Iran points to journalist 'murder'
The Canadian-Iranian journalist died after being arrested in Tehran
Iran's Vice-President, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, has said Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in custody in Iran, was probably murdered....


And here is also the Interview of Yas-e no newspaper with Ziba kazemi's mother(in farsi), that some of its parts are mentioned in the BBC's article....thinking of it is sad & imagining her mother's situation is impossible, It's very hard when you lose your only in such a awful way & when there is no special reason...

Blue Bird Escape....American Life:
"Saturday mornings people go to the mall and spend their morning and part of their afternoon shopping.
The road is clear. Not too many cars. Not too much traffic. It is a joy to drive.
At home music can play loudly.
At the movies people quiet down when the film starts.
People are not allowed to smoke in public places.
Choosing a comfortable outfit is not a problem.
Writing is not a crime.
Speaking is not wrong.
Dreaming is allowed.
Success exists.
Freedom is a word.
Love is a reality...."

It was a long time I wanted to write about this weblog Blue Bird escape, although at time many of you know about that & her excellent notes. Even for someone like me, who is a girl that lives in Iran; reading notes of an Iranian girl who has spent much of her life in somewhere else & again has come back to her homeland, is interesting...although now she has gone to U.S.A, but her experience in Iran is really worth reading.
Also see the excellent photos she has taken from Iran...
I always find a special feelings after reading her weblog, I thing about the differences of Life with & without freedom & that makes me get more confused f the meaning of freedom & finally the strange relationship between freedom & Justice....I wonder who similar & also different they are!

Cox & Forkum:

!!!!!

And here is results of the last pull of LGF:
Do you think Iran will get nuclear weapons?

-No. We will stop them with a preemptive attack.
35.5%

-It's too late. They already have them.
27.5%

-Yes. We can't stop them.
24.2%

-We will delay it through diplomacy.
12.8%

Night whispers of a girl to all unknown voices…(for myself)
These days have made me a bit frustrated but that doesn't bother me, as I'm somehow getting used to this kind of feelings that I’m having some bitter experiences but they all are ones to be great lessons for me to know people well...now, although I feel really lonely & feel the great distance between others' world & mine I assume there is no way except becoming like others....ok, ok It's again changing to nagging notes of an Iranian girl!
Oh you know, the fact is that, all these indecisive battles & multi target ways seem never to come to an end in my or anybody else’s life, & I should always be drowning in my wrong choices & mistakes....Aerial. yeah Arterials, they are everywhere, they're blind what are watching what you do, they're thief but hear what you say & although they are dumb are ready to shout out & through your every single mistake to your face...I'm tired of them, I'm tired of all these human beings who are worn as Aerials & never put off their masks to be themselves; No, we'll never find ourselves as what we are...I'm completely pessimistic of the day that we all through our mask away & try a true life, I'm not pessimistic about a world of kindness & happiness without any kind of real or unreal lie! I was hopeful before but I'm not anymore; I believe that was just a kind of childish dream.... and what a sweat dream it was.
I don't know why I'm here again working as a chatter box, complaining about things that will never be right...there's something wrong with me these days, I'm just searching for a small reason to start this way of nagging, I'm just searching for someone not to see me, but also not to be blind...I'm searching for someone who can see & hear me & talk to me, but doesn’t use eyes just to see humble problems of this complicated world...

I can't stand this way anymore, I'm tired of everything & everyone...friends who all fake, parents who love their reasons for loving us, more than us ourselves!, people who all have put on masks...tired of time that is so much cruel, this summer that is the most awful summer I've ever had, although it was excepted to be the best one...tired of these holidays that are more bored than fucking hours I spent in mathematic classes...& also tired of this cyber world that is full of all those unpleasant senses & all those tricks & gimmicks that are even much worse than the real world. In the end; you feel irresolute where to run away …
.......stop!! Unknown Voices call me: stop girl. It's just the way it has to be & be sure that they're all temporary, there is something wrong with you not things around you...get over your rebellious thought!...try to...
They go on & on with nice advises & hopeful poems about the beauty of life! But…I just wish I could trust & obey the unknown voices!

Nothing is static; everything is falling apart....

It's a calm summer night but the darkest one I have ever seen....with all confusions & complicated thoughts that have filled my mind, I feel relaxed.
I'm thinking of much more important things, I'm thinking of the pure truth! Trying to get rid of this dark & black night; trying to reach the real morning...

Canada to Iran: Follow our lead
"The Chrétien government has sought to up the pressure on Tehran to find and punish those responsible for the death in detention of a Montreal photojournalist by offering Iranian officials access to the investigation of the police shooting of an Iranian teenager in British Columbia.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham made the offer yesterday in a diplomatic note to the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa. He was responding to Iran's attempts Thursday to draw a parallel between Zahra Kazemi's death in custody in Iran on July 10 and the fatal July 14 shooting by a Port Moody police officer of Keyvan Tabesh, an Iranian youth who was allegedly wielding a machete...."

Back again after some busy day...
You know, now I think I shouldn't try any more on keeping my anonymity! Thanks to one of the friends who was the first one that guessed I'm the owner of this weblog & told another one &... I finally heard it from my cousin (!!!). Actually I kept it as a secret for a long time but...Anyway I try to continue writing without caring about it ;)

Hand over terrorists, U.S. tells Iran
"TEHRAN -- Iran announced yesterday it was holding senior members of the al-Qaida terrorist network and will hunt down any others on its soil, while the United States demanded it turn over any prisoners to face justice.
Tehran's announcement came just days after U.S. President George W. Bush accused it of harbouring terrorists...."

Tehran through the view of a Turkish photographer!
Incredible photos of Salah Sev who had a trip to Tehran; in cappuccino...comments were also interesting, some guys were talking about the great view of photographer & showing paradoxes of Tehran, & some others were searching for the phone number of the girl in the fifth photo!!!

'My holidays in the axis of evil'
It's an interesting story!( via Hoder)
"The scariest moment was in Iran. As I was filming the trip for the BBC, I had gone with a producer and handheld DV camera, which looks much like a digi-cam a gadget-mad tourist might have....On the third day three guys burst in while we were talking to some students. They took us back to the hotel and turned our rooms over. When they found cameras, tapes and tourist visas, they decided that we were spies. ..."

Summer holidays!
As about one month of summer holidays is finished, I'm just starting a kind of holiday...I mean this month was so boring & ordinary that I couldn't even believe this is the summer I was waiting for, for about nine months! I somehow felt that this valuable time is just wasting & decided to do something & stopped my always way of staying at home all the day...
That's why these days I find less time for my weblog, & I think it's gonna get much less...

Bush Tells Syria, Iran to Stop Supporting 'Terrorists'
"President Bush on Monday accused Syria and Iran of supporting "terrorists" that undermine Middle East peace efforts and said countries continuing the practice would be held accountable...."

Inside the prison
By Peyvand Khorsandi in The Iranian

In the memory of a woman with passport from another country & blood from our own homeland...the one who wanted to show the truth trough his camera but couldn't tolerate tricks of the biggest enemies of truth...
Thanks god that she had that Canadian Passport, otherwise all about her could be always unsaid by these killers. Anyways, now what they are trying to do is solving this problem by the probability that a hard thing didn’t hit her head, but her head hit a hard thing!!!

That's not finished...
They say that blocking weblogs was just a temporary problem that now is solved & there is no problem, still the problem of censorship exists.
Let's stop thinking about this strange problem that happened just some days before July 9 & also for two of Blogging systems & some of other Persian pages & happened in the most important & popular ISPs & believe that it was just a matter of accident & there was no special purpose. But anyways, still I can't see Blogspot sites & when I asked other understood that this problem exists for others who use Internet card of Alborz (that is one of the biggest ISPs in Tehran) & there is also no access to some other sites such as Hoder's weblog, Sobhaneh & etc.
So I think acting against censorship on Internet must still be continued...help us.

Zahra Kazemi killed with blows of shoe! ( English translation of the article Zahra Kazemi tuée à coups de chaussure)(via gooya)

So, she was killed by the shoe of Mortazavi!!! You know, through these years we've heard so many stories about this man & how cruel he is that believing this one isn't very difficult. Actually I'm really sorry about death of Zahra kazemi, but somehow I feel good that this murder has taken place by Mortazavi. This time the problem is related with another country & is somehow International so they can't escape from the truth anymore. I hope him to be punished for all his crimes, death is not enough...

Hossein Derakhshan points to the list of possible future leaders of Iran & says that the writer knows nothing about Iranian political & finds this list funny...I don’t know what Mr. Yousefzadeh knows about Iran but for sure I agree with hoder that this is a funny list!
But there is another point & I believe whether this is a good list or not, at least would be a great start for thinking about future leader that has somehow been forgotten. Here is also a kind of discussion that is interesting.
I believe that Iranians at the time just think of opposing Islamic republic & don't think of what would happen after Mullahs are gone. There is no alternative government & no serious leader for movements. Perhaps that's why demonstrations seem a bit aimless.
Anyway, I feel good & optimistic about any possible discussion & list even funny about possible future leaders of Iran...Thanks to Pejman & Hoder both!

