Noone asked why...

The following letter is written by the relatives of Mohammad Kamrani, another martyr of Iran. Mohammad was arrested during the protest on July 9th (18 Tir) in Tehran. His family did not have any news from him until July 14th, when he was transferred to Evin. Little they knew that Mohammad has been tortured in the dreadful Kahrizak detention center all through those days.

On July 15th his parents were informed that Mohammad has been transferred to a hospital.They found him when according to the doctor at Mehr Hospital, he was only 10% alive. On July 16th, Mohammad died from the injuries caused by sever torture.

با نام آنكه هر چه داريم از اوست

هيچكس نپرسيد چرا ؟ فقط زدند و كشتند و بردند.

و هيچكس جواب نداد چرا شعار خوني كه در رگ ماست هديه به رهبر ماست به يكباره هديه به ملت شد ، چرا مردمي كه روزي ملت غيور هميشه در صحنه ناميده مي شدند اكنون بايد شعارشان ((مرگ بر خامنه اي)) ،((مرگ بر ديكتاتور)) و شعارهاي آشناي اين روزها باشد؟ و چرا دولتي كه پشتوانه اش ملت بودند اكنون بايد از ترس همين ملت ، جوانان بيگناه شان را به خاك و خون بكشد آيا جرم اين جوانان بيش از درخواست پاسخگويي به امثال اين سوال ها بود؟ مگر پدر و مادر اين جوانان همان جوانان انقلابي نبودند كه اين نظام را بر پا كردند و به آن مشروعيت بخشيدند؟

آيا جواب اين ملت باج دادن به كشورهاي به اصطلاح برادر براي شكنجه و كشتنشان است؟ اين ملت تا به كي بايد در پاسخ به درخواست شرعي و قانوني خود گلوله دريافت كند؟

18 تير نقطه عطفي در مخالفت هاي اخير بر عليه دولت بود. حتی آن تهدید بی‌شرمانه فرمانده پلیس تهران - که در مورد احتمال راهپیمایی مردم در سال‌گرد 18 تیر- گفته بود: «هرکس بیرون بیاید خردش می‌کنیم» هم کسی را نترساند. نه اینکه نیروهای ضدشورش و چماقدارهای بی‌رحمی که علیه مردم در خیابان‌ها جنایت می‌کنند ناتوان باشند، نه، این مردم ایرانند که حالا هر کدام به تنهایی یک قهرمان هستند. آن‌ها دیگر نه از باتوم و چماق می‌ترسند و نه از گلوله مستقیم آن جانی‌ها (که فقط و فقط سر و صورت جوانان و دختران معترض را نشانه می‌روند) وحشتی دارند.

گرچه دولت از ترس ادامه یافتن و حتی بالاتر گرفتن اعتراضات مردمی، به بهانه آلودگی هوا کشور را در حدود یک هفته تعطیل کرده بود؛ ولی باز بودند کسانی که فریب این نیرنگ آشکار را نخورده و از تهران خارج نشدند. نرفتند تا در پنجشنبه 18 تیرماه، باشکوه‌ترین سالگرد واقعه خونین حمله لباس شخصی‌ها به کوی دانشگاه را با حضور خود در خیابان‌های نزدیک به میدان انقلاب تهران گرامی بدارند. یاد 18 تیر که می‌رفت در روزمرگی و دلزدگی عمومی ایرانیان به دست فراموشی سپرده شود، مثل یک خون تازه از رگ‌های شهر جوشید و به شکل مشت‌های گره کرده برابر ظلم و استبداد قد علم کرد...

عصر پنجشنبه کنترل بسیاری از نقاط پایتخت از دست نیروهای سرکوبگر تا دندان مسلح خارج شد و مردم موفق شدند یک پیروزی تاریخی را در دفتر جنبش جدید خود ثبت کنند. صحنه‌هایی که در این روز خلق شد، کم از آنچه در یک ماهه اخیر رخ داده بود نداشت. هم باز خیل موتورسواران چماق‌دار و لباس‌شخصی‌های مسلح وحشیگری را به اوج رساندند و هم مردم، مردم و باز هم مردم بودند که حماسه آفریدند و زنان، نوجوانان و جوانان و حتی سالمندان با دست‌های خالی از شرف و حق مسلم خود دفاع کردند.

اين در حالي است كه سردمداران نظام دم از احقاق حقوق بشر در جهان را دارند در حالي كه در كشور خودمان به بدترين شكل ممكن اين حقوق زير پا گذاشته مي شود. در شب 18 تير كم نبودند خانواده هايي كه در انتظار فرزند خود شب را به صبح بردند و پس از گذشت چندين روز نتوانستند حتي از محل بازداشت فرزند خود اطلاعاتي بدست بياورند بيخبر از اينكه در اين فاصله جوانانشان را در بازداشتگاه مخوف كهريزك بشدت شكنجه مي دادند تا اينكه در روز سه شنبه 23 تير تعدادي از انها به اوين منتقل و اسامي آنها اعلام شد .

