inside Iran

A joke

Jadi — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:45:00 -0700

I've just got this via email :)

Bush, Chirac and Ahmadinejad die and arrive in hell.
The devil sees their faces and asks: 'why are you so depressed?'

Bush says 'I left USA so fast, I did not have time to kiss my family and say good bye, I wish I could call the States'. The devil gives him a phone, Bush calls home, talks with his family, gives a couple of instructions to Condie Rice... When he's finished, the devil asks for 2 million USD, Bush says: 'What? 2 million bucks? I only spoke for 10 minutes that's insane'. The devil answers 'but you are in hell man, that's some distance call!'

Chirac then tells the devil: if Bush could call the USA, I want to call France ! and so he did. when he is finished, devil asks for 3 million Euros. Chirac is shocked: 'what? 3 million Euros for 15 minutes talk?', 'well you call from hell...' answers the devil.

Finally Ahmadinejad asks for the telephone to call Iran , he starts to speak and speak and speak for 5 hours. When he is finished, he asks: 'how much do I pay?' Devil says '5 Touman'. 'Only five Touman for 5 hours?' protest Bush and Chirac.

'Well'... says the Devil, 'that's local call...

hehe :) not that far from the truth :D although USA is not that far from the hell too but these are two totally different hells.

Khadijeh Moghaddam Member of Campaign and Mother's Committee Arrested

Jadi — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:54:00 -0700

Khadije Moghaddam was arrested yesterday. I'm copy/pasting the email I've got

Change for Equality: On the morning of April 8th, security police forcibly entered the home of Khadijeh Moghaddam, women's rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign and arrested her. Khadijeh Moghaddam who is a member of the Mother's Committee of the Campaign was transferred to Eshrat Abad Security Police, where she was interrogated for several hours, and then transferred to the Revolutionary Courts, where she was interrogated by the Mr. Sobhani the Investigative Judge in charge of her case and charged. A temporary arrest order was issued and a bail amount of 100 Million Tomans (roughly $110,000) was set as a condition for her release. Moghaddam was then transferred to Vozara Detention Center.

Khadijeh Moghaddam's friends and family members had an opportunity to visit with her while she awaited the processing of her arrest order. During this time, Khadijeh spoke of the poor treatment she received from the Security Police officers who had come to her home to arrest her. "They rang the bell to our apartment at 11:00 am. I was home alone and speaking on the phone with my sister. I was still wearing my pajamas. I looked through the peep hole and saw that there was a woman behind the door. I opened the door slightly. The woman announced that she was a police officer. I asked her for identification and a court order to enter my home. But instead of presenting identification, the woman and two men, pushed the door open and entered my home forcibly. They entered with such force that I was unable to resist. Apparently they had entered our building through the parking garage! My sister, who was still on the phone, had heard my exchange with the intruders, and she quickly came to our home. The Security Police treated me in a despicable manner and after 20 minutes of arguing with them and objecting to their treatment of me, they finally agreed to show me their court order. They told me that they had come to our house on 5 different occasions over the past month, but that I had not been home. They claimed this, despite the fact that I had been home for the past couple of months, because my husband has been ill and I have caring for him. I told them that until I have the chance to speak to the prosecutor I would not leave with them. I was yelling so that the neighbors could hear that they were taking me from my home by force. Finally they allowed me to make a call."

In relation to the reason for her arrest, Khadijeh Moghaddam explained that: "they were objecting to the fact that I had hosted meetings in my home, to which I replied that I have the right to hold meetings and parties and weddings and memorial services in my home, my private residence…the investigative judge at the Revolutionary Courts asked that I identify 7 or 8 members of the Campaign who had participated in the gatherings in my home. I refused to do so, and explained that I do not believe providing such information to be ethical. I also explained that we are not engaged in any sort of covert activity and that the security officials know the identities of Campaign members." Moghaddam explained further that the charges against her were: "spreading of propaganda against the state; disruption of public opinion; and actions against national security and that an order for bail amount of 100 Million Tomans was issued for my release (roughly $110,000). I explained that I am unable to provide such a heavy bail amount for my release, and the investigative judge told me that I will be transferred to prison for a week, after which I will provide the names of Campaign members and also the bail amount. When asked to provide my last defense, I explained that my way of life is my defense and also told the investigative judge that it is in fact the security authorities with their actions who are endangering national security."

