Global Voices » Farsi

Iran: Leader's website blocked in Saudi Arabia

Hadi Nili — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:37:47 +0000

Iranian sources say [fa] that Saudi Arabia has blocked Iran Leader's site Khamenei.ir. This sources says this website is blocked because of Ayatollah Khamanei's remarks on “Islamic Arab Spring”. Iranian user on Friendfeed believes [fa]: This could be a start for a cyber-war between Iran and Arabia.

Iran: “Using Twitter and Facebook for supreme goal”

Hadi Nili — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:49:06 +0000

Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance says [fa]: “As long as global powers are using Facebook and Twitter for their purposes, people of the region should use them to develop their supreme goals”. However, social networks including Facebook and Twitter are blocked inside Iran.

Iran: Official launch of Cyber Police

Hadi Nili — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:11:20 +0000

Iran police has announced [fa] the official launch of Iran cyber police in Tehran, Iran capital. The deputy commander of this cyber police says that 40 percent of cyber crimes take place in Tehran.

Iran: Police controls a Facebook group, arrests its administrators

Hadi Nili — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:24:23 +0000

A Facebook group called “Daaf and Paaf” (means hot persons) fell under control of Iran's cyber police. Iran's cyber police announced [fa] on the group's Facebook's wall that “the administrators of this group have confessed to promoting banality”. This group had an online competition for choosing hot Iranian men and women.

Iran: Military applause for death penalty

Hadi Nili — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:39:20 +0000

The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Revolutionary Guards) has appreciated [fa] the death penalty for Saeed Malekpour, a web developer accused of running porn websites. The “center against organized crimes” at this army announced there are some other cases for porn website administrators in near future.

Iran: ‘Hostages in Syria are not military’

Hadi Nili — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:39:33 +0000

Free Syrian Army says it has taken hostage seven Iranians, five of whom were allegedly soldiers complicit in the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters. But an Iranian in Friendfeed writes [fa]: “They show a card as a document to show that this people were affiliated with military but that card is a proof that you did the military service which is mandatory for every Iranian man. They might be killed for that simple card which means nothing”.

Iran: ‘The pain of sanctions'

Hadi Nili — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:18:21 +0000

European Union has adopted an oil embargo against Iran. Faren Taghizadeh, a presenter at BBC Persian TV posted [fa] in Facebook: This is one of the adversities of being a journalist that you should talk about the pain of your people in details with a smile on your lips. But this smile is not the whole truth.

Iran: Sanctions Bite, and the Iranian Currency Falls

Fred Petrossian — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:43:18 +0000

Iranians are facing a financial tsunami as the national currency (Rial) loses value day by day as sanctions against Iranian oil and the banking system get tougher. The Rial was trading at nearly 20,000 to the U.S. dollar on Saturday on the black market, compared to 18,000 Rials a day earlier.

Some bloggers blame Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for failing to keep his economic promises. Fasl tazeh says [fa]:

One dollar is currently traded at about 2,200 tomans (22,000 Rials) and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a trip to Mashhad to talk about Taziyeh [religious art].

Nikahang Kowsar, Image from Roozonline

Harfayi az Tahe Del says:

The Iranian regime [Velyate Faghieh] took Iran and its people hostage for its useless nuclear energy…. The economy is collapsing… dark days are ahead of us… with prayer nothing will get changed… This regime and its nuclear energy only gave th Iranian people poverty and misery.

The blogger Sight writes [fa] ironically, that is it a bad thing that “most of our people became millionaires. You need to have one gold coin to have one million tomans”.

Hamdel writes [fa]:

… People consider the Islamic Republic's political and economic situation unstable and they exchange their Rials to Dollars, Euros and gold. The Islamic Republic moves into the direction that there is no hope for economic and political improvements. Concerning the economic situation, we can compare Iran to a bankrupt company. In regards to foreign policy, Iran is in the worst situation of the last 30 years and is led by Iran's Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. More and more workers become jobless and people's purchasing power is declining.

Dara2011 predicted fall of the Rial a couple of weeks ago. The blogger says [fa]:

… since the Islamic Revolution, Iran's leaders do not care about the economy and just want to remain in power. During Ahmadinejad's presidency the economic situation has deteriorated more. A Dollar was around 70 Rials in 1979 and now we buy at 14,000 rials because the Dollar is on its way to becoming 2,000 rials. Does Iran become Middle East's Zimbabwe, with a national currency without value?

