Omid Habibinia , Media Researcher & Journalist

Freedom of Expression and Journalists' Situation in Iran, A Short Glance

2010-10-15T03:52:00.006+02:00

Omid Habibinia’s speech in side session of the UN Human Rights High Council, 15th Sessions,September 28, 2010, Geneva

In Iran’s recent history, journalism and freedom of expression has always faced terror

During last year the Regime of Islamic Republic , has added the bloodiest page to its history of repressing journalism and freedom of expression. This can be compared to the Military coup that overthrow Mohammad Mosdegh’s democratically elected government, or the killing and repression of intellectuals and opponents in 80’s by both of the two wings in the Islamic Republic.

Since Iran’s last election “show”, many intellectuals, journalists, bloggers, human rights activists, political activists, women rights activists, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, and opposition groups were arrested, tortured, sexually abused, or vanished.

At least 150 people were killed in the streets during their peaceful demonstrations, some of them shoot dead by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRG) or by the regime’s Intelligent Services’ snippers. The snipers aimed people’s hurt or head and killed them instantly.

Tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes, hide, or flee the country and leave their homes and belongings behind.

Tens of political prisoners were sentenced to death and many of them were executed. The Judiciary Brach of the Regime concentrated on implementing harsh laws, regulations, and punishments, in order to transmit fear among the journalists, and activists.

The intention of the Regime by creating another 80’s type social/political environment, was to unify the establishment to continue ruling. This only could be accomplished by repressing and killing people, opponents, and destroy the social movement that has been grown during last decade.

Here, my goal is to provide you a clear vision about the freedom of speech and journalism in Iran by looking at major points over the last year:

A. Freedom of Expression, General View

• The Islamic Republic of Iran two years prior to the last election “show” of June 2009, was preparing itself to repress the people and their opponents

• IRG and Basij (Militia Army) were preparing themselves by performing anti riot maneuvers which some were aimed at forcibly confronting protesters and armed insurrection

• Long before the election “show”, coordination between the different Regime’s branches and organizations (intelligence, judicial, and propaganda) was planned to repress any opposition

• Intelligence services of IRG, Police, as well as the Ministry of Intelligence, and National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran (MISIRI) had a list of more than 4,000 names including political/social activists, active or passive opponents, and journalists whom were arrested by these intelligence services long before ending the election “show

”.

• Between June and September 2009, in Tehran alone, more than a thousand people were arrested, including journalists, bloggers, intellectuals, artists, students, female social and political activists as well as many others that were arrested in the street demonstration in spring and summer of the same year. Many of these people were in captivity without being charged or interviewed by the investigators for several months. People were only released after many of the families exhibited public pressure by means of large gatherings on the Judicial System. Few were released on excessive bail. Among these detainees, the ones that have had previous arrests or their names were on government’s black list due to affiliation with anti government, political or social activities, had a more dangerous situation in the prison system than others

• Some of these detainees had a history of arrests and support of political opponents during the 80’s. Therefore; they were savagely tortured to illicit forced confessions against their beliefs and to accuse others (the students and the left political activists) of being atheists or being anti Islamic Regime. According to Judicial Law of Islamic Republic of Iran, both of these accusations carry a sentence of death

• Some of the detainees were under a great deal of emotional and physical tortures, including rape and sexual abuse, while others that even did not vote in the last election were facing worse tortures

• In several cases, spouse or significant other of the journalist and the activist were arrested and kept as a hostage to force the journalist or activist to surrender herself/himself. In several cases the hostage were kept after the arrest of the person and even were tortured to force to illicit yet another false confession

• In several cases, the tortures were caused severe emotional and physical damages including paralysis, heart attach, traumatic stress disorders, and at least 15 reported deaths due to torture

• In addition, there is no news of the fate of dozens of detainees that were arrested in the street protests or at their homes after the election show.

• In addition to the death penalty for certain political and social activists including Kurdish teacher Farzad Kamangar, others that were arrested on Ashoora were charged with waging war against Allah and heresy

• In the recent months, the detention of ethnic and religious minorities has intensified and dozens of Baha’i leaders, along with many of the Christians, Sunnis, or followers of other religious groups including Islamic Sufi (Daravish Gonabadi) were arrested in the company with other members of the left party. There is no information available about their whereabouts

• While repressing the protest movement, the government simultaneously repressed the media by slowing down, and filtering the internet to stop people from accessing news and information about current events. Jamming of satellite transmission was also under taken

• On one hand, Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG), largely attached the internet websites, even oppositions’ e-mails and Facebook pages to disrupt journalists’ and activists’ efforts to communicate with people. On the other hand, IRG altered the protest movement and the news coverage (both locally and internationally) by publishing false news via the media against the movement.

B. Status of Journalists and Media:

• From the early morning of election show in the past year until now, close to 200 Iranian journalists and several foreign journalists has been arrested

• The names of several journalist has been black listed, only because they were doing their jobs under the control and supervision of the Iran's Islamic Regime

• Now nearly 50 journalists are detained and well over a hundred has been temporarily out on bail (sometimes over half million euros) until their court date and sentencing

• Most of these journalists were tortured and force to confess against themselves and others.

• The Regime’s interrogators want the journalists to admit that they have received money from the intelligent services of countries like United Staes, United Kingdom, and Israel, to conspire to overthrow the Regime. Also to admit that they have had unlawful sexual relationship with others, especially with prominent opponents or some former reformers

• Many of these detainees (journalists) like Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, Eisa Saharkhiz, Bahman Ahmadi Amooee, Emad-adin Baghi, Abolfazl Abedini, Masoud Bastani, Ahmadreza Tajik, and Hengameh Shahidi are living in very poor physical conditions and are at serious health risk. Any mention or objection to the torture results in an escalation in the level of violence by the interrogators. For instance, after the publicized sexual abuse of one of the journalists by the integrators, his sister and family were arrested, insulted, threatened, and tortured. He himself were subjected to more torture and pressure, including transfer to solitary confinement

• Since last year, over fifty newspapers and magazines have been banned, dozens of internet websites have been filtered out, and hundreds of blogs have also been blocked

• Now more than fifty Iranian journalists are hiding inside the country. Dozens of others are trying to flee the country due to the increase pressure, unemployment due to being placed on the black list.

• Since 22 nd of Khordad, al least 150 Iranian journalists have fled Iran. Half of them still are living under threats from Iranian Intelligence service

• Since last year, many filmmakers, documentary filmmakers, writers, artists, and intellectuals were arrested or have been banned from work. Many of these people have been banned from leaving the country

• There is a list including more than 200 people that have been banned from working in the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB

• Publications like music albums are facing broader restriction by implementing widespread censorship.

C. Current Outlook:

• While in Iran the freedom of speech and press are seriously endangered by the Regime, outside of Iran the journalists and social/political activists are pressured or threatened secretly or openly by both Iranian parties (conservatives and reformists

• Even abroad, freedom of speech for Iranian journalists is a challenge of staying independent, true to their professional values, and without benefit of associating with either parties’s media (reformists and conservative media

• While many social and human rights activists like Shiva Nazarahari are facing unprecedented sentencing, other journalists are also facing planned and organized attacks from the Regime’s repression machine

• As bad as the journalistic environment has been in Iran due to censorship in the Regime controlled media by both parties, It is now worse due to near extinction of true unbiased journalism in Iran. It is truly the darkest time of journalism in Iran. Almost everyday, there is news of new assets, tortures, and escapes of journalists

• Today the question is not the obvious censorship that is being forcefully imposed to Iranian journalists. The question is to be or not to be, death or life.

Where is my Facebook?

2010-06-29T21:32:00.016+02:00

After nearly four years, my facebook account was disabled without prior notice. Certain people blame it on the Iranian regime's agents, arguing that in recent weeks other political activists have had their facebook accounts disabled as well; however recently I received a message from dogmatic Mousavi supporter who happily announced that my account was disabled after they reported it to the site’s administration.

As a result, I have lost all my contacts, notes, photos, videos, groups as well as audio files, all of which were posted on an account which had become a source of news and analysis for many Iranian activists as well as international journalists. As a journalist, losing contact with my nearly 3000 friends, most of whom fellow journalists, bloggers and activists, is a real disaster and has greatly affected my professional work especially in regards to my Iranian friends as I was depending on my facebook account as a means of communicating with activists and colleagues inside Iran.

A while ago, following a series of articles and interviews in which I had talked about Mousavi’s background, Ebrahim Nabavi (an Iranian journalist working for the Jaras website whose approach to reformist ideas is questioned by many because he favors a change within the framework of the current Iranian regime), wrote a note about me. In his note he defamed me and falsely claimed he ever knew me from Iran. From then onwards, I became the target of threats and other tactics by a group of dogmatic Mousavi supporters. I call them Sabzollahis because their tactics and use of language is reminiscent of Hezbollahis in Iran. I answered to Nabivi’s note in a note in which I had tagged 20 journalists who were common friends and were mostly shocked about Nabavi’s lies. Subsequently, Nabavi wrote to me and suggested that we refrain from further arguments. This was viewed by many of our mutual friends as an indirect apology; ironically his supporters became angrier, and one of his fans, who does not use his or her real name on facebook, (...Irani) called on others on Nabavi's wall to give a strong answer to me.

On May 19, in the middle of the night, I was unexpectedly logged off my facebook account by system. I logged backed in and changed my password. A few hours later, when I tried to log in to my page, I got a message informing me that my account had been disabled.

This is a tactic often used by Sabzollahis (fanatic Mousavi supporters) as well as Hezbollahis (government supporters); using proxies or other similar software to hide their IP addresses, they mass report a facebook or Youtube account, under several fake IDs. Unfortunately, since Facebook and Youtbe do not have Persian speaking experts to check the content of reports, the mere number of reports convinces them of the seriousness of the matter, leading to many accounts being unjustly removed or disabled.

Account Disabled

Your account has been disabled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page here.

There have been other cases where an article written by Nabavi has led to open threats by his fans against opposition (the article acctulay wrote against me), websites or individuals. One example was when a group of Iranians protesters removed the Islamic republic’s flag at its embassy in The Hague replacing it with a flag with a picture of Neda Agha Soltan on it. I reported the news on the Freedom of Expression website. Nabavi wrote an insulting article on the Jaras website, called opposition "belie", mentioning me, insulting and condemning the protesters. The article sparked a strong reaction among the Iranians and as many as 1000 joined a facebook page condemning Nabavi’s article. The facebook page then came under threat by Sabzollahis and a few of the pages administrators had their accounts reported and disabled.

I have written to facebook on several occasions explaining that disabling my account is a clear violation of freedom of expression. I have received to replies to my letters, both of which in form of prewritten forms citing violation of the site’s rules as the reason for my account being permanently closed.

I strongly believe that such actions by Sabzollahis are no different than Hizbollahis in Iran. Many of my colleagues in Iran are in jail, in hiding or simply afraid to add me again to the list of their friends. I am truly disappointed that as a result of the closure of my account I have lost contact with my friends as well as the links that had been accumulated on the account before it was disabled.

In the past I had repeatedly been the target of regime’s agents and hackers who had tried everything ranging from making an account with my name to hacking into my emails. The fact that I have now become the target of similar tactics by the other wing of the regime (reformists), is clear proof that they are no different than their rivals when dealing with their critics. I am also sure that with or without facebook, my fight for freedom of expression in Iran will continue.

PS:
Wanna Help?
Sign this Petition: We Want Omid Habibinia's Facebook to Be Reactivated!
Send an Appeal to Facebook, appeals@facebook.com

My Appeal to Facebook:

from Omid Habibinia

to appeals+dad6dlt@facebook.com,

appeals@facebook.com,

disabled@facebook.com

date Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 4:05 PM

subject MY ACCOUNT

Dear Madam / Sir,

On May 19, 2010, I was logged in and using Facebook when suddenly I got logged off by the system. I was cautious of hackers and spies so I immediately changed my password and then I logged back in. A few hours later, I was not able to log in anymore. Then I tried to get help from Facebook after about 10 days, I received a message from Facebook informing me that my account has been disabled for violating website regulations. I find this action strange and unacceptable. I am a journalist with 20 years of experience. For most of my life I have been fighting for freedom of expression in Iran. I have committed no offense, unless it is considered an offense to express my political opinion or defend myself against aspersions.

The issue here is that some individuals who are supporters of the Islamic Republic regime, even if indirectly, are upset with my writing pieces. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that my Facebook profile content has alerted supporters of the regime. On February 2009, a regime agent created a fake account using my name and proceeded to add my friends, and when they accepted, he asked them strange questions. I reported the matter to Facebook and the account was deactivated.