The future of Iran's economy

Jadi — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:46:00 -0700

I've got this by email today. I can not read the signature so I don't know the original artist but I've decided to share anyway.

Right now each USD is 9350 Iranian Rials. It used to be 70 IRRs (Iranisn Rials) before the 1977 revolution. This year the minimum monthly salary is around 2'300'000 IRRs.

You should be able to read the numbers, The first digit is 1 (۱) and those dot's are 0s ( ۰). In the middle it's written Many Thousand Rials.

Q/A on nuclear weapons and US intelligence agencies

Jadi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:44:00 -0700

As you may be aware, US intelligence agencies just concluded that Iran is still making enriched uranium, but that it does not have a specific nuclear weapons program right now. Ahmadinejad has called the report a "declaration of surrender" on behalf of the United States. What do ordinary Iranians such as yourself think of the report? How is it being talked about?

I can not tell about others but I will write my own opinions regarding this issue. I believe that the Islamic Regime (and nowadays Ahmadinejad) has a long plan to make nuclear weapons and use it for it's survival (kind of a new cold war). I do not call the US intelligence's report a "declaration of surrender" but a "we will be able to tolerate Iran for more years" and "Iran is not a emergency case".

Here in Iran, people are under the influence of the uni-voice mass Media. Telly tells them what to think and many of them do. I think you will be able to find millions and millions of Iranians who think that having access to the nuclear energy is our first priority and the west world is progressing based on nuclear energy. TV says that the nuclear energy is the cheapest and the cleanest form and energy and the US is trying it's best to prevent us from "inventing" it. On our side, we hear that US is preventing Iran from using nuclear energy.

1 million campaign clip

Jadi — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:34:00 -0700

Have a look, this is GREAT. A short English clip, describing Iranian women's activities and the One Million Signature Campaign.

Marjan Satrapi's Persepolis

Jadi — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:59:00 -0800

i am writing because i wonder what you think of the film persepolis after the comics by madam satriapi?
in europe everyone is talking about it at the moment, but i read on one blog that the lady who made the books travels with an iranian diplomatic passport and therefore must be in cahoots with them... that she portrays things way to nicely...

Yes, thigs are too nice in this movie but in my opinion this is not problem. Persepolis is based on Marjan Satrapi's autobiography and we can not tell "HEY! why you did'nt have a harsher memories!" :)

But is Marjan Satrapi defending the Islamic Regime or hiding the truth? I don't think so because she talks about one of most kept secrets in Iran: Mass executions of 1988 (also check the RSFs report: Pour-Mohammadi and the 1988 Prison Massacres). This shows that she is not defending anyone or hiding anything. She is just telling her story which is sad but not a shocking, anti-regime one.

I watched this movie with 4 friend and all of us were telling "wow.. very realistic.", And it was. It showed many of our concerns during our childhood; the war, the anti-party police, the shortages on imported goods, the death of relatives in war or executions, etc. .

I liked the movie, it was not a detailed report about regime and problems and it did not tried to be one. It was great as a movie and we enjoyed it as a movie :) Oh! I have to add that our police never wear those hats. I think she was under influence of the French policemen, drawing those hats. And another point is our police is every sensetive about the Neck Tie. You can not wear one in front of the police (specially when they raid parties or stop&check people or cars at the street). We saw Marjan's father times and times with his tie in front of the police and they never told anything to him regarding this :)

The best Valentine gift

Jadi — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:47:00 -0800

People were speaking about it for a week but it announces just before the valentine day: The Olof Palme Prize for 2007 goes to Parvin Ardalan, who has succeeded in making the demand for equal rights for men and women a central part of the struggle for democracy in Iran. Wow... Olof Palme is importantt. This was given to Kofi Annan in the last year and there are also people like Aung San Suu Kyi, Anna Politkovskaja and organizations like RSF and Independent media in former Yugoslavia.

