tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-130323312011-11-04T19:49:52.853+01:00Chronicling Iran's struggle towards political emancipationAla Facohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00252494683610110707noreply@blogger.comBlogger551100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13032331.post-10166036620242830002011-01-30T22:25:00.001+01:002011-01-30T22:38:15.172+01:00

Daryoush Homayoun died on 28th January at the age of 82. He was a great journalist, politician, thinker, teacher and human being. He left behind hundreds of articles, books, interviews and many devoted friends and students. I met Homayoun a few times and once conducted an interview with him. We kept an on and off correspondence up to the beginning of this year. What impressed me most about

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by Reza Bayegan The evening of Thursday 25 February in Paris was wet and windy. From metro Mabillon I turned left and found myself in the rue Princesse and in front of Village Voice, the Anglo-American bookshop where Goli Taraghi, the Iranian novelist was going to give a talk. This well-known Parisian bookstore organizes lectures by many international writers.I got there over half an hour early.

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By: Reza BayeganIt is not only the Israeli government or the hapless Neocons in the United States who dream of a regime change in Iran. Every honest, intelligent Iranian wants the same thing but feels unable to bring it about. There are a multitude of individuals, organizations and think tanks outside Iran whose business is supposed to be finding a way of dislodging the Iranian regime.

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Around the Clock is a special page of the Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.Babak Zamanian is a 23 year old mining student and spokesman of the Muslim Students Association at Tehran polytechnic Amir Kabir university. He was amongst students who heckled Ahmadinejad when he visited the Amir Kabir university in December 2006 and shouted "Death to

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By: Reza BayeganAn Iranian friend was saying that every time he has had the opportunity of meeting with American politicians, he has been impressed by their courtesy, humanity and their concern for taking the right and honourable path in relation to our country. Contrary to the rhetoric dished out to the Iranian public by their rulers, Americans are not after destroying Iran. In meeting with

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Around the Clock is a special page of Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.

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Ekbatan Exchange is a new addition of Ekbatan Observer seeking expert opinions on Iranian politics.

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Around the Clock is a special page of the Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.By: Reza BayeganHuman rights reporting rightly concentrate on violations that take place within the country and bring to the public attention those abuses where the victim's physical safety has been imperilled or is in immediate danger. Nevertheless we should not

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Around the Clock is a special page of the Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.Reza BayeganSaturday, November 17th, 2007 As Iranian human rights activists we are fighting to restore to our nation those rights that are universal and inalienable. These rights are founded on the incontrovertible truth that all

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Around the Clock is a special page of the Ekbatan Observer devoted to monitoring and analysing the human rights situation in Iran.By: Reza BayeganLike George Orwell’s depiction of a totalitarian state, the Islamic Republic is a place where words mean the opposite of what they say. In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Ministry of Truth is in charge of falsification and distortion of reality; an

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By: Reza BayeganOver the past few years some Iranian political activists have held conferences and virtual roundtables in Europe and the United States ostensibly on how to save Iran at this crucial juncture by putting together a so-called ‘leadership council’. The actual item on the agenda of these meetings however has been nothing except outright self-promotion and vulgar or occasionally subtle

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Baba Taher , also spelled as Baba Tahir, (in Persian: باباطاهر) was a Persian poet who lived in the 11th century.

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The Main Square in HamadanA small pottery factory in Lalegin"

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The rugs of the Hamadan Region are only now being recognised for their rightful place in the pantheon of Persian rugs. They tend to be commercial but at the same time less driven by western design influences that many areas of Iran.When it comes to Hamadan it is more like a country than a region. Trying to deal with Hamadan rugs as a whole is very similar to dealing with Turkish rugs and

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Unfortunately I never got to meet Shahla Samii. My contact with her was through e-mail and in connection with a political campaign waged by a few individuals who were hoping against hope and were using whatever last resources at their disposal to speak up against tyranny and injustice in their homeland. Shahla Samii was outstanding within this group for her sharp intelligence and her unwavering

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Good morning dear reader,Through the wonderful gift of this new day may we all be transformed into better men and women.

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His memory will live forever

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Esther Mordechai Hamadan

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By: Reza BayeganA while ago, commenting on the wisdom of the restoration of the monarchy, Abolhasan Banisadr, the exiled ex-President of the Islamic Republic, declared that Iranians do not want to return to their old vomit. I believe a great many Iranians including myself share with him a similar repugnance towards the revisiting of old disgorgements. On the other hand, Mr Banisadr’s political

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By: Reza BayeganAnd the significance of this great organization, gentlemen? It consists in this, that innocent persons are accused of guilt, and senseless proceedings are put in motion against them..."The TrialFranz Kafka BBC news reported on August 30 that Ramin Jahanbegloo, Iranian writer and university lecturer had been released from

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By: Reza BayeganAs soon as the U.S. administration seems to be talking tough to the mullahs, these Iranians smell the aroma of their dream food coming from the Pentagon kitchen and begin salivating. They crawl out of their holes, bounce on their feet and jockey for the best seats on the gravy train. They want the choicest dishes of the banquet and there is no time to dally. In their headlong rush

