Showing posts with label Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Show all posts

May 29, 2010

Iranian artists, musicians give voice to opposition amid censorship

Thousands of supporters of presidential candid...Image via Wikipedia

By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 29, 2010; A10

TEHRAN -- Nearly a year after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory led to wide-scale protests and a fierce government crackdown, members of Iran's thriving and internationally acclaimed cultural scene have emerged as a driving force for the opposition.

Filmmakers, singers and rappers are, in their own way, pushing for social and political changes, and many are paying the price of speaking out against a government that brooks little dissent. In response to films, songs and paintings inspired by the largest grass-roots opposition movement the country has seen since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the government has arrested artists and markedly increased censorship.

Although some artists have left the country to escape restrictions, others remain in Iran and have turned their work into tools of activism. But the protest message has to be subtle or indirect, and even then the work is often produced secretly, using legal loopholes or underground distribution networks to evade the notice of authorities.

When world-renowned director Jafar Panahi decided to make a film about a family caught in the turmoil after last June's election, he did not ask for permission from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Instead, the filmmaker turned his apartment into a film studio, with his wife cooking for the crew and friends playing the leading characters.

In March, security forces raided the home and arrested Panahi, the cast and his family.

"According to the law, nobody needs permits to film in their own house," he said in an interview. "But the government does not obey its own rules." Panahi was held for nearly three months; top directors such as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami called for his release. State media reported that he had been making an "illegal movie."

On Tuesday, Panahi was released on $200,000 bail, pending the start of his trial.

"They arrest individuals to set an example to others," Panahi said Wednesday as his apartment slowly filled with guests, including actors and writers who gave him a hero's welcome. "My interrogators accused me of working for foreign intelligence agencies and said I was trying to make a movie highlighting problems in Iran. But I believe the rights and demands of millions who demonstrated have been ignored. I want to give them a voice."

He isn't the only one. The latest song by popular underground rapper Hich Kas, "Nobody," has become an instant hit, often blasting from cars on Tehran's busy streets. Hich Kas sings:

Good days will come when we do not kill each other

Do not look badly upon each other

A day we are friends and hug each other like in our school days

The song might sound conciliatory, but it ends with sounds of strife from the protests. Hich Kas, whose real name is Soroush Lashkari, left Iran before the song was distributed through the Internet and street peddlers. He is now touring in Dubai and Malaysia, where many Iranians live.

Within Iran, the opposition movement has lost steam in recent months as the government has used increasingly forceful methods, including executions, to discourage protesters from taking to the streets. Government supporters now confidently proclaim that the opposition movement is dead. But there are still signs of discontent from those who believe Ahmadinejad's supporters rigged an election that should have been won by opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

On Tuesday evening, 3,500 fans cheered, clapped and gave victory signs -- a popular opposition symbol -- when pop singer Alireza Assar sang a famous tune about corruption and dishonesty.

"People shouted 'Mousavi,' and almost everybody gave the 'V' sign," a witness said. "There would be immense cheering when the lyrics discussed corruption. Everybody interpreted the song as being against the government."

In a recent interview with Australian television, Iran's top performer of traditional songs, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, criticized Ahmadinejad for referring to the anti-government demonstrators as "dust and weeds."

"I announce that I am the voice of these dust and weeds," Shajarian said. "This voice always was and is for dust and weeds, and I do not let your radio and TV broadcast my voice."

His comments were widely repeated by foreign-based Farsi-language stations. Shajarian has said he will return to Iran within days.

Music, books, poetry and films filled with metaphors and irony played a significant role in the collapse of the Western-backed shah's government during the 1979 revolution. Books by the author Sadegh Hedayat were banned then because of their political content; during the annual Tehran book fair this month, his books and those of six other popular writers and poets -- some of whom died long ago -- were declared illegal by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Government officials say censorship efforts will continue. "I promise that within a couple of years, our cinema will be mostly making appropriate films. We will try to enforce restrictions so that we can get rid of problematic films in the future," said Mohammad Javad Shamaghdari, the deputy minister, according to the semiofficial Web site Khabaronline.ir.

But filmmakers such as Panahi say they don't intend to bend to the government's will. "In the end, they want artists like me to leave, but I will never go," Panahi said. "This is my land. I will remain here and make independent movies and support what is just."

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Aug 30, 2009

Main Prosecutor in Trials of Iranian Opposition Figures Fired - washingtonpost.com

Government of Islamic Republic of Iran, englis...Image via Wikipedia

By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 30, 2009

TEHRAN, Aug. 29 -- The new head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, fired the main prosecutor in the trials of dozens of opposition figures accused of plotting to overthrow the country's leadership, the semiofficial ISNA agency reported Saturday.

Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi had built a case based on confessions and intended to prove that senior aides of the defeated candidates in the June 12 presidential election were involved in a foreign-backed plot to bring down the leaders of the Islamic republic.

The opposition says that the election was rigged to ensure President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection and that the confessions were coerced.

Mortazavi was replaced by Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, who is known to be less ideological than his predecessor, according to lawyers defending several high-profile defendants.

"I hope the court will now free the accused," said Saleh Nikbakth, who is defending six prominent politicians, including former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi. "Mortazavi was the judicial cover for the arrests. He issued the warrants three days before the elections."

The dismissal was Larijani's first important move since his appointment two weeks ago by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, and it appears to signal that he is trying to follow a course independent of the government.

"This is a good start, but he must make more replacements in order to make the people feel safe," said Abdolfattah Soltani, a human rights lawyer. He was detained for 72 days for questioning the election outcome before being released Wednesday. "If that happens, some of the negative things that happened might be countered," he said.

Mortazavi's ouster is seen as a blow to Ahmadinejad, who on Friday for the first time publicly joined members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and other hard-liners in demanding "severe punishment" for former candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

Ahmadinejad's words indicated that he disagrees with Khamenei over the court case, which opposition members say is an attempt to purge the former candidates from Iran's political system.

Khamenei said in a speech this past week that he had not seen enough evidence to label the two men, whom he did not name, as foreign agents. His stance undermined Mortazavi's case, which is based on allegations that the defendants are linked to the U.S. and British governments.

"Ahmadinejad added fuel to the fire, where the leader had tried to calm the situation," Soltani said. "Despite his slogans of following Khamenei, Ahmadinejad has starkly opposing views."

State television broadcast only parts of Khamenei's speech, with news presenters reading most of the text. Ahmadinejad's lecture before the Friday prayer was repeated in full during prime time Saturday.

Khamenei said any official affiliated with security organizations who had committed crimes during the election turmoil would be dealt with.

Ahmadinejad, however, defended the security forces and said he had proof that they were not responsible for a raid on a student dormitory after the election. According to students, five people died in the attack, an allegation that authorities deny.

"These acts were part of the enemy's plot and were carried out by coup elements," Ahmadinejad said. He was referring to supporters of Mousavi and Karroubi, who he says were planning to stage a takeover through the mass protests that followed the vote.

The president was backed by the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. "Our forces were carrying out their duties in an organized manner . . . along with the police force," Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said on state TV.

Jafari said 20 members of his paramilitary Basij force were "assassinated" during election unrest.

The opposition said 69 people died; authorities put the number at 30. It is not clear whether either figure includes security forces.

Special correspondent Kay Armin Serjoie contributed to this report.

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