Parvin is a great person. She is my close friend and she is one of the bravest people whom I know. She used to be active for around 15 years despite of her health problems (she has MS).

We are really glad that she've got this prize and to be honest, we believe her prize belongs to all of the active women and in general all of human rights activists in Iran.

We adoer Parvin's courage as much as we adore other human rights activists just as we adore people like "Rahele Askarzade" and "Nasim Khosravi" whom were arrested yesterday while they were talking with people in a park about unequal rights of the women.

You know, I'm not sure if we are able to do a change by all these efforts or not, but at least I'm sure that I will be proud of these activities in the future. Iranians might not be free of unequal rights, but at least will can say that "we did something" :)

Zanan magazine's license has been canceled

Jadi — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:27:00 -0800

Zanan monthly has been published for 16 years in women's field. The magazine has tried to make women aware and informed. Zanan was the most expanded and specialized magazine in women's field in Iran.

The news of canceling Zanan magazine's license has been published on Fars news agency and the head editor has not been informed formally by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

The news is short. "Zanan Magazine is closed". This magazine published for 16 years! Maybe a 16 years magazine should be considered a CHILD but we are in Iran; in a regime in which 12 newspapers was closed in one day and I think the average life of a magazine is no longer than the time required for getting the "publishing licence".

Zanan (means Women) used to be a "moderated" magazine. It never wrote anything extreme to prevent it's closing but now, after 16 years the only Persian Women's Magazine is closed.

Today have 5 political activist`s right hand and left legs been amputated in Iran

Jadi — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:25:00 -0800

This "punishment" is part of Islamic law but as I know they've never done it in recent years. These 5 people's crimes were blocking streets and shooting to police (no one died). The names (Rigi) implies they might be AbdulMalek Rigi's family members.

I agree that they might be a terrorist group or funded by US / al-Qaeda but this does not justifies AMPUTATE. Just like execution, this is inhuman and ... I'm shaking with horror.

OMG! I wanted to write about the SNOW. Tehran is in it's coldest days in 45 years (right now it is -4 centigrade, but it's going to reach -11 tomorrow). We had snow last night and.... amputate :(

(refrence: Iran's students news agency)

Raid against the Boots

Jadi — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:44:00 -0800

Believe it or not, our police is going to have a "winter raid against the boots"! The moral police is going to have "operations" against boots over the trousers and using hats instead of scarfs

Radan (head of the police?) said that they will try to solve the problem in place but people with get arrested if they insist on their bad-hijab behaviour.

He told "People are happy about this operation and we will continue our way"

In Iran if shops will be closed if they let "bad hijab"s to enter their shops. But there is no law to describe bad hijabs. It's funny (and also sad) that wearing a boot is considered (in the eyes of the police) to be bad hijab!

Have a look at these photos and know our brave (women) polices.

Photos: Jame Jam Online (Persian), Naser Saboori

Sohrab Razzaghi is Free, on bail

Jadi — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:49:00 -0800

Last night, 23:00, Dr Sohrab Razzaghi, my previous boss at Iranian Civil Society Training and Resource Center was released from Prison. I think He spent around 28 days there and now he is free on bail. We will go to his house tonight to meet him and as a supporting act. Will write tomorrow about it.

Nuclear homework

Jadi — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 03:09:00 -0800

Have a look:

Although you can not read Persian, I think that you are able to understand that this is a homework of a primary school student. It reads:

Hasan invented 918 Kilograms of Uranium.He sent 213 kilograms to the Bushehr Power Plant and 348 Kilograms to the Natanz. How much Uranium does he have?

