Newsletter for Saturday 28th November 2009
Student Information Center (SIC)
Newsletter Issue 135 - Saturday November 28th, 2009
Future Plans:
--Iranian-style protests, Thursday evening, go to parks and around in the city with family.
--Accompanying mothers of the green movement victims in Laleh Park – every Saturday afternoon.
--Chanting on the roof tops the night of Dec 6th (Azar 15th).
--Iranian-style protests, Thursday evening, go to parks and around in the city with family.
--Accompanying mothers of the green movement victims in Laleh Park – every Saturday afternoon.
--Chanting on the roof tops the night of Dec 6th (Azar 15th).
--Spreading news about Dec 7 (Azar 16th) demonstrations on the anniversary of Student Day in private and public universities across the country; inviting people and students to attend these ceremonies in universities.
News:
--Norooz: In an exclusive interview with a Dutch Channel 2 television program, Iranian opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi discussed his thoughts about the recent violence the government has been exercising against election protesters. Mehdi Karroubi, who has been personally attacked several times in the post-election events, maintained that he never believed the election dispute would become confrontational and he especially did not expect the extent of violence would reach the level it has. Mr. Karroubi added: "It is a new thing for me that they violently beat women and easily attack seniors. We were very active during Shah's (Iran's last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) time and in those days they did not beat people like this. In demonstrations, they in effect tried to merely shoo people away and disperse them." Karroubi in response to a question about the probability of his own arrest said: "there is nothing that we can say it is impossible".
--Taghir Website: On Wednesday while Mehdi Karroubi had travelled to Qom, around 1:00am a group of 60 bike riders dressed in Basij uniforms gathered in front of Karroubi's mansion. They continued shouted against Karroubi and called him names. They chanted slogans such as "death to the anti-mullah rule". Finally, due to low temperatures and the intervention of police they left the location.
--Mowj-camp: The family of Kianoush Asa, the student of Elm-O-Sanat University, who got killed in the incidents after the election, published a letter to the nation and asked for clarifications on the hidden perspectives of their son and for the punishment of those responsible for this horrible killing.
--Norooz: The first day after the release of Behzad Nabavi, Mousavi went to Khatam-Ol-Anbia hospital to visit Nabavi who once was the Minister of heavy industries in Mousavi's administration. Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, were amongst the political figures visiting Nabavi on Thursday.
--Norooz: On the 11th anniversary of establishment of Jebhe Mosharekat, an announcement was published by the Mojahedin Enghelab Eslami. In this announcement, the role of this political establishment in the last decade in Iran has been praised and the announcement says: "When tens of members of this political party are in jail for no legitimate reason, and its central office has been sealed against the law, the torch of seeking the truth and justice is still shining from the horizon of this party and is warming the souls of those who love freedom and truth."
-- Radio Zamaneh: The White House says new charges against New School University professor Kian Tajbakhsh are "baseless." Tajbakhsh was arrested in his home in Tehran in July on charges that he had led in organizing the massive aniti-government demonstrations this year after incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won disputed elections.
A renowned American-Iranian scholar, Tajbakhsh was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison in October. His detention included three months in solitary confinement, according to Amnesty International, which has called his sentence a "judicial travesty." This week, the New York Times reported that the 47-year-old had been charged with "spying for the George Soros foundation." Soros, one of the world's richest men and leading philanthropists, is chairman of the Open Society Institute, which advocates for human rights and democratic governance. The new allegations prompted the White House to issue a statement, "The charges against Mr. Tajbakhsh are baseless, and his original sentence on October 20 was an outrage." "The Iranian government cannot earn the respect of the international community when it violates universal rights, and continues to imprison innocent people. We call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to release Mr. Tajbakhsh, and to respect the human rights of those within its borders," the White House added.
A renowned American-Iranian scholar, Tajbakhsh was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison in October. His detention included three months in solitary confinement, according to Amnesty International, which has called his sentence a "judicial travesty." This week, the New York Times reported that the 47-year-old had been charged with "spying for the George Soros foundation." Soros, one of the world's richest men and leading philanthropists, is chairman of the Open Society Institute, which advocates for human rights and democratic governance. The new allegations prompted the White House to issue a statement, "The charges against Mr. Tajbakhsh are baseless, and his original sentence on October 20 was an outrage." "The Iranian government cannot earn the respect of the international community when it violates universal rights, and continues to imprison innocent people. We call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to release Mr. Tajbakhsh, and to respect the human rights of those within its borders," the White House added.
-- Radio Zamaneh: Commander Hossein Alati, the ex-chief of the coalition of guards, warned against the conversion of "Baseej" to a job description and said, "Baseej should not act as a sheriff around the city". This conversion would significantly reduce the potentials of this institution.
-- Radio Farda: Mohsen Makhmalbaf presented his prize, "the freedom of creation", to those affected in the recent events and specifically offered it to Ayatollah Montazeri as the "spiritual father of the green movement".