خيل خانواده هاي نگران بود پشت در اوين منتظر كوچكترين خبري از فرزندانشان بودند و غير از تهديد چيزي نصيبشان نشد، يكي از اين زندانيان جوان 18 ساله بيگناهي به نام محمد كامراني بود ، كه اين روزها نامش را كم نشنيده ايم ، پيكر نيمه جان وي را در شرايطي تحويل خانواده اش دادند كه در اثر جراحات وارده بر اثر شكنجه بشدت آسيب ديده و به گفته پزشك بيمارستان مهر در آن زمان تنها 10% زنده بود.محمد 18 ساله در ساعت 4 صبح پنجشنبه از دنيا رفت در حالي كه قرار بود فرداي آن روز در كنكور پزشكي شركت كند. اين جوان نيز قرباني قدرت طلبي حاكمان وقت شد.

ولي سوالي كه مرتبا در ذهن تداعي مي شود آن است كه حكومتي كه بر روي خون جوانان بيگناه بنا شود تا به كي پا برجا خواهد ماند؟

به اميد آزادي

What went wrong?

The biggest difference between a dictatorship and democracy is not how they oppress or respect their people. The biggest difference is in the magnitude of their mistakes. When you neglect huge portion of people who are mostly elite, then you may face serious consequences by underestimating their frustration and power.

Four days after the election, when Ahmadi Nejad was declared as a winner and people were in streets during day asking for their votes to be counted and shouting “God is Great” from rooftops at nights, “Alef” website which belongs to conservative MOP , “Ahmad Tavakkoli” wrote this “story”.

The short of it is, a person who was going to rooftop to shout “God is Great” missed one night of shouting because of a popular Korean TV series showed in Iran’s governmental TV!

As people continued to demonstrate and shout God is Great, Islamic regime took into custody more than 100 famous political activists, journalist, lawyers, etc…

As people took into streets again, the regime looked into his old playbook and tried to link people to BBC and VOA.

As people continued to shout God is Great, Death to Dictator from rooftops, now regime doesn’t know where to look at.

Yesterday demonstrations spread through streets of Tehran and other parts of Iran, without single statement from reformists’ leaders must have been a nightmare for the regime that doesn’t respect well educated, young and energetic Iranian people.

Regime has killed people, has beaten a lot of people, has taken into custody thousands of people, has shut down cell phones, SMSs, internets, has fired foreign journalists, and has closed down the capital for one week because of air pollution, what else they can do? The Islamic regime has wasted its resources too quickly, too prematurely.

People’s demands now is far more than recounting votes, re-election, etc… for the first time they have shouted death to Grand Ayatollah’s son in streets of Tehran. They are aiming at backbones of Islamic regime. This is the difference between a democracy and dictatorship. Things happen very quickly in dictatorship!

We will make history.

In the past few days, the Islamic Regime has taken a lot of its own people as hostages, it has taken a young French teacher a hostage, it has taken Iranian eyes, ears and mouths as hostages. It has fired foreign journalists, it has warned UK and US about the so called “interference” and it has controlled all news papers, journals , most of websites and cell phones. It has mounted pressure on most famous reformists Mousavi , Karoobi and Khatami that they didn’t talk or send a message for the tenth anniversary of brutal attack on university dormitories and finally the regime threatened to demolish any protest by its “almighty force”.

The eve of July 9,2009 was the beginning of new chapter in Iran’s Green Revolution. Brave men and women went to streets of Tehran and other cities of Iran and shouted against the regime that becomes more brutal and wild on a daily basis against its own people.
As sun set in Iran, people have been beaten again. Bones have been broken but souls have been revitalized.

From this day forward:

- Each brave Iranian man and woman is a LEADER.

- His or her mind is the MASTER MIND of the Green Revolution.

- His or her breath is the OXYGEN needed for the movement.

From the eve of July 9, 2009:

- They will not wait for their leader to talk, they will walk themselves.

- They won’t wait for BBC or VOA to send their messages to the entire world, they will do it themselves.

- They won’t ask for support but they will oppose any government that makes deal with Islamic regime that doesn’t have a respect for its own people.

- They won’t classify themselves as Iranians inside Iran and outside Iran; rather they will fight together shoulder to shoulder in two fronts; inside and outside of Iran.


Together, united, we will make history.

