Author Archives: Zahir Janmohamed

About Zahir Janmohamed

Prior to Amnesty International, he worked for the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy where he organized conferences in Nigeria and Sudan on the democratization process. In 2002, he was an eye-witness to the communal violence in Gujarat, India that left thousands of Muslims dead. He has since spoken at over 25 universities and his articles have been published in over 30 publications. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Outlook India, and he currently serves as associate editor for the progressive online publication, altmuslim. Last year, he was invited to give a lecture at the prestigious Festival of Books in Guadalajara, Mexico, the largest book fair in all of Latin America.
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Iranian Protesters Stay One Step Ahead in the Cyber World

June 22, 2009 at 10:34 AM

In the face of a tightening government grip on all things viral, Iranians have managed to circumvent the communication restrictions laid upon them to tell the world their story in ways previously thought to be reserved only for social networking. For anyone who has so much as glanced at the news during the past week, Twitter has been the name of the game for Iranian protesters.

With a limitation of 140 characters per post, only the most pertinent information is tweeted—rally locations, real-time updates, and details only those on the ground can see. While sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been blocked off before, Iranians have continued to gain access to them via proxies, servers that allow users to access another site through them. Proxy sites are continuously being updated in an effort to stay one step ahead of the Iranian government’s filtering apparatus.

The Iranian government’s strategy for blocking the flow of information appears to be two-fold. Foreign news services have all been asked to leave (just this morning, the BBC reporter Jon Leyne, one of the few reporters left, was given a similar request) and the internet speed has been slowed to a snail’s pace. According to the Wall Street Journal, limiting bandwidth in this manner is meant to discourage and frustrate users so much that they’ll give up.

This strategy is, for now, not working. Iranians have harnessed the internet in ingenious ways—from their Twitter posts to uploaded YouTube videos. All major news networks have caught on to the phenomenon, allowing the messages coming out of Iran to truly reach the entire world.

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Ibrahim Yazdi Detained in Tehran

June 17, 2009 at 4:37 PM

Ibrahim Yazdi, the Secretary General of the Freedom Movement of Iran political party, was just arrested at 3 PM today by the Iranian Security Forces at the Pars Hospital, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.  He has since been transferred to the Evin Prison in northwest Tehran.

Yazdi was Deputy Prime Minister for Revolutionary Affairs for the interim Iranian government in 1979 directly after the Islamic Revolution. He also served as Foreign Minister and was elected to the Islamic Consultative Assembly parliament, serving for 4 years.

As recently as Saturday, the day after Iranians went to the polls, Yazdi was speaking out against what he saw as a rigged election.  Such discourse may have contributed to his arrest.

100 others have allegedly been detained alongside Yazdi.

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Solidarity (and Suspension) on the Soccer Field

June 17, 2009 at 3:16 PM

June 19 Update: Any soccer players that were seen wearing the green wristbands have been suspended for “government interference”.

The Iranian soccer team was seen clad with green wristbands during their World Cup qualifying match against South Korea.

Green is the signature color of the mass Iranian movement for former presidential candidate Mir Hussein Musavi. Daily protests against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, numbering in the tens of thousands, have become virtual seas of green–with participants sporting green-colored headbands, shirts, and posters.

While there is no confirmation that the soccer team wore the wristbands in support of Musavi, it is not customary for players to wear wristbands at all.

Soccer has long been the sport of choice in Iran by both men and women. There’s a fantastic Iranian film called “Offside” about a group of women who try to sneak into a soccer match (interestingly enough, a match that determines whether Iran will compete in the World Cup) dressed up as men. It is directed by Jafar Panahi, one of Iran’s most influential and acclaimed directors. NPR has a great review on their website here, and you can also see a trailer on YouTube. Check it out!

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Death Toll Rises in Iran

June 16, 2009 at 2:46 PM

8 more people were killed during Monday’s protests against Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s electoral victory in Tehran. Rallies in support of Musavi nonetheless continued on today, with more people than yesterday, according to witnesses. Numbers cannot be confirmed as all foreign media have been barred from entering the city.

Protesters have persistently been updating the world on Twitter and on YouTube, though. While yesterday’s rallies came to a bloody end, today’s was relatively calm.

Meanwhile, experts around the world are trying to figure out whether the results of Friday’s election were legitimate or not. While no one has been able to deem the results invalid, people are skeptical at best about Ahmedinejad’s margin of victory.

In fact, several news and blog sites have gone green in solidarity with the protesters.

