Happy Decline of Religious Dictatorship

September 11, 2009
Happy Decline of Religious Dictatorship

Three months after the electoral coup, since when the Islamic Republic has become a military scene, and the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has set aside the pleasantries of the past thirty years in favor of direct involvement in politics, prominent Iranian intellectual, Abdolkarim Soroush sent an open letter to the leader of the Islamic state ayatollah Khamenei. In the letter, he calls for celebrations for the “end of violent methods” of rule, adding that the leader’s confession that the “regime’s dignity had been harmed” as the happiest news he had heard in his life.

- Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani denied there was any power struggle among Iranian authorities. "This issue is just propaganda raised by enemies outside the country," he said.

Here are some excerpts of Dr. Soroush’s letter.

“The bloody wedding has ended and the fake groom entered the bridal chamber. Ballot boxes shook in fear and monsters danced in the dark. Victims awaited in white burial robes and prisoners clapped with amputated hands. The world escorted the groom with rage in one eye and hatred in the other. The eyes of time cried and blood was splattered on the balcony of the republic. Satan laughed. Stars turned dark and wisdom went to sleep.

Mr. Khamenei,

In this shortage of wisdom and justice all complain about you, and I thank you… Not that I have no complaints. I do, and I have plenty of them, but I shared them with God. Your ears are so heavy with praise and cuddles of panegyrists that no room is left for voices of complainers. But I am very thankful to you. You said that “the regime’s dignity was harmed” and its respect vanished. Believe me when I say that I have not heard such happy news from anyone throughout my life. Congratulations to you for announcing the misery and baseness of religious dictatorship.

I am glad that finally the cries of early-risers reached the heavens and flamed God’s fire of revenge. You were willing to sacrifice God’s dignity to keep your own; for people to walk away from religion and piety but not your leadership; for religion, tradition and truth to be crumpled but your dictatorial garb remain crisp. But God did not want it. The broken hearts and the sewn lips and the shed blood and the amputated hands and the torn skirts did not want it and did not let it happen. The pious and the wise and the prophets did not want it. The deprived and the downtrodden and the oppressed did not allow it.

The crumbling and decaying of fear and legitimacy of the rule of the jurist was the greatest achievement of the uprising of honor over looting and awakened the sleeping lion of courage and strength… Religious dictatorship is ridiculed by both the pious and infidels. It is time to harvest the green farm of the movement. We have prayed that to God and God is with us.

The turning of the tables has no sweeter and fresher evidence than the fact that your celebrations have all become funerals. Whatever made you laugh one day now makes your cry and shake. The university that you wanted to praise you now is your nightmare. Street protests, religious gatherings, Ramaddam, Moharram, Hajj, rituals and mourning have all become the symbols of your bad omen and work against your.

We are a lucky generation. We shall celebrate the collapse of religious dictatorship. A moral society and a non-religious government are on our green horoscope.”

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September 10, 2009

Martial Law Imposed on the Country

Hossein Mohammadi
Mohammadi1363(at)gmail.com

When I was interviewing Morteza Alviri – yesterday, a few hours before his arrest – neither I, nor – possibly – he knew that he would be arrested within hours. Our arrangement was that I would send the interview to Alviri for editing before publishing it on RoozOnline. But Alviri’s arrest, like other arrests, could last a long time. Perhaps this interview can document Alviri’s views and opinions in freedom and in absence of pressure.

Rooz: Mr. Alviri, you ran Mr. Karoubi’s Committee to Protect Election Integrity. Did you think that the elections and their aftermath could turn out like?

Morteza Alviri (Alviri): Absolutely not. According to our latest estimations, Mr. Mousavi was the winner in the first round. The worst possible scenario was for the election to go to the second round, where Mr. Mousavi would have again won. Nor did I imagine that after June 12 the regime would use bullets and batons to confront people who voiced their protests legally and democratically

Rooz: The statements made by some reformists in court influenced a lot of other things. What is your opinion on the reformists’ confessions?

Alviri: This method of holding prisoners in solitary confinement and possibly abuse and pressure them belongs to four decades ago and are not effective anymore. Rulers in many parts of the world have realized that such confessions and interviews not only do not benefit the regime, but actually spread distrust.

Rooz: What is your analysis of the situation now? How far will this go? Do you not think that reformist parties will effectively be pushed out of the political arena?

