Friday
Jul272007
Nasty Iran, Persepolis
Issandr El Amrani
Activists' parents accuse Tehran of torturing their sons:
Fears that Iran is systematically mistreating political prisoners and dissidents have been further fuelled after the parents of three detained student activists claimed their sons had been tortured.Two weeks ago I got to see the animated feature version of Persepolis. One of the things I drives home very effectively is that the fundamentalist regime in Iran has been much, much worse in terms of human rights and torture (never mind personal freedoms) than the old Shah regime, with its notorious CIA-trained SAVAK security service, ever was. Even more so, the film makes a very effective point in showing how fundamentally retarded that government was, much like any government that seeks to police the private moral life of its citizens -- in other words, an extreme version of what the "secular" regimes in many Arab countries have resorted to. Think of Egypt, and those trials to forcibly divorce public figures judged to be apostates, or the current contradictory statements of the Mufti, or among the opposition of the ridiculous moral crusades regularly brought out by the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or the PJD and its supporters (such as at-tajdid newspaper) in Morocco.
In a letter to the country's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the parents alleged that the students have suffered a catalogue of physical and psychological abuses since being incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison in May.
Reader Comments (7)
Where might one find a copy of Persepolis film?
thanks
It is a big mistake to watch an Iranian film. Arabs must express the rejection of Iran-whether Iran of shah or Iran of the retarded Khomeinis. I just can't understand how would anyone on this planet claim to be an Arab without hating Iran for its destruction and barabric crimes in Iraq.
Iran is the biggest enemy of Arab culture in the middle east. A country of dissillusioned medivals who are fuelled by their jealousy and grudge o Arabs, criminals who want to wipe out the Arab ientity of Iraq using methods Adolf Hitler himself could have never imagined- drilling heads of people, acidifying them. ethnic cleansing of Iraquis and turning millions of them intorefugees to pave the way for the new IRANIAN SETTLERS
Amre, of the many strange commenters I get on this blog you're possibly the strangest. Go watch the movie if you can -- it's good no matter how you feel about Iranian influence in the region.
JRaine, Persepolis is in French and was recently released in Europe. Considering the success of the comic books I'm sure it'll be released in English (or at least with English subtitles since it uses top-notch actors like Catherine Deneuve for the voices). At people in London or major US cities should be able to catch it, if you're from that part of the world. Otherwise I've already seen copies on Bitorrent sites.
Ummm... Savak used to dissolve people in acid. Strap them down to wire bed frames connected to electrical currents and burn their backs with scars that'd last forever. Stick stuff up old people's genitals.
I'm not a fan of the current regime, but the Shah's regime was legendary for its brutality.
Morality's so passe.
Islamic culture has fed off Iran for centuries. arabs are known barbarians who have always had a taste for eating locusts and enjoying underage boys. If Islam had not been moderated by Iranian humanism it would have collapsed at the outset. Without the contribution of Iranian civilisation that Arabs would still be roaming the wastalands of their accursed Arabia.
Hmmm... tasty locusts! I like mine battered and deep-fried with a nice glass of arak.