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Delaram Ali
I try to stir away from politics on this site. At least I try my hardest to represent two sides of each story. After all, Iran's government in its present form would not have survived this long had it not have its supporters ... till now. this time things are hitting home a little too close.
In June 2006, following a peaceful demonstration in Iran on women's rights, several women and organizers were arrested and charged with various crimes. This tid bit of news is not in itself that significant only because this has been going on seemingly for ever in Iran.
The next day pictures surfaced showing these women being attacked by police women armed with batons, pepper spray and cameras. And perhaps it was the mark of a slow news day. Pictures were published - of all places - in Metro News, Vancouver edition. A daily scrappy newspaper, featuring local news, advertising and limited international news.
We were shocked to see the photos and quickly the shock turned to horror as we recognized Delaram among the faces. Delaram Ali, a passionate social worker and women rights activist - she is family. This time this was personal.
I had to think hard about what I was going to write on the subject matter. I wasn't sure if I was ready to break my own rule and write about Delaram and my opinions so I decided to take a more indirect road.
So, in March 2007 I wrote an article, translating a blog written by a friend of several activitst who were arrested while participating in peacful demonstrations on women's rights issues. I will update the link to that article once I can relocate it. At the moment it seems to have been "misplaced".
Earlier this month Delaram's sentence was handed to her to dismay and disbelief of everyone, including her high profile lawyer, Shirin Ebadi ... Remember her?
What is most frustrating about this whole affair is that even though appeals are planned, even though Groups in Orkut have been formed and even though letters have started to be written on her behalf, she is only one of many. My heart is breaking, thinking of her unjust and unfair sentence, considering what a wonderful human being Delaram is. She most likely will end up having to go to jail, in a common ward among hard core criminals. I have lost count of how many similar cases I have heard of, of those who have been forever changed and broken because they have had to experience the notorious Evin Prison and its brutal guards.
Read on. At least be informed of what is going on. Perhaps knowing is half the battle. Scilence is the posion that lightens the hand of the enemy.
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Delaram's website: Has several English links and articles.
Iranians for human rights and democracy - outlines the history of this particular incident and other activists who are in the same boat.
Rooz (day) newspaper has interviewed Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, a women’s movement activist on reasons behind the harsh sentences.
Lady sun also writes on the subject in English. Some history and latest news. In fact, I liked her writings so much I am pasting one rigth here. I wish I had said it first. :)
<< Lady sun (khorshid Khanoom) >>
<< June 11, 2006 >>
Silence is the worst
The hell with football. I just got an email from one of the organizers of women’s demonstration on June 12 that she has been summoned by the intelligence authorities and she was asking us not to contact her. I read in the comment section of some Persian blogs that another activist is also summoned.
No weblog has written about it, and Herland, the organizing magazine of the demonstration, has not written anything about it either. This is not good. Transparency and spreading the word are the most important factors in such moves. Organizers of the demonstration are being threatened by the authorities. Public should know about it; first to become aware of the probable dangers awaiting them; and second, to publicize it as much as possible to get the attention of the media and the international community.
Silence is the worst thing when people become threatened or arrested by the authorities. The authorities like this silence and they usually intimidate the people they have threatened or arrested not to publicize it. Ganji wasn’t killed because media was following up his story. Sina Motallebi and other bloggers were released because the international community and the media were covering their news, and some lobbying with more moderated members of the government took place. If these people are summoned by the intelligence authorities, people should be informed about it.
I have no role in tomorrow’s demonstration. The women’s website I worked for has stopped working since a few months ago so I have no role in updating any news or photos about the demonstrations. We had some serious conflicts with the organizers of the demonstration. But I supported them and I sent lots of emails to different organizations and individuals, including Amnesty, to get their support. No matter what I think about this women’s group, they are organizing a protest for women’s rights in Iran, so I support them. But I wish they would open up their campaign, take the advice of people who have some experience in media or online campaigns, and would welcome the support of people who don’t necessarily think like them.
I wish I could tell them that they should have publicized the intelligence authorities’ threat. I wish I could tell them that they should all erase the hard of their computers, save some new files on their hard so that their previous information will not be retrieved. They should disable their blogs’ archives and erase their blogrolls. When Sina was arrested, they interrogated him about any single hyperlink he put in his blog. They asked him why he linked to site X or Y or why linked to blog X or Y. They asked him whether he had any illicit relationship with the female bloggers he has linked to. They took his computer with them and interrogated him about any single file in his computer. I hope the people who are summoned to the intelligence (and might probably, god forbids, get arrested) will take these security issues into matter.
They should assign some trusted people who live outside Iran to keep the track of their probable arrest. They should instruct them what to do if they get arrested. I just cross my fingers and hope that they know all this and they have prepared themselves and have organized a group to follow up the probable arrests. Also, I hope they will instruct the people who will participate tomorrow how to react if they will be beaten or arrested.
Herland published a piece yesterday which included some good instructions such as not chanting any slogans and not obstructing the traffic on Hafte Tir Square (the location of the demonstration.) They have insisted that people should not make any drastic move and they should be very peaceful. March 8 sitting was also peaceful but women were brutally beaten. So, I hope people will be ready for the same thing tomorrow no matter how peaceful their sitting will be.
Also, I hope they will have a journalist sitting at home at her computer, ready to cover the news live by getting the news through phone from other journalists attending the demonstration. A women’s website did it last year and it was quite effective.