Iran Bans Women from Certain Universities and Degrees

Story from The Telegraph (co.uk) -- originally reported on August 20:

Anger as Iran bans women from universities

Female students in Iran have been barred from more than 70 university degree courses in an officially-approved act of sex-discrimination which critics say is aimed at defeating the fight for equal women's rights.

By Robert Tait

3:17PM BST 20 Aug 2012

In a move that has prompted a demand for a UN investigation byIran's most celebrated human rights campaigner, the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, 36 universities have announced that 77 BA and BSc courses in the coming academic year will be "single gender" and effectively exclusive to men.

It follows years in which Iranian women students have outperformed men, a trend at odds with the traditional male-dominated outlook of the country's religious leaders. Women outnumbered men by three to two in passing this year's university entrance exam.

Senior clerics in Iran's theocratic regime have become concerned about the social side-effects of rising educational standards among women, including declining birth and marriage rates.

Under the new policy, women undergraduates will be excluded from a broad range of studies in some of the country's leading institutions, including English literature, English translation, hotel management, archaeology, nuclear physics, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering and business management.

The Oil Industry University, which has several campuses across the country, says it will no longer accept female students at all, citing a lack of employer demand. Isfahan University provided a similar rationale for excluding women from its mining engineering degree, claiming 98% of female graduates ended up jobless.

Writing to Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, and Navi Pillay, the high commissioner for human rights, Mrs Ebadi, a human rights lawyer exiled in the UK, said the real agenda was to reduce the proportion of female students to below 50% – from around 65% at present – thereby weakening the Iranian feminist movement in its campaign against discriminatory Islamic laws.

"[It] is part of the recent policy of the Islamic Republic, which tries to return women to the private domain inside the home as it cannot tolerate their passionate presence in the public arena," says the letter, which was also sent to Ahmad Shaheed, the UN's special rapporteur for human rights in Iran. "The aim is that women will give up their opposition and demands for their own rights."

The new policy has also been criticised by Iranian parliamentarians, who summoned the deputy science and higher education minister to explain.

However, the science and higher education minister, Kamran Daneshjoo, dismissed the controversy, saying that 90% of degrees remain open to both sexes and that single-gender courses were needed to create "balance".

Iran has highest ratio of female to male undergraduates in the world, according to UNESCO. Female students have become prominent in traditionally male-dominated courses like applied physics and some engineering disciplines.

Sociologists have credited women's growing academic success to the increased willingness of religiously-conservative families to send their daughters to university after the 1979 Islamic revolution. The relative decline in the male student population has been attributed to the desire of young Iranian men to "get rich quick" without going to university.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Gets Favorable Court Ruling

This is very interesting.  Does this mean that sometime in the future this case will be used a precedent when the Iranian Nazi government sues the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to get back artifacts it claims belong to the "Islamic Republic of Iran?"

Court Ruling Protects Persian Artifacts in Massachusetts
Source: National Iranian American Council (NIAC, Washington, DC

A ruling by a Massachusetts District Court yesterday will protect ancient Persian artifacts housed at Harvard University and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts from being seized as part of an attempt collect damages against the Iranian government.

In his ruling, District Judge George O’Toole, determined that the antiquities housed at Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts are not the property of the Iranian government and thus cannot be seized as part of a court case against that government.

While the decision was a victory for the university and museum community and Iranian Americans who do not want to see priceless cultural relics confiscated and auctioned off to the highest bidder, it does not apply to artifacts outside of Massachusetts.

Collections are also being targeted across the country in separate cases in Illinois, California, and Michigan. It will most likely be years before these cases are decided.
The National Iranian American Council has led efforts on behalf of the Iranian-American community to protect the Persian artifacts and supports amending the law to protect cultural property such as the Persepolis tablets.

“Today’s ruling will help protect Persian relics in Massachusetts, but elsewhere around the country the Persepolis Tablets remain threatened,” said NIAC President Trita Parsi. “The only way to ensure the Persepolis Tablets are protected is if Congress fixes the legal loophole that put these items in jeopardy in the first place.”

An amendment to close the legal loophole exists, but has not been passed by Congress. NIAC continues to press for the Persepolis amendment, which would protect all cultural items held by universities, museums and libraries, to be passed into law.