In this case, I attempted to contact Facebook but received no response. Then my friends informed me that somebody on a another Iranian journalist who supportes a wing inside of regime, had requested on his Facebook wall for his fans to "report" my Facebook account. The mentioned journalist also wrote a Facebook note about me and spread many lies. I had no way to respond to the note but get disabled!

It is reported that a significant number of Facebook accounts belonging to other political activists and bloggers have also been disabled in the past few weeks. Accounts are disabled because 20 to 30 users at one time misuse the "report" option. At times, these same people make open threats in order to silence us.

I had 3,000 friends on my 4 year old Facebook. Most of them were colleagues. I had many notes, groups, photos, video clips, and used several applications. Facebook for me as a journalist was an invaluable online outlet. I used Facebook to spread news from inside Iran and to communicate with activists, bloggers, and journalists. My account was four years old. I am requesting from you to return my account to me so I can continue with my daily tasks on Facebook.

I strongly believe that Facebook should take responsibility for this unjust action to avoid falling into the trap of supporting members and supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran; a regime that has clearly demonstrated, especially in the past year, that it will suppress any voice that challenges. I also recommend that , use a Persian speaker expert and investigate the misuse of the "report" option, a tactic used against freedom of expression and journalists simply for doing their job.

I look forward to hear from you

The Nobel Peace Story!

2009-11-30T04:26:00.009+01:00

The story begins in November when Barack Obama was announced the next Nobel Laureate in Peace.

I asked a total of ten intellectuals, poets, directors, and artists if they thought it would be a good idea to send an open letter to the committee in Oslo. The letter was to request an invite for the families of the victims from the protest movement to be invited to the ceremony.

Immediately, the idea received positive responses. We then decided to ask other artists and even political activists in exile to join us. Very soon we received over 100 signatures of mostly well-known dissenters in exile.

Despite the encouraging response, we also received a few negative reactions. A blogger in Stockholm ridiculed us and questioned why we would want to send a copy to the Nobel academy in Stockholm. The blogger also questioned why it was necessary to send copies of the letter to the EU foreign committee and the EU Parliament.

100 Iranian Intellectuals called for Protest Movement’s Victim Families Invitatiation to Nobel Peace Cermony

A member from the group who wrote the letter answered the blogger, "We will draw more attention to the current situation in Iran and this cause may contribute to that." Yet, the blogger still insisted on writing against me.

I also received negative feedback from a well-known satirist in London. He wrote to me: "This [letter] is only for amusement purposes and you are wasting your time." I answered that I knew this and explained how this could draw more attention to the human rights violations in Iran.

Surprisingly some famous leftist activists showed no sign of disagreement with sending a copy to US FM and some non- leftists didnt like it.

Even one of my friends who is a well-known lawyer and the daughter of a well-known author removed me from her friends list on Facebook.

It was obvious that some people did not agree with the idea. Since the American President was announced the winner of the Nobel Peace prize, some people were against sending a copy of the letter to the American Foreign Ministry.

However, for us, the only issue that mattered was to use the opportunity to draw more attention to the crisis in Iran.

Delivering the open letter was delayed significantly since it was not yet determined who should receive it. All polemics about who should receive the copy and how to send it caused a long delay. A few days before the ceremony I sent it to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo and nowhere else.

Perhaps the open letter was written at the wrong time since many main stream Persian media in abroad refused to publish or broadcast it; regardless of the many well-known names who signed it.

At the end, it proved difficult to find a large group of more than 10 intellectuals in the Iranian exile community who are able to work together. Even if they could, it was almost certain that they would be attacked verbally from other exiled Iranians, even friends. This is probably the reason why many people in exile prefer to work alone or in small groups.

In Persian we say that homework not yet written have no mistakes. But it seems like our homework are full of mistakes. While people in Iran are fighting in the streets, we cannot join together and perform our responsibilities by working as a united team; a real handicap for the Iranian community abroad.

Links:
The English Version (Facebook)
The Persian Version (Facebook)

Iran's Media Profile

2009-10-06T19:31:00.010+02:00

A Short Review on Iran’s Media Profile

Assignment Kinnvall
Omid Habibinia

Media Researcher, Lund University, Sweden

Assignment KinnvallModern communication has a history about 150 years in Iran, but form the early beginning all media facing censorship, dictatorship and suppression.

Here we could take a quick look at the general situation of communication profile, hoping it makes more clearly some facts about Iran.

Newspapers

Publishing the newspaper and journals as the first modern media about 177 happened by the government.

Since that date till now thousands of newspapers and magazines has published in Iran, but only governmental related newspapers could continue to publish.

The oldest newspapers in Iran is Etelaat which has 83 years and managed by the leader representative.

Total number of national newspapers: 64
Circulate of national newspapers: 1.800.000 per day (estimated)
Local newspapers: 111
Circulate of local newspapers: 300.000 per day (estimated)
Magazines: 3328
Circulate of magazines: 950.000 per month (estimated)
Ratio a newspaper for an Iranian over 17 years: one to 17.

Radio

Radio Tehran, The first radio station has began in May 1940 since that time till now only governmental radios are allowed broadcasting in Iran.

Radio channels: 13
(Iran, Tehran,Tejarat, Alborz, Sedai Ashna, Farhang, Quran, Javan, Payam, Salamat, Goftego, Varzesh.

Local Radio: 30

Television
Iran’s national TV has began since march 1967, before it, Irans first and last private TV broadcasting its program for Tehran and some major cities for a few years but due to the government pressure forced to stop and replaced with National Radio and TV.

National channels: seven (1.2.3.4. Khabar, Amozesh and Quran)

State TV: 20

International TV channels: six (Jame Jam 1,2, PressTV, Khabar, Alalam and Sahar)

Cinema

The first Iranian movie had screened in the second of January 1931 by Evanes Oganisians.

Film industry from the beginning pressured by harsh censorship by the government, but after establishing Islamic Republic the censorship wasted in many dimensions and gets structured.

All process of film making from pre- production to post production and screening are under governments control and should confirmed by authorities.

However every year some of products movies are not able to get screen license although all screen and production facilities are owned or regulated by the government.

Average of Iranian movies screening per year: 55
Movies shown in last year: 56

Movie Theaters. Less than 300
Average rate of going to cinema: less than three times per year for Iranians over 12 years in major cities.

Internet

Islamic Republic besides China is the notorious country in the world for censorship in Internet, also capturing, threaten and jailing online journalists and bloggers. Now the number of banned websites in Iran is over five millions.

Rate of Influence: More than 20%
Internet Users: About 18 millions

Alternative Media

Except entertainment Radio and TV channels inside and outside Iran, in recent years number of alternative media such as blogs, underground movies, videos and music has increased.
Theses alternative media exploring hidden voices of the society facing dictatorship in Iran.

Sat TV: 49 (at least ten others are on the way)
Radio (broadcasting from outside the country): 59 radio based on governmental budgets by foreign countries and more than 500 independent radio networks, mostly broadcasting on Internet.
Blogs: about three millions Persian blog (third in the world after US and China)

Audience

About 55% of Iranians speak Persian among their families, however 45% speaking other languages other than Persian as the first language at home.

More than 70% of the population is under 33 old, these structure occurred to more dynamics and interaction in mass communications.

More than 65% of house holders in the major and medium sized cities using Satellite TV, regardless it is forbidden and based on law, it users may facing fine, confiscating the stuffs and in second time jail.

State TV viewers are about 85% and state radio listeners about 9%.

Persian radios broadcasting from outside in the normal situation, based on the state polls are about 7%.

The most visiting News Websites inside Iran are: Irna, Isna and Tabnak and from outside are: BBC Persian, Radio Farda and Balatarin.

In 90% of houses at least there is a TV set and in 97% of houses at least there is a radio.

Mobile users in Iran (who sometimes capture videos and pictures of demonstrations, protests and some news events and upload them on sharing websites) are more than 23 million with 34% influence rate.

Internet influent rate is increasing in last year, exceeding other Middle East countries and expecting next year reaches to about 30%, while gaining access Internet and speed and other service is in primary process. Some of these problems back to officials durecels to providing high speed Internet and increasing the quality in fear of using it as exchange multi/media against the regime.

Iran has a top place in publishing books and music products in the Middle East, but the average of publishing them are not matched with the rate of potential audience who are usually are youth.

The most of books publishing in Iran are religious texts which presenting by governmental publishers.

At the same underground, illegal music albums and videos has huge number of customers at underground market in the country.

Some estimated saying the amount of money in this underground market for illegal videos (mostly onscreen or even pre-screening Hollywood movies and sometimes illegal copies of pre-screening of some Iranian movies) is much more than screening movies in Iran's movies theater for the whole year.

Assignment KinnvallPlease Note This Profile was written for a Research Institute in February 2009 and some of the statics may change until now.

Who is afraid of facebook?

2009-09-12T00:23:00.006+02:00

In the last five years, social networking has not only introduced a new use of the internet, but has also changed our life style.

The first social networks were only used as means of amusement and pleasure, but today, the political and social lives of many users have been influenced by them as well.
The three web sites of Facebook , good for exchange of information, groups, and friend finding, Youtube, best for sharing videos, and Twitter, capable of spreading news very fast, were most useful for those professional users of internet.
The use of these three web sites in the American presidential elections, which became known as “net campaigns”, made clear just how effective these sites are for attracting the public.
Most social networking sites, with the exception of sites like “Club”, have always been filtered in Iran. But it seems this was less due to religious and ethical worries than to the fear that those sites might be used as a new kind of media.

When Facebook, a symbol of a new generation of social networking, became famous amongst Iranians, it was quickly filtered in Iran, and it was filtered up to last February. Then, surprisingly, both Facebook and Youtube became accessible again!

Conspiracy delusion or intelligence machinations?

When Facebook was finally available in Iran, hundreds of thousands of users registered in the first month. This sudden and unexpected passion for Facebook caught the attention of the web site’s management as well. Some reports say that after four and a half months that Facebook was accessible in Iran, the number of registered Iranians increased by 7000% !! And statistics say that today more than six hundred thousand people within Iran are a member of this site.
Even though Facebook never publishes membership numbers according to country, two indicators show that during the spring of 2009, this site became the most popular among Iranians. One is the report of international interactions in Facebook, which compared to the previous year’s season shows incredible increase of Facebook users in Iran. This compelled the Facebook management to make Facebook available in Persian, and by the beginning of the protests in June, Persian Facebook was already up and running.
The second indicator was statistics from sites such as Aleksa, which showed unprecedented increase in the population of Iranian users. And in the last few days before the elections, Facebook was the third popular site in Iran, after Yahoo and Google.
But what made those in charge of censorship on Iran, used to filtering every blog containing even the slightest anti-regime content, decide to make Facebook and Youtube available?

There were signs showing that the regime’s intelligence agents were monitoring and tracing opposition forces and journalists, and at the time some believed that Facebook was a great way to control secret and open movements. Others thought the government wanted to use Facebook and Youtube for election campaigning, as it had been used in USA, providing them with a reference base of 25 million users. However not only did we not see official Islamic Republic agents using Facebook and Youtube for advertising, but there also isn't a single fan page for Ahmadinejad in Facebook - where you find pages for all imaginable subjects!

A third opinion, which was brought up later, was the possible part of Hossein Derakhshan and Payam Fazlinejad, theoreticians of the Revolutionary Guards and the Intelligence Ministery’s mental warfare, in directing an “election show”.
Therefore Facebook, Youtube, and some other politically active sites were crossed off the must-be-filtered list of the country, then reformists were permited to use the new media freely, and in the end the televised debates helped to heat up the “elections”.
In the history of television in Iran, there had never been this many viewers for a program and although most people also had access to alternative media, 90% of the population were watching presidential live debates on television. This means that almost everybody watched the debates.
This previously unimaginable campaign of the reformists in both the real and the cyber world resulted in a decrease in number of long-time election boycotters. In the last few days before the election, many of them were caught in the “wave of propaganda” of the middle classes and went to the ballot on Election Day.
However the curtain of the show went down on June 12th at midnight, when surprisingly Ahmadinejad was announced the winner.
So the highest participation rate in elections since the beginning of the Islamic Republic and the referendum went down in history as a success for Ahmadinejad, the winner with 63% of the votes.