We will come to see you in Evin prison on Father's Day

The following letter was written by the three daughters of Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, former vice president of Iran, prominent reformist, and popular blogger, after their father has been detained for no good reason in the notorious Evin prison for 20 days and likely to be under torture.


Hi my dear and darling daddy,

Congratulations on your day. I really want to buy you a gift and come to meet you like I do every year. Like every year I want to hug you and feel your presence. Like every year I want to see your beautiful smile and be at your side. I never thought I would have to write you a letter for Father's day; not to mention a letter I know I can't even get to you.

My sweetheart dad,
I feel so gloomy, so desperately gloomy. I wish I could see you for one instant. I know you miss us too over there.
These twenty days have been very hard on us. Actually, they don't feel to have passed at all. For us it is still the 16th of June. The same day we headed off from Revolution to reach Freedom1. You got home sooner than us and you were worried about your daughters and you asked us to come home sooner...
And they arrested you the midnight of that very day...
For us it's still that day. We're waiting for you to come back home.

My sweetheart daddy,
They say you've done some things against national security; they say you've confessed that you are ashamed and regretful for what you've done and that you constantly shed tears. Who believes that?

Our joyful and caring dad,
With their lies, don't they know what they're doing to your wife and daughters with suffering souls and broken hearts?
You know well that us, your daughters and mom, your wife and all your fans and readers of your blog who are awaiting your freedom, know you better than those who have only known your grand ideas, patient temperament, cheerfulness and kindness for 20 days, and we know you are greater than these things...

Oh dearer than my life,
We miss your endless compassion, your constant laughter, your daily posts on webneveshteha2 that you worried about writing everyday at exactly 4:30 in the afternoon. I know you have a lot of worries these days, but the only thing that closed cell has taken off your shoulders is the daily updating of your blog. But today, us and all your fans are met with the 20 day old post "Abtahi Arrested".

My lovely daddy,
You're not here, we pass each day in loneliness...
Whatever we try gets nowhere. Sometimes we think to ourselves maybe in your lonely nights you think maybe your friends and daughters aren't doing anything for your freedom. Right after you were gone, we spent four days coming and going to the attorney's office and the Evin prison...just to get your diabetes medication to you.
We wrote letters to every single person we thought might be able to do something. But to no avail...
I don't know what's going on that none of your friends can do anything about it...
We are all appalled.
Except your short 2 minute call, the only calls we got were requests to stop following up from your interrogators.

My darling dad,
I hope you'll call tonight or tomorrow...or perhaps we can meet at least for the sake of Father's day.
But even if that doesn't happen, along with the children of your other detained friends, we will come to see you at the Evin prison together at 5 in the afternoon with roses in our hands.

Our precious...
Wish you were here...
Happy Father's Day...

Your daughters, Farideh, Fatemeh, and Faezeh


Footnotes:
1. There was a large rally in protest to the announced election results on June 16, 2009 from Revolution square to Freedom square in Tehran.
2. Webneveshteha is the name of Abtahi's popular weblog.

* Original Persian (Farsi) version
* Original Translation

12 more names...

Original Source in Persian

Human rights and democracy activists have collected the 12 more names of the martyrs of the post-election protests in Tehran.

The bodies are released to their families only if they accept and sign on a set of conditions, including:

- Having low-profile funerals attended only by close family.
- No chant or speech against the regime.
- The reason for death should not be mentioned in the funeral or on the tombstone.

The names are as follows:

1- Mohhammad Hossein Barzegar, male, 25, Highschool graduate, self-employed, shot in the head in Haft-Tir Sq, Tehran on Wed. June 17, 2009. Buried in Lot 302, Behesht-Zahra, on Sun Jun 21 after family's commitment to the conditions.

2- Seyyed Reza Tabatabaee, male, 30, Accountant, shot in the head on Azarbayjan St., on June 20, 2009. Buried in Lot 259, Behesht-Zahra, on Jun 24 after family's commitment to the conditions.

3- Iman Hashemi, male, 25, self-employed, shot in the eye on Azaadi St., on Sat. June 20, 2009. Buried in Lot 259, Behesht-Zahra, on Jun 24.

4- Parisa Koli(or Kali), female, 25, B.Sc. in Persian Literature, shot in the neck on Keshavarz Blvd., on Sun June 21, 2009. Buried in Lot 259, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue. Jun 23.

5- Mohsen Haddadi, male, 24, Software Designer, shot in the forehead on Nosrat St., on Sat June 20, 2009. Buried in Lot 269, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue. Jun 23.

6- Mohammad Nikzadi, male, 25, Civil Engineer, shot in the chest in Vanaq Sq., on Tue June 16, 2009. Buried in Lot 257, Behesht-Zahra, on Sat Jun 20.

