Religious Hypocricy in Iran Over False Witness in Key Trials

The Koran says:

O you who believe, you shall be absolutely equitable, and observe Allah, when you serve as witnesses, even against yourselves, or your parents, or your relatives. Whether the accused is rich or poor, Allah takes care of both. Therefore, do not be biased by your personal wishes. If you deviate or disregard (this commandment), then Allah is fully Cognizant of everything you do.

Sura 4:135

Therefore the latest case to emerge from Iran, allegedly based on religious teachings must taken in light of what else the holy book is teaching the Islamic Republic. That latest story involves another client of Mohammad Mostafaei, 18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi, who is accused of sodomy and has been sentanced to death. Mostafaei who seems to have been the only lawyer to have been prepared to stand up to defend human rights at this level in Iran.

With lawyer fleeing for his live to Norway following his defence of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. The woman who has been sentenced to death for alleged adultery yesterday pointed out the sexism of the Iranian judicial system when she was interviewed and told that the person who had murdered her husband is not facing death. While she is accused of adultery solely on the say so of a judicial official (see the above quote from the Koran).

The case of Hamidi is even more fraught with false witnesses. In his case along with three friends they were involved in a fight with another family. They were accused of homosexual attack on the victim. After threes in which he was tortured Hamidi then confessed, his three co-accused where acquitted when they agreed to testify against him. Last month the alleged victim admitted he had been under pressure from his parents to make the false accusations.

Looking at that part of the Koran again:

you shall be absolutely equitable, and observe Allah, when you serve as witnesses,

even against yourselves, Eprahim Hamidi may have given false testimony against himself but this was under duress and not to free himself but to condemn himself. His victim has admitted to false witness under duress.

or your parents, or your relatives. The three co-accused used false witness against one of their own family to gain release for themselves. In truly Darwinian fashion it was against the one who broke down first under pressure and appears to have been the youngest of the accused. The parents of the alleged victim started the whole ball rolling putting pressure on for the homosexual assault charge, which led to the tortured confessions, then the other false witnesses.

Whether the accused is rich or poor, Surely the judiciary count as being the rich. They have heard facts that the evidence they are basing this on are false yet they continue not to take corrective action. Surely having the truth and acting on falsehoods is also against this part of the Koran. In the case of the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, it is a judge who without evidence has accused her of adultery.

Allah takes care of both. Therefore, do not be biased by your personal wishes. If you deviate or disregard (this commandment), then Allah is fully Cognizant of everything you do.

So by keeping only a part of law and ignoring other parts their religious zealousness is actually being shown up as hypocritical.

It's Friday so...Something for the Weekend

It has been a while since I did one of these, but as it is 5 pm and Friday you know what that means, time for the weekend to begin.

I'm going to take a look first off at some things related to some of this weeks news and blog posts. First I posted about the Ayotollah's decision that music was not to be promoted or taught in Iran. As One Ex-Widow said in the comments no doubt this Blurred Vision track will definitely not been on his list of revolutionary hymns and anthems.



One thing we learnt in Belfast this week with the passing of Alex Higgins is that they are still all snooker loopy.



But it is Friday night which a friend of mine on Facebook always declares as wine o'clock. Please forgive me if I partake in a little gin, I just hope I don't get soaked in it as I'm off to Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh to see this live.



Better take the National Express then really shouldn't I?

Why Should Iblis have all the Good Music

In Islam the devil is referred to as Iblis therefore the title of this peace is a reference to this Cliff Richard song.



The reason I've brought this up is a ruling from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran that music should not be taught or practiced in the country. There is no prohibition of music in the Koran indeed in the Ayatollah's statement he acknowledges that but carrys on:

"Although music is halal, promoting and teaching it is not compatible with the highest values of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic."

The ruling came about because a 21 year old follower wanted to know if it was right and proper for him to take music lessons. Apparently the reponse carried on:

"It's better that our dear youth spend their valuable time in learning science and essential and useful skills and fill their time with sport and healthy recreations instead of music."

