Writings

Published by IranWire As is often the case in Iran, the country is in the grip of a series of events that are both shocking, and somehow not entirely surprising. Since Friday, July 8, at least 11 well-known public figures have been arrested. They include Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister and trenchant critic of…

Published by IranWire In a year of calendar coincidences, the last days of April 2022 posed an especially a tricky one. While Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on April 27-28, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the only state in the world to deny the Holocaust as a matter of policy, celebrates its annual anti-Israel Quds Day…

انتشار در ایران‌وایر ایران‌وایر در روزهای اخیر ترجمه فارسی کتاب «زندگینامه مصور آن فرانک» را منتشر کرد. آن فرانک یکی از معروف‌ترین کودکان قربانی هولوکاست است که دفترچه خاطراتی که در روزهای زندگی مخفی خود می‌نوشت، نام او را برای همیشه زنده نگه داشت. او در پانزده سالگی قربانی هولوکاست شد؛ اما دفترچه خاطراتش نجات یافت…

Published by IranWire Azar Nafisi remembers well the first time she read Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, the poignant memoir of the Holocaust’s best-known child victim. “I was 11 years old,” she tells me in a phone interview from her home near Washington DC. “I stayed in my room until I finished it.…

Published by IranWire In his 90 years of life, the Nobel laureate, Anglican bishop and human rights activist Desmond Tutu touched countless lives, not only as a spiritual symbol of the South African nation but as a beacon of hope around the world. His spirited stance against the apartheid regime earned him the Nobel Peace…

انتشار در ایران‌وایر روز شنبه، ۱۱ دی، در آفریقای جنوبی روز وداع بود؛ وداع با «دزموند توتو»، کشیش کنشگری که عمری برای عدالت جنگید تا نه فقط نماد معنوی این ملت بلکه نماد آرمان‌های انسانی در سراسر جهان باشد.  *** اسقف توتو ۹۰ سال عمر کرد و هم جایگزینی حکومت آپارتاید با دموکراسی را به…

انتشار در ایران‌وایر شهر کوچک «کمبریج» در حومه «بوستون» در ایالت «ماساچوست» امریکا شاید بیش از هر جای دیگری در جهان پر از نهادهای دانشگاهی است. یکی از این نهادها، «موسسه برادِ ام‌آی‌تی و هاروارد» است؛ یک مرکز پژوهش بیوپزشکی ژنومیک که ۱۷ سال پیش بنیان نهاده شد.  رهگذران شاید ندانند پشت نمای شیشه‌ای و…

Published by IranWire Last August, just as many Americans were preoccupied with their summer holidays, the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan precipitated a human catastrophe: the rapid fall of the Afghan government and coming to power of the Taliban, a brutal terrorist organization now in charge of a country. While the US and many…

Published by IranWire In the summer of 2017, an Australian academic was the guest of honor at a newspaper office in Tehran. For those who follow the Iranian mediascape, the daily Kayhan is a familiar name. Once mocked by the travel guide Lonely Planet for being “slightly to the right of Genghis Khan”, Kayhan doesn’t just parrot the official positions of…

انتشار در ایران‌وایر چند روز پیش به نظر می‌رسید «سیمون شرکلیف»، سفیر جدید بریتانیا در تهران، در سمت جدید خود شروع  خوبی داشته است. او پیش از این نیز سه سال در دوران ریاست‌جمهوری «محمد خاتمی» که اوضاع متفاوت بود و سفرای خارجی امکان ارتباطات وسیع‌تری با جامعه مدنی داشتند، در ایران زندگی کرده و…

Published by IranWire British diplomat Simon Shercliff was appointed as ambassador to Iran earlier this month. He  seemed to be off to a great start: he had already spent three years in Iran, from 2000 to 2003, all the time when reformist President Mohammad Khatami was in power. Things seemed more hopeful for the country in general,…

انتشار در ایران‌وایر «آرین شریفی»، جوان ۳۰ ساله ایرانی که حدود شش سال است در تفلیس زندگی می‌کند؛ هرگز زمانی که برای اولین بار نام «پوریا نایبی» را شنید، فراموش نمی‌کند. تابستان سال ۲۰۱۵ بود و او تازه چند ماه بود که مثل خیلی ایرانی‌های دیگر به امید زندگی بهتر و فعالیت اقتصادی به جمهوری…

Published by Newlines Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, is used to giving interviews. In his almost eight years in the job, he’s spoken to hundreds of journalists from around the world, putting forward Tehran’s case, quite often in fluent English. But on Feb. 24, he sat down with the Iranian economist Saeed Leylaz for a… Zarif’s…

Published by IranWire Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif has lot on his plate these days: A deal just inked with China, scrambles for possible talks with the new administration in the United States, which could revive his signature legacy (the 2015 nuclear deal), and calls for him to run in the presidential elections in June.…

Published by IranWire The outcome of any American election has obvious consequences for many people all over the world. Few are affected more than Iranians since US presidents have often had sharply divergent policies on Iran, perhaps no shift has been more dramatic than the one that occurred last month when Joe Biden succeeded Donald…

انتشار در ایران‌وایر تغییر رئیس‌جمهور در آمریکا در چهل سال گذشته معمولا یک پیامد برای ایران داشته است:‌ تغییر رویکرد نسبت به ایران. حالا که «جو بایدن» دموکرات جای «دونالد ترامپ» جمهو‌ری‌خواه را گرفته، انتظار می‌رود، این تغییر بیش از معمول هم باشد؛ اما این تغییر را در پرتو نگاهی تاریخی چطور می‌توان دید؟ در…

Published by IranWire It began as a rumor but has now been confirmed: according to Iran’s own official media, Emad Edward Sharqi, vice-president of the holdings company and noted tech investor Sarava, was arrested while attempting to leave the country. The reports didn’t say when the arrest took place. But the rumors about it had…

Published by IranWire Growing up in the Israeli port city of Haifa, Mikhal Dekel was often asked about her parents’ background, as many Israelis are. When they asked her if her father was a Holocaust survivor, she’d say, “No, he was not. He was a Tehran Child.” For generations of Israelis, the term “Tehran Children”… Tehran…

Published by New York Times He has been dead for a month. On Dec. 12 Iranians woke up to bleak news: Their government had executed Ruhollah Zam, a 42-year-old journalist. The sentencing judge described Mr. Zam as a spy, as someone who incited violence and had “sown corruption on earth,” a vague charge which is often used… Why…

Published by Atlantic Council “Goodbye, my son; a son who was a father, a husband, a brother and a comrade; a comrade to the very end,” wrote prominent reformist cleric Mohammad Ali Zam in an Instagram post. He was the father of dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was brutally executed on December 12. In 2019, Ruhollah… Zam:…