Therefore, according to those who believe in a conspiracy planned beforehand, it becomes obvious why Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and many other politically active sites were up made available until the “ election show”.
In the morning of the election day, the TV channels Persian BBC network and Voice of America were no longer available, the Green Wave’s internet television center was raided, all information sites and social networks were blocked, and then journalists were arrested, newspapers were controlled or even blocked – in short, a kind of military coup.
Facebook and Twitter, which had been made available to the public by the government itself, were called dangerous and conspiratorial; in his indictment against the protesters (or, as Iranian state media call them: “hooligans”), the Islamic Republic’s public prosecutor also identified them as tools in the intrigues and conspiracies of western countries and their intelligence agencies.

In this indictment, which was written based on past and present speculations of Hossein Derakhshan, the velvet coup d’état (the prosecutor prefers to use “coup d’état” instead of “revolution”) is said to have three branches: intellectual, executive, and media.
In the indictment, Twitter is accused of having delayed its maintenance, which required that the site be down for a few days, in order to help and support the “trouble makers”. Facebook is accused of “facilitating the interactions of Iranians with other countries during the commotions, so the enemies had better access”.
The third accused company is Google, who has put up “English to Persian and Persian to English translating software” to help “the hooligans”.
So those modern media, which tried to spread the voice of the people after all other media were banned from doing so, are now incriminated by the system.

Alternative sub-media killed the beast!

While in a court in Tehran people are facing trial for having sent an email, given an interview, or posted something on Facebook, blogs or Twitter, an independent media was created which had all the characteristics of a modern alternative media: Dynamics, independence, individuality, diversity, cooperation and self-encouragement.
During this two-month movement, these minor media were the only source of true information for the major ones. They were used for transmitting information and news from the streets; footage shot on people’s cell phone cameras were the only evidence of the ongoing protests, Twitter became the number one resource of spreading news, and blogs and facebook were used for disseminating information that was less accessible.
This means that due to extreme censorship, the normal flow of information was reversed, and now the major media had to use productions of normal citizens as news.
The effect of this new phenomenon was that many people, whether consciously or not, became “reporters”, and the flow of information found a new course, based on small independent sources which are at the same time dynamic and wide spread.
So the social networks had a strong impact against censorship, and at the same time created an atmosphere of cooperation, solidarity and mutual encouragement.
Today, whether these protests are silenced or not, our economical and political life would not be the same without Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.

• Establishment of networks of likeminded people
• Public and personal news publishing
• Self-boosting and wave-creating
• Effect on everyday lifestyle
• Effective as a new model of public education
• Facilitating cooperation between people of different backgrounds
• Reflecting the cyber life
• Reflecting and unifying the public view
• Mental hygiene, and finding new connections

But it is obvious that the political applications of these networks are most important for those in charge of organizing the protests and spreading information, and, by the same token, also for security and judicial organs of the Islamic Republic. Although they can block television, radio and sites, images, news, rumors and information will find their way into social networks, and from there will be spread worldwide. Thus images like those of Neda Agha Soltan dying in front of the camera will remain recorded in history and in the mind of the people, becoming a symbol of protests against dictatorship in Iran.

Photos by: Raha Asgari Zadeh

Note: Footnote: Youtube cannot strictly be considered a social network, but its model of membership and exchange as well as the possibility to share links make it similar to a social network.

Published in: UK Indymeda, Daily Life, Deutschland Indymedia, Suisse Indymedia, Rise of Iranian People, and...

Iran at the crossroads: Revolution or Bargaining?

2009-08-09T02:29:00.006+02:00

The protest movement in Iran has grown beyond asking for a simple reform of the evil Islamic regime preached by so called reformers. Meanwhile the remainders of reformers in the expat communities, completely beleaguered, are trying hard to revive the discredited theory of “bargaining on top”. One day they plead with powerful individuals to intervene on behalf of defeated reformists and bring the situation back to its pre elections status and the next day they promise to form a new political party that would exclude some of the old players like the “Mosharekat, Islamic revolution Mojahedin or Kagozaran party”. Karoubi tried in vain to form a new reformist party four years ago without achieving any results.

Although, the stupidity and confusion of the remainder of reformists to come up with such tactics against a police state who wants to eliminate them completely from the political scene might surprise the masses that have come to the streets with radical demands, but is not at all uncommon.

No one expects Mousavi and Karoubi to go beyond calling for Allaho Akbars, Islamic pray or Friday prayer as forms of protest.

Mousavi and Karoubi are asking the same government who cheated in the elections to grant them the permission to form a political front and are warning their supporters against questioning the fundamentals of the regime.

By calling the situation a “family fight” Mousavi who is the loser in the Khamenei-Ahmadinrjad game, is trying to at least bring it back to its pre elections status. What he doesn’t understand is that especially after June 20th Khamenei himself has become people’s main target and hence there is no turn back.

By continuing its repressive and violent policies, the ruling faction is making it harder to go back to normal and at the same time alienating further the large middle class population who supports Mousavi.

The main characteristic of the movement after June 20th has been its radicalism and its disconnect from the so called reformist leaders. In other words within the ten days following the elections the movement changed from a silent protest demanding new elections to street fights trying to overthrow the regime. This surpassed even the demands of the most radical factions of the reformists.

At a time when wide spread protests and new popular initiatives have put the possibility of a new revolution more and more in sight, some reformist supporters who themselves “movement’s spokesmen in exile” are waiting for a miracle or divine hand to bring their faction back to power. Let us have a closer look at these divine hands and their playground:

Makhmalbaf and some his friends who were late to join the green movement overseas argue that Mousavi needs to bring the people to the streets. The fundamental question is why Mousavi should do so and what will he achieve by bringing people to the streets?

As Mousavi said it himself in his statement after the fiasco of ballot recount, his supports should limit themselves to legal protests and avoid slogans that tend to question the fundamentals of the regime. Any disobedience from Mousavi’s part will put him in opposition to the principle of supreme leadership and therefore the Islamic republic itself. This goes against the reformists’ interests and ideology. The reformists do not want to overthrow the Islamic republic. On the contrary they want the continuation of the current regime and will be happy to remain in the sidelines of the political power.

Kadivar and some reformist clergy question the religious legitimacy of the government. After getting disappointed with some of their most powerful supporters in the regime, namely Rafsanjani and Nategh Noori, they started pleading with the Grand Ayatollahs. With the exception of Montazeri and Sanei the rest of them limited their actions to issuing toothless statement and avoided confronting the devil.

The assembly of experts, the expediency council and all the rest of the clerical bodies were so afraid to have a similar fate to Shariatmadari and tens of other dissident clerics that they opted not to oppose Khamenei openly.

Furthermore issuing a fatwa on the lack of religious legitimacy or ability of the government will only be efficient if the majority of the religious supporters of the regime react positively to it. Not only these fatwas do not impress the supporters of the regime who for the most part are religious, but the general population is so disillusioned by religion that it will not get motivated by them. Even if they succeed in motivating the people how will they change the current government’s behavior. No one will find any consolation in a fatwa that all of sudden declares illegitimate actions of a regime that has been illegitimate all along.

Farokh Negahdar and most of the ex members of Fedayin( Majority) are preaching for a step by step policy and putting pressure on the leadership of the regime through a range of means without destabilizing the system. But in reality no internal means are left to pressure the regime so the bargaining game could go on top. The step by step policy and promises of a future election are of no use to people who are fighting the military and security forces in the streets. Why should people believe in this game again when Karoubi himself feels ashamed for not listening to those who were warning of the vainness of elections in the Islamic republic?

Mohsen Sazegara and other radical reformists outside Iran want to organize civil protests. According to this group, organizing limited strikes and safer types of demonstrations could help destabilize the system. The question remains what will be the main objective of these safe middle class tactics? Do the reformists intend to seize the political power by relying on people’s power and an uprising? The answer is no. Sooner or later these reformist ideologues theoreticians have to explain to people who are taking to the streets despite the advice of different factions, the objective of their suggested protests in the current political deadlock.

The green united front is the solution offered by a range from the right wing parties going to half democrats who lately joined the green movement outside Iran. This group that includes Tudeh party, Fedayin of People(Majority ), some monarchists and a whole range of other people with no affiliation jumped the band wagon of the green movement one week before the elections not to miss the post election party. After weeks of confusion they now want to board the movement’s band wagon. With their unity slogans they want to claim the movement their own. But the first question this group needs to answer is this: Should we overthrow the Islamic republic with a revolution or by revolutionary gestures? Answering this question will not be easy for those who up until yesterday were trying to infiltrate the regime or reforming it. · Nabavi and his friends want to start a green television and media. They believe the only thing missing in the protest movement inside Iran is its own green media. What will differentiate this new media from Roozonline and other reformist Internet sites is a question they intend to answer only after establishing it. Does this satellite green television plan to teach new ways of protest or is it going to call for a more organized way of struggle? And if so, will this new media act more like a brake or an accelerator to this movement? Why should a satellite TV station be established by those who have nothing but outdated lectures to give to the people? Which one their previous analyses have become true and which one their guidelines have become useful to people who are fighting in the streets?

It is said that one day Mollah Nasredin saw two people who were fighting. He took his blanket and started running away. When asked why he was running away since they were not fighting him, he answered: Don’t you know that their fight will end up being over my blanket?

Our story is quite similar to Molla Nasredin’s story.The “family fight” between the so called reformists and hardliners is not our fight. People’s demands go beyond what the reformists who believe in the system can possibly deliver. The masses have shown that “the game of powerful” is not their game. If the middle classes succeed in bringing the working classes to it side and turn on the engine of the revolution and only then all these political flirting will go to its rightful place; the trash can of history. This is what happened during the 1979 revolution and will inevitably happen again in a “revolutionary situation”.

The masses are reaching to a point of no return; or they will get defeated due to the lack of organization and theory and therefore will have to take their protest underground or once for all in the streets with a general strike will close forever the old book of defeat and open a new page in the history.

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This Might Be A New Revolution!

2009-08-04T00:59:00.008+02:00

More than one month has passed since the ruling faction of the Islamic Republic tried to silence all voices of dissent by rigging the election results and staging a semi coup-d’etat. By now it looks like a large portion of young Iranians have come to share the views that many intellectuals and progressive forces have had since before the elections: a regime which is founded on injustice and fear is not reformable; a view that reflects the realities of the streets of Iran today.

Meanwhile, the so-called reformists and their supporters outside Iran, who had received a severe blow on the night of the elections, saw their game of haggling within the system completely crushed and ruled out by the Supreme Leader. Completely dejected, their actions were limited to sending a few sarcastic messages here and there.

The people, on the other hand, did the undoable. The day after the Supreme Leader threatened the protesters with harsh consequences - namely bullets for those who dared to go out - they took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands, brushing aside the games of the two defeated candidates, and paid for it with their lives in order to change history.

Before the protest, the Moussavi camp was denying rumors of their participation in it, and instead went to the same authorities who had organized the coup, asking for an official permit for a rally.

To finish off the reformists, the Ahmadinejad-Khamenei gang had a new trick; they threatened the reformists with total elimination from the political scene, in order to have them step out of the arena voluntarily.

After Rafsanjani deviously thanked the Supreme Leader for his efforts, after the ridiculous show of ballot recount and result certification by the Guardian Council, and especially after their unsuccessful attempt that resulted in only recruiting 3 Ayatollahs to help their cause, the Association of the Combatant Clergy finally gave up and, in a statement to the people, called for calm, in order to salvage the game by getting back some of their detained members.

In a similar message, Moussavi called for calm and warned people not to be deceived by slogans targeting the fundamentals of the Regime, and to limit their demands for a redo of the elections. In an attempt to remain in the political scene, and to keep his positions in various political and cultural establishments, he even emphasized that this is a fight within the family, and outsiders that should not be allowed in.

Mehdi Karoubi, the other defeated candidate, also called for calm and asked people to return to their houses, but the “Sheikh of Reform”, as he is called, was naïve enough to blame himself for not listening to those intellectuals who had warned him about the futility of the elections and the will of the ruling faction to accept its results.
The people, however, came down to the streets on the 20th of June and selflessly fought the Basij, Revolutionary Guard, and all other security forces of the ruling regime. Along the way, they learned that what they can achieve on the street scenes could never be achieved with outdated political games.

Here are some of the most important characteristics of the June uprising:

1. The middle class, who has played a very important role in the protest and its organization, is one step from retreat, and one step to the revolution. The direction of its step will be determined by its success or defeat in bringing the more progressive parts of the bourgeoisie as well as the lower classes to its side.

