The Open Letter signed in last November as a symbolic act to support Iranian protesters.
The Open Letter signed in last November as a symbolic act to support Iranian protesters.
To The Nobel Foundation
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you are aware, the peaceful movement of the people of Iran for democracy and freedom has continued to rise, despite brutal crackdown of the Iranian state. In light of the ongoing protest movement, new vistas for peaceful, democratic transition have appeared in Iran.
As Iranian writers, artists, public intellectuals, journalists, human rights advocates, and political and social activists who now live in exile, we believe that your support of democratic movement in Iran will contribute immensely to democratic and peaceful ideals of the Iranian people.
We therefore humbly request that the Norwegian Nobel Committee make the symbolic gesture of supporting the democratic movement of Iranian people by inviting as guests to the Awarding Ceremony the family members of those who lost their lives in the recent events in Iran.
We believe that such a symbolic gesture by the Norwegian Nobel Committee will capture the humanitarian essence of Nobel Peace Prize in the eyes of the freedom-loving people of Iran and the world.
Respectfully,
Signatures:
Sami Abbasi (Human Rights Activist, UK)
Shoja Adel (Poet, USA)
Mahasti Afshar (Human Rights Activist, USA)
Maryam Afshari (Human Rights Activist, Sweden)
Nazanin Afshin-Jam (Humanitarian, Canada)
Shahla Aghapour (Painter, Germany)
Maryam Aghvami (Journalist, Canada)
Ebrahim Ahanian (Political Activist, Sweden)
Ramin Ahmadi (Professor, USA)
Asal Akhavan (Women’s Rights Activist, Australia)
Reza Allamehzadeh (Filmmaker, The Netherlands)
Shabnam Asadolahi (Journalist, Canada)
Victoria Azad (Women Rights Activist, Sweden)
Shahram Azam (Human Rights Activist, Canada)
Potkin Azarmeher (Blogger, UK)
Mahnaz Badihian (Poet and activist, USA)
Shahla Bahardoot (Poet, Germany)
Pantea Bahrami (Filmmaker, Germany)
Abbas Bakhtiary (Publisher, France)
Reza Baraheni (Writer, Canada)
Niloofar Beyzaie (Theater director, Germany)
Karim Behjatpour (Political Activist, Germany)
Roshanak Bigonah (Poet, USA)
Jaleh Chegeni (Poet, France)
Javad Dadsetan (Filmmaker, France)
Tala Dowlatshahi (Journalist, UK)
Hadi Ebrahimi (Journalist, Editor, Canada)
Rozita Fazaei (Actress, Germany)
Manouchehr Fazel (Journalist, Germany)
Hossein Fazeli (naanaam) (Cineaste/writer, Canada)
Masoud Gharibi (Artist, The Netherlands)
Fereshteh Ghazi (Journalist, USA)
Reza Ghassemi (Writer, France)
Naser Ghiasi (Writer, Germany)
Mano Golshan (Activist, Norway)
Ezzat Goushegir (Writer and playwright, USA)
Omid Habibinia (Journalist and Media Researcher, Switzerland)
Behrooz Hamidi (Activist, Italy)
Maryam Hojjat (Activist, USA)
Hadi Hozabri (Journalist, South Ireland)
Pouya Jafari-rad (Activist, UK)
Nader Jahanfard (Journalist, US)
Hanna Jahanforooz (Singer, Israel)
Jahanshah Javid (Journalist, USA)
Mojgan Kahen (Psychologist, Belgium)
Sheema Kalbasi (Poet, Human Rights Activist, USA)
Mahmood Kavir (Poet, UK)
Mitra Khalatbari (Journalist, Germany)
Nasim Khaksar (Writer and political activist, The Netherlands)
Hadi Khojinian (Writer, UK)
Mansour Koushan (Theater producer, Norway)
Hossein Ladjevardi (Professor and activist, France)
Efat Mahbaz (Journalist, UK)
Verya Maz'har (Poet and author, Finland)
Zinat Mirhashemi (Political Activist, UK)
Shokooh Mirzadegi (Writer and activist, USA)
Bagher Momeni (Writer and Activist, France)
Mahbobeh Mohebi (Social Worker, Norway)
Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh (Musician, USA)
Samaneh Mousavi (Activist, The Philippines)
Bijan Moshaver (Humanitarian, The Netherlands)
Hamid M. Nakhostin (Activist, Norway)
Parisa Nasrabadi (Activist, Sweden)
Nahid Naimi (Human Right Activist, UK)
Jamileh Nedai (Filmmaker, France)
Ali Negahban (Writer, Canada)
Naffis Nia (Writer, The Netherlands)
Shiva Nojo (Women and peace activist, Germany)
Navid Nonahal (Journalist, USA)
Partow Nooriala (Poet, Women’s Rights activist, USA)
Koushyar Parsi (Writer, The Netherlands)
Touradj Parsi (Researcher, Sweden)
Shahrnush Parsipur (Writer, USA)
Nahid Persson (Filmmaker, Sweden)
Reza Piramoon (Journalist, Sweden)
Aida Qajar (Human Rights Activist, Lebenan)
Ahmad Rafat (Journalist, Italy)
Nariman Rahimi (Researcher, Norway)
Aaso Raoofi (Political Activist, Sweden)
Susan Rakhsh (Sociologist, Women’s Rights Activist, Norway)
Asad Rashidi (Writer, France)
Sohrab Rahimi (Poet/Translator, Sweden)
Mehrangiz Rassapour (Poet, UK)
