Freedom of expression in Iran

I've changed my weblog address

2006-05-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

Wow.. CiviBlog accepted my request for having a weblog there. This is good because civiblog is a speical host for civil society activists. I'm glad and I'll continue there. you can check me on http://jadi.civiblog.org

Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush

2006-05-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ahmadinejad's letter to bush is in the headline of all news. In political prayers of Friday, government says Ahmadinejad have got this letter was an inspiration from GOD ! (in Farsi: از الهامات خداوند بود).

I don't want to talk about the contents and I don't want to say "OK Dear President! If justice is good, if suppression is bad, apply it to your own country!". But I'm writing to ask what will happen if Khatami wrote a letter to USA ?

Some years ago, a sociological research center shoot(?) down and conductor sent to jail just for conducting a survey about "relation with USA". The result of that survey was : "Most people said YES to relations with USA" and due to this "bad" result, the research center shoot(?) down ! I want to ask what have been changed that nowadays the president can write an official letter to USA president and this is not a crime anymore ?

Ramin Jahanbeglou is in prison

2006-05-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

OMG! Ramin Jahanbeglou is under arrest ! He is one of the best / only Iranian philosophers. I've been attended in his lectures twice just to see him. It is a shame that he is in prison right now and no body knows WHY !

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced outrage at the imprisonment of pro-reform intellectual and journalist Ramin Jahanbeglou, who was arrested at Tehran airport on 28 April 2006 after criticising the Iranian government in a series of interviews for Canadian, Spanish and French newspapers in recent weeks. He was transferred to Evin prison on 4 May.

"We call for the immediate release of Jahanbeglou, who is being held illegally," the press freedom organisation said. "We fear that the Iranian authorities, after closing down around 20 newspapers and issuing summonses to dozens of journalists since the start of the year, are now planning a wave of arrests of journalists."

Jahanbeglou was detained as he was about to catch a flight to attend an international conference on Iran. His arrest was kept secret until 3 May. It was only after reports were posted on websites and broadcast on foreign radio stations that Tehran deputy prosecutor Mahmoud Salarkia confirmed that Jahanbeglou was being held, without explaining why.

The 27 April issue of the French daily "Le Monde" carried comments by Jahanbeglou criticising the policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.

Jahanbeglou, who has a PhD from the Sorbonne University in Paris, heads the "Modern Thought" group at the Centre for Iranian Cultural Research in Iran. He used to contribute to several pro-reform newspapers such as "Gardonn" and "Kian" that were closed by the authorities, and he has written many books on democracy, secularism and non-violence.

He is also a contributor to several foreign news media including the BBC and the French magazines "Esprit" and "Etudes et Projets".

Iran is the Middle East's biggest prison for journalists and bloggers, with a total of six persons currently held. President Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are both on the Reporters Without Borders list of press freedom predators.

Censorship of sattelite news channels

2006-05-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

In Iran using sattelite recievers are illegal. The reason ? because we may know about REAL news and not the governments propaganda ! Although having a sattelite reciever will cost a 5000 euro penalty (and my salary is only 400 euro each month) but most of people have one because it is the only way out of governmental (awful) TV propaganda.

But these days it seems that Irans regime starts to censore some channels by transmitting high power signals in the air. Some people say it is dangerous for health of people but no body cares. These days I can not watch to the CNN, BBC, Euronews or any other news source but all the pornographic channels are available. It's a shame.

Petition at RSF.org

2006-05-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

I've just signed these two petitiations at Rsf.org:

Pham Hong Son (Vietnam, doctor and in jail because of translating "What is democracy?")
Yang Zilli (China, because of and critic article on a web)

I've signed these two because the sames things are happening in Iran. people go to prison only beacuse the've criticized government. I know this is wrong so I've singed.

Why I'm here

2006-05-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

becuase my Farsi weblog (www.jadi.net) which was active for more than 6 years is now blocked in Iran so I've decided to write about Iran in english.