2.Only if they silence all protest voices and successfully push the rival camp in the sidelines will Ahmadinejad and Khamenei’s lunatic curveball election results survive. Under these circumstances, any further dissent will trigger more lunatic plans on their part. This will, in turn, push the political tension beyond the brink in a society that is increasingly seeking its fate on the street scenes and not behind closed doors. By the time Khamenei has heard the voice of the revolution, even sacrificing some of his accomplices will not do him any good.

By taking the initiative into their own hands, and not allowing it to remain within the petty games of the two political factions, the people can disorient both factions and the regime’s repressive apparatus. This will unite their movement even further.

3.The repressive apparatus of the regime is dependant on human forces who break quickly under pressure. The continuation of the demonstrations, protest, strikes and all other new popular initiatives will break apart this machine regardless of its size and cruelty. After a while, we will witness the disobedience and desertion among their ranks. Unlike the people who are supporting each other, the police and the security forces of the regime are physically tired and emotionally consumed. Their motivation to confront people will diminish in time and the humane behavior of the brave young Iranians will accelerate their desertion.

4.The ruling faction took a risk that has put it in a lose-lose situation. If they can successfully suppress close to 40 million people, the movement will go underground. Sooner or later the generation who has experienced violent street protest and does not fear guns anymore will bring down the foundations of the regime. If, on the other hand, the large rallies and other forms of popular unrest go on and end up mobilizing all political classes, and finally a general strike happens, it will spell the speedy end of the regime.

5.The working classes will only enter the fight if they realize there is place for their radical demands in it. The upper classes will only directly confront the regime if they are assured if a speedy victory and are guaranteed of better economical and political interests. Therefore the middle class has no way but to remain in the streets.

6.the progressive and radical forces within the urban middle class has to chose between taking the leadership of the movement and its transition to a progressive revolution or like in 1979 wait for savior to take the lead. The 30 years of Khomeini has only brought about misery for people hence it will not be wise to wait for another savior to come along.

the progressive forces should draw a clear line between themselves and the all kinds of reactionary, religious or accidental dissidents. They should not allow the 1979 to repeat itself when the opportunistic clergy was preaching unity to defeat the shah but in the back room was plotting to eliminate all other forces.

7.Progressive forces must seriously spread information, deepen theoretical understanding and confront the pundits of both factions of the regime inside and outside Iran. They should use every opportunity to promote alternative ideas and put a leash on the common superficiality, lack of persistency, banality and constant need of a savior among the middle classes.

To my view the present uprising although radicalizing by day is still few steps away from becoming a revolution. The same distance it has from accepting the coup and going quiet for a while. The uprising has opened a new chapter in out fight for democracy and its transition to our final battle.

In his 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonapart, Marx argues that bourgeoisie tries to bring to its side every change and every force generating change. In the midst of chaotic and unplanned fights calling for calm, hero making and has always been a reformist action plan.
Reformists by nature act always like the fifth wheel of car in a society that wants to move forward. Most of the times their absence is better than their presence.

The reality is that after 20th of June 2009 the time of hope in reform has come to an end.the only hope the fearful heads of the regime have now is the lack of revolutionary forces on the ground and the low level of public awareness which has been caused by years of repression and censorship. But the revolutionary conditions that we are witnessing are very innovative and resourceful. There is great possibility that an alternative will be born out the street battlegrounds and from inside the factories and universities. An alternative that could represent the progressive aspirations of people.

Many people believe we have entered a point of no return and those of us who are fighting the IR gunmen on the streets will open a new chapter in the Iranian history in a final battle.

Published In: UK Indymedia
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...

Facebook and Election Campagin in Iran, Greens vs Blues!

2009-05-31T12:57:00.017+02:00

Shohreh, a 23 years female art student in Tehran, began her day near noon with Facebook.

Sitting on the suffa, drinking her coffe and checking links, notes, status, photos, videos and comments on Facebook, but at Saturday 23th May, when she went to the usual page, found a message from Islamic Republic’s Communication minstry that Facebook is filterd in the country.
The message make her upset, that means she may lose all her online communication and friends, events and changes, but this was not really a big shock!
Everybody knew soon or later FB will be filterd again. We found that FB is not anymore filtred in Iran in last February while sudenlly got a lot of friend requests fro Iran.

Facebook itself condomed the filtering and called it shameful and even some of close adminstrations of Mossavi seeing it as a another pressure to cut accessing the information about Mossavi’s platforms, Yesterday even Kahrobi condomed it.
On Wedensday Mahmod Ahamadinejad stressed during a press-conference that he is not ordering the filtering of it. Following the confrence, facebook users in Iran found it open again.

Ahmadinejad also said: "I believe in maximum freedom of expression."
Many Iranians recently joined Facebook as a way of communicating and during election-time since it is an interactive media that allows involvement in politics whilst all other medias inside the country are under the harsh censorship.

However,It has been said at the first timeFB could help inteligence agents in Iran gathering information about journalists, deisenters, human rights activists, bloggers and women movment.
They even hacked my FB and Gmail and accessed some information about my projects. They also made a similar ID with my name added my friends or political activists on FB and asked some information, when I noticed report the fake ID to FB and they delet it.
Maybe at least they got valuable information about subjected people, like recent photos, recent conections and their planes, trips and even adresses and telephon numbers.

Since last month Iranian community on FB devided in two huge groups, pro-reformists (Greens) and pro-bycott (Blues).

Many groups and notes has published on defence of each approach, in one, pro-reformists blaming pro-bycott for Ahamadinejad’s victory in last election, in that election he got more than 17 million votes,however that election faced with the vaste bycotte movement and about 41% didn’t participate in second round of it.
But in the other one the debate is more hot, many people beliving participating in election means vote to Islamic Republic which has less legitmacy nowadays in public opinion.

When Mir Hossein Mossavi’s fans colored their profiles photos in green as a color of his election campagin, the deisenters also colored their profile photos in blue, then two big groups of Iranians in Facebook facing each other many online friends removed from each others list and arguments replaced with accusation and anger.

The Greens acctualy started the huge attack aginst bycooting supporters to make them passive, the kind of propaganda against the Blues, brought waves of critics, specialy when pro-Mosavi used a popular radical leftist’s song in their Youtube clip.

The song was belonged to the most popular leftist group called Fedaeian Guerilla fighted agianst Shah Regime, “Aftabkaran e Jangal” (The Sun seeders in Jungell) is a populae song still singing in Iran as a leftists solgan, but suddenly stolen by pro-Mossavi’s and broght a deep anger reaction on FB.

Mossavi, himself is accused as the one of main persons who leads the supression of political oppssitions and mass killing of political prisoners in 1980’s.

As the conforting between two wings in FB is climaxing, it is obvious pro Mehdi Kahrobi’s are in the minority and pro Ahmadinejad (Red) are a few.
In my Iranian list, I have about 30% Blue, 45% Green, 10% pro Kahrobi and 15% wanderers or not intersted to politics one.
From last week, pro Kahrobi’s who are using White seems being increased on FB, while pro Mossavi’s are getting more quite comparing the past week.

One of the most intersting debates on FB happened when I invited Ebrahim Nabavi my famouse coullegue who supporting Mossavi for the first online debate on Iran’s election on Facebook, about 200 people participated in the debate while they need to refresh the page can read each side respond.

But only my friends could read the text, so I put it on a blog and the blog got a number of 3500 visits at first night and 4400 at second night on Friday and suddenly both blog and FB has filterd in Iran on Sataurday, so the number of vistors decresed to about 550 vistors and only 20% of them were from Iran.

Iranians have a large number of FB users, one of FB PR’s told me they don’t have an exact data about countries detials, but some experts are estimating about 3.5% of Internet users in Iran participating FB from March till end of May, this should be about 700,000. Iran has about 20 millions internt users, one of the most accesses in the Middel East and at the same time one of the most restricted countries in the world for censoring the internt.

Shohreh, who told me last night spending less minutes to access FB than yesterday because of new proxy, finding many ways in her mail box and even wall to reach the FB, one of this helping message is from me, recomonding Firefox adds one for anti-blocking FB.
She still not decided wheather she wants to vote for reformists or want to bycote the election like last term, but following arguments and links on FB, communicating with people about current events and share her ideas on FB.

All togeather she wants have fun, she told me she just found her beloved high school clasemate in LA and just “meeted” a few intersting guys.
While we are aproaching the election time in less than 3 weeks, Greens and Blues countinung their competition to collect more supporters.

However for Shohreh and many young people like her Facebook is a part of their private life in social network, sharing hidden interstes with others, like other illigal things in Iran you can find in many houses, new Hollywood movies, Satelite TV and underground music.

Shohreh is now going to sleep, saying goodbye to me on chat while I am reciving many chat texts from different type of people from a peoet girl in Tehran to a leader of an opposite group, but she really happy can access FB tomorrow as usual tomorrow noon again, while she was online for about 18 hours, she said tomorrow she will post on FB her point of view about Ahamdinejad’s election speech on state TV.

Photo Credits:
1+4: Samar
2 : Behanm Sahvi
-------------------------------------

France 24 Observers' Version

26/05/2009 / IRAN
Facebook ban lifted: “the only place where we can talk about politics”

No wonder the authorities wanted Facebook banned. But Iranian Facebook users are heaving a sigh of relief today after access to the site was reopened this morning. So what was all the fuss about? One of our Observers in Tehran explains the election debates raging on the online social network and why President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad probably isn't a big fan. Read more...
Contributors Shohreh.
» Français عربية

Obama asks Khamenei to Tango!

2009-04-06T03:01:00.010+02:00

...

How IRI Iran reacts to Obama’s Norouz message

By Omid Habibinia - Media Researcher and Journalist

A few days before Norouz, (first day of spring, which is celebrated by Iranians as the New Year) rumors circulated that this time there would be a different message from the White House.

...

For the first time, a US president sent a video, rather than a written message, marking Norouz and addressed the people and leaders of the Iranian Islamic Republic together.
The message made some opposition groups angry, since the Iranian people were addressed equally with the Islamic Republic’s leaders.

On the other side, in Iran, everybody waited for a response from Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme (political and cleric) leader. When he talked about the message the day after, in Mashhad, he said in his speech: “We still couldn’t see any real change in US diplomacy toward Iran, if (the) US government continues its animosity with Iran, we would be the same (men) as (the) last 30 years.” This was interpreted as the official Islamic Republic’s response to Obama’s message.

In his messages, the US president asked for an ending to the animosity between the two countries and stated:

“My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties among the United States, Iran and the international community. This process will not be advanced by threats. We seek instead engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect.”

After the Islamic Republic’s leader gave his response, some of the regime’s leaders, including Rafsanjani (Iranian president from 1989 to 1997), also exhibited the same reaction asking for real change in US policy toward Iran, some of them such as Ahamadinejad insisted and repeated Khamanei’s opinion that they could see little if any change in US policy yet.

Since the White house called Obama’s message ‘just the beginning’ of new a diplomacy to insure Iran’s regime for real change, the new opportunity of direct talk came up.
When the US Foreign Office asked Iran to participate in the Afghanistan summit at The Hague, Iran actually sent its “B Team”. At the summit, the only direct talk between the two countries was greetings and the shaking of hands, which also came with different stories from both sides.

However, it seems due to a huge economic crisis in Iran, that the Islamic Republic’s leaders prefer to have more hidden economic talks with the US administration than direct talks that might form a relationship with the US.

Based on an Associated Press analysis, Iran was one of the highest benefitting customers of US exports in 2008. The two governments have no official direct relationship and in fact, Iran is still under US sanctions.

...

Please Read More in GER

GLOBAL ECONOMIST REVIEW (PDF) © VOL1. Issue 6, April 15 2009

Iran's New Internet Attacks on Dissenters

2009-03-09T01:56:00.008+01:00

Omid Habibinia
February 25, 2009

In recent weeks, there has been a notable increase in Facebook "friend requests" from colleagues and friends in Iran. It seems that someone has decided to allow more Iranians access to the Web site, at last.

Facebook is one of the most popular online social networking venues among Iranians and it's estimated that over 200,000, mostly living abroad, are members.

Alexa.com, which collects Web traffic and ranking data, shows that a quiet but significant change took place among the usual top-ranked Web sites' weekly visits inside Iran. However, blog providers remain on top on the list — Blogfa, a free Persian Weblog service, claims to have more than 1,500,000 member blogs. Other providers, including Persian Blog, Mihan Blog, and Parsiblog are said to have an estimated 700,000 members, while roughly 300,000 Persian users frequent Wordpress, Blogger and Blogsky.

Iran is credited with having the third largest blogsphere after the United States and China, with 2.5 million blogs drawing approximately 5 million hits per day. It is estimated that Iranian bloggers tend to update their blogs on an average of at least once per week.