Yet there is merit in music and a prohibition on it must be a tough one to rule over. Is singing in the shower allowed? Also music can stir and inspire the soul.

Now of course the Ayatollah has always been against the influence of western style music, but the prohibition of all music teaching and promotion is a sign of someone losing control. Of maybe as Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Iran's most prolific and popular classical vocalist there is more to it:

"They are afraid of my concerts because of those moments before the concert is begun, when the whole hall is in silence and darkness when someone suddenly shouts 'death to dictator' and everybody accompanies and they are unable to identify that person."

The green revolution may well live on in music.

Iran - History Repeating Itself?

"Dictatorship in the name of religion is the worst kind. The most evident manifestation of a continued tyrannical attitude is the abuse of parliament and the judiciary. We have completely lost hope in the judiciary."

Those are the words of Mir Hossein Mousavi about the latest round of executions of dissidents opposed to the current Iranian regime. The man who was defeated in last year's controversial Presidential elections has taken a more defiant role in recent days. His nephew was shot in the last major demonstration on 27 December.

When Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a hardline cleric at prayers last Friday twisted the usual words that are said over the dead the day after two more men were hanged saying:

"May God not have mercy on those who are lenient with the corrupt on earth. There is no room for clemency. It is time for severity."

He seems to forget the populist revolution that lead to the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, 11 February marks the 31st Anniversary of the toppling of the Shah. But the usual reshowing of the protests that lead to that revolution are not being shown this year on the orders of the regime. Mr Mousavi, who himself was prominent in that revolution, and Mehdi Karroubi (the other main opposition leader) are encouraging their supporters to protest on that Anniversary next Thursday. Mr Mousavi said:

"Stifling the media, filling the prisons and brutally killing people who peacefully demand their rights in the streets indicate that the roots of tyranny and dictatorship remain from the monarchist era. I don’t believe that the revolution achieved its goals."

He has declared that the reason that Iran rose up 31 years ago exist still in a different form. So when Ebrahim Raisi, a senior member of the judiciary, announced the death penalty on nine more yesterday saying, "They had participated in riots with the aim of toppling the system." In the eyes of one of the founders of the Republic, Mr Mousavi, that is just a continuation of the system he had fought long and painfully to overthrow once before. It is the same he suggests in all but name.

The Case of the Paranoid Ayatollah

If you're going to take militaristic action and fire on those that oppose you the least you could do is allow the families of the dead to take away the corpse for burial. Not however in Iran, and not if you've just killed the nephew of the man who only 6 months before came close to bringing the change that the demonstrators wanted.

It is often a sign that the regime in charge has lost the plot when they know that they have created a martyr and don't want the funeral to become another outpouring of opposition against their actions. The fact that Seyed Ali Mousavi's corpse was ceased from the hospital by the authorities and even close trading Russia are urging restraint shows that the Iranians are on a loose footing.

The news that Mr Mousavi, whose uncle Mir Hossein Mousavi stood aside from the rerun of the June Presidential election, was shot in the chest suggests his shooting wasn't merely for crowd dispersal but an assassination. However, on Sunday forces ring fenced the hospital where Mr Mousavi and four others who were killed were taken before whisking the corpses of for an 'autopsy'. They used tear gas to disperse the crowds that gathered and are also alleging that foreign agents were responsible for the murders to bring discredit to the regime. However, as Mr Mousavi had in recent weeks received death threats, which have now been realised the finger most surely point to Iranian sources.

It is a scene of paranoia the likes of which we maybe haven't seen unfold like this since the last days of the Ceauşescu regime in Romania. We all know how that attempt to kept the people in place ended just over 20 years ago. The fact the the people of Iran after months of thinking about the previous slaughter are prepared once more to take to the streets knowing what fate may befall them is a sign that no amount of Government intervention is going to silence them until their goal is reached.

