Jailed Iranian Filmmaker Challenges Supreme Leader

Iranian filmmaker and journalist Mohammad Nourizad has written an open letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arguing that the United States does more to protect religious freedom and moral values than Iran, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Nourizad -- who has been in Tehran's Evin prison since August --- wrote in his letter on October 10 that since Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election, violations of people's privacy has become more common.

He said religious mobs have attacked the home of Ayatollah Yusef Sanei, a critic of Khamenei. In the United States, by contrast, he said personal privacy is strictly protected by law.

Nourizad previously wrote for the conservative newspaper "Keyhan" and said he fully supported Khamenei until last year's controversial presidential election caused him to speak out against the government.

He was arrested late last year after publishing several open letters on his blog deemed as disrespectful to Khamenei and other senior officials. He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. He also was sentenced to 50 lashes on charges that remain unclear.

He was released on June 24 but summoned back to prison in August after writing a blog post that was critical of Khamenei.

Referring in his letter to religious freedom in the United States, Nourizad wrote: "The American judicial authority defends Muslims' rights and allows them to build mosques just a short distance from the Twin Towers. But in Islamic Iran, Sunni Muslims are not allowed their own mosque to worship without fear in Tehran."

Comparing morality in Iran and the United States, Nourizad wrote: "Americans have been brought up in such a way that they seldom lie, while lying is clearly evident among the people and authorities in our country."

He asked: "The chances of an American prosecutor telling a lie are virtually nil, except in rare cases, but what about prosecutors in our country? Our prosecutors lie as easily as taking a sip of water -- they formulate and disseminate untrue rulings."

As for freedom of speech, Nourizad wrote to Khamenei: "You are the only person in Iran who has freedom of speech, while everyone in America has freedom of speech."

He continued: "We are Muslims but tainted by hypocrisy, while [Americans] who seem to be pagans do not know hypocrites. You, as an imam, should issue a fatwa and tell us which nation is closer to God."

Nourizad said there are no political prisoners in the United States but many in Iran.

Nourizad concluded his letter by saying that Islam coexists peacefully with other faiths in the United States, but claimed that is not the case in Iran or Afghanistan.

> the United States does more to protect religious freedom
> and moral values than Iran

Only that some religions are more equal than others. Islam gets way more religious freedom than Christianity. While the Cambridge, MA, school system is deprecating “Christmas” to “Winter Holiday”, they have announced that they will be closing schools for at least one Mohammedan holiday starting in 2011.

As for morals, yeah, if fisting, gerbilling, golden showers, carpet munching, sodomy, and indiscriminate sex are your idea of morals, yeah.

> Do you realize this is a man in Iranian prison

Probably one of the reasons he doesn’t know what’s going on with religious freedom and morality here in the States.

The ACLU is leading the effort to crush Christian religious expression, while Mohammedan religious expression enjoys all the benefits of religious freedom.

Freedom of speech is being crushed by Political Correctness.

And morality is basically in the sewer. Just compare modern TV, movie, and musical fare to that of 40 years ago.

Not to mention “Gay Pride” parades where sodomites prance about naked and practice their perverse sex acts in broad daylight for all to see. Including children.

My understanding is that religious freedom, particularly in relation to muslims has a long history in the U.S.

“In 1776, John Adams published “Thoughts on Government,” in which he praises the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a “sober inquirer after truth” alongside Confucius, Zoroaster, Socrates, and other “pagan and Christian” thinkers.”

Read more in the section “Religious Freedom” about the views of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_States#cite_note-23 - (I know it’s wiki, but assertions in the link are well referenced to other more ‘bona fide’ external sources there.)

I also read/hear that most Arab & generally Muslim Americans, on domestic issues & social values, share much with the Republicans (the more Muslim you are, the likelier you are to identify with the Evangelical side of the Republican Party platform). Issues such as: abortion, right to bear arms, gambling, lower taxes, evolution, death penalty, homosexuality, and so on..

However, Party affiliation does not carry much weight with the Arab voter.

George W Bush, for example, received almost 80% of the Muslim vote in the 2000 Presidential election. However, his support among Muslims declined sharply by the 2004 election. (most likely because of new laws after 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq).

http://middleeast.about.com/od/usmideastpolicy/a/me080922.htm

As for the guy mentioned in the article, he won’t get anywhere by writing letters in Islamic Iran, which is ruled by an Islamic oligarchy & backed by Islamic Revolutionary Guards & Bassiji militia, with all the trimmings of Sharia law. A reason countries such as the U.S. have religious & other freedoms is because the Constitution of the U.S. (unlike Islamic Iran) is a Secular one. Moreover, the U.S. is a Democracy, not a theocracy. My impression from reading this article is that perhaps Nourizad wants an Islamic democracy. If so, he shouldn’t hold his breath.

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