NIAC has also requested the White House’s intervention in order to protect the Persepolis tablets, and has submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the Iranian-American community to the court to ensure the Iranian-American community’s heritage is protected.

... Payvand News - 09/24/11 ... --

5,000 Year Old Civilization Found in Iran?

Yeah, right.  Even if this report is true (the Iranian press routinely lies), by the time it's published (like - now) the looters, the locals and, most efficient of all, the Revolutionary Guard, will have been there and removed anything of value.  We've seen it happen over and over again.  One prime example I reported on at Goddesschess was the discovery of Jiroft, and the rash of looting and faked antiquities that came out of the area (under the auspices of the Revolutionary Guard) within a few days of its discovery.  But, for what it is worth, here is the article. I am very very sorry for the archeologists who must work under the current regime in Iran.

Archaeologists may have found 5,000-year-old civilization in southern Iran
Tehran Times Culture Desk
January 5, 2011

TEHRAN -- A team of archaeologists working on Bam riverside in Kerman Province have recently unearthed ruins of a large ancient site, which are believed to belong to a 5000-year-old civilization.

The site was discovered while excavating for a construction project in the Khajeh Askar region near the city of Bam, team director Nader Alidadi-Soleimani told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, part of the site was damaged during the excavation,” he said.

“Based on the artifacts unearthed there, the site was one of the early places of human habitation in Iran, whose inhabitants had a connection with other civilizations such as the Jiroft civilization,” he explained.

The team has also discovered a number of pieces of intact pottery and shards. Study of the artifacts suggests that use of potter’s wheel was not common at the site.

Alidadi-Soleimani also said that two styles of burial, one for a man and another for woman, have been identified at two cemeteries discovered at the site.

One of the bodies was buried in a fetal position and another was lying face up.

The bodies had been buried with various artifacts. A seashell containing chromatic material used for women’s cosmetics was found beside one of the bodies.

The Jiroft civilization was discovered next to the Halil-Rud River in Kerman Province in 2002 when reports surfaced of extensive illegal excavations and plundering of priceless historical items in the area by locals.

Since 2002, five excavation seasons have been carried out at the Jiroft site under the supervision of Yusef Majidzadeh, leading to the discovery of a ziggurat made of more than four million mud bricks dating back to about 2200 BC.

Many ancient ruins and interesting artifacts have been excavated by archaeologists at the Jiroft ancient site, which is known as the “archeologists’ lost heaven”.

After the numerous unique discoveries in the region, Majidzadeh declared Jiroft to be the cradle of art. [Well, it's not.] Many scholars questioned the theory since no writings or architectural structures had yet been discovered at the site, but shortly afterwards his team discovered inscriptions at Konar Sandal Ziggurat, causing experts to reconsider their opinions about it. [Not the oldest evidence for 'writing', however, so blah blah.]

The Konar Sandal inscriptions are older than the Inshushinak inscription, suggesting that the recently discovered inscriptions link Proto Elamite script, which first appeared in Susa about 2900 BC, with Old Elamite, which was used between about 2250 and 2220 BC.

Many Iranian and foreign experts see the findings in Jiroft as signs of a civilization as great as Sumer and ancient Mesopotamia. Majidzadeh believes that Jiroft is the ancient city of Aratta, which was described as a great civilization in a Sumerian clay inscription. [This last comment is pure propaganda and clear evidence of the current Iranian regime's religious inferiority complex to Iraq's religious sect].

Antiquities Thieves Hit Sassinid Site in Southwest Iran

The key to understanding what is really going on in this article is knowing that sites known to contain pre-Islamic antiquities are deliberately left unguarded by the fundamentalist regime for two primary reasons: (1) the Revolutionary Guard makes millions each year off the illegal antiquities market and (2) the fundamentalist regime wishes to destroy all pre-Islamic sites, whether of historical significance or not, that may remind people of what Iran was like before it was hijacked by the fundy nut-cases.  What a shame.

From The Tehran Times
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | Volume: 10923
Smugglers sack Sassanid site in southwest Iran
Tehran Times Culture Desk

TEHRAN -- Smugglers of cultural heritage have looted a Sassanid structure located in the Baghmalek region in northeast Khuzestan Province.