More Death in Iran as People Want Change they can Believe In

Neda the Iranian who was shot dead when she wasn't even involved in the protests for democracy in June this year was last week named Times person of the year.

The news from Iran today is that eight more people have lost their lives protesting against the Government. Of the four shot dead in Tehran today one was the nephew of the former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi stepped aside instead of contesting the run off election after many were killed over allegations that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had rigged the results in the elections.

In the worse day for deaths at the hands of the Iranian regime since June four others died at Tabriz. Last week the leading opposition cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died at the age of 87 nd tensions have been boiling under ever since. He had been a leading light in the 1979 revolution at at one time had been set to be Supreme Ruler of Iran.

As it is the crowds who took to the streets at the end of the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura were chanting "this is the month of blood" and "Khamenei will be toppled" in reference to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On the anniversary of the start of Israeli attacks on Gaza last year and at the end of a religious festival the people are standing in defiance again.

Breaking News: Five Sail Free from Iran

The breaking news of this morning is that the five British yachtsmen who had been held in Iran for encroaching their territorial waters while heading from Bahrain to Dubai for a race have been released.

Luke Porter, 21, from Weston-super-Mare; Oliver Smith, 31, from Southampton; Oliver Young, 21, from Cornwall; Sam Usher, 26, from Scarborough, and Bahrain-based David Bloomer were on their way to take part in the Dubai-Muscat race on the 25 November when they strayed into Iranian waters by mistake. Hours after foreign secretary David Milliband spoke to his Iranian counterpart this was the accpeted tale of events according to the Iranian naval guard.

However, they have spent almost a week in Iranian custody to be able to prove their innocence.

Update 06:02: The Foreign Office are still waiting to confirm this story which has broken through Iranian news channels.

Gay Youth Faces Death In Iran

There is a story that you'll be hard pressed to find in the UK Press. It is the story of Nemat Safavi, who is only 21. At the age of 16 he was arrested and charged with the crime of Lavat (sex with another man). On the 31 October he was finally sentanced for his crimes, the penalty is death.

Iran has signed two treaties on the treatment of juveniles and has promised not to execute any minor for a crime. However, Nemat though his 'crime' was committed while he was a minor is now of age, Iran are twisting the rules. Detaining people until they are old enough, to sentance them for something that is who they are, not what they do.

Many of the claims of Lavat have for obvious reasons not been proven by actual evidence it is largely circumstantial. But young men are disappearing all the time in Iran under a cloud of this change. The Islamic Republic of Iran like to boast that there are no homosexuals in Iran. However, there clearly are they are just not tolerated and allowed to be who they are.

Last year many of us were up in arms about the case of Mehdi Kazemi who was being deported back to Iran for the same fate. Amnesty International, the European Parliament and the UN are already on this case as well but why don't you also apply your own pressure, find out how on the Facebook Group.

Hattip to The Wardman Wire

Just What Diplomatic Message to Iran?

The number two from the British Tehran embassy yesterday attended the endorsement ceremony of President Ahmadinejad by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was the disputed election that Iran has also heavily accused Britain of leading the populist opposition against in June.



The FCO seem to think that sending the number two, Patrick Davies the deputy head of mission instead of the Ambassador Simon Glass was enough to show the regime that this was not business as usual, claiming that we need to talk to the regime about its nuclear programme, human rights and other issues. But others think it was too much, Menzies Campbell said:

"The Government has been vociferous on behalf of human rights and individual freedoms in Iran but at a time when a show trial is taking place it surely would have been prudent to preserve coolness and meet only the most perfunctory diplomatic niceties."

And shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

"Under all the circumstances, representation at this event should have been kept at the minimum level possible. Other countries seem to have done that more effectively than the Foreign Office."