Farah Ravon (Photographer, USA)
Parisa Saed (Journalist, Women’s Rights Activist, USA)
Ali Saki (Human Rights Activist, Norway)
Babak Salari (Photographer, Educator, Canada)
Saeed Salari Rad (Activist, Germany)
Mitra Samani ) Human Rights Activist, USA)
Mehdi Same (Political Activist, Norway)
Mohammad Bagher Samimi (Journalist, Canada)
Manoochehr Shafaei (Journalist, Germany)
Noshin Shahrokhi (Writer, Germany)
Arash Shahteimoury (Journalist, Sweden)
Siba Shakib (Filmmaker, Germany)
Behrooz Sheyda (Researcher and literary critic, Sweden)
Mahin Shokrolapoor (Human Rights Activist, Kurdistan-Iraq)
Abbas Shokri (Journalist, Norway)
Nasser Sina (Journalist, Sweden)
Behrooz Sooren (Journalist, Austria)
Elia Tabesh (Political Activist, Sweden)
Mahtab Vahidi Rad (Human Rights Activist, Cyprus)
Soheila Vahdati (Professor and activist, USA)
Sholeh Wolpe (Poet, USA)
Suzy Yashar (TV producer, USA)
Nasser Yousefi (Film director and journalist, Sweden)
Mina Zand Siegel (Writer, Activist, USA)
Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir (Human Rights Activist, USA)
Copy to: UNHOCR, Norway Foreign Ministry, EU Parliament AFET, EU CFSP
Comments
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A Memory Abused: No Rest or Peace for Neda Agha-Soltan
10.12.2009 17:21
Editorial note: The ruthless exploitation of the death of Neda for political purposes is an egregious example of a propaganda war being waged by the enemies of Iran – everyone should be concerned, however, since the manipulation of the media and public opinion is a feature of domestic news coverage in the West as much as it is of reporting on a Middle Eastern state, notes Reza Esfandiari and Yousef Bozorgmehr.
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A Memory Abused: No Rest or Peace for Neda Agha-Soltan
The tragic death of Miss Neda Agha-Soltan continues to reverberate five months after her shooting in Tehran. Documentaries have been made about it on British and American television and a scholarship has been awarded by no less than Oxford University in her honour. The pertinent question that needs to be asked is: why?
Why does the international media focus so much macabre interest in the dying moments of an Iranian woman? Why is there is such callous disregard for her right to privacy that her death should be viewed all over the world on Youtube and Twitter?
The answer, of course, is simple: Neda’s murder has been scurrilously exploited by those who seek to put a beautiful name and face to the “struggle for freedom” in Iran. These same people have decided to posthumously call her the “Angel of Freedom [1].”
Miss Agha-Soltan, it should be remembered, was not shot while in the act of any demonstration – the incident happened in a side street at least a kilometre away from where the protests were occurring. Moreover, the unassuming young woman was neither a political activist nor had any affiliation to a civic organisation. She was a student of Islamic philosophy with musical interests and who had a desire to become a tour guide.
If she intended to take part in any protest, she was certainly not any different from the hundreds of thousands who also did. And, unlike some of the more riotous elements among the demonstrators who also lost their lives, Neda did absolutely nothing to provoke any hostility from the security forces, let alone being shot at. She was a threat to none.
Yet we now have begun to hear that she was a high-profile “natural leader” [2] of the protest movement, “committed to the overthrow of Ahmadinejad” whom the Iranian regime had every reason to fear. And if that isn’t enough, she was determined not allow Iran to suffer the fate of a “tyranny worse than that of the Arab and Mongol” invaders of the past [3]. We are also told how she was prepared to be “shot through the heart” [4] in her pursuit of “freedom and democracy for the Iranian people”.
Of course, all of this is utter nonsense that only the most naive of individuals cannot see through. There are several points that the “investigative documentaries” failed to account for or delve into in any way.
A letter sent by the Iranian embassy in the UK to the Provost of Queen’s college [5], which has awarded the Neda scholarship sponsored by an undisclosed British citizen, correctly states that Neda had a high-resolution camera trained on her for a full 20 minutes before the incident took place – this, along with other important observations [6], does give the appearance of it being a pre-rehearsed and staged scenario.