Members of the Baghmalek Cultural Heritage Enthusiasts Society, who recently visited the ruins of site, found shards scattered around the illegal excavations dug by the Smugglers, society director Yunes Shafiei told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.  Photo: The ruins of the Dalkhuni Fort and an excavation created by smugglers at the Sassanid fort are shown in a combination photo. Notice the holes from the illegal digging. (Photos by Taryana)


The structure, known by the locals as the Dalkhuni Fort, was used by local rulers after the defeat of the Sassanid Empires.

Initial studies show that the shards date back to the Seljuk era, Shafiei said.

Since the fort lies on a hill surrounded by agricultural land, farmers do not welcome experts on cultural heritage who occasionally visit this site, he noted.

Khuzestan Cultural Heritage Enthusiasts Society (Taryana) spokesman Mojtaba Gahestuni also cofirmed the report.

The smugglers have created several digs to find artifacts at the Dalkhuni Fort, he stated.

The fort had been used as an outpost to protect caravans passing through the region in past periods, he said.

According to Gahestuni, only 6 out of 150 ancient historical sites in the Baghmalek region have been registered on the Iranian National Cultural Heritage List. Even those few on the list are not being safeguarded by the relevant governmental organizations, he lamented.

The governmental organizations lack the necessary staff to safeguard the sites and also do not allow NGOs and cultural heritage enthusiasts societies to intervene, Gahestuni added.

The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) is responsible for monuments and ancient sites in Iran.

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I received an education on the subject of illegal antiquities trade and what's been going on in Iran while doing background research for the article The Jiroft Gameboards, published at Goddesschess in 2005 and updated in 2007.  If you're interested, please check it out.

Iranians Fake Video of Defector and Say He Was Kidnapped

Yeah, so according to the official script of the Iranians, this dude was abducted by the Great Satan's Agents of Evil and forced to spill all of the Iranian government's nuclear development secrets. He was mercilessly tortured and drugged - they would know all of the intimate details, of course, since the Iranians are so good at torturing their own citizens. And lo and behold, this kidnapped, abused and tortured scientist just happens to have free and easy access to a computer with a camera and headset so he can make a video of himself to tell everyone in Iran that he was abducted and tortured, and now he's living in the American Southwest and doing just fine (presumably after the Agents of Evil turned him loose). Oh - almost forgot -- and the fabulous Agents on the Side of the Angels, Allah's Raiders, somehow managed to get hold of this video and it is now being broadcast on Iran's official news network.  Right...   Well, I suppose there are some Iranians who may believe it, no matter what.  Remember what P.T. Barnum said...

From BBC News:
Videos deepen mystery over Iran nuclear scientist Amiri
Tuesday, 8 June 2010 20:02 UK

Scientific Islam: Iran Fundies Say Promiscuous Women Cause Earthquakes...

Darlings!  Writing this evening from Sin City USA - fabulous Las Vegas!  I'm wiling away some time before my dinner plans later this evening.  The weather is like Milwaukee's, LOL!  Honestly, Isis swears, it was in the 80s yesterday, and so I heard the weather people on local television lamenting earlier today :)

Now tell me - how can a woman be promiscuous unless a man is there to take advantage?  Evidently, under the fundamentalist view of Islam, men of faith are soooooo weak they just cannot help themselves when it comes to an alluring woman whispering sweet nothings in their ear.  Poor dudes.  So easily led by their - er, nether parts.  It's amazing any men have survived at all - except they seem to be exempt from the punishment for performing the sin of fornication. It's the women who bear the brunt - they are stoned to death.

I'll bet a lot of those Islamic fundy dudes are haunted, too, by the spirits of the innocent women they have caused to be put to death.... No wonder Islamic fundies are scared to death of women.  So scared, in fact, they cover them from head to foot in burkas and chadras and etc. and those wicked floosies STILL manage to seduce unsuspecting Muslim dudes and be promiscuous.  It's a miracle, I tell ya.  Maybe the Pope should investigate.

Oh - this is a real hoot - the article is from The Salt Lake City Tribune.   Mormon jokes, anyone?  LOL!