Iran:Political prisoners in a cold jail

Hadi Nili — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:38:45 +0000

While Tehran is experiencing snow and severe cold weather, there are serious concerns over prisoners' safety in the major prison, Evin. Saeid Pourheydar, former prisoner, writes [fa]: “The only heating system in solitary confinement cells at [Theran's prion] Evin's ward 240 is a warm water pipe. Now the prison has been out of gasoline for past couple of days. That's cold there.”

Iran:Press TV loses UK licence

Hadi Nili — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:32:17 +0000

Press TV, the Iranian state-run English-language TV, lost the license in UK due to what Ofcom says “breaching the Communications Act”. Maziar Nazemi, a presenter at Iran state-run TV believes [fa]: “It is obvious that every media is fulfilling the goals of its sponsors. So Ofcom's decision is a political one”. On the other hand, Mizan Ghalam supports UK decisions and considers[fa] “justice is done”.

Iran: Women activist shot dead in Texas

Hadi Nili — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:47:45 +0000

A Texas Medical Center student and Iranian women activist was shot dead on Monday in Houston. Gelareh Bagherzadeh was driving her car when she was shot. Authorities said it is unknown what prompted the shooting. Iranians users are showing concerns over this murder in Balatarin, an Iranian link-sharing website.

Iran: More web activists got arrested

Hadi Nili — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:45 +0000

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says [fa] Iran has arrested two web activists last week; Mohammad SoleimaniNia, who “hosts and manages websites of many Iranian civil society communities and intellectuals and manager of Persian literature website sokhan.com”, and Simin Nematollahi “Majzooban.org, the website of Iranian Gonabadi dervishes”.

Iran: Second blogger arrested in Tehran

Hadi Nili — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:45:06 +0000

Iranian authorities arrested Marzieh Rasouli, journalist and blogger, last night in Tehran. She writes stories and narrations of her daily life in ‘3 Rouz Pish’ [fa]. This is the second arrest of a blogger in a couple of days in Tehran. Parastoo Dokouhaki, blogger and journalist, was arrested on Sunday.

Iran: Jailed Islamic Cleric and Blogger on Hunger Strike

Fred Petrossian — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:25:38 +0000

In the last 33 years since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has been a kind of paradise for Islamic clerics who gained power and rule over the country. But not for all of them. Mohammad Sadegh (Arash) Honarvar Shojayi, a cleric and a blogger is one who is currently sharing the pain of imprisonment for his ideas and writings along with many other prisoners. Has the Islamic Republic democratized repression? In October 2011, after one year of jail, the blogger was sentenced to four years in prison and lashes.

Arash Honarvar Shojayi had online profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and a blog. He is a critic of the concept of Guardianship of the Jurists (Vlayat Faqih), which means leadership under one cleric, the position currently held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was accused of propaganda activities and activities against national security, as well as defaming the regime and the clergy. He was released recently due to health problems, but arrested again after an interview. He has been on hunger strike since last Monday.

Youth for Human Rights blog says [fa]:

Arash Honarvar Shojayi had been among political prisoners in section 350 in Evin Prison but he was transfered to section 325, among jailed clerics who do not share his critical ideas. The authroities warned if he continues his hunger strike, nobody in that section has right to receive any phone calls. Such warnings are made to provoke other prisoners to raise pressure on Mohammad Sadegh Honarvar Shojayi.

In 2010, Mohamad Sadegh Honarvar Shojayi published several posts regarding human rights violations in Iran against Shi'a religious leaders. The blogger quoted Amnesty International's 1998 report on Iran:

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 serious human rights violations have continued. Victims have included a broad range of political opposition from members of left-wing groups to monarchists, as well as ethnic and religious minorities. There has also been a pattern of restrictions placed on Shi’a religious leaders opposed to fundamental tenets of the Iranian political system such as velayat-e faqih.

In the Islamic Republic, even some clerics, do not favor of the regime.

Iran: Celebrating The 1st Golden Globe For Iran

Hadi Nili — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:51:59 +0000

Iranian users in Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed and other social media are celebrating that Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's drama ‘A Separation‘ won the award for best foreign language film at the 69th Golden Globes. Aysan posted in her Facebook: This is about 3 years that our Facebook profiles have been full of pain and suffer but now we are all happy and proud because of this award.