Iran Feature: "One Voice" Campaign for 12 Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Last Saturday, 12 political detainees in Evin Prison began a hunger strike, protesting the recent deaths of activists Haleh Sahabi and Hoda Saber and the general conditions for prisoners.

A campaign of support has arisen inside and outside Iran, featuring video messages to the hunger striker and to the general public.

Journalist Masih Alinejad, now living in exile in Britain:

Journalist Maziar Bahari, who was detained for four months after the 2009 Presidential election:

Other videos, including messages from cartoonist Nikahang Kowsar, lawyer and activist Mehranghiz Kar, and academic Hamid Dabashi, have been posted at Iranian.com.

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Iran Analysis: The Uproar over Former President Khatami's Call for "Reconciliation" (Farhi)

Amid intensified factional fighting among conservatives who dominate the presidency, the parliament, and the office of the Islamic Republic's Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an appeal for national reconciliation and forgiveness by a former reformist president is making a major splash in Iran's political discourse.

The May 18 speech of Mohammad Khatami to a group of Iran-Iraq War veterans has taken friends and foes of the former president by surprise in a country where charges of electoral fraud and the regime's brutal suppression of post-election protests have completely polarised the population.

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Iran Exclusive: An Interview with Mehdi Karroubi "The Movement is Alive"

An EA exclusive: English translation by Potkin Azarmehr of Masih Alinejad's interview with Mehdi Karroubi.

The interview took place amidst the request by Mir Hossein Moussavi and Karroubi for a permit for a rally on 14 February in solidarity with the movements in Egypt and Tunisia, the arrest of Karroubi's advisor Taghi Rahmani, and intimidation of Karroubi's associates.

Security agents appeared in front of Karroubi's house on Thursday to enforce a house arrest, allowing only Karroubi's wife to enter the residence. Alinejad's interview was cut short by the restrictions.

Originally published in Persian in Rah-e-Sabz:

Why are they scared of our presence amongst the people?

Karroubi replied, "The movement which became known as the Green Movement subsided after its initial excitement. Some of the Green Movement supporters became despondent. The government which keeps referring to this as the “end of the sedition”, seems to be worried after the permit for a rally on 14th February was requested, in case once again people will turn up on the streets. Recently Mr. Ejei [Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei] reacted to the request by calling it a 'political act'."

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Iran Interview: Daughter of Condemned Zahra Bahrami "A Political Death Sentence"

UPDATE 1645 GMT: Radio Farda reports that Zahra Bahrami had a visit from her daughter, Banafsheh Nayebpour, on Tuesday. "I was allowed to meet her...at Evin [Prison] for about 20 minutes and I could tell that she was extremely scared," Nayebpour said.

“The death sentence issued to my mother is completely political and I implore people, the media, and all human rights activists to not believe the fabricated and trumped-up charge of ‘possession of narcotics’ [levelled against my mother]. The accusation is meant to distract and deceive people to believe the reason behind the death sentence is ‘possession of drugs’ so they refrain from supporting and helping us.”

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Iran Interview: Wife of Jafar Kazemi, Condemned to Death, "We Request the Help of All Our Compatriots"

Jafar Kazemi, a lithographer for textbooks and pamphlets for Amir Kabir University, was arrested on 18 September 2009, apparently for putting up posters supporting the opposition. Soon he faced more serious charges.

Kazemi was accused of "mohareb" (war against God), a crime which carries the death penalty. Like others who have been executed in Iran, the public support for the allegation appears to be that Kazemi has a relative --- in this case, a son --- who is in Camp Ashraf in Iraq. The camp is home to many members of the People's Mojahedin of Iran, a banned organisation which has sought the overthrow of the Iranian regime for more than 30 years.

Kazemi was convicted and sentenced to hang. In recent weeks, activists have expressed increasing concern that his execution is imminent.

Masih Alinejad, working for the oppostion site Rah-e-Sabz (Jaras), interviewed Roudabeh Akbari, the wife of Kazemi, this week. The translation is by Siavosh Jalili.

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Iran Interview: Sister of Habib Latifi, Sentenced to Die on Sunday

Masih Alinejad interviews Elahe Latifi, sister of condemned Kurdish detainee Habibollah Latifi:

I thought in honour of the religious month of Moharram, no executions would be carried out, but apparently that does not matter to the authorities. Our last hope is God.

One is hopeful until the last minute. Hopeful to be able to do anything for her loved one.

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Iran Special: A Plea to Western Media About "Sakineh", Political Prisoners, and Human Rights (Alinejad)

As we approach the anniversary of those who died in the demonstrations of 27 December 2009, I ask my Western colleagues not to be fixated by the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani case. I ask them to look at the political prisoners languishing in Iran's jails and the pressures faced by families who lost their loved ones during the protest.

I ask them to notice those like renowned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who represented many of these families and political prisoners, who has now been detained for 3 1/2 months, who has gone on hunger strike not only to fight for her rights but for the rights of the all those who are imprisoned for dissent and pursuit of civil society.

I ask the Western media not just to see one 43-year-old woman fighting for her life. I ask the Western media to take notice of the thousands, inside and outside prison, who are fighting for their lives and those of fellow Iranians.

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Iran Interview: Parvin Fahimi "Who Killed These Youngsters in Their Own Country?"

Parvin Fahimi is the mother of Sohrab Arabi, a 19-year-old youth who was martyred on 20 June 2009 in last year's post-election protests.She offered these comments in an interview with our colleague Masih Alinejad:

I never say I want only what is right for my own son, because every time I go to the Behesht Zahra cemetery, I see other Sohrabs who were murdered, I see other Amir Yussefzadehs, Moharam Cheginis, Ali Reza Eftekharis, Ashkan Sohrabis, Saeed Abbassis, Kianoosh Asas, Abbas Disnaads, Ramin Ramezanis and many more who are buried in other sections and can not all be named here. I wish they would answer, "Who killed these youngsters in their own country?

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The Latest from Iran (30 October): Happy Birthday, Mahmoud

2010 GMT: The Birthday Boy's Speech. A big finish to Saturday? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has tried to sell his subsidy cut plan in a nationally-televised interview by emphasising that cuts actually means receiving money.

Fars highlights the President's declaration that support payments of 81,000 tomans (about $80) every month will be paid to those on lower incomes.

IRNA goes another direction, emphasising Ahmadinejad's statement that the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the end of a dark era of history.

Press TV mentions the subsidy statement but prefers to lead with his comparison of Iran's progress --- "We have achieved many feats in agriculture, industry,...and science. We have made a leap. --- with the end of the West: "There is no hope in America and Europe."

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Book Club: The First Green Novel is Published

EA learns that the first political novel about the Green Movement and the post-election crisis has been published. Blogger and journalist Masih Alinejad, whose work has been featured on our pages, has written The Green Date, the story of a female correspondent who return to Iran to cover the 2009 Presidential campaign.

Alinejad had to leave Iran after the election and now lives abroad.

The publisher Gardoon, based in Berlin, is bringing out the novel in Persian, with plans for translation into German and English. It will not be published in Tehran: Gardoon's Abbas Maroufi says, “The books we are publishing abroad are trees we plant in the hope that they can be taken to Iran one day.” 

The cover of the book features a sketch by the famous Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani.