Security authorities raided into the office of reformist newspaper Shargh on 7 December and detained journalists Keyvan Mehregan, Farzaneh Roostayi and Ahamad Gholami, along with chief editor Ali Khodabakhsh. According to reformist website Kaleme, the authorities also physically checked the staff’s mobile phones. The raid coincided with national student day which brought student protests across university campuses in the country.
According to Iranian news website Mashregh, Hossein Derakhshan, known as Iran’s “blogfather” has been released on a bail of $1.5 million after 26 months in prison. Derakhshan had received a 19-and-a-half year prison sentence, with charges including “implementation and management of obscene websites” and “cooperation with hostile states”. He is expected to return to prison shortly.
Iranian authorities have sentenced a web designer to death for allegedly creating a pornographic website. Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour, 35, was convicted of “designing and moderating adult content websites,” “agitation against the regime” in Tehran, and “insulting the sanctity of Islam”. Malekpour was detained in Iran in 2008 when he returned to visit his father.
Reading The Economist’s Bagehot blog, earlier this week its writer’s dismissal of Britain’s student protests with “The revolution will be along later” was resonant of the final analysis many made of Iran’s “Green” movement: despite the unforgettable mass post-election uprising — in which Iran’s students were central to the movement, upholding the historic role of Iran’s universities as the hub of political thought and activity— there has been little change in Iran, let alone a revolution.
Bagehot’s commentary also called to my mind that Iran’s Student Day is nearly here. Naturally 16 Azar (7 December) presents a platform for the students’ voices. Last year the day exuded added fervour as students used 16 Azar to resume their previously silenced protest at the “stolen” election. One year on, Iranian students at universities in Iran and worldwide prepare in solidarity with the movement, with slogans of “Ma Amadeim”, “We are Ready” and “The University is Alive”.
16 Azar was named after the killing of three Tehran University students on that day in 1953. The police opened fire on students demonstrating against US vice president Richard Nixon’s visit following a US-sponsored coup earlier that year. A good synopsis of this day’s history can be read here.
The last 12 months have seen a mass exodus of Iran’s intelligentsia and student leaders to safer lands, and many others languish in Iran’s prisons. “Revolution” it may not be, but expect to hear Iran’s students reciting Yar-e Dabestani (My Soul/Classmate) the freedom poem written by Mansour Tehrani
Ma Zendeh Be Aaneem Ke Aaraam Nageereem
We are alive by virtue of our restlessness
Mojeem Ke Asoodegi-y-e-Ma Adam-e-Maast
We are like waves that die through calm
Yar-e-Dabestani-y-e-man
My old school mate
Ba Man-o-Hamrah-e-Manee
You are with me and by my side
Choob-e-Alefe Barsar-e-Ma
When the cane is wielded over our heads
Boghz-e-Man-o-Aah-e-Manee
You share my pain and anguish
Hak Shodeh Esm’e Man-o-To
Engraved are the names of you and I
Rooy-e-Een Takhte Siyah
On this blackboard
Tark-e-y-e-Beedaad-e-Setam
Scars of the lashes of tyranny
Maandeh Hanooz Roo Tan-e-Ma
Have stayed on our bodies
Dasht-e-Bi-Farhang-e-Ma
Our culturally desolate wilderness
Harz-e Tamaam-e-Alafhaayash
All but weeds.
Khoob Age Khoob Bad Age Bad
Be it good or bad
Dast-e-Man-o To Baayad Een Pardeh Raa Paareh Konad
My hands and your hands have to tear down this curtain
Kee Be Joz Man-o-To Dard-e-Maaro Chaare Konad
Who other than you or I will find the cure to our ills
Yar-e-Dabestani-y-e-Man.