918-(213+348)=358
(918-213)-348=358

Reminds me of the soviets and their homeworks about Lenin Submarine and it's speed :)

Two links about the filtering of the Internet

Jadi — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:27:00 -0800

I'm spending bad days. Having problems with the security services because of my previous job as a technical person in an NGO. I'm not happy enought to blog these days. Just felt that I have to tell you that I'm OK (I mean free and alive). And not wasting your time, I think it would be goot to give you two links to check:

- Stop Filtering Flickr.... A photo about Flickrs filtering in Iran

- Access denied map, the recent post of my great friend Free Lantern.

wow.. Delaram's prison, suspended

Jadi — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:40:00 -0800

Great news. Delaram's 30 months of prison seems to be suspended for a while. This is due to lobbying with the Head of the Judicary and a Reformist leader (Karrubi). As I said before, I think this is a positive step and I wish it works for a long time or totally suspend the prison for her.

Delaram is among human rights activists who live INSIDE Iran and as I know her she is another ANTI-WAR person. She should be able to say "I am an Iranian, I live in Iran and I work for human rights, AND I AM AGAINST THE WAR".

Yes. Against the usage of ANY kind of MILITARY FORCE against Iran. We believe that CHANGE should happen but WAR can not make the change. Iran is not a harsh dictatorship. Iran is not Iraq. We are working here, we are trying to enrich the civil society but a WAR will stop all the activities.

Delaram Ali to Receive Prison Term of 2 Years 6 Months

Jadi — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 03:42:00 -0800

In an unprecedented and unexpected development Delaram Ali was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in appeals court. Delaram Ali was tried originally on 29 May 2007 for her participation in the June 12, 2006 protest in support of women’s rights in Hafte Tir Square which was violently broken up by police. Delaram was beaten severely during this protest, dragged on the ground by several police officers and subsequently arrested. She suffered a broken arm as a result of these severe beatings. Complaints were filed against police for use of excessive force and violence during the protest, by a number of women including Delaram. Last month though the judiciary found the police innocent in the case, and instead has now upheld a substantial portion of Delaram’s original sentence through an appeals court ruling.

She has to go to the prison in a few days. This seems to be the first time that a woman goes to the prison just because of her ideas regarding equality. Shirin Ebadi (nobel peace prize winner and her lawyer) told yesterday in a press conference to the governors: "Be brave! tell that a woman should go to the prison if she believes that men and women are equal. Why are hiding at the back of acting against national security and propaganda against the regime? Be brave and tell the world that SHE IS GOING TO THE PRISON AND HER CRIME IS: BELEIVING IN THE EQUALITY OF THE SEXES."

I liked this part but these speeches and press conferences are not going to change anything in an environment in which nobody has the right of talking about these issues in any media. She should have been in the prison yesterday but told "I will wait until Saturday and during these days will do some of my personal works". She is going to spend 30 months in prison with killers, drug dealers and prostitutes just because she believes in the wrongfulness of the discriminatory laws.

People are doing their best against this here. They are writing letters to the head of judiciary, they are writing on their weblogs, they are posting her photos but how much effect this will have? No much. But what else can be done? International organizations are also publishing their open letters, asking for justice and even they are speaking about sending and Human Rights Watch observer.. but delaram is going to the prison anyway. I think this is truth and we have to believe it.

There is a good news at last! My Persian blog (FreeKeyboard.net) is nominated for Reporters Without Borders Award for the freedom of expression at International Weblog Awards.

You've never read my blog FreeKeyboard because it is in FARSI :) It is dedicated to the Freedom Of Speech and the Digital Rights. If you wanted to vote for me, The voting page and vote for me (and probably other blogs). I am on the Reporters Without Borders Award section: FreeKeyboard.

The food is good, the weather is good

Jadi — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 03:16:00 -0700

- The food is good, the weather is good.

