Two weeks ago I wrote of Tehran Bus Workers’ Union treasurer Reza Shahabi, eight days into a dry hunger strike (nil by mouth) at Evin Prison. Shahabi’s demand for basic rights for he and his fellow workers in the first instance and for justice with regards to his arrest and imprisonment for this very fight in the second, lasted 16 days. He ended his hunger strike on 19 December following calls from workers unions worldwide who sent statements in his support including one from the TUC “On behalf of the British trade union movement, and its 6.2m members”.
Reza Shahabi now sends a New Year message of thanks from his prison ward:
To workers and workers’ organisations throughout the world!
On the occasion of the coming New Year 2011, I would like to extend my congratulations to my beloved co-workers and fellow-workers throughout the world.
While my fellow workers and I have been incarcerated for our advocacy of workers’ rights in Iran, and our demands for the creation of independent workers’ organisations in Iran, many workers’ organisations throughout the world have rallied in our support, and have condemned the treatment we have received in jail.
While I was on hunger strike, I received a multitude of support from workers and their organisations throughout the world. I would like to acknowledge and thank each of you for your messages of solidarity.
I hope that through our solidarity we shall be able to overcome all obstacles in achieving our goals of justice, freedom and equality, and through our daily efforts transcend capitalism and achieve what rightly belongs to us.
I wish for a day when all of us will be able to live a decent and humane life, without any wars or violence.
Finally I wish you all a happy New Year, full of success, health and unity.
Index on Censorship calls on Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, head of the judiciary in Iran, to overturn the sentences handed down this week to the film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. Jafar Panahi was sentenced this week to six years in prison for “colluding in the gathering and making of propaganda against the regime”. He is also banned from making films, writing scripts, travelling abroad and talking to the media for 20 years. Mohammad Rasoulof also received a prison sentence of six years.
In a letter to Ayatollah Larijani, Index on Censorship’s chief executive John Kampfner says:
We would like to remind you that Iran’s own constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, the essential condition for any artist to engage in their work and enjoy the freedom to create. We therefore ask you to guarantee this most fundamental of human rights to Mr Panahi, Mr Rasoulof and all artists, academics and journalists currently facing similar sentences.
Index on Censorship urges the Iranian government to recognise Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof as ambassadors for Iran’s creative culture, instead of treating them as criminals. “The Islamic Republic’s continuing crackdown on artists, journalists and writers can only harm the future of its people,” writes John Kampfner in his letter.
Jafar Panahi is amongst Iran’s leading film directors. His first film The White Balloon won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 1995 and he was awarded the Golden Lion in 2000 for his film The Circle.
Speaking in support of Jafar Panahi, documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto says:
Jafar Panahi has been an inspiration for me and my friends for many years. His poetic, sensitive and gripping films tell complex stories with well-rounded characters that he treats with great affection and respect. His films never tell us what to think, or give easy answers — they allow us to discover things for ourselves. He gives me hope for a future where men and women can truly identify with one another’s experiences.
Mourning means different things to different people. Even within one culture. But the month of Moharram, (7 December–4 January) the first month of the Islamic Calendar with its decrees and limitations is interpreted beyond the letter in Iran. To many citizens it typifies a period of imposed, false uniformity bereft of self expression and an even stricter call for abstinence from any of life’s simpler pleasures. In fact the word Moharrammeans inviolable. The inviolable code of conduct includes the requirement that people of all ages refrain from wearing coloured garments of any description, and do not listen to music other than the ceremonial religious strains played on the radio to mark the period. The tone extends to modern television; amazingly cartoon serials are re-modelled, their jittery soundtracks replaced with more appropriately sombre sotto voce pieces.
This September marked the launch of director Mehran Modiri’s brilliant and hugely entertaining made-for-television –– and immediately barred from television — Ghahveye Talkh (Bitter Coffee), a historical satire set in the Iranian calendar year 1200. I for one am hooked, and was all set to watch episode 23 when the series was as quickly as it had come online, taken offline. Indeed the month of Moharram — clearly now observed online too — was underway, demanding that fans abstain from their Bitter Coffee wherever in the world they may be, regardless of their religious conviction. In Iran the series, sold weekly in three-episode sets, will not again be available until the end of this month of mourning during which laughter is haram or forbidden.
This observance extends to far and wide, the chief of Tehran’s transport police has outlawed any kind of expression through ones car. No writing, banners, dice or other suspended memorabilia is tolerated on the road, “primarily for safety reasons” he said, “but to be especially observed during the month of mourning”. Last year’s Ashura, (the 10th day of Moharram, marking the day that Imam Hossein was killed in the Battle of Karbala), ended in fresh bloodshed as post-election protestors adopted what had traditionally been the ceremonial green of Hossein and Ashura. No doubt the chief of police was preempting the adornment of cars with green banners.
In the Battle of Karbala one side was made up of the supporters of Hossein, the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson. On the other side was a military detachment from the forces of Yazid, the Umayyad caliph. This year on the eve of Ashura, defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi referred to the Battle saying “We’re not Yazid and you [the leadership] Hossein, nor are we Hossein, and you Yazid. We need to open dialogue to establish who was right. He who conducted himself honourably [in the elections] is Hossein and he who conducted himself badly is Yazid. And that is the only way forward, to open dialogue and see who stood against the rights of the people in a “Yazidi” method.”
The acclaimed photographer Reza went one step further in his analogy to underline the hypocrisy of Iran’s leadership by creating a Taziyeh featuring the now familiar faces of the martyrs of the post-election brutality –– Neda, Sohrab and Taraneh – instead of the martyrs of Karbala, their names depicted in full alongside other fallen citizens in the classical Persian calligraphy of the genre. Taziehs, a genre of plays and poems commemorating the Battle of Karbala became popular after the adoption of the Shi’a faith in Iran. The religious value of these works is profound. Reza’s satirical version was made in 2009 fresh from the aftermath, but was again resonant on activist sites this week.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in prison for “colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the regime”. Panahi has also been banned from directing films or speaking to the press for 20 years.