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Obama Speaks Up About Iran

June 16, 2009 at 2:33 PM

Kudos to President Obama for breaking his long silence on the Iranian election violence that has been raging since Saturday. Obama said, “I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability for folks to peacefully dissent, all those are universal values and need to be respected.”

Yesterday’s protests left seven people dead after hundreds of thousands took to the streets against what they view as the fraudulent re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

While his remarks did not touch on how he viewed the results of the election, Obama did take a strong stance against the security forces’ reaction to the protesters: “When I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, wherever that takes place, it is of concern to me and it is of concern to the American people. That is not how governments should interact with their people. And my hope is that the Iranian people will make the right steps in order for them to be able to express their voices, to express their aspirations.” He has also urged that a full-scale investigation be done regarding possible voter fraud.

The questions surrounding Ahmedinejad’s questionable landslide victory leave President Obama in a tight spot—whether to follow up on his big campaign promise to engage with the Iranian government, even one that is now not considered legitimate by many of its own people.

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Twitter Saves the Day

June 15, 2009 at 1:59 PM

Since Friday’s Presidential election, the Iranian government has blocked access to several social networking sites, such as Facebook, and cut off cell phone services. But updates have continued to stream in from Iran via Twitter. While these updates are only 140 characters or less– they are certainly packing a punch.

Recent tweets read:

“Demo spread from Azadi sq, to streets and hwys around it. Cars honking horns, smaller groups marching. False hopes?”

“Dispersed fights in Tehran; sound of shooting heard”

“Tho today’s protest is illegal, police not moving in. Possibly too big to handle, or images of attax beg. to embarrass ldrs”

Follow the election protests on Twitter here. The Atlantic has a page called “Live-Tweeting the Revolution” with Twitter updates, as well. Other sites, such as Flickr, are constantly uploading photographs from these rallies.

It almost seems like 24-hour news networks just can’t keep up– they’ve even been accused of falling behind on coverage by bloggers!

Update: Twitter has pushed back its scheduled down time due to how important it has become for communication with Iran over the past few days.

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

What's Happening in Tehran?

June 15, 2009 at 1:57 PM

Iran went to the polls on Friday, June 12th, to vote in its highly anticipated and closely watched Presidential election. Within hours, and with 2/3 of the votes counted, incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad was declared the victor by state media– a declaration that sparked this weekend’s ongoing violent protests.

For more information on what exactly happened and is continuing to happen in Iran, take a look at the following articles and blogs for some excellent commentary:

  • Juan Cole has tackled allegations of election fraud on his blog, Informed Comment, as has Reza Aslan on the Daily Beast
  • Both the Huffington Post and the Guardian have been live-blogging the protest violence since election results came out on Friday
  • Robert Fisk also discusses the violence and what it means for the US in his Sunday op-ed for the Independent

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Iranian Presidential Debate Heats Up

June 4, 2009 at 2:20 PM

Last night turned into a fiery exchange of words during the second of several debates lined up ahead of next week’s presidential election. While there currently no English translations available on YouTube of the debates, CCTV has a couple of clips up here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythBumOAtZ0

Former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Musavi and incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traded barbs on issues ranging from the economy to nuclear power to Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory comments about the Holocaust.

Reuters, the New York Times, and Bloomberg all discuss the debate in more detail.

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post

Going Beyond Headlines

June 3, 2009 at 2:09 PM
IFC Films

IFC Films

The Lemon Tree is a 2008 Israeli film follows a Palestinian woman’s fight to keep her lemon grove to the Israeli High Court. Released internationally on April 17th, this film has already garnered widespread acclaim for its emotional and nuanced storytelling, focusing on the Palestinian struggle to hold onto livelihood and identity—in short, their human rights.

Actress Hiam Abbass stars as Salma, a widowed Palestinian whose only source of income is the lemonade from her lemon grove. At the film’s start, the Israeli Defense Minister moves into the mansion next door. His security forces zero in on Salma’s lemon grove as a potential security threat (providing terrorists with perfect cover) and order it to be taken down. She decides to fight the decision, and with the help of a young Palestinian lawyer, takes the case to the Israeli Supreme Court.

What’s great about this film is its desire to blur the lines and truly cultivate its characters. Too often, human rights violations become a matter of numbers and statistics, so it’s certainly refreshing to be able to put a face and a story to the headline. “I think people want to see into the psyche of the people,” said Eran Riklis, the film’s director, to Haaretz. “It’s about people trapped in a deadlock. It tells a story, shows you emotions and glides through a complex, delicate situation in an explosive setting.”

Check out a trailer for the film:

Samah Choudhury contributed to this post