This is one of the few sentences, Maziyar Same'i says. He adds "I am safe. I was arrested yesterday". He was arrested a few days ago just near his universities entrance. He should be in Evin Prison. I can say from the code: the weather is good (Evin is located at the north of Tehran with it's fresh air) and "the food is good" seems to be a reference to Kian Tajbakhsh who told the same sentence about Evin.

He is active in One million campaign and other social movements. He is brave person with a great ego. We can not believe the scale of the arrests. Right now I have 3 close friends in the prison and more than 7 with Prison sentences. Nobody feels safe and nobody understands "WHY?".

We (Most of my friends and I; I mean social activists inside Iran) are against the WAR! We are the voice of our civil society and we are shouting "We are against the WAR" but our government does his best to silent us! :) And the WAR seems to be the real problem for this government.

I don't know. Maybe they prefer the WAR, maybe they are sure that there won't be a war or maybe they are sure that the GOD will help them to defeat all the enemies.

Sohrab Razzaghi is still in prison with no clear reason. He was part of this Islamic government. He used to work at domestic affair and he has close relation with reformist groups within the regime. This way, the regime is loosing it's supporters. I can be a supporter for my regime, let alone someone like Razzaghi.

Many people are waiting for a knock on their door. hehe.. at least "The weather is good. The food is good".

Sohrab Razzaghi is under arrest

Jadi — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:10:00 -0700

Sohrab Razzaghi is a great man. He was my boss at my last job and we worked for 1 years with each other.

He asked me to join ICTRC Iran CSOs Training & Research Center as their system/network administrator and ICT trainer. I worked one happy year there with fabulous people: people who worked with a little salary but where glad to publish the Iran's civil society news on Koneshgaran.org (Persian).

The government closed our office 7 months ago without any explanation or clear official order (I've blogged it ). And know... Our beloved boss Sohrab Razzaghi was arrested 2 days ago. We have to wait one more day to see how is everything. Today is Friday and Friday is our weekend. This is a dirty trick that they arrest you on Wednesday so they can keep you there till Saturday and claim: We wanted to ask you a few questions (5mins most) but it was holidays and we had to waited till Saturday.

Busy Life

Jadi — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:45:00 -0700

I am very busy these days. Doing some volunteer job for different NGOs and translating a book. I've also translated the Scroogled from Cory Doctorow into Persian.

Oh! I've also applied for a job in the UN, but I'm not that hopeful about it cause UN is not that interested in people who have kind of "problems" :)

What next? As you can see, I've decided to write more about my own life, so you will be able to feel it. This was not meant to be a news site at the first place.

Three students condemned to 7.5 years in total

Jadi — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:42:00 -0700

Pooffff. you may won't believe it but I do. Ehsan Mansouri, Ahmad Ghassaban and Majid Tavakkoli, Three students of the Amir Kabir University condemned to 2, 2.5 and 3 years of prison yesterday.

Around 6 months ago, one night some 1 page newsletters were distributed in the university. In the morning students found these newsletters with some sentences against religions dignity with the logos of three studental magazines.

Nobody knows if they published those papers or Hardliners did it. The students denied this the day after and told this was done by hardliners so they will be able to shutdown universities magazines and crackdown the activities.

Ehsan Mansouri, Ahmad Ghassaban and Majid Tavakkoli arrested the day after and held in prison for 6 months. They told that they were tortured hardly but did not accepted the "crimes". And after six months this was the news headlines: "Three students condemned to 7.5 years in total" on some websites. No newspaper will write about this in a country which

In Iran (166th), journalists are the target of very aggressive behaviour by the authorities, who tolerate no criticism or expression of political or social demands. As in the past, it is Iran that jails the largest number of journalists in the Middle East. Eight are currently held there. Many other journalists are facing serious, trumped-up charges that could result in their being imprisoned for criticising stoning or corruption, or for working for foreign news media.