Iranian cleric says promiscuous women cause earthquakes
The Associated Press
Updated: 04/21/2010 01:47:17 PM MDT

Beirut » A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Iran is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric's unusual explanation for why the earth shakes follows a prediction by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit Tehran and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate.

"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which [consequently] increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Women in the Islamic Republic are required by law to cover from head to toe, but many, especially the young, ignore some of the more strict codes and wear tight coats and scarves pulled back that show much of the hair.

"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?" Sedighi asked during a prayer sermon Friday. "There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes."  [Dude, how about getting rid of unsafe buildings and rebuilding them with all those billions of oil revenue the Islamic Republic is supposedly earning - oh, sorry, forgot - that is being funneled into Swiss accounts of the top 200,000 or so in the Republican Guard...]

Seismologists have warned for at least two decades that it is likely the sprawling capital will be struck by a catastrophic quake in the near future.

Some experts have even suggested Iran should move its capital to a less seismically active location. Tehran straddles scores of fault lines, including one more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) long, though it has not suffered a major quake since 1830.

In 2003, a powerful earthquake hit the southern city of Bam, killing 31,000 people -- about a quarter of that city's population -- and destroying its ancient mud-built citadel.

"A divine authority told me to tell the people to make a general repentance. Why? Because calamities threaten us," said Sedighi, Tehran's acting Friday prayer leader.

Referring to the violence that followed last June's disputed presidential election, he said, "The political earthquake that occurred was a reaction to some of the actions (that took place). And now, if a natural earthquake hits Tehran, no one will be able to confront such a calamity but God's power, only God's power. ... So let's not disappoint God."

The Iranian government and its security forces have been locked in a bloody battle with a large opposition movement that accuses Ahmadinejad of winning last year's vote by fraud.

Ahmadinejad made his quake prediction two weeks ago but said he could not give an exact date. He acknowledged that he could not order all of Tehran's 12 million people to evacuate. "But provisions have to be made. ... At least 5 million should leave Tehran so it is less crowded," the president said.

Minister of Welfare and Social Security Sadeq Mahsooli said prayers and pleas for forgiveness were the best "formulas to repel earthquakes."

"We cannot invent a system that prevents earthquakes, but God has created this system and that is to avoid sins, to pray, to seek forgiveness, pay alms and self-sacrifice," Mahsooli said.

Iran Bitches About Scholarship in Name of Neda

Story from Yahoo News, reported by Associated Press (AP)(c). Iran condemns Oxford for honoring slain protester By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Writer – Wed Nov 11, 4:01 pm ET TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has protested to an Oxford University college over a scholarship in memory of the slain Iranian student who became an icon of mass street protests sparked by the disputed June election. In Tehran, a small group of hard-line women demonstrated Wednesday against the scholarship in front of the British Embassy. The women chanted "Death to Britain," the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Oxford's Queen's College established the Neda Agha Soltan Graduate Scholarship in Philosophy earlier this year, named for the 27-year-old student fatally shot on June 20 on the sidelines of a Tehran demonstration. Her dying moments were caught on a video viewed by millions on the Internet, and she became a potent symbol of the opposition's struggle. "It seems that the University of Oxford has stepped up involvement in a politically motivated campaign which is not only in sharp contrast with academic objectives" but also linked to British interference in Iran's post-election turmoil, Iran's Embassy in London said in a letter to the provost of the British university's college. Queen's College confirmed it had received the letter dated Tuesday. Iran has in the past accused Britain of playing a role in the protests following the June 12 presidential election and meddling in its internal affairs. The opposition said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election by fraud. But hard-liners have described the massive protests as a plot by Iran's enemies to overthrow the system of clerical rule through a 'velvet revolution.' The Iranian letter said Soltan's "suspicious death" is still a criminal case being investigated by the police at home. It said she had been shot on an isolated street far from the protesters and her "murderers" had filmed her and her companions for 20 minutes before the killing. The letter also mentioned Arash Hejazi, an Iranian doctor who was with Soltan at the time she was shot and said he tried to save her life. Hejazi is studying at Oxford and was visiting Iran at the time. "Surprising, an Oxford fellow, Mr. Arash Hejazi, who had arrived in Iran two days before Neda's killing, was present on the scene when she was bleeding to death and immediately left for London the day after her horrible death," the letter said. "There is further supporting evidence indicating a pre-made scenario and other complications yet to be investigated. In July, a couple weeks after Soltan's death, Iran's police chief said intelligence officials were seeking Hejazi. That came after Hejazi returned to London and told the BBC that Soltan apparently was shot by a member of the volunteer Basij militia, which is linked to Iran's powerful and elite Revolutionary Guard corps. Hejazi said protesters spotted an armed member of the militia on a motorcycle, and stopped and disarmed him. Iranian police claimed this was a fabrication and the incident had nothing to do with the street riots. Police did not say why officials want Hejazi, but the regime repeatedly has implicated protesters and foreign agents in Soltan's death. The protesters in Tehran Wednesday accused Hejazi of being behind Soltan's killing and demanded his extradition, even though he is not facing any charges in Iran. "We want you to extradite Neda Agha Soltan Murderer" read a placard carried by the women. They also chanted "U.K. and U.S. perpetrators." The provost of Queen's College, Paul Madden, said the names of scholarships were decided, "within reason," by donors. The college did not disclose the donors behind the Soltan scholarship, but said the key individual was a British citizen who is well known to the college. The scholarship is open to all philosophy students, with preference given to Iranians and those of Iranian descent. The first holder is Arianne Shahvisi, studying for a master's degree in the philosophy of physics.

