularity he did.
In July 1999, Khamenei's regime attempted to blow out the flames of student protests by attacking dormitories at the University of Tehran and the University of Tabriz. Numerous students were murdered and many more were injured, threatened, arrested, and tortured. Ahmad Batebi, a student whose famous picture holding a bloody t-shirt was published in the Economist magazine, was among the students arrested, imprisoned, and tortured.
Though Khamenei's regime was able to suppress students and slow down their activities it did not succeed to quash the movement. Iranian students continued to work toward reaching their demands for freedom and democracy.
Regime agents in 2003 waged a second attack on dormitories in Tehran's Allameh Tabatabaie University and other post-secondary institutions across the country. Students were once again arrested, imprisoned, and tortured.
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assumed the position of President in 2005, the suppression of students became more intense. His government made great attempts to stop student activism by forcing university groups to halt to their activities. Arresting and torturing students and banning them from their education became a regular occurrence.
The student movement is one of the main powers that went head to head with Ahmadinejad's government and refused to bow down to the violent suppression. For example, when Ahmadinejad had visited Tehran's Amirkabir University in 2006 to deliver a speech, students protested his presence by setting his picture ablaze. Student supporters of Ahmadinejad (mainly members of the Basij militia) retaliated by physically beating the protesting students.
Following the 2009 rigged Presidential election, university students played a major role in campaigning for reformist presidential candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Iranian students brought a certain excitement and positive energy to the campaigns, which caused a significant portion of the Iranian civil society to support Mousavi and Karroubi.
The growing influence of students moved Mousavi and Karroubi to deliver their campaign speeches mainly at the universities. It was the students who would decide the topics addressed in the reformist presidential candidate speeches, including women's rights and ethnic minority rights. Though taboo, Mousavi and Karroubi were obliged to address these issues or they risked losing their core support. With the help of students Mousavi and Karroubi quickly gained widespread support from the Iranian civil society.
Students were the main power that helped establish what came to be known as the Green Movement following the results of the election. Slogans that were heard in public street protests in June 2009 and on originally derived from student chants, like "Down with the dictator" and "Political prisoners must be released."
As protests grew, Khamenei's regime became more threatened. Sadly, in June 2009, regime thugs once again attacked dormitories in a few universities, including the University of Tehran. Large numbers of arrests were made and students were murdered.
In July 2009, on the anniversary of the 1999 university dorm attacks, more protests took place. Khamenei's regime responded by making mass arrests and transferring numerous students to a detention centre by the name of Kahrizak. Numerous students were brutally tortured until they died, including Mohsen Rouholamini, Amir Javadifar, and Mohammad Kamrani.
By December 2009, most student activists who played an active role in the protests were thrown in prison. Since June 2009, thousands of students have been arbitrarily arrested. Today, more than 30 students suffer behind bars. Some of the students have been imprisoned for more than three years, while others are serving outlandish sentences in remote parts of the country, far away from their family. Some students are being held in cells with drug addicts and prisoners who have committed serious crimes, like murder.
Today, the arbitrary arrests of students continues, and it will for as long as a democratic system is lacking in Iran.
I call on university students and professors around the world to launch public campaigns at their colleges and universities in support of Iranian students. Let's rise together to be the voice of the voiceless.
]]>Tweeting up a Storm to Fight Injustice in Irantag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19832832012-10-19T12:32:29-04:002012-12-19T05:12:01-05:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/Nasrin Sotoudeh, an award-winning lawyer held unlawfully in Evin Prison since 2010, is on her third day of hunger strike. To show their solidarity with this incredible woman, human rights and online activists have organized a "Tweet Storm" which begins Friday, October 19 at 1 p.m. EST. The special hashtag is #IamNasrin.
The online event is an urgent call to take action for her release. Anyone can join the Storm, as long as you have a Twitter account. And, if you don't, you can always create one. A link to a post with suggested tweets will be provided on the campaign's event page half an hour before the start of the Storm.
What you need to do is simple: Send a tweet every minute for 60 minutes. You can copy the suggested tweets and paste straight to your Twitter account.
The goal of the Tweet Storm is to encourage media, journalists, bloggers, reporters, lawyers, mothers, women's rights groups, human rights activists and groups, and concerned citizens to stand in solidarity with Nasrin. Social media plays a very important role in consciousness-awareness raising. We should all do our parts to be Nasrin's voice because hers has been silenced. The Regime in Iran must be held accountable for its crimes against humanity.
For the past two years Regime authorities have frequently deprived Nasrin Sotoudeh of her most basic human rights, like the right to have physical contact with her children or make phone calls to her mother. The courageous and resilient Nasrin is sentenced to six years in prison and banned from practising law for 10 years.
