From Lila Ghobady, Iranian artist-in-exile – why she didn’t vote in the latest elections and why Mousavi is not a real alternative to Ahmadinejad. No matter who is the president of
Iran, the state, she writes, would would stone her.
As a journalist and filmmaker, I am called upon by the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect the red lines. These “red lines” include belief and respect for the Supreme Leader and the savagely unjust rules of traditional Islamic law in my country. I am expected not to write or demand equal rights. I am not allowed to make any film without the permission and without censorship by Iran’s Minister of Culture. If I did openly do all these things in Iran, I would be disappeared, tortured and raped. I would be killed as have so many women journalists, filmmakers and activists in Iran. Among those killed include Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian photo journalist who was tortured and murdered for attempting to photograph and publicize brutalities committed by the Iranian regime.
This
is Iran. This is what it means to live under Ayotollah Khameini and his
goons. No change is possible while Iran is controlled by autocratic,
fundamentalist religious despots who determine the laws of the land.
There has been no real election. Candidates are all hand-picked and
cleared by a central religious committee. It is a farcical imitation of
the free nomination/ election process that we have pictured in the free
world. There is no possibility that a secular, pluralistic,
freedom-loving democratic person who loves his or her country can
become a candidate to run for president (or any other office) in Iran.
More here. Meanwhile, inside Iran, artist/filmmaker Mania Akbari writes about the arrest of her 17-year-old son, grabbed for wearing a green armband. Badly beaten, he was released because she has serious pull.
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