Although around the EU however the message was similarly confused. Sweden who currently hold the Presidency of the EU sent their Ambassador, France and Italy, one of Iran's biggest trading partners, like Britain sent their number two, whereas Germany sent one of their lowest ranking diplomats.



However, it was boycotted by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, the defeated candidates, and by the former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Also noticeable in their absence was any member of family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini the leader of the 1979 revolution.



So it is possible to send a message more strongly, while keeping up the pretense of diplomacy? The FCO say they have yet to decide who to send the the swearing in ceremony on Wednesday, but seeing as Iran singled out eight local Embassy staff at the British mission during the protests against the election, which we protested, surely we have some case for not sending high ranking officials.



The current show trial that is going on at the same time as the swearing in process is continuing may not act as a suppressor of protest by as a stimulus for a continuance. The people are speaking and unlike the Star Trek episode where Gul Dukat says that the Cardassian people like to watch pre-determined 'justice' being enacted over and over again, the Iranian people may be smart enough to see that the trials going on are a mask to cover up the real issue of just what did go on between the people voting and the count being declared. Many are saying that is where the real crime took place, the crime is theft, distortion and fraud, not to mention of an undisclosed number who happened to disagree, and a few who were innocent.

Clerics Declare Ahmadinejad Illegitimate

There is a revolution going on in Iran, and it is coming from the largest group of clerics.

Ayatolleh Khamenei has already declared that the re-election of President Ahmadinejad last month was legal and legitimate and made clear he would not tolerate any more challenges to that 'victory'. However, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom, the largest grouping of clerics in the country have issued a statement to the contrary. The fact that it is such a sizable group of the clerics that has spoken out is a blow to the Spiritual leader of the country.

In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website:

"Candidates’ complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid."

It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. "How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?", they asked.

The top end of the regime is losing the battle to maintain the charade of a fair election. Khamenei has lost the backing of those he is supposed to lead in the clerical realm. The people know that there is an issue with their own votes. The top tier of leadership in Iran is all that is holding Ahmadinejad in power, Iran and the rest of the world realises that.

Houssein Mousavi, along with former Presidents Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and fellow 'defeated' candidate Medhi Karoubi and now the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom there is a new political front former. A new movement that is going to carry on the challenge of Government legitimacy.

One analyst said:

"The fact that anyone dares to condemn the election when people were calling for Mousavi and Karoubi’s heads is remarkable. It shows there is depth to Mousavi’s support. They have not been bullied into silence, there are factions forming and this is not over."

The people need to keep calling for their vote to count, their voice to be heard, their preferred leader to the President. The world is watching, waiting for Ahmadinejad to realise what is the right thing.

The Greening of Formula One

No this is not a post about fuel, fuel efficiency or anything else that you would associate me with from a title like that. But all week I've been seeing a growing number of the people I follow politically on Twitter slowly turning their profile pics green. Green is the party colours of Mir Hossein Moussavi and following the outrageous result announced last weekend I've noticed the political twitterverse turning green in solidarity.

However, having spent most of the weekend following the #iranelection hashtag today I've just spent a few hours following the #f1 one for the British Grand Prix. One thing that struck me was there was not a noticeable drop in the percentage of green faces I was watching scroll down the screen. This is a people's discontent in Iran and it is a people's movement of solidarity around the world, from celebs to politicians and ordinary people as well the Internet is slowly turning green in one sense at least and a welcome sight it was too.

Iran Tweeting for Democracy

The massacre of Tianammen Square happened twenty years ago this month. On that occasion we saw a peaceful many student led protest for change and democracy slowly quietened then quashed by force. The eyes of the world watched as the army moved in to break that up. The outcome is that China still tries to control just what information the Chinese people do have access to.

Move on to now and instead of Beijing we have Tehran. Instead of the Communist Party cadre on the street we have the Basiji the religious militia. Instead of a few thousand hanging chads from Florida we're looking at millions of lost ballot papers and votes, plus in some pro-Ahmadinjad areas reports of 120% turnouts. The people can't be fooled that much.