Alviri: In my opinion, because of the regime’s sinful behavior, political activism has exited the arena of political parties and organizations, instead spreading into homes and families. It could become very costly if the government fails to respond appropriately to the wave of protest among the public. We have entered a new situation in our country because of the election and events subsequent to it. The silence seen in society now is not a sign that the protests are over. The reality is that, in Kasravi’s words, a bomb is hidden in hearts until it explodes. If we do not diffuse this bomb, it can naturally be very destructive and damaging.

Rooz: My understanding is that you do not think that the situation allows for political parties to be active?

Alviri: All political parties and groups have been restricted, and if this restriction continues, unfortunately we have to say that the protests and activism will go underground. If that happens, we cannot expect underground groups to comply with legal norms of behavior.

Rooz: Do you still believe that the election was fraudulent?

Alviri: Yes. In addition, events that took place after the election not only did not solve the problems, but actually made them more severe. Illogical and illegal acts such as attacking the people, arresting innocent individuals, creating an atmosphere of terror, charging people who were looking for their votes, or calling them dirt, or accusing them of conspiring with foreigners made the issue more severe. I now believe that martial law has been imposed on the country. Although the gentlemen do not like to announce it, there is no other explanation for their refusal to allow various gatherings and canceling of other events in recent days.


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Choose Between Torture And Old Woman

August 19, 2009

Nooshabeh Amiri
nooshabehamiri@yahoo.com

Hossein Shariatmadari is ayatollah Khamenei’s representative at hardline Kayhan newspaper. Whenever he wants to “insult” anyone who opposes his Taliban-Mafia mentality - provided of course the person has not yet been arrested - he uses labels for the person that in fact indicate his own self-respect and state of mind. The latest example of this attitude is Shariatmadari’s insultingly using of the word “old woman” for Shirin Ebadi, Iran’s only Nobel Peace Prize winner. I do not know whether Shariatmadari has ever seen a father or mother grow old, but I know of no person who feels ashamed because his or her mother is old or growing old. What I know is that a person feels ashamed because his father was a torturer.

Ms Ebadi’s children for many generations will proudly talk about their grandmother being a judge, a jurist, writer, human rights activist, winner of the Nobel Peace prize, etc.

But the offsprings of “brother” Shariatmadari will never tell anyone, “My father was an interrogator”. They will never tell anyone that the detainees of Iran’s Green Movement were sent to prison cells through a dirty plan devised by their grand father. They will deny that a close friend of their grand father’s - police commander Radan - was the commander of hooligans and rogues. They will burn the notes that Shariatmadari has sent to Saeed Mortezavi so that no one could see what betrayal and treachery are.

Ebadi’s children - all Ebadi-likes in Iran - will continue to proudly proclaim for years to come that their “grand mother transformed a building into a center for the defense of human rights.”

Shariatmadari’s children however will remain silent over the lies that “brother Shariatmadari” has said and that he fabricated lies to shut such centers.

What’s more, these will look pale in comparison to yet another crime they have committed. Their offsprings will die of shame because their grand father was the principal player in the prison cells where young girls and boys were raped in such prisons as Evin, Kahrizak, etc.

They will remain mortified for the rest of their life that while their grand father presented himself as the spokesperson for piousness and ethics, when behind scenes he was a member of the operational teams that planned the Islamic coup. He will be a grand father whose dossier will have these accomplishments:

- Fabricating cases against political and civil activists

- The arrest of these individuals (by plain clothes agents, without a warrant, but with beatings)

- Keeping them in individual confinement cells, subjecting them to torture, rape, interrogations, etc



And finally

- Forcing them to make false confessions, writing up indictments, holding show-case trials (along with Saeed Mortezavi)

And all of these are done so the “rule of the absolute cleric” (Vali Motlaghe Faghigh) strengthens the foundations of his despotic rule; so that the despot stays in power while a group of sexually sick individuals can rule over the mind and body of the nation under his blanket; so that they can instill fear and demonstrate their claims of being believers through the use of arms and the Basijees.

Yes, each of the children, grand-children and great grand-children of Shirin Ebadi too will have words to say. Descendants of Shariatmadaris, Ahmadinejads, Mortezavis, etc and the person who heads them all, will of course deny the categorizations that people will make regarding these “brothers.” And one day - which is really not too far away - the descendents of these people will wish that their ancestors were “old women” or “old men”, rather than torturers and rapists.