It is well known that the Iranian government has been filtering online political dissident and critical blogs for years. This has forced bloggers to search for other less conspicuous Web venues to exercise their right to express themselves freely. Until last month many such providers, like Blogger and Wordpress, were banned by most Internet providers in Iran.

The Islamic Republic is notorious not only for banning and filtering blogs, and the Internet generally, but also for inflicting heavy punishments on non-conformist bloggers, such as kidnapping, imprisonment, and torture. At the present time there are about 20 bloggers, including five women's rights activists, in jail where there are many stories of suspicious suicides and deaths.

A committee drawn from the Ministry of Intelligence, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the High Council of Cultural Revolution, and the ministries of Communication, and Islamic Guidance and Culture are responsible for the filtering and banning activity.

Reportedly, more than 5 million sites have been banned in Iran, including political, entertainment, scientific, adult, photography, sharing, and social networking venues.

The filtering has also affected some religious Shiite sites, based on some Fatwa content featuring Islamic guidance on sex and marriage. The committee's software is able to seek these words out, send the sites to a blacklist, and filter/ban them. Ironically, and on a slightly humorous note, the very same filtering system also banned content from some highly respected Ayatollahs who then cried, "Why have you filtered my Web site?"

However, since last month something has definitely changed. Some of the most popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube, among others, are now slightly accessible, but not without severe repercussions for their use.

At the same time, a new and virulent wave of Internet attacks against many journalists and activists inside and outside of Iran has begun to emerge.

Last week, by chance, I noticed there is another Omid Habibinia on Facebook who has not only added my close friends and colleagues, but also my little sister. Strangely, the fake ID holder added a Swiss girl who I have spoken with and has contacted her several times to know if she can play in a docudrama about a Swiss girl who has an online friend from Iran.

I am also aware that fake ID holders have contacted other friends and asked some "strange questions."

Facebook makes an ideal platform for intelligence agents in Iran to infiltrate social networks, where they can hack information, locate events, addresses and monitor their subjects.

I have learned that my Gmail account has previously been accessed without my permission, and the persons responsible knew every contact, place and idea that I shared with others, including the re-launch of a well-known Web site that was put online about five years ago called Freedom of Expression (Azadi e Bayan). It was the first site to support Ahamad Batebi, who was kidnapped during his leave from jail after his meeting in Tehran with Ambeyi Ligabo, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' special rapporteur on freedom of expression in November 2003. The site also supported all journalists, artists, intellectuals and bloggers who were facing danger within the Islamic Republic.

Another kind of attack was recently perpetrated by "special hackers" against Balatarin, the Persian version of Digg.com.

The hackers stole the owners' IDs of this popular site, including a well-known news source in Iran. The information gleaned was used to try and hack into their bank accounts. At the same time, Balatarin was ordered to reformat their servers, making it more difficult to discover the identities of the hackers. This Web site draws more than 250,000 pageviews per day and is used as a source for following news, even among journalists.

During recent weeks, many Iranian journalists and prominent bloggers have claimed that their IDs were closed by Facebook, due to being reported for insulting or even pornographic content.

The same trick has also been used on other bloggers. Some, who use providers outside of Iran, are reported on by agents and requests are made to the blog providers for closure or to have a warning sign placed before a visitor can access the content. The complaint is that these blogs are an insult to religion or pornographically offensive. I know some bloggers who only post their usual poems on their blogs, which most of the time are neither blasphemies or erotic, but have still incurred an online warning message.

The same thing is happening on Youtube. Many demonstrations and protests in Iran are captured by mobile phones and shared on the video-sharing site. However, some of the videos have been removed because of the pressure placed on Youtube through the report of supposed insults. Some gaffs by Iranian leaders or by TV presenters are also sometimes removed by Youtube. It is clear when in a two-day period, 200 reports are received asking for the removal of certain videos, that site administrators might follow suit.

However, it seems obvious that most of these e-mails and reports came from a specific place in Tehran.

Non-conformist Iranian bloggers are now facing a new form tyranny from information and intelligence insiders on the Internet. It is hard to know who is who. I am not sure if Shirin is the Shirin who was a former colleague on TV, or if she is a fake. The strange thing is when I message her on Facebook I get the wrong answer or no answer. I always ask some personal questions about a given person's past to ascertain their true identity, but who knows if the hackers have access to background details and can correctly answer the questions?

In less than six months there is going to be another round of elections in Iran and it seems that this coordinated attack on journalists, bloggers and activists is being facilitated through Internet communication. It appears that the ultimate goals are to silence, threaten and send signals of monitoring and stolen information to infiltrate networks. Those in question have learned that they can use Facebook and Youtube for their propaganda as well.

While many concerned individuals with Facebook accounts are sifting through their newly-added friends list to find suspicious ones, the hidden war of censorship and anti-censorship continues inside Iran.

Omid Habibinia is an Iranian journalist who has worked for state radio and television organizations as a senior media researcher and producer.

Published in WORLD PRESS

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Facebook Is Not Banned In IRAN Anymore;Spies Like It!

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View the Worldpress Desk’s profile for Omid Habibinia.
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Facebook Is Not Banned In IRAN Anymore;Spies Like It!

2009-02-09T16:48:00.009+01:00

From Last week, I am receiving daily more than 20 new friend requests on FB, I don’t know most of them and at the same time heard about fake IDs.

This also happened to me, I notice by chance there is another Omid Habibina, he (they) even added my little sister on FB!

People sometime don’t attention why should accept another ID with the same name?

So they could access some information on FB including address, contacts, networks and monitoring them.

I asked FB immediately delete the fake ID and wrote on my statues bar "PLZ don’t add fakes, I am the only Real Omid Habibinia on FB!"

I also warned some of my friends who add fake ID ;that one is not me, plz delete it and report FB.

I also asked them to let me know about their contacts and learned he (they) asked some personal questions.

Really surprised when I got they added a Swiss girl whom I contacted with her for a film project,so... I guess they should have hacked my Gmail for a period of time.

This has been happening to many people since last months.

I believe there is a center in Tehran organized for such internet attacks.

However the Good news is: FB is not banned in Iran anymore and the Bad news is: They use it as a intelligence action!

So Plz be aware of Facebook Spies and Fake IDs!

PlZ invite me on time!

2009-01-24T18:15:00.009+01:00

Last month I was invited to an intersting workshop on Iran's media at Annenberg School for Communication.

Since it was during the Christmas time I thought that I would not make it, first of all, I am Iranian and due to political reason it will take longer period than other citizens, second I feel uncomfortable with the way they might treat me at the US embassy, with their "strange questions", which looks like interrogation.

I recall another conference on Iran's media at university of Washington in 2006, which organizers showed deep interest in my paper since as usual I had presented recent data and personal survey in my work, and upon their invitation I approached US embassy for visa, where I encountered really annoying questions. I wondered, I am a political refugee and they can easily get access to my profile, so there is no need to undergo such "stupid questions".

Later I heard lots of stories of other Iranians on misbehavior and humility of finger printing, they have been through, and even my BBC colleagues who had official missions to Washington, but traveling with Iranian passport were not exempted for such unfriendly attitudes of US immigration board officers.

So this time, I simply gave up, there was no need to try the lessons learned again, perhaps there is no change in the US immigration board’s usual questions even if the White House got new tenant, promising for many changes!

Last week one of my ex-colleagues at the BBC informed me that he saw my name at the hotel reservation in Philadelphia, I replied that’s good news at least I could have gotten a room over there, even though I didn’t get the visa!

Surprisingly last week, I was also “promptly " invited to another panel in London at the same time which many of my colleagues will participate too. I informed them that I need a visa for UK too, hopefully this might be much easier, since I had notable work and travel history over there, and also there is no bitter memories of “stupid and strange questions" in my mind, but organizers excused themselves for assisting me for accommodation in London, promising that "next time", invitation will include accommodation for lecturers!

At this point , I wondered how they choose their panelists and how important is for them that Mr. Y comes instead of Mrs X?!

I highly appreciate if you arrange the formalities for your next conference in a more organized and timely manner, in case if you consider me to have a presentation on Persian media.

Thank you for your invitations BTW!

How New Year is beginning in Gaza?

2008-12-27T20:56:00.014+01:00

Today more than 60 Isreali F-16 bombers attacked Gaza and officals annonced more than 200 ordinary people killed and about 700 others were wonded.

Isreal army claims these air stricks are responding to Hamas rocket attacks into Isreal, Gaza was blockade for several months and it seems in the eve of new year Israili warplanes fireing death upon inocent people living there, the people who are victims of both Islamists and Isreali militarism and sufforing for basic needs.

Hamas is not obeying the Mahmoud Abbas government and just cause more tension, reveals its power and deepening Islamic fundamentalism in the region and I think at the other side someone in Israel also need them!

I couldn’t find my Palestinian and Israeli Bloggers friends in the past days, but I am sure all of them are in deep shock and sadness, those of who in both side insist war just cause disgust and I am sure Gaza’s people under Islamic government are the real victims of both side.

Many Persian blogs wrote about this horrible situation in Gaza and some of them use Muslims Bloggers Banner in their blog, I am wondering how is possible to be leftist, atheist and against Islamic Republic and use their banner to support Gaza’s people?

As far as I know these 'Muslims bloggers' who dependent to some governmental organization are accusing to have the main rule to monitor, investigating and spying against the majority of Iranian bloggers who are secular, not supporting IR’s propaganda, or atheists, feminists and leftists.

I wrote once about Gaza in Zamaneh which was so popular, but I hope I don’t need to write more,… we are living with our hopes specially in the New Year 's time, so lets hope this painful long story will end soon!

Related Story: I am Gaza Citizen Too!

The Long story of my critic on BBC Persian !

2008-10-31T00:52:00.007+01:00

After about 70 years in existence, the BBC Persian Service is
naturally a household name in Iran. In a move calculated to expand its
reach in the Islamic Republic, BBC Persian has ventured into
television. Launch is just weeks away.

Though satellite television is illegal in Iran, more than half its
urban dwellers have access to satellite television by some estimates.
Over the past few years, the number of Persian-language satellite
stations has continued to grow. At last count, there were about 50
stations, most of which are based in Los Angeles, home to the largest
Iranian expat community.

BBC Persian Television will be a much welcome addition. The quality of
Persian-language satellite programs are generally very poor. Still
they have a large audience in Iran because the younger generation
tunes in for Western music programs and to hear the latest Iranian pop
music that is illegal in Iran. Other than music, much of the political
or even social programming offered by these stations do not appear to
be taken very seriously by many people, especially the youth. Still,
from time to time, officials enforce the ban and take down people's
satellite dishes and haul the owners to court. Just as authorities
filter Websites—including the BBC's—they scramble programs and it will
be interesting to see how the BBC deals with that.

The launch of BBC Persian Television should have a major effect on the
state of television culture in Iran in general. In the absence of
independent television on the one hand, and amateur-level programming
from the stations abroad on the other, many will refer to the BBC for
news and other information. Because the bar is so low, the BBC will
not have to work hard to look good. But I hope the powers that be will
make use of their basket full of resources to put out a product that
will live up the BBC brand name. I hope they just don't attempt to get
by, because they know they can get away with it. As noted, they don't
have much competition, and not many outside of the BBC Persian Service
division speak Persian to gauge the quality of their programs.

The view from the outset isn't promising. Stories and rumors
circulating around for the past few months have called into question
its recruiting and hiring methods and decisions, the background and
experience of those they have chosen to fill the top TV posts, even
the neutrality of its politics. I certainly hope I am wrong in seeing
it that way and I hope that my own experience isn't a harbinger of
things to come.

I wrote a critique of a training video the BBC put out recently. It
was published on the Radio Zamaneh Website. I got quite an earful
about it. This article was the most-read on the site. There were more
than 100 hits just from the BBC alone. Among the 30 comments, and
emails to me, many came out in the defense of the organization that
signs their checks. I was criticized for making a judgment about the
quality of BBC TV so early on in the process, for being too harsh and
bitter in tone, and even accused of trying to settle a personal
vendetta...

Still I don't know how that can be the case. First of all, in order to
make sure I hadn't written anything that could be construed as
offensive to my former colleagues, I reviewed my final draft a few
times—to little avail apparently.

Secondly, I was writing about the technical aspects of a video—a training video at that.
Be it the latest Ridley Scott film, or a BBC video, I am a critic. That's what I
do. I have been writing about media and cinema for 18 years. There
were at least 11 obvious flaws in the short nine-minute span of this
clip. Given all their resources, I thought it fell short. One expects
a lot more from the BBC, one that sets out to train others in the
profession.