(RSFs worldwide press freedom index 2007)

Ahmadinejad at the Tehran University

Jadi — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:38:00 -0700

Just after the announcement of Ahmadinejads speech at Colombia University Iranians students started asking him "Why are'nt you speak here at Tehran?". And he answered "Ok I will! I will speak at the Tehran university at this Monday"

Wow... what an opportunity. HE is going to speak with us, with the students. People have to organize and have at least one person at the tribune to ask some questions from him. Students used to knew that ALL of the attendance will be from the Basij (semi-military group) and pseudo-students.

The only elective group in our universities are Islamic Assemblies. The ex-members of this group sent an open letter to the president: "Dear president, as you've invited Bush to the Tehran university to talk freely, we are asking you to let ONE of our members to speak just a few minutes while you are at the Tehran university and ask you some questions.".

And the answer came to all the news agencies one night before HIS speech "Tomorrow speech suspended". Yes. Just one line, just one sentence.

This was one week ago. Today was "the next Monday" and last night, there was another one line "news": "President will be at the Tehran university tomorrow and will open the new semester"! (which opening? we've gone to the classes for more than two weeks already!)

And yes! He is at the university:

The above photo is the entrance of the Tehran university. And the below is the people who do not have the right to enter the university while the president want's to meet with the "students"!

He act like dictators: just visits elected audiences, the studnets only praise him, the media censors all these photos:

and nobody will ever asks him:

(right: free imprisoned students: Ahamad, Majid and Ehsan

left: We also have questions? Why only in Colombia?
)

The police ended the students presence with tear gasses and batons. Ahmadijenad just saw the Basij members and all the students clapped for him for being a brave man!

unsigned photos are from http://www.autnews.info/archives/1386,07,0004978

read more at Reuters

Ahmadinejad is in NY and spreading hatred

Jadi — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:21:00 -0700

Hi, Jadi

I don't know what to ask you. I'm 50 years old, I was born in the state of West Virginia in America I'm trying to understand what you are going through. I grew up in a poor family. However, I was able to work hard and a build a good life in my country. Ahmadinejad was in my country today. He angered me. However, I am not angry at the Iranian people because I don't know them. That is why I'm writing. I know you may not like Americans so I will understand if you don't respond. I would like to talk to someone in your country.

Hi friend,

I am glad that you wrote me. I like Americans :) There is nor reason to hate anybody in this world. People are People, anywhere. As you know many Iranians and specially the highly educated ones do immigrate to USA to study, work and live.
You may not Ahmadinejads views as Iranians views. There are few people in Iran who agree with Ahmadinejad when he talks about eliminating Israel or the absense of homosexuals in Iran. We feel ashamed of him when he talks like this and claims to be the elected president of Iran.

We do not have free elections here. Remeber Saddam, he was also the elected president of the Iran and if Ahmadinejad is elected by the 20% of the Iranians votes, Saddam had 99.9%!

In Iran we have police, we have prisons and we have tortue and execution so don't astonish when nobody tells Ahmadinejad that he is a lier when he says there is no problem in having a satelite reciever and people are free. But good news is if you browse Iranians weblogs (which has a little more freedom), you will see that many people are speaking about homosexuals anf if Iran let Bush to come to the Tehran university and speak against our ideologies :)

We are friends, we respect others and we love nature, freedom and peace. You may not here from us because MAINSTREAM media is not interested in us. They prefer hatred too. They love the photos of people who want to die for Islam not the people who want to live in peace. Oh! I have recently seen some changes in this pattern. These days we see more and more pictures from Iran in which people are shown as dissidents. For me this means WAR is comming. World should know that "People are not happy in Iran" so the war will justified. Let me finish like this: I am against the WAR. WAR will not help us.

P.S. I've also wrote some of my ideas (not that diffrent from what I'm writing here at Middle east youth.

Satellite Receivers are free in Iran?!

Jadi — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:15:00 -0700

Islamic Republic's president is at USA for the third time to talk with the world and tell them the truth about Iran. I have to leave home in a few minutes but I am leaving angry because he lies too much. I've heard that he told to the "world" that satellite relievers are not banned in Iran. These photos are from official news agencies...

