“My Father’s Imprisonment” February 21, 2009

Here is an excerpt from a poignant personal reflection by Naeim Tavakkoli, the full text of which you can find here:

“…I remember the time when I was involved in a hi-rise construction project which had a good view of Evin prison.  As the building was going up, higher and higher, I was able to obtain a better view of that scary place.  That is why today I can clearly remember the asymmetrical outline of Evin.  It is the image I go to sleep with at night and wake up with in the morning, trying to picture my father inside it.  I know what it looks like…

I remember nine months ago after that morning raid on my parents’ home, I was talking to my mother and I could feel she was shaking on the other side of the line as she was telling me about her conversation with one of the intelligence agents.  She was packing a warm sweater for my father as they were taking him away, but the agent refused to allow my father to take that package, saying ‘he is not going to need clothing anymore, only a live person does!’

Now it has been more than nine months that my father has been in jail.  It has been more than nine months that I have been working on that picture in my head, imagining my father’s situation.  Once I had to paint him in solitary confinement, and in interrogation rooms.  I have tried to picture him in a room sitting on a wooden stool for over 20 hours facing two intelligence agents filled with blind religious prejudice.  I have moved my father in this picture from solitary confinement to the general ward.  Then I moved him back to a small cell with no bed, not enough blankets, sleeping on a cold cement floor in Tehran’s cold winter with his four cell-mates.  Now I am working on another corner of this big mental canvas. I am drawing a court.  I cannot see a lawyer though. Probably they won’t have access to their lawyers.

Will I have to draw my father and his friends back into the prison after this court case?  Will I have to move him around Evin prison in my imaginary drawing one more time?  From solitary cells, to interrogation rooms, to torture benches, to larger cells with his friends with him?

When I look more carefully at this big unpleasant picture there is another section in this prison which I can see, with wooden posts or steel posts.  And steel rafters.  And hand-operated cranes.  And hoisting machines.  And ropes!

My mind won’t let me move my father and his friends to that corner.”

Please contact your elected officials and help raise awareness amongst your own friends and family members.  Hopefully our collective action can assist Naeim’s father and his friends.

Responses to HFCS Commercials February 19, 2009

There’s something very sneaky about the series of commercials by the Corn Refiners Association defending high fructose corn syrup. Have you seen them? I was surprised to see how many spoofs people have posted on YouTube, and guess I’m not the only one aggravated by this advertising campaign…

“The Mothers”

“The Couple”

“The Brothers”

Get the facts.

The EU Speaks Out February 17, 2009

Source:

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 17 February 2009
6567/09 (Presse 42)

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the trial with seven Baha’i leaders in Iran

The EU expresses its deep concern at the grave charges raised against seven Baha’i leaders in Iran.  They have been detained by the Iranian authorities for eight months without charge, during which time they have not had access to legal representation.

The EU is concerned that, after being held for so long without due process, the Baha’i leaders may not receive a fair trial. The EU therefore requests the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow independent observation of the judicial proceedings and to reconsider the charges brought against these individuals.

The EU wishes to express its firm opposition to all forms of discrimination and oppression, in particular on the basis of religious practice. In this context, the EU urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect and protect religious minorities in Iran and free all prisoners held due of their faith or religious practice.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

Rainn Wilson, Saving Lives, and You February 17, 2009

What’s the connection between Rainn Wilson, seven individuals facing trial and possible execution this week, and you?  Click here, to read Rainn’s news commentary for CNN.

Please take a few minutes to write to your elected officials in support of religious minorities in Iran. Doing so could literally saves lives.

Executions in Iran — What You Can Do February 13, 2009

As you might have seen in the news last week, a group of Iranian intellectuals published an open letter to apologize for their silence surrounding the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran (here are links to CNN’s coverage in English and in Arabic).

Even as this letter circulates, seven Bahá’ís imprisoned in Iran are likely to be tried in the Revolutionary Court next week on charges of  ”acting against the Islamic Republic” and “espionage for Israel”.  While these allegations are categorically false, the sentences could be execution.

In the early hours of Wednesday 14 May 2008, six members of an informal committee attending to the basic needs of Iran’s Bahá’ís were taken from their homes in raids similar to those of the 1980’s in which numerous Bahá’ís were killed.  A seventh member of the group had already been arrested two months before.

During the imprisonment of this group over the past year, no clear evidence has been brought to light.  Their lawyer, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, has been denied visitation or access to their case files.  A number of other Bahá’ís have also been imprisoned, including a group of young women who were arrested last month.

For decades now, antagonists in Iran have insisted that Bahá’ís constitute a political sect created by imperialist governments attempting to weaken Islam. Bahá’ís have been accused of being tools of Russian, British, and American hegemony. Accusations of Zionism are simply the most recent.  What is particularly twisted about this accusation, however, is that the Bahá’í world headquarters and some of its holy sites are sited within the borders of modern-day Israel precisely because Iranian authorities — then “Persia” — exiled the prophet-founder of the Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, there until his passing in 1892.  In 1853, nearly a century before the formation of the State of Israel, Bahá’u’lláh was successively exiled from his native Persia to Baghdad, Constantinople, Adrianople, and finally to ‘Akká, then a penal colony of the Ottoman Empire.

Some 20,000 early followers in Iran were branded as heretics and apostates against Islam and were killed.  Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, more than 200 Bahá’ís have been killed; and there has been a surge in imprisonment, the desecration of holy places and cemeteries, the ransacking of homes and offices, and denied access to education, employment, and pensions.

What You Can Do To Help

There are a number of avenues available to those wishing to assist:

1.) Contact your governmental authorities and express concern for religious minorities within Iran and for the Iranian Bahá’í leaders whose lives are in immediate danger.  If you live in the United States, you can contact your federal Congressional Representatives from both the House and Senate by telephone or email, or in person at their district offices.  You can find their contact information at www.house.gov (type in zip code) and www.senate.gov (select your state).

2.) Attend an interfaith devotional gathering in your neighborhood in support of religious freedom and human rights. These are currently being hosted by Bahá’ís all across the world. If you would like to attend one, but are having trouble locating your local Bahá’í community, please let me know.

3.) Remain informed and check for regular updates of the situation here.

4.) Alert the media. International news sources are beginning to focus attention on the case.  See, for example, this article by the AFP.  The Bahá’í World News Service regularly posts updates on the case here, and can be contacted by media representatives for interviews and accurate information.

5.) Support Amnesty International’s Urgent Action Update.

UPDATE: Here is a press release by the U.S. State Department relating to the persecution, as well as one from the European Union.

One Family February 10, 2009

www.bahai.org

Open Letter February 4, 2009

A group of Iranian intellectuals have published an open letter to raise awareness, and to apologize for their silence, around the persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran.  This is the first time I remember seeing such an initiative and I hope it will gain momentum and lead to long-overdue results.

Click image, or here to learn more.

I’m trying to pick up Arabic… February 3, 2009

Unfortunately, at times it can feel like I’d have more success picking up my car!  I wrote Payam a note, for example, and thought I’d signed it “with love from your wife (زوجتك), karina”. Instead, I signed with love from his hurricane.  Oops

Meanwhile, I’ve been looping my audio lessons trying to distinguish between “siffre”, “siffre”, and “siffre” ; and am trying not to flee in panic from to master:

Well, I am enjoying the challenge and seek motivation in the hope that one day I might be able to read this or this! إن شاء الله