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Quest for justice

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Published by Open Canada

 

Canada is home to a large and engaged Iranian diaspora. It is divided and heartbroken but can still help Ottawa chart a path forward with Tehran.

A short drive north of Toronto, just above the Oak Ridges Moraine, lies the quiet and leafy suburban town of Aurora. Like most residential suburbs in Canada, the town is of limited interest to outsiders, and even most Torontonians are unlikely to make it this far up Yonge Street. But in the past few months, international television crews have regularly visited a dental practice there that has become an unlikely centre of attention, especially for the people of Iran, millions of whom can now recognize the face and voice of its resident dentist, Hamed Esmaeilion.

Quest for justice

Why Did Iran Sentence a Teenage Instagram Star to 10 Years in Prison?

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Published by IranWire 

If you think Tehran’s notorious Evin prison is the worst in the country, you clearly haven’t heard of Qarchak, about 50 kilometers further to the south, located in the outskirts of the Iranian capital. Qarchak is a women’s prison, holding up to 2,000 inmates in a space hardly fit for a third of that. Women charged with murder, armed robbery or drug charges are held there, as are political prisoners, including the world-renowned lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Why Did Iran Sentence a Teenage Instagram Star to 10 Years in Prison?

Fakhrizadeh’s assassination throws Biden’s Iran policy into the spotlight

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Published by New Arab

Fifty days.

That’s what’s left of Donald Trump’s term as president of the United States. The “lame duck” period can make for political drama as leaders attempt to put the final marks on their legacy. Most attempt to achieve something positive.

In 2001, Bill Clinton tried in vain to fast-track a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians in the last days of his presidency. But Trump being who he is, most of us are worried about the disasters he may cause. Chief among these is confrontation with Iran.

Fakhrizadeh’s assassination throws Biden’s Iran policy into the spotlight

Who Was the Assassinated Iranian Nuclear Scientist?

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Published by IranWire

In 2018, Israel’s prime minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, revealed that his country’s forces had seized Iran’s nuclear archives. In an elaborate presentation, Netanyahu revealed a number of details on the military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program. He spoke of one man in particular: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

“Remember this name: Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said.

Who Was the Assassinated Iranian Nuclear Scientist?

Khamenei’s Loyal Penman Links Quran to Holocaust Denial

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Published by IranWire

If anyone doubted that Holocaust denial was a central policy of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he has put those doubts to rest. Take his response to the crisis that erupted in France following the October 16 beheading of Samuel Paty, a middle-school teacher who had shown his students cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Khamenei waded in with his favorite reaction to any query on freedom of speech. In a letter addressed to the youth of France, Khamenei asked: “Why is it a crime to doubt the Holocaust? Why are people who write about this thrown into jails, but insulting the Prophet is allowed?”

Khamenei knows what he is doing. The poisonous brand of Islamism that he attempts to sell domestically and abroad relies on anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. This is why Holocaust denial has been not an aberration but a constant in his long political career.

Khamenei’s Loyal Penman Links Quran to Holocaust Denial

Gal Gadot as Cleopatra in new movie about Egyptian queen is causing misplaced outrage

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Published by NBC News

I was happy for two reasons when I heard earlier this week that Israeli actress Gal Gadot had been tapped to play Cleopatra in her latest Hollywood incarnation. First, she’s a star who could help popularize the legendary queen in a rare female-directed blockbuster. Second, like myself and Cleopatra, she’s from the Middle East. I celebrated this fact with my partner, a fellow Middle Easterner from Lebanon and Turkey, who was excited in the same spirit of regional solidarity.

But we knew controversy was soon to follow given the demands of the current social climate that roles only be played by a person of the same ethnicity as the character. In this case, though, claims that the casting was another example of “whitewashing” had an amusing side to them, since no one seemed to agree on what exactly the acceptable ethnic origin for the actress playing Cleopatra is: North African, African, Arab and Egyptian were suggested. In other words, anybody from the region except Jewish Israelis. Gal Gadot as Cleopatra in new movie about Egyptian queen is causing misplaced outrage

Mohammad Reza Shajarian: The Passing of the Maestro

Published by IranWire

In the concert hall of Tehran’s National University, a sold-out audience waited for the musicians to take their place on the stage. Not only was every seat occupied, but there were throngs of young people around, lending the whole event the air of a rock concert. An outside observer might have been surprised, therefore, to learn this was not a rock concert at all, but one for traditional Persian music, played with antique-looking instruments.

But then, this was no ordinary time. It was December 1979, less than a year after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. In those heady days, Iranian arts and culture still had a mass following. Before long, it would be repressed to an unprecedented degree by the newly-founded Islamic Republic.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian: The Passing of the Maestro

1953 Coup Film Withdrawn Amid Controversy Over False Claim

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Published by IranWire

Few events in modern Iranian history are as well-known as the 1953 coup d’état in which Britain and the United States helped bring down the nationalist government of prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran.

Most historians have by now reached a consensus over the basic facts of the coup. It was planned by the American and British intelligence agencies and was carried out by an alliance of Iranian military commanders and clerics. But almost 70 years later, new details continue to surface. Just three years ago, for instance, the US finally declassified decades-old material shedding light on Britain’s pivotal role in propelling and planning the operation.

1953 Coup Film Withdrawn Amid Controversy Over False Claim

Iranian Luminaries Join Forces to Say No to China Deal

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Published by IranWire

More than 100 Iranians from around the world have penned a letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, expressing concern about an upcoming deal between Iran and China which they say will erode Iranian sovereignty. The co-signatories are a remarkable group of luminaries from all walks of life: artists, former cabinet ministers, scholars and journalists.

Among them are scholars such as philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, political scientist Mehrzad Boroujerdi and historians Touraj Atabaki, Mohamad Tavakolli-Targhi and Camron Amin, the president of the Association of Iranian Studies. There are Ebi and Dariush, easily the two best-known contemporary Iranian pop singers, joined by comedian Maz Jobrani and Oscar-nominated actor Shohreh Aghdashloo. There are several former cabinet ministers in their ranks, including the veteran women’s rights activist Mahnaz Afkhami, who served as a minister without portfolio in charge of women’s affairs from 1975 to 1978, alongside feminist campaigners of more recent years such as Mehrangiz Kar. Politicians of Iranian origin in other countries have also signed, most prominently Ali Ehsassi, a sitting Canadian MP.

Iranian Luminaries Join Forces to Say No to China Deal

Parviz Fattah: The new Ahmadinejad that may be running for president

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Published by IranSource of the Atlantic Council 

No one was prepared for the avalanche of information Parviz Fattah unleashed during a live interview with Iran’s national broadcaster on August 8. The 59-year-old former energy minister named several top political personalities and organizations, including military bodies, who were using Mostazafan Foundation properties, an organization Fattah now heads, without paying proper rent.

Contrary to its humble name, the Mostazafan Foundation—a parastatal behemoth tasked with helping “the oppressed”—is one of the largest commercial enterprises in the Middle East. Its declared assets are over 560 trillion Iranian rials (coming to around $2.4 billion even with today’s low exchange rates). It runs mobile networks, energy companies, hotel chains all over Iran (and even one in Dubai). Unsurprisingly, it has also been a storied den of grift and corruption.

Parviz Fattah: The new Ahmadinejad that may be running for president