Larijani gets owned by students at Shiraz University!

Student to Larijani: 'I don't accept you as the head of the Iranian Majlis and I don't accept the Majlis as representative of the Iranian people'...

استاندار قزوین

Amnesty Student Conference 2008: Action for the Iranian Women's Campaign For Equality

Iran: Seven Faces of Civilisation

Hossein Derakhshan aka Hoder the blogger arrested

Hossein, AKA Hoder the blogger was 'arrested' nine days ago in Tehran, Iran. He had recently moved back from London/Paris to Iran after complaining that he's been forced into seclusion and irrelevancy by the Iranian community in exile.

His charges include spying for Israel and endangering Islamic Iran's national security. The news of his arrest has been circulating for the last few days and it has just been confirmed by the right wing Baztab Online which is sourced from a recent article in Jahan News.

Quds Day Protest in northern Iran

Quds day protest in northern Iran!!!

Protests at Pasargad

29th Oct 2009 - Fars Province, Iran: More than two thousand people showed up to commemorate the great king Cyrus or Kourosh, the founder of Persian empire and in his own right, the first human rights crusader of the ancient times.

More than forty people were arrested and a number of injuries have been reported as the result of Basijis and the police charging at people with stones, chains and sticks after one of the attendees read a poem dedicated to the great king.

Slogans of the day were:"Iran is our home, Kourosh is our father", "Kourosh is our leader until our last breath" and "The freedom of thought is our undeniable right" referring to IRI's slogan of Atomic Energy is our undeniable right!

This incredible footage was taken on the scene:

Forood Fooladvand - Round up of Events

I would like to start by pinching parts of Marguerite Del Giudice’s feature article in National Geographic Magazine, titled: Persia: Ancient Soul of Iran. It is only in this context that we will understand the plight of the hero of this article, Forood Fooladvand.

“By the time the Arabs arrived, bringing what was for them the new idea of worshiping a single God, Persians had been doing it for more than a millennium.

The Arabs who conquered Iran are commonly regarded [by Iranians] as having been little more than Bedouin [tribes] living in tents, with no culture of their own aside from what Iran gave them, and from the vehemence with which they are still railed against, you would think it happened not 14 centuries ago but last week.

An irony is that the Islamic revolution—at times referred to in Iran as the "second Arab invasion"—appears to have strengthened the very ties to antiquity that it tried so hard to sever; it has roused that part of the national identity that remains connected to the idea, memorialized in places like Persepolis and Pasargad”

Forood Fooladvand: A New ‘Soupy’ Hero?

The experience of watching Iranian Sat TV is very ‘soupy’ to say the least.

It is usually a broth of tiresome rhetoric from a bunch of overly nostalgic (and out of touch) expats who are full of speculation and misinformation. Forever accompanying this soup is a healthy side of commercial minded dream merchants. “Persian rugs are all under $195.00 and a percentage of each sale goes toward overthrowing the regime”!

Indeed!

So it was in this context that I first came across Fattollah Manouchehry AKA Forood Fooladvand, the leader of ‘Anjoman-e-Padeshahi’ or Kingdom Assembly of Iran. I was sat in my cousin’s basement flicking through Iranian satellite TV channels as they beamed in from LA and Europe. It was early 2002 and time was ripe for another ‘Soupy’ Hero! What proceeded was mind-blowing. My Cousin recalls:

“[I remember] a strangely charismatic man doing a solo presentation on TV. The décor was basic with him sat behind a desk with a Persian flag, telephone, some books and a remote control. [He operated from a makeshift studio set up in his North London Council flat.] It turned out that he did not need anything else! We watched mesmerised for the next three hours.

The program was routinely interrupted by phone calls, sometimes on both his mobile phone and the landline. It was comedy you couldn’t create if you tried. The remote control operated the camera, which meant he could zoom in and out of book pages without leaving his chair. It was truly a one-man production team. He was a great storyteller.

Fooli, as we nicknamed him was giving a different account of Persian/Iranian history, one that we had never heard before. His specialist subject was the Persian History up to and including the defeat by Moslem Arabs 1400 years ago. Fooli’s confidence in his subject matter was based on his mastery of the Arabic language, which he used to translate reference Arabic books including Koran, school textbooks and history books. This, he did live on camera, first reading the original text in his distinctive Arabic voice and then translating it into Farsi phrase-by-phrase. Fooli dissected page by page, the individual braveries, treacheries, greed and humiliation in this period of [our] history.”

It later transpired that Fooladvand had talked a satellite service provider into giving him a five-day trial run in preparation for a longer contract. Following the fifth-day trial of his one-man show, my cousin (like so many others) who had become very intrigued by Fooladvand –sent him a letter of encouragement and support.

“I didn’t hear anything back from Fooli for a few months after my letter. I was at work when Fooli called and instantly recognised his voice. He needed some advice on technology and wanted to meet up. A few days later when we did meet up, he was warm, polite and a true gentleman. Fooli referred to himself mockingly but proudly as a ‘LOR’. I expected his feelings towards the Mullahs but was shocked by his anger and disgust at [fellow opposition TV presenters] like Shabkhiz, Zia and Meibodi who he felt were either traitors or going too softly softly. Although a Monarchist, Fooli had very little patience for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi who in his opinion was not doing enough at this ‘Hour of Need’. He disliked a lot of people. But his love and passion for Iran and its people was electrifying.”

Fooladvand secured some limited funds to buy more time from the service provider but every now and then he would go off air for a while and he finally stopped broadcasting on Sat TV altogether. He then only broadcast online in what seemed to be a series of angry lectures. Offensive yet poignant, he made his impact. He had said what every Iranian had kept bottled inside for centuries after the onslaught of Arab Bedouins. He believed that our problems as a country, and as a culture, had all began after the forced conversion to Islam from Zoroastrianism.

Mr. Fouladvand then went on a fast-track to notoriety. He became a hated figure in some circles and a hero in others. You either loved him or hated him. His sermons were discussed and debated. He was thought provoking, educational, controversial and offensive. He was a great topic for late night discussions.

OPERATION THUNDER

Operation ‘Tondar’ or ‘Thunder’ was the brainchild of Mr. Fouladvand and Anjoman-e-Padashahi's leaders from inside Iran who were apparently a shadowy group of wise old men from all corners of the country. In the first instance however, they needed to establish this movement. Anjoman took care of this by designing and carrying out a series of highly publicised PR stunts using the newly found supporters of Fooladvand. They were small in numbers but organised and effective. They made sure that those who should have paid attention did so. Both friend and foe.

And so it began on 9th of March 2005. This, their first stunt, came to be Anjoman’s most controversial European venture when 60+ of its members were detained by Belgian police after staging a sit-in on a Lufthansa plane at Brussels airport for nearly 16 hours.

17th of May 2005, Brussels – Anjoman organises around 151 cars with about 200 passengers to stage a protest by chaining their cars together outside the European courts and bringing the area into a stand still.

Soon after, another stunt takes place in Holland. On 26th May 2005, 48 cars and 12 mini buses staged a demonstration in front of the International courts in Hague.

This small group of dedicated followers from diaspora had proven to be a highly organised bunch. Fooladvand had showcased his support-base to be a viable force that can be utilised effectively and within a short space of time. The next stage of operation Thunder was to be spearheaded by Fooladvand from inside of Iran.

Inside Iran, Anjoman demonstrated their capability when they bombed the Sivand dam and delayed its construction. Sivand dam is a highly controversial project. Besides the certain flooding of 130 archaeological sites, larger concern has been levied at the dam's effect on nearby World Heritage Sites, particularly Pasargad, an ancient capital of the Persian Empire built by Cyrus the Great and the site of his tomb. Click for video evidence of the bombing here.

TRIP TO IRAN

In late 2006 and en route to Iran, Fooladvand talks of treachery and the possibility of infiltration by members of Iran’s intelligence. He informs his listeners that he has become aware of an entity claiming to be a supporter from inside who is setting a trap for Anjoman’s members and supporters.

The last contact was made on the 17th of January 2007.

Fooladvand’s last broadcasts (Part One & Two) on the 17th of January contain some very interesting information. He mentions that they are inside the Iranian border. He describes his surroundings and the villagers who are looking after them. This information was seldom referred to as rumours began to spread of his kidnapping in early 2007.

It is February 2007 and the word on the street is that Fooladvand and companions have been kidnapped by the intelligence branch of the Revolutionary Guards There are speculations about an ambushed car in Hakikiri, a Turkish border town with Iran.

23rd of August 2007 - Quds Daily, Iran’s hard-line news agency dismisses any claim that Fooladvand is held in Iran. They brand him a lackey of the British Intelligence and hint at him being a charlatan. He is deemed a ‘Mohareb’ or a person who has taken arms against Islam, a crime punishable by execution.

It wasn’t until the 11th of April 2008, when a bomb goes off in a mosque in central city of Shiraz that we hear of Fooladvand again. The blast killed and injured many of the devout, and Iran’s intelligence circles started pointing the finger to Fooladvand’s group. Tondar.com, Fooladvand’s official website claims responsibility for the attack. Mostafa Poumohammadi, a high-ranking cleric linked to the Intelligence Ministry reports the arrest of at least six persons in relation to the Shiraz bombing as Mohsen Ejhei, Minister of Intelligence reports on the arrest of 15 people in connections to the bombing and hints at Anjoman's involvement. As per usual the group is linked to Britain, America and Israel! Even BBC Persian offers their version of events.