And this was just my point of view on the technical aspect of it. What
would happen if I started to comment on the content of their work?

Citing copyright infringement, the BBC contacted Radio Zamaneh and had
them take down seven screenshots I had used from the training video to
illustrate my point.

In the time I worked there, this had never happened.
I asked friends at the BBC World Service and they were more
or less of the opinion that I had not violated copyright law. I am
still waiting to hear back from their legal department.

It would be usefule if we know that more than 60 procent of people in large cities using satelite TV chanales and most frequnetly Persian channals, then notice that why analysing, critc and study on this channels seems so importanat for media researchers to better understanding of media policy and contents of these channels.

This job should be done and improving more and more by researcher to know how such studies can get interact with other relvant variables in the daily life and discovering how the facts could be massuring by analytical and scnitific methods.

BBC Persian TV is launching!

2008-09-30T22:38:00.029+02:00

We finally had some good news: BBC Persian Service, the second professional news and television program, is slated to launch by the end of the year.

Many of the journalists and editors of PTV -- as the BBC refers to it-- are my old friends and colleagues and most of them have no TV background. But there is no need for panic, the BBC always offers the best (or one of the best) training programs. Almost all of the 70 PTV employees have now completed their courses on TV journalism. BBC Persian TV has only one rival: VOA Persian, news and feature programs run by VOA out of Washington. DC, but many experts believe the quality and content of the VOA programs do not meet BBC standards.

There appears to be a huge gap between the producers of VOA's PersianTV programs and the youth in Iran, who make up the majority of the population. Furthermore, VOA is considered to be one-sided and biasedin its reporting and pursues an approach toward Iran that is old fashioned.

The BBC Persian Service is considered to be conservative, but one that seeks to maintain its ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has been criticized for not being impartial, even for being pro regime, or at least favorable to the reformist faction of the Iranian government. But the BBC's standards of neutrality, balance and responsibility in reporting require it to have a rational relationship with any government in Iran.

The BBC works hard to keep a correspondent and an office in Tehran. But requests by its Persian service to open an office in Tehran has been rejected many times. The IR has also banned the BBC Persian website, which has "millions" of visitors each month, mostly fromIran.

I remember when I was dispatched to cover a demonstration against Khatami in front of Chatham House in London; When I asked anti-regime Iranians for a short interview, most of them answered with anger and disappointment at the BBC Persian Service and blamed it for supporting the regime.

I can understand their feelings, but I cannot understand why they expect the BBC to act as a subversive media outlet. But I also know that most of those same Iranians living abroad check the BBC Persian Service website everyday and get most of their information from there.

In Iran, the BBC appears to be more popular, in my survey that I conducted last year, more than 90% of students who asked to said they would welcome BBC PTV as a new source of news.

In this survey most of the students said they use the internet and Persian satellite TV to access the latest news on Iran and international issues or even entertainment, while also watching IRIB news programs.

While some experts like Massoumeh Torfeh correctly believe BBC Persian TV may face challenge to Iran’s media market, there are many factors that can workin its favor to woo viewers and catch eyes on this new channel, including trust, influence and having a good relationship in Iran, we can also count on young editors in BBC Persian TV.

But it is obvious that these factors are not enough. The BBC needs to cover the different needs of its audience. In my survey, a majority of students suggested a 50-50 breakdown between news and non political programs.

From this point of view, maybe no TV background of almost all of editors come out, if they don't involve more TV people especially those who came from Iran in editorial and gate keeping system.

BBC Persian TV has an eye on its Arabic channel, and another on its competitors. but may be the only answer for knowing, making and involving audience is focus on research and survey, The BBC Persian radio service generally has no more than a 5% audience, and the website is completely filtered in Iran. So the only way for the BBC to find its way into the living room of Iranians is through satellite TV. By some estimates, more than 60% urban households have satellite television, though it is illegal.

I will write more on BBC PTV, while some blatherers in some notorious websites in Iran published my name as one of three cavalier of this TV (while I am not involve in any part of it), but I like the promotion compliment of being a cavalier of media!

So thank you!
...

The Long Story of My Critic on BBC Persian!
The Paradox of Iranian Media

...

Iran's Human rights violation in the shadow of nuclear issue

2008-08-07T10:52:00.001+02:00

On the same day that Saeid Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator, was preparing two pages full of mistakes and silly plans for a nuclear summit in Geneva, an Islamic Revolution Court in Sannadaj, a large city in the Kurdistan Province of Iran, sentenced Hana Abdi, a 21-year-old student and feminist activist, to five years in jail in exile, in a small city near the border where political prisoners are held alongside common criminals.

Hana Abdi, captured 9 month ago, was accused of atheism, warfare, and activity against national security, but her lawyer has said there is no evidence in his client's file to back up the claims.
Abdi was arrested with Ronak Safarzadeh, who is still in Intelligence Minstery lockup. Similarly, Safarzadeh is accused of atheism, warfare, and terrorist plotting. Her confessions are the only evidence against her in her file. During her stay at the Intelligence Ministry, it was reported at least twice that she was transferred to a hospital, leading to reports she was tortured into confessing to crimes.

Iran's jails are the most dangerous in the world, not only for political activists, but for ordinary people as well, who are captured violating obligatory Islamic rules such as the mandatory wearing of the Hijab. Many girls have been beaten and raped in recent years, and some killed. There are lots of cases of "suicide" in jails; families believe the "suicides" are victims of rape and murder by interrogators.

All attempts to investigate such claims of torture, rape, and murder in jails get blocked by the court system. Ronak and Hana [pdf] are not the only young girls accused of atheism and warfare; there are feminists, leftist activists, and students in jail on such charges. Some are kidnapped and disappeared for months; there is a deep fear that they may be killed at any moment.
While most of the news coverage of Iran is focused on the nuclear issue, finding reports on the daily and systematic human rights violations happening inside Iran is rare to the point of being nonexistent. The nuclear issue casts a deep shadow over international coverage, obscuring what is happening to 70 million Iranians, people who suffering from Iran's brand of political Islam.

President Ahamdinejad's government - which says Iran's people are getting happier - is at the same time trying to tighten the noose with heavy sentences like capital punishment around students, feminists, teachers, workers, and political activists.

On the same day Ahmadinejad was on NBC saying Iranians are lucky to live under a dictatorship, 29 young men were hanged in Evin prison, some of them younger than 20.
While Ahmadinejad was smiling and saying to NBC, "You shouldn't be worried about the Iranian people," eight young women and one man are awaiting a sentence of death by stoning for adultery.

While the world continues to focus on the never-ending nuclear negotiations with Iran, Iran's human rights violations should play a part in the discussions [pdf].

Published in: The Seminal

Persain Satellite TV,new challenge for I.R Iran

2008-08-03T23:24:00.013+02:00

This is my research paper`s abstract has accepted to be presented in: Global Communication Confrence in Oman. 1

Persian Satellite TV, new challenge for IRI
Omid Habibinia
Media Researcher
IAMCR, IFJ, SJV (Switzerland)

Less than one decade ago, the first Persian Sat TV was received in Iran; but nowadays more than 35 Sat TVs are broadcasting different programs for Iran in abroad, mainly from US and still there will be more.

The appearing Persian Sat TVs channels brought up some socio/cultural changes in the urban areas. As the number of the these channels viewers lifted up to more than 50 percent, the gap between them and the Islamic values got wider and at the same time affected some aspects of daily life in Iran such as media habits, getting news and social discourse.

This study will take a look at the presentations of these channels in Iran and will review the process and the way they approach, facing a dynamic society in Iran; it will try to describe why this market/society needs more channels and alternative media.

the other hand, IRI´s media and specially IRIB are deeply affected by these Sat TV channels. However, since their appearance, they have encountered these channels in three phases: ignorance, enmity and now inactivating.

In Addition, we will take a look to some polls, which have been done by the researcher during last 2 years; these show how young audience, who are the potential viewers of Sat TVs dealing with alternative media and what they expect from them.
Some part of the questionnaires was spread in last summer among 1400 students in Tehran and some universities around the country regarding to expected BBC Persian TV channel. It shows most of them prefer alternative media to reach the news and information for dealing their socio/politics and cultural needs.

The study also tries to show the success and the weak points of the Persian TV programs together with their media policy and a society who is very dynamic and needs for diversity.

A society which has now nearly the most Sat TV channels in the world broadcasted in abroad.

Iranians supporting Obama?

2008-07-31T23:57:00.005+02:00

A few months till US presidential elections, many Iranians think democrats will be the best choice for the US foreign policy toward Iran.

I know many Iranians and Iranian-Americans who support Barack Obama, not only because he is democrat or came from a minority but also he looks intellectual.

Comparing Obama to McCain or G.W.Bush shows how deep is the difference.

In my opinion many Iranians prefer democrats, they may remember what happened when Shah supported Republicans and Carter won, he insisted for freedom of speech in Iran which called in Iran” Open Political Era”, but regime was so corrupted so any open era couldn’t save it, we have the same situation with Islamic Republic that many believe no reform can not carry on.

When Obama, talked about Iranian Bloggers, many of 1.5 million bloggers repeat his words and welcomed mentioning by a democrat.

I had wrote about a draft for death sentence for Iranian bloggers last week and recently three political prisoner in Iran sentenced to death and at the same time Ahamdinejad interviewed with NBC talked about luckyness and happiness of people, people who in the heat of hot summer have no electricity and water for more than 5 hours, people who more than 45% of them are under of the poverty line, people who even can not choose what to wear,…

Many Iranians believe, we need more support by the world, voices like Obama in his historical speech in Berlin, will influenced more than some politicians like G.W Bush who seems to be more like cowboy than a president.

Cowboys can always do business and sometimes do stupid adventures, I really hope we have rational and close relationship between two nation after Obama.

Death Penalty for Iranian Bloggers

2008-07-24T22:52:00.012+02:00

A few weeks ago, the Islamic Parliament in Iran approved a draft law which shocked the country and is at the center of current debate.

The draft law is asking for expanded sentencing for those who publish atheistic articles and pornographic materials and facing them to death.

In that draft, journalists, bloggers and intellectuals publishing such articles are considered same like crimes such as rape, sex slave exporters, banditry, prostitution, depravity, and kidnapping.

According to this draft, which was approved for faster review by the majority of Majlis [Iranian members of Parliament], the death sentence could be used against bloggers, journalists, artists, and intellectuals who can be easily falsely accused and convicted by intelligence services or the judiciary branch for publishing "articles against Islam."

Beside China, Iran is the most dangerous country for the bloggers and maintains one of the tightest controls over the Internet. Yet, more than 1.5 million bloggers write daily about their life, publishing about local news or criticizing government and mandatory Islamic rules. Based on Alexa, Iranian internet users are eager to read blogs as a source of news, semi-news, gossips, or entertainment.

Blog providers inside Iran are very sensitive to the content of blogs they host. If they find an anti-Islamic or pornography focused blog, they immediately delete it. If they ignore the blog, the filtering center in the Communication Ministry will delete it. My Persian language blog, like many blogs and websites criticizing the regime, is banned and filtered inside Iran by either the service providers or the government.

This new draft law, which brought waves of criticism against new conservative Majlis, including from major EU and human rights organizations, brings the prospect of harsh suppression of intellectuals and bloggers. The death penalty is an option.

To underscore the point, there are many political prisoners in the notorious jails inside Iran who are there because they have been accused of atheism or have been targeted by fatwas issued by top mullahs including the Supreme Leader Khamenehei. Under Islamic law in Iran, the sentences these people face include beheading, crucifing, whiping, executing and the cutting hands and feet.

Bloggers inside Iran believe the draft law is created to threaten youth and intellectuals, as well as suppressing freedom of speech and expression.

Published in: The Seminal

English Plz!

2008-07-22T22:44:00.018+02:00

NYT reported that I.R.Iran has distributed a letter in 5+1+1 meeting in Geneva last week full of dictation and grammer mistakes, it seems nobody in Tehran do not take this meeting seriously!

There was nobody in the Foreign Ministry or Security Council of regime who can write an understandable letter?

Or they wanted to bewail western diplomates?

Of course in that cabinet there are a lot of Mullahs and fanatic ideologues who usually talk and write in Persian that most of people can not understand, we can only understand Ahmadinejad`s speech and really laugh...

The brilliant tactic used to write that two-pages informal letter is the same as I.R. Iran`s leaders always doing, talk about something which is not demanded by audience!