Iran thirty years ago threw out the Shah for tyranny and oppression with the Islamic Republic being set up. They famously burnt American flags in and after that revolution, now the new generation of net savvy young people are using largely American based social networking and new media sites to get their message out. The old guard are trying to lock down the old media but the new media is far more flexible. Trying to censure the Internet will never work for this new age. People see it as damage and merely, like the Mongols did with the Great Wall of China, if they are determined enough will find a way to go around.

That is what is happening now. Iran is trying to shut down communication, mobile phone networks are down, texting is no longer available, Internet portals are being blocked. But somehow the word is still getting out. Proxy servers are being set up and phone calls are still being made. Posts and blogs and vlogs are still getting through or around whatever is being thrown up. Yeah the old media is under a reporting ban of strict conditions, but the world's media no longer solely relies on such sources for all its news. So the news still hits the rest of the world (or as much of it as is allowed free speech) about what is going on in Iran, not from the traditional journalists but the citizenry who realise that their time is now.

A new day has dawned in Tehran who news what the Internet will convey to us today. A new awaking is also arising from dormancy in the Islamic Republic.

Just How is He Meant to be Discreet?

Mehdi Kazemi the gay Iranian nineteen year has lost his asylum bid to remain in the Netherlands and will shortly been returned possibly breifly to the UK.

Sadly our Home Office fails to accept that the Iranian regime routinely execute homosexuals. Indeed they take the attitude that that gay people can return to Iran safely providing they are 'discreet'. How they expect Mehdi to remain discreet is beyond me. He was named under interrogation of his now executed boyfriend, he's been all over the press due to our government and that of the Netherlands intransigence so his chances of discretion are next to nil.

The Foreign and Commowealth Office have papers that Mohsen Yahyavi, a senior Iranian politician thinks that the 'crime' of homosexuality deserves execution, torture or possibly both. The Home Office refusing to comment on this individual case but lie in their statement that:

"The Government is committed to providing protection for those individuals found to be genuinely in need, in accordance with our commitments under international law.We examine with great care each individual case before removal and we will not remove anyone who we believe is at risk on their return."

Clearly that wasn't the case last year when Mr. Kazemi appealed for asylum with them and was turned down. Jacqui Smith is clearly maintaining the Home Office mantra of not being fit for purpose if this man is sent to certain death.

Asylum Laws Gone Mad

The laws governing who could claim asylum in the UK used ot be pretty straight forward. If you life was in danger from systematic persecution if you returned to you home country it was likely that asylum would be granted and you would have the right to abide in this country.

However, the case of Mehdi Kazemi from Iran shows just how stupid the Home Office has become over what are genuine asylum cases and what are immigrants, illegal or otherwise.

Mr Kazemi is 19 years old and in 2004 came to this country to study English. In 2006 his boyfriend had been arrested in Iran charged with sodomy and hanged, but not before under interrogation the police had got him to name Mehdi as his sexual partner. Fearing that the same fate would await him should he return he sought asylum where he was. Admittedly he did not enter the country seeking asylum, but other situations had changed while he was here on a valid visa. When he was turned down he fled to the Netherlands hoping to avoid exportation to almost certainly the gallows.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Columbia University last September that there were no homosexuals in his country, in reponse to a question about two gay men who had been executed there. Almost boastful he was met then by jeers and laughter. However, there may be some essence to his story if every time a homosexual is found they is executed, according to human rights organisations about 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed in Iran since 1979. So there will clearly be not many openly gay people left in his country, however, it does not mean they do not exist as the executions keep going on.

The Home Office admits that Iran executes homosexual men, but fails to see this as systematic persecution which would enable Mehdi Kazemi the right to claim asylum. Is this yet another case of them not being fit for purpose, even on the Brown watch.

There is a petition to sign to make you feelings known. Please feel free to sign it and do it fast as time is of an essence in this case.