7- Ali Shahedi, male, 24, was arrested on Sun Jun 21, 2009 and transferred to Tehranpars police station. He died in the police station for unknown reasons (according to the official autopsy). But his family believe he died from baton hits in the police station. Buried in Lot 257, Behesht-Zahra on Jun 24.

8- Vaahed Akbari, male, 34, self-employed, married with a 3-year old daugther, shot in the side on Vanaq St., on Sat June 20, 2009. Buried in Lot 261, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue Jun 23.

9- Abolfazl Abdollahi, male, 21, Associate Degree in Electrical Eng., shot in the back of the head in front of Sharif Univesity on Sat June 20, 2009. Buried in Lot 248, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue Jun 23.

10- Saalaar Tahmasbi, male, 27, Business Administration Student in Rasht, shot in the forehead on Jomhouri St. on Sat June 20, 2009. Buried in Lot 254, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue Jun 22 (or Mon Jun 21?).

11- Fahimeh Salahshour, female, 25, Highschool graduate, died on Jun 15th in the hospital from internal bleeding resulting from baton hits to her head in Valiasr Sq. on Jun 14th, Buried in Lot 266, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue Mon Jun 17.

12- Vahid Reza Tabatabaee, male, 29, B.A. in English Literature, shot in the head in Baharestaan Sq. on June 24, 2009. Buried in Lot 308, Behesht-Zahra, on Tue Mon Jun 27.

Before this, the name of another 14 martyrs was released, including:

1- Neda Agha Soltan (female)
2- Fetemeh Barati (female)
3,4- Fatemeh Rajabpour & her daughter (female)
5- Kasra Sharafi (male)
6- Movina Ehtermi (female)
7- Kambiz Shojaee (male)
8- Mohsen Imani (male)
9- Naser Amirnejad (male)
10- Iman Namazi (male)
11- Mostafa Ghonyan (or Ghanyan) (male)
12- Bahman Jenabi (male)
13- Ashkan Sohrabi (male)
14- Kaveh Alipour (male)

I will build you again my dear country

I will build you again my dear country

though by giving away my life

I will set up pillars to your roof

though with my own bone

I will smell a flower of yours

as your young generation's desire

I will wash you off blood

with flood of my running tears

though I've died for hundred years

I will stand by my grave

I will break the devil's heart

with my roar

though I'm old but still

If there was a time for teaching

I will start the youth

Besides my young men

* This song was released in solidarity with Iranian people. The following people contributed to this song:

Lyric by Simin Behbahani, respected contemporary poet
Music by Mohammad Shams, internationally well recognized composer and conductor
Voice by Dariush Eghbali, Influential and gifted contemporary performer

Don't Hit, Brother!

Tuesday June 30, 2009: Human Rights Watch asked Iranian officials to release Saeed Hajarian or transfer him to a medical center as soon as possible. Ms. Sarah Leah Whitson, the Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, mentioned that given Mr. Hajarian's physical condition, his arrest is not acceptable in the first place; however, terrible jail conditions together with the pressure on him to confess put his life in danger.

Saeed Hajarian, a prominent reformist theorist, was assassinated, in March 2000, at the peak of the conflicts between conservatives and reformists in Iran. He survived, but he has been severely disabled.

The following is a translation of a piece written by Ebrahim Nabavi.

Don't Hit, Brother!

Dear Mr. Interrogator:

I don't know what your name is. Are you Hosseini, Mortazavi,Ahmadi, or whatever name you have chosen for yourself, so people wouldn't recognize you? I don't know what you have done til now and whom you have interrogated, but be careful with this one.

I'm talking about Saeed Hajarian.

My friends are telling me you have beaten him up and have put him under severe pressure. How could you do that?! You were telling the kids to talk and to talk, and to tell whatever they know.

What did you tell Saeed? How did you ask him to talk? Saeed?

He can't talk. I have seen Saeed. When he wants to talk he has to concentrate all his afflicted and sick body to utter a word. Don't tell him to talk; he can't talk. When he was able to talk, he wasn't talking either. Outside the prison, when he met his friends, he was barely talking. Now what do you expect from him? Him who hardly can speak and even forcing himself is still not able to utter a word.

You have been putting your one hand on his afflicted shoulder and have been pressuring his weak body and have been telling him, “Tell me you were trying to do 'Green Revolution,' Tell me...” Meanwhile, you have been making a fist with the other hand to punch his face. Move away your hand. HE CANNOT TALK!