Her husband, Reza Khandan, posted the following on Wednesday on his Facebook to announce the hunger strike:
After months of back and forth with the Prosecutor's office, the fundamental right of a mother to have face-to-face meetings [with her beloved children] is still being denied. Despite 17 months of imprisonment in Evin's general ward, they still refuse to grant her a two-minute phone conversation. Even a visitation from behind a cabin window with her brother and mother has been denied for an entire year.
Nasrin must now hear through the grapevine that her 12-year-old daughter was summoned along with her husband to branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court to discover [the authorities] have banned her from leaving the country. As if that was not enough, now this innocent, young girl, who is no longer able to visit her mother behind bars as a result of a conflicting school schedule on Wednesdays, must face the stubbornness of a Judiciary which refuses to switch the visitation day.
For two months [the authorities] gave us false hopes that they might grant [Nasrin] furlough. The Prosecutor's office even asked us to submit a number of documents, only to suddenly change their minds at the last minute.
Nasrin, who has been left with no other recourse, has unfortunately launched a hunger strike as of this morning. I did everything in my power to dissuade her of this decision, but she was adamant. Even without a hunger strike she has lost so much weight and is so weak that she is unrecognizable to those who have not seen her in a while...and now this [the hunger strike]...
Hope to see you on Twitter for Nasrin. You should help because you can.
]]>Help a Mother Save Her Son From Execution in Irantag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.17682692012-08-11T17:06:06-04:002012-10-11T05:12:07-04:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/
An excerpt of her letter translated to English reads: "Since my husband died five years ago, Gholamreza is my only hope for living-- but he has been imprisoned for the past four years. Please help in preventing the [Iranian authorities] from taking [my son] away from me. He did not hurt anyone nor use any weapons...Please help me."
Iranian Ministry of Intelligence agents brutally beat and arrested Khosravi, an industrial inspector and wielder, at his workplace in February 2008. Without announcing his charges, the agents threw him in an unmarked car and pointed a gun to his head. They threatened to kill him if he showed any form of resistance. He was taken to the Kerman Intelligence office and barbarically tortured, both physically and psychologically.
After a court in Kerman sentenced Khosravi to a total of six years in prison for his alleged support of the PMOI/MEK, Ali Akbar Heydarifard, the Tehran Deputy Prosecutor at the time (who had no role in the case), illegally ordered the transfer of the sentence to Tehran. According to close sources, the transfer was most likely due to the fact that Khosravi had refused to cooperate with authorities by giving false video confessions.
You may not be familiar with his name, but Heydarifard is notorious among Iranians. He is nicknamed the "Torturer of Tehran." He is most known for ordering the transfer of Iranian protesters to Kahrizak Prison. For those who remember Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, Heydarifard allegedly played a role in her torture and murder in 2003.
In Tehran, Pir Abbasi, a corrupt Judge in the Revolutionary Court, convicted Khosravi of Moharebeh (enmity and waging war against God) and sentenced him to death. Read an interview with Khosravi's family member for more information on the unlawful nature of the charges and sentence.
Since his arrest in 2008, Khosravi has endured more than three years in solitary confinement and practically all his basic human rights have been violated. To date, the Iranian authorities have not presented any evidence to support the death penalty sentence.
To complicate matters more, Khosravi's main lawyer, Abdolfattah Soltani, is also imprisoned.
Based on the information provided by Khosravi's family, the death sentence is currently in the possession of the Execution of Sentences office in Evin Prison and is scheduled to be carried out in September (following the Islamic holy month of Ramadan).
I have personally worked on multiple execution cases and can assure you that international attention saves lives in Iran. You have the power to help Gholamreza Khosravi. Be his voice for justice.
Here are some ways you can help:
1. Take urgent action with Amnesty International and write to Iranian authorities.
2. Contact Foreign Affairs departments in Canada and other countries and urge them to speak out for Gholamreza Khosravi.
3. Contact your local media and urge them to report on Gholamreza Khosravi's plight
5. Join the Save Gholamreza Khosravi Facebook support page to stay updated on the case
6. Spread the word about Gholamreza Khosravi's plight by sharing news related to him on your Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
]]>A Translator's Slip-Up Cost a Young Girl Her Lifetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.17480212012-08-07T07:43:39-04:002012-10-07T05:12:03-04:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/
Babak played me an interview he conducted with Haifa Mohammad Ali, a mother who had just discovered that Farnaz, her 10-year-old daughter, was murdered by Firouz, her husband (also the child's father). Below is my English interpretation of Haifa's story as explained to Babak in Persian:
Farnaz, 10
Nearly one year ago, Haifa and Firouz made the decision to leave Iran and relocate to Kayseri, Turkey because their belief in the Baha'i faith had jeopardized their safety. They hoped to gain asylum in a new country with the help of the United Nations. Haifa's main concern was Farnaz. She wanted her daughter to grow up with the opportunity to obtain a recognized post-secondary education. The Islamic Republic regime bans Baha'is from university.