Blogs shall set you free
By Pedram Moallemian in The Iranian
Pedarm Moallemian is also encouraging more Iranians to build an English weblog. yeah, Blogs shall set us free!


It's also said that ISPs have removed proxy for Persian weblogs & now there is access to all of the, although still I can see none of them...but I guess it will be right soon. Actually still I have no idea if the petition & notes of Iranians about the censorship on Internet was effective or not, but anyways that means that they can not do whatever they want & Persian weblogs can't be ignored easily by being blocked.

Iran has already buried photojournalist, says son
"MONTREAL (CP) — The son of a photojournalist who died under suspicious circumstances in Iran said today that Iranian authorities have buried his mother despite his efforts to have the body returned to Canada.
The news added to conflicting reports about the location of the body of Zahra Kazemi, 54, who was allegedly beaten to death after being branded a spy....
Kazemi's death was confirmed Saturday. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami ordered four cabinet ministers Sunday to investigate Kazemi's death and offered his country's sympathies to her family.
"The nature of the regime makes us think the worst," said council president Michel Roy. "This death in questionable circumstances is a sad witness to the fragility of the freedom of the press and human rights in many countries."...."

"Regime Change In Iran By Promoting Human Rights, Freedom and Free Referendum"
Please sign it to help Iranians...

Iran's Khatami Says Will Quit if People Wish It:
"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mohammad Khatami said he would quit if people wanted him to, a newspaper reported on Saturday, as his reformist government faced growing criticism for failing to tackle conservative Islamic opponents.
Khatami's 1997 election raised hopes of reform among many Iranians, most of whom were born after the 1979 Islamic revolution. But conservatives occupying powerful unelected posts in Iran's complex political structure have blocked the reforms.
Public frustration spilled on to the streets in recent weeks with anger directed at Khatami as well as the hardline Islamic clerics. Some protesters have called on Khatami to resign.
"We are not people's masters, but we are this nation's servants. We will go, if this nation says we do not want you," Khatami was quoted as saying by the Iran newspaper....."

…so he did the best & it seems that all those protests & chants against him, finally made him believe that people hate him & his dirty tricks, although living in Iran has touch me not to believe Mullahs easily; & still I'm not sure that he is telling all those with honestly & if he's trying to make another trick or not....
Anyway, he was the only Mullah after revolution who was beloved for a while, I don't know what exactly happened to people who voted for him two times, but for sure that was not another trick of Islamic republic & Iranians were really impressed by him & his plans & sweet talks of reform...
Now they all have understood their mistake & after these years, there is no time left for khatami to rebuild what he has destroyed & the best thing to do is to quit. If he does so, for sure will make a good ending to these years of being President & people will be a bit satisfied & also less furious about him, & if not it will be proved again that he has always been a big liar.
There is no doubt, it’s time to go for them; the wise ones will apply sooner & others will wait to be kicked out from Iran or perhaps this world...

Detained Canadian Photographer Dies in Tehran
"OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian freelance photographer who was arrested in Tehran and then taken to a hospital with serious head injuries has died, government officials in Ottawa said on Saturday.
Montreal-based Zahra Kazemi, 54, was detained on June 23 after taking pictures of Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where many dissidents are jailed.
She was hospitalized with serious head injuries and later declared brain dead. Relatives say she was accused of being a spy and beaten into a coma."

So, whose fault is it? Iranian government? Canadian government? That photographer herself? Or we Iranian people!?....

Student activists and demonstrators must be treated in accordance with international human rights standards
"Amnesty International is concerned at yesterday's arrest of student leaders Reza Ameri Nassab, Ali Moghtadari and Arash Hashemi who may have been targeted solely for the peaceful expression of their political views. All three were arrested after they took part in an open press conference held at the offices of Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (Office for Strengthening Unity, or OCU) on the anniversary of the 18 Tir (9 July 1999) student demonstrations. During the press conference they criticized restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Iran. They were said to have been forced to the ground and thrown into three separate vehicles and taken to an unknown destination. Ali Moghtadari was reportedly released the same evening......"

Conjoined Twins To Be Buried in Iran
"The bodies of Iranian twins who died in Singapore during a operation to separate their fused heads are being flown home for burial.
Members of Singapore's Iranian expatriate community held a memorial service Wednesday for Laleh and Ladan Bijani.
Reuters news service quotes an Iranian diplomat as saying the two will be buried in their hometown.
The 29-year-old Bijani sisters died Tuesday...."