I had visited Saeed Hajarian when he was at “City Council”. With numerous surgeries they had kept him alive and he was still not able to have control over his face and his hands. With great effort, he said,“ Seyed, I read your piece and I laughed. It's been a while since I've laughed.” I was glad I was able to give a smile to his afflicted heart, but I was upset that this smile might have made him suffer more pain in his body. A body which suffered for freedom and was injured for knowing.

Mr. Interrogator, now you're standing and you're placing a piece of paper on top of which is written “النجاه فی الصدق "in front of Saeed, and you're writing: “Write down all your connections with American agents.” Telling him, “We know everything Mr. Saeed! You got caught very badly. They'll call you out at 5am to execute you! Write down that you had connections with American agents.”

But, my dear brother! Mr Hosseini, Mr Ahmadi. Whoever you are. Saeed can't write! To write one word, all of his body would be racked with pain. How could he write?

Once, he could write, and with every word he would have shaken the country. But they took his hand. They took his tongue. They made him into a Zombie. LET HIM GO, brother!

His book had been recently published. Before leaving the room, I bent to kiss his face. Then, with his unspoken words, he told me, “Here you go!” and he gave me a book. He opened the first page and, with effort, he wrote something. His autograph was merely crossed and messy lines. This was few months after he had been released from the hospital.

When Saeed was shot, Shareeatmadari wrote an article praising him as if he'd been assassinated by Israelis, and as if Shareeatmadari's people hadn't been behind the assassination. Brother interrogator! Does not Shareeatmadiri today mutually agree with you on how to interrogate?

I can't see your face. You're not yourself. I know you would not assign just anyone to be in charge of Hajarian. And who would be a better interrogator than Hossein Shareetmadari? But maybe even Shareeatmadari himself doesn't know that Hajarian can't write. I know if he was tortured, his dear, healthy body would not be able to write either. But with this afflicted body and weary hand, how could anyone write?

Mr. Interrogator! Mr. Hosseini! Mr. Shareeatmadari. Whoever you are! You put your hand underneath Saeed's chin and you pressure it and you say, “ Write down all your positions.”

What position do you want? What do you not know about Hajarian? Ask elders and don't pressure him anymore.

He's the one who once founded the security system of this country. And when he matured politically, he was the theorist for reform and a democratic society. He created such an evolution in people's thoughts and words that when the people's enemies wanted to destroy the core of reform movement, they recognized only one way. A bullet into Hajarian's brain.

Now what do you want and what do you not know of? If you do not know his position after his reforms, read his books. If you want to know with whom he had contacts outside Iran, be assured that, on the long list of doctors who performed surgery on his afflicted body, you can find at least one.

Who are you looking for?

Mr. Interrogator, he is the son of the revolution who is now injured. You can not even let go of a corpse!

I see you standing in front of Saeed's wheelchair and looking at his forehead and wishing that Saeed Asgars' bullet had hit him in the forehead and thinking that what if you were able to break his skull and to see what's going on in his mind and how his brain, with weary and tired body, still works like a clock. And with kicking, you push him backward, he with bent neck looking at you. He wants to say, my dear brother! Don't look for an anti-coup institution. Tehran is the anti-coup institution. All the country is the anti-coup institution.

The center of the mental war is the houses of all cities in the country. If you are looking for the leaders of the movement, you should take every citizen to prison. Your prisons don't have the capacity. Hajarian lips are slowly moving. It's something between laughter and pain.

My brother! Mr. Interrogator! You once killed Hajarian, once paralyzed all his body, took his body from one nation. What else do you want? He can't write, don't hurt his hand, don't beat him up. He's a child of this nation. He can't confess to anything. Who can believe that a person who can hardly walk up even one stair would stand against the officers who savagely beat innocent people in front of the cameras of all the people around the world?

What's resistance? For a guy whose body is constantly suffering pain - pain more than this - what meaning does it have?

Is that all your power? All the glory and power that you have acquired is being acquired by beating Saeed Hajarian? Your intention to be affectionate was this? Your intention to use your intellectuals and geniuses was this? Your intention of global management was this?

Mr. Interrogator! Stop it! Come out of prison room 261 and say you can't live anymore with the guilt of torturing a motionless, yet still living, corpse.

Years from now, your grandchild will ask you why this street is named Saeed Hajarian? And will ask Grandpa, who always introduces himself as an employee of courtroom, “Who's Saeed Hajarian?”

And you know well who is Hajarian.

Now look twice at yourself, and at those whom you interrogate, and when you lift your boot to hit one of the great men of this country, at least your leg should shake a little bit. Any human whose leg does not shake, is a human who is dead inside his heart.

How would you continue your life without heart?­

By: Ebrahim Nabavi
roozonline.com