The tragedy occurred 10 months following their move to Turkey. On July 30 around noon, Firouz had arrived home and became outraged when he noticed Haifa didn't prepare lunch to his standards. Firouz's anger scared Haifa, and, like the other instances throughout their abusive marriage, she threatened to leave him. She had wanted to divorce Firouz many times in the past but Iranian laws required his permission first.
Firouz grabbed Farnaz and a kitchen knife then threatened to kill his daughter and wife. Horrified, Haifa made a dash for the front door and ran all the way to the police station. Her intention was to file a formal complaint against her husband and have a police officer accompany her home to save her daughter. Unable to understand Persian, the officers called in Ali, an Iranian man who was to sit in as the translator. Haifa explained what had transpired, adding that her husband has a history of mental illness. Ali, addressing Haifa and the authorities, said:
"If your husband was capable of killing your daughter he wouldn't have issued a threat beforehand. You and your daughter are not in real danger. She's lying about all this to get out of Turkey faster. In the past, we have had many other refugees act in the same manner."
Then, in an unprecedented move for a country that is secular, the authorities inquired about Haifa's religion. When Ali heard she was a Baha'i, he convinced the authorities that her religion was artificial and not based on divinity. "She's saying all this to get attention. Baha'is are all liars," he added.
Haifa spent at least three hours at the police station attempting to convince the authorities she was telling the truth but the Kayseri police refused to take her seriously. Around 6 p.m., Firouz murdered Farnaz. He first choked her then stabbed her multiple times. More, he attempted to kill himself but didn't succeed. When the police finally went to the murder scene and found Firouz unconscious they rushed him to the emergency section of the hospital.
Haifa's story especially affected me because a main part of my activism consists of managing translations of human rights violation reports and letters by political prisoners. Throughout the past three years, since I became active for the Iranian freedom movement, I have learned the importance and power of a translation and the obligation we have to do it properly.
Translations should only be about removing the barrier of verbal communication because -- no matter where you live in the world -- the fear for your family's safety, the yearning for freedom, and discrimination are universal themes. Feelings don't need to be translated, languages do. Ali's mistake, as a translator, was that he manipulated Haifa's words. He had the power to convince the authorities of Haifa's genuineness but instead chose to convey what he thought to be the truth.
In addition to her husband, Haifa holds the police and Ali responsible for her daughter's murder. She believes, if the Kayseri police had acted responsibly and dutifully, Farnaz may have still been alive today.
From my viewpoint, the main culprit of any Iranian refugee story is the Islamic Republic regime for its systematic abuse of human rights. There are currently several thousand Iranian victims stuck in Turkey and the Kurdistan region in Iraq who are waiting on the United Nations to give them asylum in a new country.
They are ethnic and religious minorities, students, human rights and political activists, journalists, labour activists and members of the LGBT community. Most of them have to wait between an average of one and a half to three years before receiving an answer from the United Nations. During this time they are forced to live among corrupt authority figures who make life extremely difficult for them. I believe it is the duty of democratic nations of the world to help victims of human rights violations rather than treat them like liars and criminals.
Although Haifa's suffering is eternal and our actions going forward will not erase her pain, I hope that by writing and spreading her story we can help prevent similar injustices from occurring.]]>Letter From a Prisoner in Irantag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.14067372012-04-05T15:59:44-04:002012-06-05T05:12:01-04:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/arrested Hedayat in December 2009, three days following a mass two-day opposition protest in the country. She has been locked up in Evin prison ever since.
Hedayat is an award-winning women's rights and student activist. She is sentenced to ten years in prison. Her only crime is being too good, too honest, too brave. The Iranian regime is punishing her for refusing to live a life of lies, compromise her individuality, or bow down to oppression.
Hedayat was arrested mainly for not remaining silent to the injustices haunting Iranian students. For instance, the brave activist can be seen in this 2009 video delivering a message on behalf of Iranian students to the European Union. She can also be seen in this 2009 video delivering a message on the occasion of Iranian Student Day (December 7th) for an event at Delft University in Holland. She chose not to attend the event in person because she feared arrest upon her return to Iran. Sadly, she was arrested anyway shortly after the video was released to the public.