It is widely speculated by the Iranian community and media [in diaspora] that the bombing had the stamp of Iranian intelligence all over it! They apparently needed a pretext for a wider crackdown on Iranian dissidents, more specifically Bahai's. It seemed viable too because it would not have been the first time that Islamist militants had carried out such an attack on civilians to serve their own means and purposes. The fire that engulfed Cinema Rex in Abadan and resulted in the killing of 430 individuals at the beginning of Iran’s Islamic revolution is a prime example.

Amnesty International has now documented That Mr. Fooladvand and two accomplices may be facing threat of torture and ill treatment or possibly the death penalty in an Iranian prison.

Kianoush, Mr. Fouladvand’s son (of two sons and four daughters) has reported to have received a number of threatening phone calls from anonymous callers claiming to hold Mr. Fouladvand. Kianoush tells radio Farda:

‘Once when conversation got heated on the phone, they asked me if I wanted to hear my dad’s voice to know that they meant business. They then gave the phone to my dad and I heard someone say: ‘manam, Baba!’ Its me daddy. I screamed: what do you want from us? They replied: just keep quite and don’t talk about this [Fouladvand] to anyone especially the press!’

THE TWIST

Soon after her brother’s interview with Radio Farda, Shokoufeh Manouchehry, Fooli’s daughter claims that he is alive but no one is aware of his whereabouts. She says that it had been a plan all along to lose contact with London and US offices after a certain date because 'traitors and moles' had been identified!

21st of June 2008:
Islamic Revolution Document Centre publishes an article claiming that the British are enquiring after Mr. Fooladvand’s whereabouts from the Iranian officials. Britain is once again blamed to be the ‘evil doer’ behind everything!

22nd of June 2008:
Sharareh Manouchehry, another of Fooladvand’s daughters who lives in Holland, is interviewed on a Persian Sat TV station. She states that her father is well and is currently in Israel. Jahan News Agency, another of Iran’s hard-line outlets revels in the new discovery that Israel’s secret services were behind Fouladvand all along!

??

Was Fooladvand working for the US or British intelligence? Seems unlikely. He was even once arrested and allegedly shot at by UK police for incitement to religious hatred. Coincidentally, his arrest took place on the eve of Ahmadinejad's election.

It is highly unlikely that he received funding from hostile sources though some believe this was the case. He first appeared during the reign of Khatami's government when countries were bending over backward to make deals with the regime and to cut them concessions to secure the lucrative oil and gas contracts. Absolutely nobody wanted some 'TV revolutionary' to sully this flourishing (lucrative) relationship.

We are also now aware of his TV station’s humble beginnings and how it needed funding and the reason it went under!

There is no doubt that information from sources close to Fooladvand, are neither conclusive nor reliable. They appear to be very confusing and each offer a different version of the events and of the man himself. Interestingly, they all tie in very well with Fooladvand's own action plan: that he will sever all contacts with US and London offices, as well as his family, after a certain point and that no one apart from his companions and those looking after him in Iran will be aware of his whereabouts.

There has been a lot of effort to keep the news conflicting from all sides, too much effort!!

The appearance of notorious charlatans like Hakha who appeared a year after Fooladvand’s first broadcast, and soon disappeared from the radars after banking thousands in contribution funds donated by his Sat TV viewers, may be a good testament to how Iran’s intelligence has tried to neutralise Fooladvand’s message and make a mockery of him. And it worked too!

We may not agree with his (speculated) Guerilla warfare tactics and the killing of Iranians (Basiji or not). We certainly don't have to! But we have to give Fooladvand one thing, he had conviction and he had the balls to accomplish what he had set out to do: to make an impact and give us all an angry wakeup call!

Marguerite Del Giudice in her article in the National Geographic concludes that:

"There has been a constant onslaught on Iranian identity, and the reaction has almost always been to return to that deepest identity. Inside every Iranian there is an emperor or an empress. That is for sure."

Iranian Underground Church is Growing

Iranian

Viva La Resistance!

It's about time I introduced a brand new Iranian band to you all. They have been going for a while actually but my 'koongoshadi' has up until now prevented me to write about them! They are called Hypernova, a bunch of dudes from Tehran who are currently touring the US. I personally think they may run into some issues if they decide to go back to Iran but I hope not! Check out their debut single 'Viva La Resistance' from their album: 'Through the Chaos'. They released their fist single 'Fairytales...' in early 2007. In my view they are the true voice of opposition, a million times as effective as some of the old dinosaurs currently 'representin'!