BTW, noboday in Geneva didn't know how to rise Islamic Republic`s flag?

Or that was like IR`s letter a sign?

So it seems nuclear talks is going to be interpreted by linguistic and Semiotics instead of diplomatic language!

interesting... I like that move...!

I am Gaza Citizen too

2008-07-11T05:50:00.007+02:00

A few months ago, when Gaza was in the siege and Israel cut fuel supply for Gaza’s power station, I wrote a personal note in Radio Zamaneh website in pseudonym.

I wrote about my friends in Gaza and Israel and tragedy over there the Title was: ”… and Gaza sinks in darkness”.

That was the night which about 1.5 millions of people spend in darkness. I wrote about Dr. Mona El-Farra and some of my online friends and all miserable people who suffered from hunger and sanction.

The article has got one of the most articles hits in the website and also the link in Balatarin, Persian version of Digg, was the top link of the week.

Although, there were some users asking me, why do you supporting Palestinians? They argued Islamic Republic spending a lot of money for them while there are peoples in Iran who need Electricity, roads and health services also.

I didn’t answer them, but I don’t understand why some young users believe Iran’s government send money to Palestinians, we may guess they support Hezbollah or all fundamentalists groups in the region including Hamas, but what to do with Palestinians people?

They don’t spend money to somewhere there is no benefits, so they just use them for propaganda.

In my article, there was some links to my Israelis and Palestinians bloger friends, I also send a message to Mona and ask her if she like to do an interview , but it was reasonable got no answer during the blackout.

I really respect her and got some comments from Rami Almeghari a journalist in Gaza for the news (at that time I was news editor of Radio Zamaneh).

But a few days later checked her blog for news about ending blackout, I found a comment from a small group in Islamic Republic called themselves private news agency which actually running by government institutions.

Someone form the link of my article found her blog and wrote there we are supporting you and representing your suffers in our “Alternative” news agency!

Then they cut and past some lines of my article and my news from Radio Zamaneh to their website to show how an “Alternative” news agency works!

Usually we are calling Alternative media to whom are different from main stream or hegemonic, government’s media, But they also copy & past my comment there in their name again, and called themselves “Alternative” media.

The way they use Palestine conflict and Palestinians are like the way they use such terms like “Alternative Media”.

On the other hand, I,like many Iranians who have empathy with Israelis, have a lot of Israelis journalists and blogers friends, every time hearing about an attack against innocent children and people of Israel; I think what kind of ideology can make a tribe, a group or a band so violent and without mercy, how do they think with killing innocent people could dive directly to heaven?

I am happy the conflict with two side is seems calmed down now.

Although the situation in Gaza is not improved yet, But I am sure many people in that region know what is Islamic Republic’s propaganda for.

Media War In Iran

2007-12-18T16:15:00.000+01:00

CaBi 2003

2007-03-02T11:23:00.000+01:00

Dailymotion blogged video
CaBi 2003
Video sent by omid2006

Demo against death of a african asylum seeker in St.Gallen Switzerland 2003

IRAN News Photos :21 June 2006

2006-06-21T21:13:00.000+02:00

A Killer near Us!
The general prosecutor and member of the Iranian delegation at the Human Rights Council Saeed Mortazavi talks to the press at Geneva, Wednesday, June 21, 2006. Iranian opposition criticises the presence of Mortazavi at the Human Rights Council, blaming him to be responsible for violations of human rights in Iran and the arrest of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who was killed during her captivity. The
opposition demands his expulsion. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini) AP
An Iran fan holds a flag in the stands before their Group D World Cup 2006 soccer match against Angola in Leipzig June 21, 2006. FIFA RESTRICTION - NO MOBILE USE REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (GERMANY)

JLG OH

2006-06-12T00:08:00.000+02:00

Dailymotion blogged video
JLG OH
Video sent by omid2006

This is a Video Clip wich has used as my 15 min.Persentation at OS Deutsch Class on:
Jean-Luc Godad.

IRAN News Photos :11 June 2006

2006-06-11T21:21:00.000+02:00

Iran supporter with non Islamic Iran`s flag, cheers as she watches the World Cup soccer match between Iran and Mexico on a video screen in Frankfurt June 11, 2006. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler (GERMANY)
Iran supporters without Islamic sign,cheer as they watch the World Cup soccer match between Iran and Mexico on a huge video screen in Frankfurt June 11, 2006. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler (GERMANY)

IR Vice President and the head of the state's physical education organization Mohammed Aliabadi waves an Iranian flag in the crowd at the World Cup Group D soccer match between Iran and Mexico in Nuremberg, Germany, Sunday, June 11, 2006. Aliabadi, one of seven Iranian vice presidents, is in Germany to watch Iran play and is not representing hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a spokesman for his organization in Tehran said. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

An Iranian soccer fan wears an Israeli flag during a demonstration in Nuremberg, June 11, 2006. Some one thousand people protested on Sunday against anti-Jewish statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a rally organized by the Jewish cultural community in Germany ahead of the Iran v Mexico first round World Cup 2006 soccer match in Nuremberg. REUTERS/Toby Melville (GERMANY)

Participants in a demonstration against anti-semitism, carry signs, with the one on the left reading 'red card for Ahmadinedschad', which uses a soccer term signifying dismissal from a match, to allude to recent inflammatory remarks made by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the city of Nuremberg, southern Germany, Sunday, June 11, 2006. The national soccer team of Iran will play its first World Cup 2006 soccer match against Mexico in the World Cup stadium, in Nuremberg. (AP Photo/Christof Stache)

At their newspaper's office, two Iranian female journalists watch Iran's national soccer team match against Mexico during World Cup, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 11, 2006. Iran on Sunday lost 3-1 to Mexico in their soccer World Cup match, held in Nuremberg, Germany. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

JLG OH

2006-06-07T07:29:00.000+02:00

Dailymotion blogged video
JLG OH
Video sent by omid2006

This is a Video Clip for a Presantion on Jean-Luc Godard for OS Class.

IRAN:News Photos of First Week of June 2006

2006-06-05T19:17:00.000+02:00

Mona Allpour-Dijvenjini (R) representing Iran and Maria Garrido Baez representing Spain at the 'Miss WM' contest pose for photographs before the final at the Europa Park amusement park in Rust June 1, 2006. 32 women representing nations that attend the FIFA 2006 Soccer World Cup take part in this competition on Thursday. WORLD CUP 2006 PREVIEW REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz (Germany)

Monarchist`s National Iranian Television (NITV) President Zia Atabay poses in his Woodland Hills, Calif., office Tuesday, May 16, 2006. Atabay says his NITV satellite station is helping the U.S. goal of promoting democracy and thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions. To improve his station's service, Atabay is hoping to receive U.S. funding from the $75 million (euro58.6 million) requested of Congress by the federal government to spark regime change in Iran through broadcasting. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Iranian students shout slogans as they stand beside a fire in front of the main doors of Tehran University dormitory complex during a demonstration against recently published cartoons, early in the morning in Tehran Wednesday, May 24, 2006. Iran closed a state-owned newspaper and detained its chief editor and cartoonist for publishing a cartoon that sparked riots by ethnic Azeris in northwestern Iran, a sign of the hard-line government's concern over any sign of divisions amid its confrontation with the United States. (AP Photo)
Members of the National Council of Resistance for Iran, depicting a public execution by hanging, rally outside Britain's Foreign Office, calling for immediate United Nations sanctions against Iran, in central London, Wednesday May 24, 2006. Six world powers, the five U.N. Security Council nations and Germany, looked Wednesday at the London meeting, for common ground on rewarding Iran if it gives up uranium enrichment _ or punishing it if it doesn't. Among the issues being discussed was a compromise proposal for possible U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran should Tehran refuse to give up uranium enrichment, diplomats said.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

The Paradox of Iranian Media

2006-05-18T09:57:00.000+02:00

Recently, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government notched up the battle against alternative and underground media and arrested more intellectuals, such as Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo .

A mosaic of Persian satellite TV channels ;

Currently, they plan to broadcast "parasitically" on Persian satellite channels, which are quite popular in Iran. Moreover, Sepah-e-Pasdaran (the Islamic Guard) is responsible for carrying out the mission. This is the usual tactic of the regime when urban unrest threatens. In recent demonstrations, they have broadcast on the same frequency as the Persian satellite channels, but the tactic was not successful, as they disturbed the whole frequency band and did not succeed even in covering all of Tehran.


	SatelliteTV Access in Iran

	Iran: Some Facts Population: 70.7 million (UN, 2005) Capital: Tehran (over 11 million) Area: 1.65 million sq km (636,313 sq miles) Major language: Persian GNI per capita: US $2,320 (World Bank, 2006) Youth (below 35 years): 81 percent TV viewers: 97 percent (Based on national poll, 2005) Country's satellite TV viewers: 65 percent (Estimated) Tehran's satellite TV Viewers: 70 percent (Estimated) Internet users: 33 percent (Estimated) Rate of dissatisfaction with Persian satellite TV broadcasts: 77 percent (Based on an Internet poll by O. Habibinia, May 2006) State national TV channels: 6 State local TV channels: 19 Persian satellite TV broadcasts for Iran: 33 (mostly based in Los Angeles) Satellite TV stations available in Iran: 2,250 (including illegal access to paid channels) / Omid Habibinia

For the project, a $15 million budget is proposed to develop a systematic parasite broadcaster to all parts of Tehran. The planners believe that they can send parasites without affecting mobile lines or electronic instruments except the broadcasters.Actually, as the state media in Iran treat cultural issues as political, there has always been a normative gap between Islamic values reflected by such media and popular culture.After 27 years of Islamic propaganda, the majority of youths no longer set store by Islamic laws. A poll done in 2000 of Iranian teenagers' beliefs showed most of them did not want to observe Islamic rules such as obligatory Hijab or those dealing with the opposite sex (O. Habibinia and others, CARC, Tehran). Most of these youths had watched famous Hollywood movies, readily accessible in Iran, before being edited for the official screen.

Thirteen years ago, when I was in film school, our new professor, recently arrived from the U.S., excitedly described for us the premier of Robert Altman's Short Cuts, which was then his most recent film. He felt it a pity that we could not watch it in Iran. In response, we smiled and said actually that we had seen it the previous month! During the last 10 years, popular culture has influenced the state media more than the other way round. In Iran, more than 60 percent of urban families watch satellite TV. This forces Islamic TV (IRIB) to show more and more American and Western films and series at the same time. As lots of scenes and parts cannot appear on Islamic TV, they change the scenario or introduce special effects to make them suitable.This also happens to underground rock music.Whereas years ago no one could imagine an official rock concert by young local groups, now the government is forced to make exceptions for some that are not that dangerous!Of course, they continue to produce and broadcast religious series or programs, but the official polls show such fare attracts a smaller audience than any other kind of programming.On the other hand, about 35 Persian channels broadcasting from outside Iran cannot also satisfy a significant fraction of young Iranian viewers, who cannot fathom the political perspectives of old men answering phone calls on screen.
Some months ago, the New York Times published a report on such awful programs by Persian TV stations based in Los Angeles.In a recent poll, most viewers of Persian satellite TV say they do not trust the political perspective of these channels.This process encourages the development of inside alternatives and underground media to express the nature of daily life in today's Iran, such as rock groups, blogs, and underground videos. These media, which Islamic censorship would prefer not to appear at all, portray the dual face of Iran, which daily gets less deniable.

FREUD

2006-05-12T18:34:00.000+02:00

Iran:Photos of the day:1.May 2006

2006-05-02T10:30:00.000+02:00

Bush,Dont Touch Iran!
Protesters stage a sit-in as they carry banners reading 'Bush, Don't touch Iran' during a Mayday demonstration in Kadikoy district in Istanbul May 1, 2006. Banners at left read as 'Bush should be tried' and 'Incirlik should be closed' referring to the Turkish-U.S. joint airbase in southern Turkey. Tens of thousands of Mayday demonstrators marched through the Istanbul's busiest Kadikoy Square, as a small group who tried to domonstrate in Taksim square were detained by riot police on Monday. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas

Zürich:Stop Mullahs!

A group of Iranian protesters shout slogans during a May Day rally in downtown Zurich, Switzerland, May 1,

2006. The demonstrators called for a release of political prisoners, and a stop to Iran's atomic programme. REUTERS/Andreas Meier

May Day in Iran: Against class disparity
yesterday hundreds of workers togeather with students demonstreated in Tehran against class disparity. Police had supressed them and arrest some of the protesters.workers of Bus Syndicate according to last strike are still in jail.