... do photos lie? Or the president?

Kian Tajbakhsh was realeased last night

Jadi — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:41:00 -0700

Wonderful news! We have received word that Kian was released from Evin
Prison last night. He is finally at home with his wife. Free Kian Campaign

I don't like my government. They torture, they abuse human rights, they suppress dissidents, they stone, they kill and ... but the solution is not the ugly WAR! We had war for 8 years and know that WAR DOES NOT IMPROVES anything. We have our movements in Iran; Support them! War will ruin every effort. Don't Attack Iran: Sign the Petition.

Why did they blocked googld for 12 hours

Jadi — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:30:00 -0700

Google was filtered yesterday for 12 hours, But Why? The actual answer is: WE don't know. I've tried to read everything about it and find out the anwer. Some officials told the interviweres taht "This blocking is intentional and is ordered from official authorities" but then rejected it and at the last, an official letter mentioned: "In some parts of the country, people did not had access to the google for some hours. This problem is fixed and everybody has access to this search engine".

But why did this happened? We can have different theories:

1. This was a technical failur. Our Internet blocking system has started using a "intelligent" robot (as they claim and interpret Intelegence!) which filters weblogs and websites with too many links to filtered sites and weblogs. With no doubt google has lots of links to the filtered sites (as it has links to all the internet) so our intelligent robot have filtered it.

2. This was done intendedly but after lots of pressure and complains, they rolled it back. This can be justified by the notation of "National Internet Project" which is going to be a big LAN (WAN?) inside the country, which provide hosting/access to legal sites.

3.This was a test to messure the reactions in case of a BIG crackdown on the Net. If this is the case, we showed them our concern (even people were talking about protesting google's censorship in the streets!)

the last idea? 4. It was a silly deciesion of an individual and he applied it without consulting others of even informing them. After this happened, even authorities objected to it and nobody accepted the burden. This might seems strange to you but for me it is an acceptable idea :)

If I had to vote for one, I would vote to 1: Inteleggint robot's failure.

Google is filtered here

Jadi — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:42:00 -0700

UPDATE: 17 Sep, 14:30. It is accessible once more. Now we have access to Google, gmail, and our biggest web provider: blogfa. I will write more about this tomorrow. Late night here.

UPDATE: 17 Sep, 8:30 morning. Those are still filtered!

It is late night here and I had a very busy day. A friend of mine and I, designed and installed two websites today. The first one is a new CMS for a major news site in Iran and the second one is a site to protest again anti woman TV ads (both are in Persian).

I was continuing some fine tunings and I've needed to google for a piece of info on the net and I've shocked by this:

Poof! Unbelievable. I checked with some friends on an IRC channel and they confirmed: It is blocked in one of the major ISPs (Datak telecom) and they added The gmail is blocked too!

I wish these two "site" which are a BIG part of the Net, will be accessible by tomorrow morning. This might be government's way of telling me "It is late! go and sleep. Don't forget to brush!".

p.s. Another friends screenshot

UPDATE: Many friends confirmed that Google and Gmail are filtered in many other ISPs! So this is not a minor fault. It is a Major fault or an unbelievable reality.

Kian Tajbakhsh will be released soon

Jadi — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:12:00 -0700

Poof. It should be around 4 months I think. Last night Kian was in the TV and reporters were interviewing him. Watching these are a torture. He was "happy" and "well" in a place like a yard and told the reporters that the prison was not bad(!) and he has access to phone, TV, books, chair and ... When questioned if he is in a private cell or a "suite", he answered "The only think which I do not have is a swimming pool!". I think he was making a clever joke to tell us that he has to say "everything is great and OK".

The good part is he is going to be released soon and then? In my opinion he will act as the compromise says:
1. do not complain or interview or tell anything against Iran and you can leave.
2. While abroad, do not complain and live safe. You can be a hero but not in Iran. Go and be a professor with extreme experiences in US.

