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Thursday, August 02, 2007

August 5th- Support imprisoned Iranian student activists and bloggers



Arash Kamangir is asking all bloggers to join in a movement, generated by a group of Iranian bloggers, to publicize the plight of jailed student activists in the land of Ahmadinejad and the oppressed.


August 5th 2007 is the 101-st anniversary of the Iranian constitutional revolution. BUT Iranian people still struggle for democracy and student activists are still sent to jails. Several student activists spend this year’s anniversary in jails. They include Mohammad Hashemi, Ali Nikoones bati, Ali Vefghi, Bahareh Hedayat, Mehdi Arabshahi, Hanif Yazdani, Abodllah Momeni, Bahram Fayyazi, Habib Hajiheydari, Morteza Eslahchi, Mojtaba Bayat,, Arash Khandel, Ashkan Ghiasvand, Ahmad Ghassaban, Majid Tavakoli, Ehsan Mansouri, and Amir Yaghoub-ali.


In support and memory of our fellow activists, who some of them are bloggres as well, a group of Iranian bloggres will change their blog title on August the 5th to "August the 5th: The day of support for jailed Iranian students". We invite you, even as a non-Iranian blogger, to participate in this cause. You can join by sending us e mail to 14.mordad@gmail.com or write the name of your weblog in the comment box below, so it will be added to the list of the supporting weblogs.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the students have been subjected to torture and abuse, to force them to confess to trumped up charges. There are even accounts of sexual torture, though I have no way of confirming that.

Some of the jailed activists claim they were targeted for their participation in student protests, earlier this year, against Ahmadinejad. Others, like 19 year old Amir Yaghoub Ali,


was a student supporter of the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to eliminate discriminatory laws against women. Activists in Iran told Human Rights Watch that authorities are particularly vindictive toward male supporters of campaigns for women’s rights.

A witness to the peaceful women’s protest of March 8, 2006 in Tehran’s Daneshjoo Park [where Amir was collecting signatures] told Human Rights Watch that when security and police forces attacked the gathering with batons in order to disperse the crowds, they severely beat the men who were present.


We are so blessed to be living in countries that allow us to say whatever we please, criticize whomever, without the fear of governmental retribution!!

Others blogging about this:

Bloodthirsty Liberal
Blazing Cat Fur
Terry Glavin
Arabisto


15 comments:

Pat Jenkins said...

you are right incog about our freedom to speak without any retribution. and it shows the character of those who are doing it in a repressive country!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your support!

Missy said...

We are blessed to live in a country with the freedoms we enjoy. Too bad most take them for granted.

Thank you for the post, Incognito.

WomanHonorThyself said...

ty Incog..I hadnt heard of this at all!!

Karen Townsend said...

I'm just hearing of this from your post, too. I'll probably do it, too. I mentioned the 4 American/Iranians being held in my post yesterday. They've been on my mind, especially since the forced 'confessions' from two of them recently.

Incognito said...

PATJ: Indeed, they are brave souls!

KAMANGIR: I hope it helps!

STRAWB: It is sad that there are so many who take it for granted!

ANGEL: I hadn't either till I went to kamangir's blog.

KAREN: I've read about journalists who were beaten to death, as well. They seem to enjoy coercing, through torture.

Anonymous said...

I had not heard of this either. Thanks for sharing. I've posted on the bloggers and also on the Americans, but this is good news. Keeping them in the thoughts and prayers of people is a good thing.

Dionne said...

Sounds like a great cause, I may have to sign up!!

Chris McClure aka Panhandle Poet said...

Freedom of speech. Always a problem in a totalitarian regime.

Frasier said...

Will support them Incog...

Anonymous said...

Frasypoo said...
Will support them Incog
__________________________________________


Ditto
And thanks

Incognito said...

Thank you my friends, for participating, at least the those fighting for freedom thank you.

HD said...

will surely support them man...

liberal white boy said...

A little off topic but wanted you know that I responded to your comment at RE

Hi Babe good to see you out of your closet. I was talking about the Gaza and West Bank Palestinians. Arab Israeli's can vote they just can't buy land from the national land trust. Also once the Arab Israeli's actually elect someone to serve, Israel accuses them of cooperating with the enemy and they have to leave the country or be thrown in jail with the other 10,000 political prisoners. So the voting issue seems kind of like a moot point. But if Lieberman and some of the other racist right wing Israeli politicians have their way and are successful with their plans for ethnically cleansing the rest of the Arabs from Israel like they want to, I guess you will still be right. They would technically still have the right to vote there just wouldn't be any Arab Israeli's left to vote.

Good luck with that new blog but if you want to keep that spirit right you need to get on the right side of these issues.

Incognito said...

Hello LWB: Have been busy so no chance to get back to RE's.

had just responded to your comment that Arabs have no right to vote in Israel. I don't consider Gaza or West Bank as Israel.

and careful how you use ethnically cleanse.. it implies wholesale killing, which is not happening.

and thank you for behaving yourself and being civil.. :-)
and guess it depends on who is on the right side of the issue.