An Iranian worker holds a placard where says in Persian 'class disparity biggest threat to the Islamic establishment' during a rally to mark May Day or International Labor Day in front of the former U.S embassy compound in Tehran, Iran on Monday May, 1, 2006.(AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Two Photos of Iranian Girls!
Two face of Iranian girls inside and outside of obligatory Isalmic rules.
First:Iranian women, who painted the Iran's flag on their faces and lips, flash the V-sign for victory during a football match between Iran 's women national football team and Germany's Al-Dersimspor at Tehran's Ararat stadium, 29 April 2006. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had announced 24 April 2006 that Iranian women can finally go to stadiums to watch sporting events, putting an unexpected end to a quarter-century ban.(AFP/File)

Second:Iranian wins Houston bikini contest(More Photos)

Nuke Iran`s T-Shirts!
Cafepress has presented Anti-Iran solgans like T-shirts.
"Fuck and Nuke IRAN!" and Iran is the next has written on them.It is said that the vice persident of Cafepress is also Iranian!
More Anti-Iran Solgans!

DIGITAL CITY 2

2006-04-29T09:12:00.000+02:00

Our Last year Vist to Digital City in Seoul(Korea) organized by OhMyNews.

Dailymotion blogged video
DIGITAL CITY 2
Video sent by omid2006

Part:2

Iran:Photos of the day,April 2006

2006-04-25T20:47:00.000+02:00

Iranain Man tries to hide Satelite dish that is forbiden in Iran.
New Goverment palns to incrise fine and punitives for Sat TV users.
Some Media Experts stimated about 55% of puplation are the audience of Sat TV.

Related:Poll on Persian Sat TVs(Persian)

Islamic Republics Polic fighting against girl in Tehran!
They call them"Bad Hijab"!
Acctualy most of Iranian girls dont belive Hijab or other kind of Islamic rules.

In this pictuer by Reuters an Iranian coupl kissing each other before arresting by Police

An Iranian policewoman (back to camera) watches a couple kiss before restraining them on a street in Tehran, Iran April 22, 2006. REUTERS/Stringer
Reuters - Sun Apr 23, 5:25 PM ET

In these pictures Iranian girls take off obligitory hijab during eincent Persian Fest in Tehran`s Streets,called Charshanbe Sori that always have conflicts with Police.

Related Story:Iranian Women March for Freedom

Related Photos:1...,2...,3...,4...,5...

The flags of Saudi Arabia and the Iran are blacked out on a huge banner at the facade of brothel 'Pascha' in Cologne, Germany, Monday, April 24, 2006 after unidentified men had demanded the clearance of the flags of the islamic states by a threat of violence over the weekend. Words on banner read 'It's nice to be a Pasha'. The flags represent the countries participating in the Soccer World Cup taking place in Germany in June and July. (AP Photo/Hermann J. Knippertz)

AP - Mon Apr 24, 7:11 AM ET

DIGITAL CITY 1

2006-04-24T19:31:00.000+02:00

Journalism Forum OhMyNews,Seoul June 2005

Dailymotion blogged video
DIGITAL CITY 1
Video sent by omid2006

Digital City Seoul Korea
OhMyNews Forum June 2005
Related Video:Seoul`s High Ways

Persian New Year Begins with Fear

2006-03-23T12:00:00.000+01:00

Signs of uncertainty point to possible attack on Iran

As Iranians get ready to celebrate a 3,000-year tradition of Norouz, the Persian New year, a legacy from the ancient Pers ian Empire, they cannot hide their worries about the near future. They also are experiencing more inflation, while another shock this time comes not from the U.S. or the E-3, but from Japan, which has announced they want to reduce oil imports from Iran.Japan has always been one of Iran's best oil costumers. The corrupt and crisis-ridden Iranian economy is susceptible to a nasty shock like this that could send it into a tailspin. As the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) is still discussing how to sanction Iran, many Iranians believe that possible economic sanctions would weaken the middle and lower classes and create more dissidents. While the regime has violently suppressed demonstrations, strikes, and protests, it is difficult to predict radical change.

For example, Ahm ad Batebi, a famous Iranian political prisoner who escaped from jail after six years confinement and has gone into hiding like so many others, believes, "Any economic sanctions mean more and more poverty for ordinary people and do not directly threaten the regime". On the other hand, the situation is going from bad to worse, and it seems the Islamic Republic's foreign office is losing it. A spokesman for Iran's Ministry of F oreign Affairs, reacting to Britain's Foreign Minister's speech, told the press: "Jack Straw's brain is jammed!" and Mahmud Ahmadinejad in another speech earlier in the week said, "I didn't see any wise men among western politicians!"

More anxious news has been conveyed by ex-president Mohammad Khatami, who said, "In Germany I was told that if Iran's regime persisted in its nuclear program, the U.S. would attack Iran a month after referral to the UNSC." He was asked to send this "message" to the regime's leaders.

When the Islamic Republic and the U.S. agreed to hold discussions about Iraq's position, right-wing U.S. foreign policy makers tried to put more pressure on the regime in Iran. Some sources say that Elizabeth Cheney was chosen to officially organize the spending of US$75 million, as requested by Condoleezza Rice, to promote a regime change within Iran. The New Yorker last week reported of a connection with the corrupted Iranian opposition based in the U.S. Both Monarchists and MEK (Mojahedin Khalgh) try to pretend they are the only alternative for regime change in Iran, but their background is not so attractive for the new generation of Iranians who don't like either totalitarian Islam or rule by corrupt politicians and generals.

In U.S.-based Iranian satellite channels’ TV coverage includes only old men sitting in front of the camera answering phone calls -- they don't even know the name of Tehran's streets, and then they want to lead a revolution inside Iran.

Of course, regime is not frightened them or establishing an independent office in the U.S FM called progressive democracy in Iran, But they are frightened hysterically by the women's movement, workers, teachers, and students; in the last weeks they brutally suppressed a strike by bus drivers and jailed not only the strikers, but also their families who had joined in support. Oppression has continued involving an attack on a religious sect,, the suppression of Women's Day demonstrations, an attack on a student meeting protesting against grabbing martyrs in Tehran`s Polytechnic University and finally the jailing of hundreds of youths during a fire festival last Tuesday night called Chahar Shanbe Soori.

Police has warned before that considering Mullahs’ Fatwa against Charshanbe Sori, they would confront with any fire festival in the streets .The fest goes to an ancient Persian tradition related with Mithraism .
But like every year millions of people came to streets make fire and jumping over it, singing, drinking, dancing and throwing firecrackers to Police and militias.

Some of my friends who came home after midnight and hours of dancing and singing without wearing a formal hijab in the streets told me; after one night madly sounds of firecrackers and fireworks, they hope never to hear the sound of air strikes and missiles clashing in the cities.

Actually, this is a common fear in Iran in the first moments of the new Persian year this spring.During the last days of the old year, in the south and east of Iran, ethnic rebels continued to be intrigued by U.S. intelligence services and about 22 local administrators killed in Zabol.Political prisoners are in danger, it has been reported that some of them may be executed in the first days of the new Persian year and others are in a bad situation. Bloggers like Mojtaba Saminejad and journalists like Elham Afrotan remain confined in their horrible cells during New Year ceremonies.While the UNSC continues to discuss a deadline or resolution concerning Iran's nuclear program, the American mainstream press has been polling the public about a possible attack against Iran. A majority believe it will happen. At the same time, many people in the Middle East in another poll say they are against this possible attack.Some experts looking to future events may predict a risk of attack on Iran, but people in Tehran are desperately hoping something will stop another calamitous war.
2006/03/18

March 28,

War Has Already Begun!

2006-03-23T11:13:00.001+01:00

Signs of Israel and the U.S. towards the showdown with Iran over the nuclear program

At the same day that Mohammad El Baredei’s report on Iran’s nuclear program was referred to U.N. Security Council retired Israeli chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon, has said Israel could launch a military strike against Iran’s nuclear and defense sites. Ya’alon’s speech, broadcasted on an Israeli TV channel, has angered Israel’s army chief Ehud Olmert who has accused Moshe Ya'alon of disclosing classified military information.As the issue of a military strike against Iran intensifies, there are media reports of a possible future attack with NATO’s involvement. The Israeli intelligence have also begun their operation in Iran and have gathered information about suspected sites.Iran has reacted slowly to the events. Iran’s parliament has approved of a motion to suspend the NPT Additional Protocol to forbidden research on Nuclear weapons if Iran’s file is referred to U.N. Security Council. But they are still quiet and hope to got an agreement or concessions. The Guardian has quoted a senior British Foreign Office official saying that Iran needs just one year to acquire technology to develop a nuclear bomb. In fact it is not obvious how Iran’s government gave the IAEA watchdogs highly secret documents on how to make a bomb.News from Tehran shows Iran is ready for a confrontation. The government has planned an economic program in case of a crisis caused by a war or UN sanctions.

Secret military maneuvers are carried out in the south and west of the country. Iran’s Air force and Navy is now at its weakest period and land forces are not highly motivated to fight- they can just cause obstruction and spread war to the entire region.Another hidden war rages in southern and eastern Iran, where US intelligence forces are said to be training ethnic groups to rebel. Last week two young men accused of terrorist attacks, were publicly hanged in Ahwaz in southern Iran..Following John Bolton and Dick Cheney’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington D.C, where the two leaders stressed on a painful and hard U.S. reaction against the Islamic republic’s nuclear programs, , George W.Bush also said Iran’s nuclear programs were a national danger for USA.This week the U.N. Security Council may give Iran’s negotiators another opportunity for an agreement. At the same time some right wing voices within US foreign policy would like US unilateral action against Iran, such as a 30-day ultimatum. This has called for appeals from peace activists to stop war against Iran!
2006-03-12 02:32
2006-03-12 16:23 (KST)
©2006 OhmyNews

Is the U.S. Mulling Nuclear Strikes on Iran?

2006-03-09T16:03:00.000+01:00

©2006 OhmyNews
Omid Habibinia reviews news about shadows of war

The news of a possible U.S. plan to attack Iran frightened many Iranians. Now, Persian Web sites are publishing stories of a plan to attack Iran with nuclear weapons.An Islamic Republic spokesman said he believes these reports are more similar to psychological war tactics than actual preparations to attack on Iran.U.S. President George W. Bush has repeated many times he has no military plans to invade Iran, but Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States would attack Iran if it is necessary.

U.S. tactical mini nuke

Many military experts believe this possible attack is not a ground strike to change the regime like the operation in Iraq, but it will be a limited attack by the Air Force or a surgical strike on the nuclear power stations.When Global Research published an article about a possible attack, many people found it to be extreme and unimaginable. At the same time, Tehran's government newspapers reported about a possible U.S. and Israeli attack at the beginning of the Persian New Year which starts at the end of March, according to an Arab news source. Last week, Hosni Mubarak warned Bush to not attack Iran. This news alerted the Tehran government press that there is a possible plan to attack Iran.The general view is that the possible war would not be so close to the Persian New Year like the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month asked Congress to fund a $75 million media campaign and support Iran's pro-U.S. groups based in the United States. This is not enough to prepare anything really dangerous against the Islamic regime in Iran, but it sends a clear message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.An air force attack by Israel would be more costly now that the Hamas government is allied with Iran.Some weeks ago, Judith Yaphe, a former senior CIA officer and professor at the U.S. Institute for National Strategic Studies, who was interviewed by Dorna Kouzehgar, stressed a war with Iran (PDF) is the most dangerous event that may happen in the region. Tolerating a nuclear-armed Iran is better than another war in Middle East, she said.The shadow of war in Iran is not completely horrible for the regime; they can exploit it by using it as an excuse to execute political prisoners, threaten Web bloggers and journalists, and try to stabilize an official marshal law in Iran.Oxford researcher Paul Rogers mentioned any attack on Iran will spread the war throughout the Persian Gulf and threaten oil transit routes.

Related Articles:
'Forestall Iran Confrontation by Negotiation'
2006-03-03 12:32
2006-03-03 17:13 (KST)
©2006 OhmyNews
Other articles by Omid Habibinia

Critic of Fake Rape Photos of Iraqi Girls

2006-01-08T03:52:00.000+01:00

These are the photos which was published on Internet,first in Arabic and then in Persian websites,the websites belived that they are taken from rape scence of Iraqi girls by US forces ,But acctualy they are just normal Pornogeraphic photos form war rape websits.
I have criticized this nonmedia literacy(in Persian) and many internet users in persian have read it.