The day before Valentine's Day of this year Bahareh wrote a note from prison on a piece of napkin that was addressed to Ahmadian. I translated excerpts from the letter: "I stressed out a lot today and cried. Who can I tell this to if not you? You're so far away that I am left regretting our conversations -- regretting that I can't cry in your arms to calm down. I know, crying doesn't heal any pain. Perhaps missing you has decreased my endurance. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day... You are what I wanted. I had wished for [you]. Meeting you, loving you, and marrying you were the greatest miracles of my life."
Today Ahmadian posted a new letter on his Facebook that Bahareh just wrote to him from prison for the occasion of their wedding anniversary. As soon as I saw the letter I contacted Arash Azizi, a translator for Persian2English, and asked if he would have the time to translate it. Even though Arash had two university exams to study for he gladly accepted and sent me the finished text right away. Bahareh was also a university student...
The full translation of Bahareh's newest letter can be read on the Persian2English website. Here is an excerpt:
Amin, I don't know what people outside think of prison. Perhaps they think we only eat dried bread and cry all the time from depression. When a new one arrives, she usually says: 'You are not doing that bad here! It's good in here, and I didn't think it would be!' I tell them to wait a little more and they will discover that the hardship here is not because of comfort, clothing, and food. We use any excuse to throw a party or celebration. We do it more in here than outside the prison. But, there are many things we lack here as well -- more than is known.
Bahareh is a great inspiration to my activism and to me as a person. I have grown tremendously in these past three years by getting to know her and the other beautiful souls behind bars in Iran. These strong people have made me reevaluate my perception of humanity. I love them all dearly, and I hope you will learn to love them as well through reading my blog pieces.]]>A "Celebration" in Iran Means Avoiding Arrest - and Deathtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13429162012-03-13T16:41:08-04:002012-05-13T05:12:02-04:00Maryam Nayeb Yazdihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryam-nayeb-yazdi/
For example, in many western countries women have the right to wear a hijab or the right to show their hair. In Iran, women have no choice but to cover their hair. For another example, in western countries people of varying religions have equal rights to education and life. In Iran, Baha'is are not allowed to enroll in public universities. Baha'is are forced to operate underground universities not officially recognized by the Iranian government. If Baha'is protest against the violation of their rights, they are locked up behind bars and issued outlandish prison sentences.
In Iran, the oppressive "Islamic" regime has stripped the people of their fundamental rights, and they abuse the name of God and religion to do so. For example, in the context of executions, the Iranian rulers believe that it is their right to kill who they wish because that is what God would want. But the Iranian rulers are ignoring one main point: that person being executed has the right to life.
The Iranian rulers, if they truly are religious, should know that Islam states that God is able to forgive any violation of the Creator's orders against the Creator, but God will not consider a request for forgiveness if one violates the rights of another person. However, Islam states that even the violator of people's rights can be redeemed, if he or she asks for forgiveness from the person they violated.
Tonight the people in Iran and Iranians around the world celebrate Chaharshanbe Soori -- an ancient, non-religious Persian festival where people jump over bonfires to be rid of the bad and invite in the good on the eve of the last Wednesday before Persian New Year (Norouz or Nowruz), the celebration of spring and new life.
It is already nighttime in Iran. The people have headed to the streets to celebrate -- albeit as discreetly as possible. The regime's agents are out in full force and are waiting to crack down on any dissent. Already there are reports of arrests of people who were playing their music "too loud" in their cars.
Last year during Chaharshanbe Soori, Tehran became the scene of numerous widespread anti-government protests. Chants of "Death to Khamenei" echoed through the city, which resulted in severe clashes among the people and security forces. At least 500 people were reportedly arrested. In addition to the arrests, the Iranian regime also beat some people to a pulp until they died.
One of these people is Behnoud Ramezani. He was born in 1992 and was a second-term university student. His body was eventually delivered to his family two days after his death, under the condition that he be buried outside of Tehran. The two initial forensic reports described the cause of death as "multiple blows to the head by a hard object." Regime security forces banned any burial ceremonies for Behnoud Ramezani in Tehran, but allowed him to finally be buried on March 18, 2011.
Following Behnoud's murder, his close friend told a Persian-language student news website: "[Behnoud and I] believed that everything should be based on humanity. Neither of us were particularly religious. In our discussions we would reach the conclusion that we wished to behave like decent human beings without harming anyone. Whenever we had discussions we reached the conclusion that in this country we will never be able to do the things we like. There will always be obstacles and problems. There will always be people who won't allow us to live how we like to live. All in all, it is impossible to do anything here."
The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most sorry excuses for Islam I have ever observed in my life. Butwhat is more shameful than the Iranian regime are Muslims around the world who remain silent to the atrocities committed by the Iranian regime in the name of religion.