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June 30, 2006 American Jewish Committee Reza BayeganIn the late 1990s, walking one day in a poor district of southern Tehran, I noticed a slogan on a tumbledown wall in Persian script: "Marg bar Zionism” or "Death to Zionism." There is of course nothing unusual in seeing such a slogan on the wall of the capital of the Islamic Republic. What attracted my attention however was that the word Zionism

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Reza BayeganBy the Way is a short column appearing from time to time.Freedom of speech is a human right, and like all other rights it entails a responsibility. This responsibility ought to be discharged with utmost care and discipline. The greatest dictatorship that anyone is challenged to overcome in one’s life is the dictatorship of ignorance; ignorance not necessarily of information, but

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Words on the Occasion of Princess Leila’s Birthday Today is the birthday of Princess Leila Pahlavi who was born on 27 March 1970, and died tragically in London in June 2001. In the past week I have been reminded by many Iranians that her birthday is approaching. The following few words, with all their inadequacy of expression are an attempt to reach out in solidarity to all those who remember

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People's Round Table is a venue for finding out what Iranian people think about the political situation in their country.This week's subject:What do you think about the Islamic Republic and its rulers? What is the most urgent issue in Iran today? A regime change?Participants:1) Javaneh Hezar Khani2) Noorallah Sadeghi3) Coordinator: Reza Bayegan

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People Power Press is a branch of Ekbatan free Press

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Coming soon: A discussion with Antoin Gilpin EFP Middle East correspondence.

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Ekbatan Free Press hereby announces its formation.

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By: Reza BayeganGrowing up as a Moslem in Iran in the religiously tolerant atmosphere of the 1970s we were taught at school about the Prophet Mohammad’s exemplary kindness, especially towards those who insulted and injured him. Religious education was part of our syllabus and in the first year of secondary school one of our text-books included the story of an old woman living in Mecca during the

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By: Reza BayeganAkbar Ganji’s name in Persian means ‘of or belonging to treasure’. Let us take a good look into this man’s pouch and see if what we hear jingling there is anything worth our while. Let us also not confuse the fact that he is being treated in a criminal manner by a brutal regime with the real value of his intellectual wares. We should make a clear distinction between two main

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By: Reza Bayegan Iran's president elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promised to make sweeping changes in the management of Iran's state-run oil industry. During his presidential campaign he lambasted the management of this sector and claimed that Iranian oil wealth was controlled by a single powerful family. "I will cut the hands of the mafias of power and factions who have a grasp on our oil; I

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By: Reza BayeganWhen Darius Kadivar - whom I knew through his work, but had never met before - walked towards me as I passed through the gates of the cemetery greeting me by my name and according to the Iranian custom gave me a kiss on both cheeks, I was sure the taxi had driven me to the right place. He introduced me to his mother Jeannette, his sister Sylvie-Roya, a friend of the family having

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005 July 06, 2005 Iran va Jahan Shaheen Fatemi As I was about to write this week's commentary on the strange turn of events in Iran, I saw the outstanding article of Bernard-Henri Levy, the world famous French philosopher and activist in this weeks Le Point magazine. As I continued reading it, I became more and more convinced that the world has indeed changed and the Iranian

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  Hamedan------------------------------------------------------------------------Population 1,677,957Area 19,493 sq kmAltitude 1,749 mAverage Temperature 10.9 º C------------------------------------------------------------------------  Hamadan province and its civilization can be said to be one of the historical and extremely ancient parts of Iran, Relics of this area confirm this fact. Hamadan

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Cimetiere de Thiais 

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Cimetiere de Passy, 11 June 2005 

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Farhad's grave, Cimetiere de Thiais, 30 June 2005 

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By: Reza Bayegan "I heard the voice of your revolution ... Let all of us work together to establish real democracy in Iran ... I make a commitment to be with you and your revolution against corruption and injustice in Iran..." These were the unforgettable words from the last speech of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to his compatriots. Not long after

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By: Reza Bayegan Many Iranian voters have boycotted the presidential election. Many others are going to the polls on Friday to vote for someone they know is dishonest in order to avoid someone they know is going to turn their lives into a living nightmare. The Herald Tribune of June 20 reports: "warning that Iran's citizens faced the prospect of military

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By: Reza BayeganThere are no short cuts from tyranny to liberty. As it is evident in the example of Iraq, removing the dictator is only the first step in the long arduous process of democratization. Tyranny has one thing in common with liberty: it sends deep, powerful roots into the collective psyche of the society. These tenacious roots affect a population's habits, attitudes and way of life.

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By: Reza Bayegan In the electoral travesty of 17 June 2005, there is one candidate that dwarfs all others in credibility and stature. It enjoys the backing of the Iranian nation's best rational and intelligent self. This candidate does not belong to any particular faction or political persuasion. It is nominated by the silent cries of a woman battered to death in the stark isolation

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By: Reza BayeganIn the ninth presidential election to be held in Iran on 17 June, there is nothing new to be found in the depleted political stock of the Islamic Republic other than the usual poisonous diet of tyranny, backwardness and across the board bankruptcy.Considering the actual, self-perpetuating center of power, it hardly matters who in the end is declared the winner of this race. On the

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This blog chronicles Iran's struggle towards political emancipation.

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