So they will be buried & everything is finished, the only thing that is left is the memory of these two Iranian girl who died in a tragic story; but there are also some strange points that has made Iranians doubt about the whole story...the reason that between all other countries Singapore & Raffles hospital were chosen & the question that if it is related with economical problems of Raffles Medicals company, & the great coverage of Media on this event , & what was supposed to happen the next day as the biggest demonstration of all Iranians that had scared the government a lot..& too many other points that can make this tragic story a detective one & make people lose their trust to anything that happens in this country!
Anyway, we are all really sorry for Laleh & Laden but more than that for the ones who caused their death to reach their hateful goals...

Cox & Forkum:

Banned Persian Community !
This problem of blocked weblogs isn’t something to be forgotten easily & I think if we don’t do something serious, censure on the Internet will be continued & even get worse.
As a great number of Farsi weblogs are on Persianblog & all of them at the time are blocked I think it’s very important for us to provide some true information about it to the world…

Actually Persianblog was made to ease writing for Iranians & has been providing free blogging service since about one year ago & now is the biggest Persian community in Internet.
There were just three computer experts who started it independently & were always committed both from government & people. As they had to follow the ruled & sometimes were told by government to ban some weblogs, some people believed that they work for government & they were also told from inside country that what they do is forbidden & it’s not right to let people publish whatever they want without censorship…but anyway, the number of users raised each day & more people started the experience of writing freely with no limitation for people of all the world…

Farsi is the Forth language in the Internet & more than 75% of Farsi content in the Internet refers to Persianblog, It also uses the biggest persian advertisement system in the Internet. The monthly transfer of Server is about 1.2 terra bytes & there are 5000000 visitors each month.
Here are also some accurate stats of the last information about Persianblog:
No. of registered Users: 89984
No. Male Users: 74449
No. Female Users: 15535
Reviewed weblog Users in Users List: 10137
No. Posts: 415979
No. Comments: 1286429
No. Posts with Comments: 220283
Comments per Post: 5.8399

These confirmed numbers (by Reza, one of Persianblog managers) that are just weblogs on Persianblog not other blogging services, show clearly the importance of weblogs between Iranians.
Actually In this short time, from the day that the first Persian weblog was created, writing & reading weblogs has become one of Iranian Internet users’ habits & of course a great part of Internet usages are for weblog, so blocking them at first won’t be very nice for Internet Service Providers. Another point is that a while ago, Parsonline that is the biggest ISP of Iran had started blocking Persianblog weblogs itself.
I hope this information can help the world to have a right view of weblogs in Iran & I really want other Iranians bloggers to do something not to let them do whatever they want with our cyber world…

There must be something wrong...
It’s been two days that all weblogs in Blogspot & Persianblog & also many other Persian websites are blocked here. They always knew that Iranian weblogs can be their first enemy & they couldn’t stand so many pages in the Internet without their control written by Iranians & were always searching for a way; at last they did the worst & blocked all of them! Some months ago when they started censuring Internet for the first time everyone was dissatisfied & angry but nobody did anything serious & nothing happened, so they went farther & continued blocking more & more websites.
Oh, I really don’t know what’s wrong with Iranians these days; they make petition to prove to the world they don’t visit porno sites! But they do nothing when all their rights are becoming forgotten & the only place that they could feel free in it is getting controlled by Mullahs.

Hold the fireworks
July 9th has come and gone without a revolution. Why?
By Naghmeh Sohrabi in The Iranian

...so the anniversary of Tir 18 is over, But things somehow didn't happen as it was expected, actually there were kinds of battles in some of streets but when I compare the crowd & braveness of people in protests of some weeks ago with this one I believe that unfortunately it was an unsuccessful demonstration & people didn't support students very well.
Although there are two other reasons that didn't let things go very well, one is that as it was more than three months that every groups were planning for this day & encouraging people, all Islamic vigilantes & police were ready from some days ago & used all their power not to let people do anything, they even didn't let people get together & make a crowd. Everywhere was full of Basijis in black to recognize each other; so they were careful enough not to let anything serious happen…Again many ones got arrested & I’ve also heard that it was shooting in some streets.
Another reason is that a great number of active fighters & leaders of opposition groups in Iran were detained from weeks ago & the protest couldn't have a good plan.
Anyway I think that government did its best to stop people, but people didn't do their best to support students & show their dissatisfaction....
You know, a while ago I read somewhere that Iranians always do something when nobody except & It's impossible to mark a day to make a revolution, revolution will be made itself suddenly. Now I feel that it's somehow right, perhaps most of people made a mistake!
Here is the report of Reuters & sky news, I couldn’t find any photos in the net; Media coverage of the events wasn't also very good inside Iran...