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I found it interesting that there were no photographs accompanying this AP article showing the women protestors against the UK and USA. Makes me wonder - how many were there? One? Two? Couldnt' the ruling regime bribe more of them to come out and parade around in their burkas? Compare to the photo I found at The Wall Street Journal's coverage of the Iranian 30th anniversary of the "revolution" and takover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. During the government-sponsored photo-ops, anti-government protestors took to the streets and their images were captured and broadcast world-wide via cell phone and You Tube videos. The photo I published above shows several women (I counted ten) in the midst of the protests with Iranian police threatening them with batons, etc. on November 5, 2009. Here is the link to the article and the caption to the photo: European Pressphoto Agency Iranian riot police clash with protesters criticizing the government in Tehran on Wednesday, the same day as an annual anti-American rally organized by the state.

Destruction of Persian Cultural Sites Continues

I believe the Islamic regime in control of Iran at the moment has speeded up their program of destruction of historical Persian sites since the unrest resulting from the rigged Presidential election earlier this year. It is part of the Revolutionary Guard's systemic program of erasing all things pre-Islamic while exerting their control. Here is the latest: From Payvand Iran News 10/28/09 Sassanid site bulldozed in southwestern Iran TEHRAN, Oct. 28 (Mehr News Agency) -- Part of a Sassanid tepe was destroyed last week near Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan. The destruction was carried out by the Mehrab Housing Company for construction of a high-rise apartment complex, Khuzestan Cultural Heritage Lovers Society (Taryana) announced on Monday. No permission had been granted by the Khuzestan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department (KCHTHD) for the housing company at the site, Taryana spokesman Mojtaba Gahestuni said. [And yet the work went ahead anyway. Does anyone want to bet if the culprits will be brought to justice? Don't hold your breath!] The mound, which covers an area of 10 hectares, had already been damaged by a road construction project, installation of telecommunication poles, other housing projects and establishment of a bazaar, he added. Last April, KCHTHD's experts visited the tepe to convince Iranian officials to register it on the National Heritage List and to take action for the security of the site. However, so far, no decision has been reached by the KCHTHD for safeguarding the mound. Experts had observed ancient bricks, shards, and pieces of glassware scattered about near the construction projects underway at the site. Some archaeologists who have already visited the mound, believe that beneath the tepe, the ruins of a Sassanid city are buried, Gahestuni said.

What Will Happen In Iran on Thursday?