The letter goes on to the mention the fact that Dr Arash Hejazi, a publishing student and medical doctor at Oxford Brookes university, had arrived only two days prior to Neda’s death and left the day after anxious to tell the story to the British media of an innocent woman being shot by a Baseej militiaman – this despite the fact that the Baseej never ever carry firearms outside of military compounds (they use sticks, chains and other household items).
The media has since accepted his testimony uncritically, in particular Times of London correspondent Martin Fletcher, who has been nothing short of an obsessed anti-regime propagandist in the wake of the June election. Indeed, Dr Hejazi changed his story early on – he had initially claimed that the assailant was a rooftop sharpshooter [7], but later said that Neda was shot by a man on a motorcycle [8].
Anyone with even a measure of circumspection would be suspicious of Dr Hejazi’s actions and motives as well as his possible involvement with British intelligence which regularly approaches Iranian students and residents in the UK to serve as informers in Iran. Yet, he is hailed as the “man who heroically tried to save” a bleeding Neda (although there is very little to show for it).
The stolen/lost ID card of a certain Abbas Kargar Javid, posted on the Web with the intention of inviting vigilante-like retribution [9], and the video of a semi-naked man being accosted by demonstrators [10] prove absolutely nothing. There is nothing that links any member of the Baseej force with the murder of Neda. These two pieces of “evidence” were both produced after several months had passed, indicating that they were most likely dug up among the myriad of video footage and documents from the days of the unrest. Moreover, other witnesses present at the scene deny that there was any security presence.
It is inconceivable that an Islamic regime which understands the power of martyrdom in its own culture would sanction the cold-blooded murder of an innocent and ordinary young woman on the streets of Tehran.
However it is every bit conceivable that those who thought the opposition movement needed a symbol and icon of resistance – recipients and supporters no doubt of a $400m CIA-backed destabilization program for Iran [11] - would have arranged this horrible murder and try and pin it on the Iranian authorities.
It is especially salient that the British TV station, Channel 4, whose investigative “Dispatches” program had exposed that policewoman Yvonne Fletcher had not in fact been killed by Libyan diplomats but by underworld operatives linked to the American Government [12], would be so compliant with the official version.
The appalling and brutal murder of an Egyptian woman, Marwa El-Sherbini, in a German courtroom in July of this year has – just a matter of weeks after Neda’s death - has largely been ignored even though it is one of the worst racially-motivated and Islamophobic killings in recent times. Will Mrs Sherbini, “the headscarf martyr”, be honoured in any way by a German university or have films made in commemoration of her? Of course not.
The ruthless exploitation of the death of Neda for political purposes is an egregious example of a propaganda war being waged by the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran – everyone should be concerned, however, since the manipulation of the media and public opinion is a feature of domestic news coverage in the West as much as it is of reporting on a Middle Eastern state.
__________________
Notes:
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
_____________________
Reza Esfandiari and Yousef Bozorgmehr
e-mail:
esfandiarireza@ymail.com
Homepage:
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=35869
ref: A Memory Abused: No Rest or Peace for Neda Agha-Soltan
11.12.2009 03:12
hanibal
yes yes
11.12.2009 09:57
... and once they have succeeded in their given [zionist?] mission of regime change?
Well, I guess israel might have the option of not bombing this republic back to the stone age ... why, the Iranians might voluntarily decide to give up their defenses and stop opposing the march of 'the light unto nations'.
Yes and pigs are applying for pilots licences the world over.
Give it up, or be prepared to deal with the issue of israeli aggression and war preparedness before possibly undermining the will and the defenses of israels current bete noir.
Yes I am saddened by the death of this young woman, but since the circumstances of her death are ambiguous at best and deeply suspicious in the light of counter-revolutionary theories popular with the CIA at worst - the spectacle of its exploitation is depressing.
Will they ever build a monument to young female martyrs where Rachel Corrie features next to Neda?
Will they f***!
These intellectuals should note the fate of intellectuals, teachers, doctors etc in Iraq following that states regime change period. Those not exiled or killed are unemployed and of no use to the Iraqi people - a situation that is met with satisfaction in Tel Aviv and Washington no doubt.
jackslucid
100 intellectuals - really?
11.12.2009 12:13
Potkin Azarmeher (3 from left) at garden barbi with Fakhravar (2 from left)
Potkin & Fakhravar with Israeli neocon Natan Sharansky
Fakhravar cuddling Richard Perle architect of the Iraq war.
Fakhravar with ex-Shahs son who dreams of reimposing the monarchy on Iran
One name I do recognize is Potkin Azarmeher. Here are four photos linking him to some nasty people who would love regime change in Iran.. get the picture?
Potkins friend Amir-Abbas Fakhravar has been called the Iranian Chalabi for good reason.
PS photos are from Potkins own blogg.
not gullible