-- Radio Farda: The US State Department has condemned the confiscation of Shirin Ebadi's Noble Peace Medal and blockage of her bank accounts by the Iranian regime and has asked that the Islamic Republic put an end to the threats against this human rights activist.
-- Jaras: The representative of the supreme leader in schools said: "The green movement is not a movement but a dirty conspiracy by other countries and the heads of anarchy and they committed a grave mistake by choosing the green color which has a great sanctity in our country".
-- Jaras: The representative of the supreme leader in schools said: "The green movement is not a movement but a dirty conspiracy by other countries and the heads of anarchy and they committed a grave mistake by choosing the green color which has a great sanctity in our country".
NEWS OF THE ARRESTED, MISSING, AND DECEASED
--Jaras: Despite an agreement from the public prosecutor in Tehran, Fariba Pazhouh is still denied bail and remains in prison.
--Radio Farda: Three human rights organizations have published letter demanding an investigation into the suspicious death of Ramin Pourandarjani, the medical resident of Kahrizak prison.
--Jaras: On Friday, Behzad Nabavi, was temporarily released from the hospital and sent home for a brief period. He returned home after five and a half months. He'll return to the hospital on Monday to continue his treatments.
--Jaras: On Sunday Nov. 22nd, Sasan Aghayi, journalist and blogger, was arrested at his home by the security forces. According to an anonymous source, his signature under a letter from the journalists and political activists to the spiritual leaders has been the reason for his indictment.
--Radaio Zamaneh: The 15 months imprisonment of Abbas Jalilian, the Kurdish author and researcher, has been executed.
--Norooz: The verdicts against the political activists and prisoners, who have been arrested after the disputed elections, continue to pour in. According to recent verdicts, the cumulative sentence of only 18 prisoners exceeds 113 years.
Recommendations and Warnings:
--A new anti-filtering strategy: 1- Visit AOL.com, 2- register an account (sign up for a free email), 3- download free software (AOL 9.5), 4- sign into your account in AOL 9.5, 5- enjoy surfing high speed internet without filtering.
--Mohsen Sazegara described the following in his daily discussion of Thursday: 1. The students of Qazvin University have gone on food strike to protest the arrests of their friends. 2. The workers of the Ziaran meat products have gone on strike because they haven't received their salaries for a few month. 3. In his 15th statement, Mousavi has described what are Basij's responsibilities and has scolded them for cooperating with regime, which is in contrast to supreme leader's definition of Basij in which Khamanei considers Basij at service to himself and on his own side. 4. The green movement still needs to grow in several aspects: geographical, joining other human rights groups, quality and organization and decentralization.
--Mohsen Sazegara described the following in his daily discussion of Thursday: 1. The students of Qazvin University have gone on food strike to protest the arrests of their friends. 2. The workers of the Ziaran meat products have gone on strike because they haven't received their salaries for a few month. 3. In his 15th statement, Mousavi has described what are Basij's responsibilities and has scolded them for cooperating with regime, which is in contrast to supreme leader's definition of Basij in which Khamanei considers Basij at service to himself and on his own side. 4. The green movement still needs to grow in several aspects: geographical, joining other human rights groups, quality and organization and decentralization.
--In his daily discussion on Friday, Mohsen Sazegara talked about the following issues: 1. Basij militia have held their gathering in Mosalla because they didn't have enough people to fill the Azadi stadium. 2. The taxi drivers are refusing to give rides to the members of Basij which shows how they have lost respect and legitimacy. 3. On Friday they were supposed to have 7 million people take it to the streets and support the regime, which didn't happen. 4. Behzad Nabavi is now in a hospital and he has met Mirhossein Mousavi. 5. The students in Venezuela protested the appearance of Ahmadinejad to show their support of the Iranian students. 6. El-baradei has lost all hope in Iran and this harbingers new sanctions against Iran. 7. It is important to chant "God is great" from the roof tops on the night of December 6th.
--In his daily discussion on Saturday Mohsen Sazegara discussed the following topics: 1. He pointed out that what was supposed to be a 6million man Basij march had been converted to one hundred thousand at the Azadi Stadium and finally to ten thousand in the Mosalla square. Once again he invited the regime to show the support they claim they have in 24million voters on the streets. He added that this event for the Basij week show how little support the regime has despite paying people for their support. 2. In the end he described some of the points made in the first statement of the coordination committee of the student's green movement: The programs on December 7th are to be held in the afternoon at the same time in all the universities and it is important to keep the on time. Ordinary people have been invited to join the students at the university that is closest to them. If it isn't possible to enter the university campus, people can hold demonstrations near the campus or anywhere else. It is important to avoid being violent and being beaten on this day and the students should familiarize themselves with the scape routs in advance. The schools (k-12) have also been invited to join the university students on December 7th, so have been, for the first time, the members of the army and the revolutionary guard. The leaders of the green movement are being scheduled for seminars on campuses the schedule of which will be announced accordingly.
