18 Aug 11 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Guidance has this week refused publication of Nezami’s Khosro and Shirin, a love story read by generations as a classic of Persian literature.
Writers and publishers in Iran are well-versed in the language of the censors, but this latest incision has come as a shock to all, with members of the literary community voicing their outrage and concern. One can only guess that it is the beautiful depictions of Shirin’s “embrace” of her husband Khosro that have been deemed unsuitable or even “indecent”, according to the regime’s tapered view.
Thousands of books await the censor’s eye with huge backlogs arising from the number of applications from some 70,000 publishing houses, but also the time that censors devote to assessing existing publications. Omid Nifarjam, himself a translator of books by Nabakov and other non-Iranian writers into the Persian language, provides an excellent insight into the situation.
Perhaps the spoken word is all that can remain untouched, delivered clandestinely by the brave. In this clip, prolific contemporary poet Hila Sedighi recites a poem of protest against the atrocities of the Islamic republic (begins at 0:41 seconds). She refers to Rustam and Siavosh, heroes in classical epic poetry, and declares, “of a country of philosophy and poems and piety, we’re left with ignorance and anger and denial”.
09 Aug 11 | Asia and Pacific, China, Iran, Middle East and North Africa
State media in China and Iran have both offered their two cents in response to the riots that have swept the UK over the past three days.
A commentator at Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, opined that this sort of chaos is precisely the result of a lack of censorship of social networking websites:
The West have been talking about supporting internet freedom, and oppose other countries’ government to control this kind of websites, now we can say they are tasting the bitter fruit [of their complacency] and they can’t complain about it.
News agency Xinhua, remembering Beijing’s smooth staging of the 2008 Olympics, said:
After the riots, the image of London has been severely damaged, leaving the people sceptical and worried about the public security situation during the London Olympics.
Meanwhile, Press TV reported that Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast “urged the British government to order the police to stop their violent confrontation with the people.” He also “asked independent human rights organisations to investigate the killing in order to protect the civil rights and civil liberties.”
15 Jul 11 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Statements
Letter to Ayatollah Larijani
from Index on Censorship, Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists,
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
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09 Jun 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Sakhi Rigi was sentenced to 20 years in prison today for critiquing the 2009 Iranian presidential elections on his blog. He was arrested in 18 June 2009 and has received the longest sentence given to an Iranian blogger. Yesterday (8 June) Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan lost his appeal against a 19-year prison sentence. Known as the “blogfather,” Derakhshan championed the internet as a means of social reform. He has been in prison since his arrest in 2008 for making disparaging remarks about important Shiite leaders. Both Derakhshan and Rigi were convicted of “aiding enemy states and propaganda against the Islamic system.”
