Free Republic

The decision for the United States government to potentially classify the Islamic Republic's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist entity is seen by the Marze Por Gohar Party as a positive development. The Islamic Republic's own constitution clearly states the aim of this entity under the heading of “An Ideological Army” “... and so the Islamic Republic's army, and the corps of Revolutionary Guards must be organized in accordance with this aim. They have responsibility not only for the safeguarding of the frontiers, but also for a religious mission, which is Holy War (JIHAD) along the way of God,...

Imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji is on compassionate leave, said deputy prosecutor for prisons' affairs on Saturday. Mahmoud Salarkia told IRNA the inmate's leave started Friday night. He said Ganji was granted the leave to be with his family on the eve of Iranian New Year (starting March 21). Ganji, who worked for the daily newspaper Sobh-e-Emrooz, was arrested on 22 April 2000 after appearing before the press court accused of writing that leading figures, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, had been involved in the murder of opponents and intellectuals in late 1998. He...

It all started as a rather pleasant, if not exciting evening. We had heard a speech from British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw once again trying to "explain" the evil of Islamofascim in pseudo-theological, rather than political, terms. But that had been compensated for with a poem from the great mystic poet Roumi recited by Iranian journalist Nazanin Ansari. Apart from the usual contingent of "the great and the good" most of the 800 or so people present were media people and their friends, come to cheer or boo as the Foreign Press Association in London distributed its annual prizes. The...

Tehran, 11 Nov. (AKI) - Massoumeh Shafii, the wife of jailed Iranian journalist, Akbar Ganji, cries continuously. Her husband, a well-known writer and dissident, has been in jail for more than five yeards. But for the past 25 days, Shafii has not seen her husband, who has been in solitary confinement in a section that is not under the control of the Evin prison, but instead directly under the control of Iran's intelligence ministry. "One must doubt the humanity of anyone who remains silent in front of what is happening to Ganji," said Shafii in an interview with Adnkronos International...

LONDON, July 22 (IranMania) - Iran accused the United States of extensive violation of human rights both inside and outside the US soil, IRNA reported. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi reacting to interfering statement of US President George W. Bush, said, "The United States is talking about violation of human rights in Iran, while the whole world is disgusted of extensive violation of human rights in USA and by US government around the world". Issuing a statement on Tuesday, President Bush expressed regret over continuation of Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji's imprisonment, asking for his "Immediate release" and proper...

TEHRAN 15 Sept. (IPS) “The Islamic Republic of Iran, which is based on Islamic laws, not only is basically anti-democratic but also irreformable and therefore, the only way to replace it with a real democracy is a referendum, offering the Iranians to freely choose their preferred regime”, the outspoken dissident Akbar Ganji suggested. In a 60 pages pamphlet written in prison, Mr. Ganji proposes “peaceful civil disobedience” as “the best mean” to “force the hands” of the present conservative rulers to accept referendum and describes as “euphemism” President Mohammad Khatami’s theory of “religious democracy”, saying that Islam is anathema of...