And we still have others in the prison. Three students, 2 journalist (with the death penalty!), bus syndicate activists and many many others.

Muslim Women's Volleyball

Jadi — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:26:00 -0700

Today I have got an email containing this photo. This should be a scene from a match between the Iran and the Italy I think (not sure). People are circulating these photos (and photos like this one) for two reasons:

1. It is funny (in the rude form of the world) to see people jumping and competing in these funny cloths.

2. People are curious to see what this "women's sports" is! Although our women go and compete abroad and although "others" can see them, WE CAN NOT. The TV does not shows any activity during the women's sports news and people do wonder "Oh! So what's happening there which is unshowable?". So they circulate these photos and are very interested to see some photos from women's sports.

But I am posting this photo here to say "Our women are alive". I know that most of the women in the volleyball/football/Wushu/... team are not interested in wearing something like this (do they able to play their best in these cloths?) but THEY WANT TO PLAY! Just think about it. You love sports, you are the champion of your own country and you want to go further. But you can not unless you accept wearing something like this. They chose to do so. I think they are brave. They knew that people might laugh at them, stare at them and whisper about them; but they wanted to be themselves. I liked it and enjoyed it. I preferred a situation in which they are not forced to wear these but right now, I am proud of them.

Ahmadinejad Shaking hands with women

Jadi — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:23:00 -0700

I think shaking hand is a nice act :) In our culture it means respect and friendship but in Islam it is forbidden to touch (shaking hands) with the opposite sex. When I have got this video by email, I replied "I won't publish this because in my idea, shaking hands with a woman is absolutely OK." but my friend responded with "Yes, shaking hands is OK but the problem is how me and you will be punished for this act but it is OK for Ahmadinejad".

He is right, I will be punished if I shake hands with a woman. In the university it means banning from studding for 6 months and in the city, it might lead to lashes!

We also remember Khatami and his 2007 hand shaking incident. This happened in Italy and he was severely criticised by the conservative press for his "immoral behaviour" after returning back.

Ok, speaking is enough :) here is the video:

p.s. I was thinking where the GOOD NEWS are! I am writing about bad things all the time. I don't like it myself. And at last, I've found some good news. I have to write more about the activities, I have to write more about underground, I have write more about progressive groups and activities. I will try to do it.

Back from Kurdistan

Jadi — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 01:38:00 -0700

I was at Kurdistan for a journey. When living at a 12 million city (Tehran), a travel to the nature becomes the best gift.

When I was there, different things happend in the country but the funniest one for me was the selection of Tehran as the 9th worst city to live in! hehe... what a warm returning back!

I also have two nice ideas and I want to focus more on writing a book about the Situation of the Internt in Iran. I have most of the data available and have to start writing it.

Next ? One another friend left the country and will never come back and two other close friends are planning to leave the country to "study" abroad. For us, "suding" is just a way to leave this Islamic Republic and find another opportunity abroad. To be honest, it is difficult to see friends immigrating. Leaving is not a solution. OK! OK! I have to be positive :) People do have a right to leave and sometimes they are more capable to do good things.

I've also finished reading The Dispossessed. Great book. I enjoyed reading it. We can not buy these books here so I've bought this when I was at Dubai last time; who knows how much should I wait till I will be able to buy The Left Hand of Darkness in another travel or ask somebody who is comming to Iran to buy and bring it with herself.

What a photo; Soheil standing for Amir: taken by Ahmad.

Jadi — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 06:29:00 -0700

This is the photo of Soheil Asefi (release Shoeil Asefi weblog (farsi) ) holding a "Release Amir Yaghoub-ali" sign.

This photo have been taken by well known activist: Amhad Batebi.

Amir is now released (on bail).

Soheil (the person in this photo) is in the prison these days without any announced crim. Nobody known where or why.

What a photo; Soheil standing for Amir: taken by Ahmad.