Cox & Forkum

"As an editorial below puts it: on "July 9th [...] on the occasion of the annual commemoration of the bloody suppression of the student uprising of 1999, there will be renewal of massive protests inside and outside of Iran." We support the students and other Iranians in their fight for freedom against the Islamist tyranny and hope our government will do more to help them. (Unlike, say, Liberia, Iran is waging a war against America and civilization in general.)...."

Tomorrow…

Tomorrow...that is tomorrow, the day that many ones call the day of freedom for Iranians, Tir 18, July 9.
It's been more than three months that many groups are planning seriously for the big strike of all kinds of people & students, & more than those opposition groups, Mullahs are trying to stop them, by cracking down satellite dishes, arresting protesters, hitting & killing them & different kinds of warnings to people. Many times they have said directly that there is no permission for any kind of demonstration & in few words they’re using all the gimmicks not to lose their power. But people don't give up easily & everyone has been waiting & preparing for tomorrow...

You know, I have no idea what exactly will happen. Actually a while before this I used to think July 9 will be somehow the last day for this regime but now that it's less than 24 hours to this historic day I have a feeling that still the number of traitors is more than real Iranians who work for having freedom & a democratic regime; I hope to be wrong! But anyways as an Iranian, I'm not proud of the work of mass media, & also the ones who has power in Internet & could easily do much more to show the importance of July 9, the anniversary of that violent action against innocent students... I don’t know what exactly I wanna say, I just feel worried, & get confused when I see all the ones I know saying easily:” don't worry, nothing will happen & it's just a temporary excitement…” & I can't understand if it's really what they believe or not . Yes, people are really pessimistic about a soon change of regime; they are tired & hopeless & for sure scared. And I just don't know if they can throw away their fear & tiredness or not.

People have seen enough violence from this regime & for sure they don't like to lose their children & teenagers in a street battle & let them fight for what is their right. I just wish they could open their eyes & see clearly what is happening to their children & just compare that with death...

Tomorrow is July 9...the day that Iranians will show what they really want, & will prove that they're not a kind of people who leave alone the students & the young guys who are spending they life in prisons, just because they wanted freedom for all Iranians. I really hope that they do it well & I myself will try my best to do whatever I can as a young girl, we must also encourage each other; that's very important…
Anyway, I know that all people in the world support us spiritually, & pray for all fighters of freedom. I wish that they also show their support by whatever they can do; I'm sure that bloggers & writers from other countries will not forget us.
Oh, I feel that I'm making a will!!! You know, I can not ignore this feeling of anxiety...Ok, let's see what is waiting for Iranians in their destiny.

Both conjoined twins die
"Iranian sisters Iranian Laleh and Laden Bijani died today, more than 48 hours into marathon surgery to separate the 29-year-olds who had been born joined at the head...."

So both of them died...I just had wished the operation to go good & these two girls to be healthy & happy, living separated but now that they're dead I don't feel sad (as I never feel sad for the death of anybody); I'm sure that at the time they are much more happier than the time they were alive in this world. Anyway, I read in news that they died just a bit after they got separated; so it was their destiny to be joined; separation meant death to them.

Iran acts to stop anniversary student protest
"The Iranian government is taking action to pre-empt possible unrest tonight on the eve of the anniversary of a crackdown on student protests by banning rallies and jamming satellite broadcasts from exiles in the US.
The interior ministry said it had refused all requests for rallies this week, when university students had hoped to commemorate the violent suppression of protests on July 9 1999....."

One of the hottest news in Iran these days is the operation of Laleh & laden Bijani, 29 years twins who are (better to say were) joined at the head...everyone's praying for this two Iranian girls who really had a hard life. Even thinking about that kind of life & every single thing they do is difficult for others. But all people who know them just a bit admire them; they even went to university & did everything like ordinary people. I really hope this important operation to go good & wish health for these twins who will start a new life after these days....

-Iran pays for operation of Bijanis
-Yahoo; Photos of Laleh & Ladan
-THE BLOOD TIE

After about two weeks away from Internet, everything in this cyber world seems great especially weblogs & blogging that at the time is the most enjoyable work for me…Anyway, I’m back again & will continue writing…