Physical and sexual violence against women in Iran, including violence perpetrated by state security forces, is rapidly increasing.
News Wire
Supporting Our Sisters in Afghanistan
As Zohra explains, “Your [US] leaders say they are here to secure Afghanistan, especially for the women. The reporters happily wrote stories about how the Taliban did not let women to go to school. And this is true; many of our women cannot even to read. But now girls cannot go to school, and where is the Taliban? It is not the Taliban who are stopping the girls. What mother would let her child to go to school if they think a bomb will drop on them? For the girls does it matter from which hand the bomb drops?”
Demanding Democracy in Afghanistan
Dear Stakeholders in Afghanistan, Forgive this letter. We felt we could share with you our burdens without incurring your anger or pity. Much has happened to the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers since we met with you for a wonderful hour in Kabul. Like it is with 30 million other Afghans, our mounting challenges are ‘intolerable [...]
Saudi Arabia’s Freedom Riders
by: Farzaneh Milani On the surface, when a group of Saudi women used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to organize a mass mobile protest defying the kingdom’s ban on women driving, it may have seemed less dramatic than demonstrators facing bullets and batons while demanding regime change in nearby countries. But underneath, the same core principles [...]
Arab Spring exposes Nasrallah’s hypocrisy
by Hamid Dabashi (originally published on al-Jazeera) Hassan Nasrallah is in trouble. This time the troubles of the Secretary General of Hezbollah, which were hitherto the source of his strength, are not coming from Israel, or from the sectarian politics of Lebanon. Seyyed Hassan’s troubles, which this time around are the harbingers of his undoing as [...]
من يخاف من أحلام جعفر بناهي؟
ت. 1960) ومجموعة من زملاءه عن محكمة إيرانية في العشرين من ديسمبر الماضي. والتهمة المساقة هي تشويه صورة إيران والقيام بدعاية مغرضة ضد النظام. نظام يبدو أنه أفلس إلى هذه الدرجة فأصبح يخاف من أفلام بناهي التي تتناول بالدرجة الاولى قضايا إجتماعية. وكأن هذا النظام يريد أن يطلق رصاصة تغتال أحلام جعفر بناهي، الأحلام المستوحاة [...]
After Mubarak, Fighting For Press Freedom in Egypt
by: Sharif Abdel Kouddous (originally published at The Nation) Under Mubarak, state-owned media was a propaganda arm of the government, parroting party dogma while dismissing public criticism and political opposition. During the 18-day uprising that toppled him, state TV tried to downplay the size of the demonstrations, depicting protesters as funded, inspired or infiltrated by [...]
Interview with “Leila” on Torture in Iran
Web Exclusive: Extended interview with “Leila” on torture in Iran BY CIR | CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING | JUNE 10, 2011 PBS NEWSHOUR and the Center for Investigative Reporting mark the two-year anniversary of Iran’s “Green Movement” with an exclusive report about the government crackdown that followed. The report features the courageous work of an [...]
Egyptian Activist’s Message to Iranians: Learn From Egyptians, As We Learned From You
by: Wael Ghonim Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian activist hailed by observers worldwide as a hero and one of the leaders of the Egyptian uprising, talked to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and thanked the people of Iran for organizing a demonstration on 14 February in solidarity with the people of Egypt and [...]
Dasht-e Leili
(originally published at Words without Borders) After the doors were shut, the tomblike cargo container had become dark. With our hands and feet bound with the fabric of our own turbans, we had fallen on top of each other and the only thing we could see was the glitter of each others’ eyes. Outside, the [...]
‘No Let-Up’ In Secret Executions In Iran
On the second anniversary of the disputed June 2009 election and the ensuing repression, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today released video testimony from a young female detainee, describing in detail her severe torture and repeated rape after her arbitrary arrest. Her forceful testimony challenges the Iranian authorities’ official narrative, which denies [...]
Iranian Women Prisoners: ‘Death Was Like a Desire’
When the guard was shaving my hair, he was purposely shaving in a way that would cut my skin very painfully. And he left a little patch of hair in front just to bother me. I wasn’t sitting in a chair as he was cutting my hair. He was holding me from behind and rubbing himself against me.
The Poetry of Revolt
It is truly inspiring to see the bravery of Egyptians as they rise up to end the criminal rule of Hosni Mubarak. It is especially inspiring to remember that what is happening is the culmination of years of work by activists from a spectrum of pro-democracy movements, human rights groups, labor unions, and civil society [...]
The Riskiest Job in Iran
By Shirin Ebadi Not so long ago, my colleague Nasrin Sotoudeh was the lawyer so many of us human rights defenders in Iran would call when our government harassed us or put one of us, or one of our family members, in jail. Sadly it is now Nasrin who is in jail. The government’s accusations [...]
Tragedy in Tehran
By Fariba Amini Saturday 4 June 2011 Originally published on Change for Equality A father dies after a month in coma following a brain hemorrhage. His daughter is allowed to leave Evin prison to say her goodbyes. The authorities allow for the funeral procession. She stands in front of the crowd holding flowers. The plainclothes [...]
Tahrir Square: Back To Square One
by Robert Saleem Holbrook “The emancipation of women is not an act of charity, the result of a humanitarian , or compassionate attitude. The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the revolution, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition for its victory. The main objective of the revolution is to destroy the [...]
The Shoe Thrower’s Brother: An interview with Uday al-Zaidi
On February 27 2011, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave his parliament 100 days to “reform” their sometimes totally nonfunctional ministries or face consequences, in response “to people’s demands” as he put it.
Egypt: A Multi-Generational Revolt
by: Jessica Winegar (originally published on Jadaliyya.com) In the mainstream Western and Arab media, Egypt’s revolution is often presented as a revolution of the youth. While it is true that young activists planned the January 25th demonstrations and organized and raised support throughout much of the process leading up to that day, this uprising would not [...]
Jafar Panahi: This is Not a Film
“Hope is what is guarding us. It’s how we are able to work and to carry on. Hope is the last thing we’ve got.”