Excerpted from The New York Times Reports of Prison Abuse and Deaths Anger Iranians By ROBERT F. WORTH Published: July 28, 2009 From Dubai, United Arab Emirates The prison abuses have also galvanized the opposition movement, whose leaders asked for permission to hold a mass mourning ceremony on Thursday in honor of those killed since the election. The Interior Ministry on Tuesday refused permission for the gathering, but the main opposition leaders, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, said they would hold a public ceremony anyway, several Web sites reported. Thursday is a day of unusual symbolic importance because it will be 40 days since the shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan (see image above, from The Telegraph.co.uk), a young woman whose death during a demonstration was captured on video and ignited outrage across the globe. The 40th day marks an important Shiite mourning ritual; similar commemorations for dead protesters fueled the demonstrations that led to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Questions about the prison abuse have gained more importance in recent days, not only because of the opposition’s public protests but also because the stories have multiplied. One young man posted an account on Tuesday of his ordeal at the Kahrizak camp, which was ordered closed on Monday by Ayatollah Khamenei. "We were all standing so close to each other that no one could move,” he wrote in a narrative posted online. “The plainclothes guards came into the room and broke all the light bulbs, and in the pitch dark started beating us, whoever they could.” By morning, at least four detainees were dead, he added. In another account posted online, a former detainee describes being made to lie facedown on the floor of a police station bathroom, where an officer would step on his neck and force him to lick the toilet bowl as the officer cursed reformist politicians. A woman described having her hair pulled as interrogators demanded that she confess to having sex with political figures. When she was finally released, she was forced — like many others — to sign a paper saying she had never been mistreated. Mr. Moussavi spoke out Monday in unusually strong and angry terms, accusing the government of brutality and irreligion, and warning that its conduct toward the detainees could set off a much greater reaction. “They cannot turn this nation into a prison of 70 million people,” Mr. Moussavi said, adding later that “the more people they arrest, the more widespread the movement will become.” The prisoner release on Tuesday appeared to be the act of a government desperate to defuse the issue, coming just one day after the head of Iran’s judiciary promised that the detainees’ cases would be expedited. Government officials say that of at least 2,500 people arrested in the postelection crackdown, about 150 remain in prison. In announcing the release, Saeed Jalili, the secretary of the National Security Council of Iran, sounded a defensive note, saying that those still in jail “are people for whom there are documents stating they were in possession of firebombs and weapons, including firearms, and who had caused serious damage to public property.” But Mr. Mottahari, the lawmaker, said Tuesday that those responsible for the deaths of detainees must also be identified and punished. Others have gone further, saying the prison abuses suggest a government lurching dangerously out of control. “Those who have turned this society into a police state and have ordered the use of force have to be held accountable,” said Hamid-Reza Katouzian, a hard-line member of Parliament. “The police and the Ministry of Intelligence have told us that they are on the sidelines, and we do not know who is responsible or accountable.”

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The Lede Blog at The New York Times had followed developments in Iran since the June 12, 2009 election, but has not followed events there every day. Some prior coverage of Iran at The New York Times: Iran Releases Protesters, but Still Holds 500 (July 9, 2009) After Four Years in Iranian Custody, a Queens Man Is Almost Home (August 11, 2008) Iran Executes 29 Convicts In One Day (July 28, 2008) Dissident's Tale Of Epic Escape From Iran's Vise (July 13, 2008) Thorough and nearly continual online coverage since the June 12, 2009 Iranian election has been provided by Nico Pitney on his Iran blog at the Huffington Post. Here is a post from yesterday - I read about this donation of thumb drives at - Nico Pitney's blog - last week: 2:24 PM ET -- Help Iranians get online: donate thumb drives. The Wall Street Journal spreads the word to its readers.

Elamite Jar Burial Transferred to Museum for Safekeeping

I hope it will be safe in the museum; you never know what the fundamentalist nut-cases who are running Iran may do. They've already flooded out countless ancient Persian ruins with their "dam building" projects and bulldozed others into rubble with their "road building" projects. Still others have been vandalized by bajis - the asshole thugs who think their shit doesn't stink. Ha! I've written about the Iranian government's deliberate destruction of pre-Islamic Persian culture many times in this blog. This was reported by CAIS from a report on Mehr News: Elamite Jar Burial Transferred to Haft-Tappeh Museum Wednesday, 01 July 2009 00:00 LONDON, (CAIS) -- Iran’s most intact jar burial, which dates back to the Elamite era, was transferred to the Haft-Tappeh Museum last week. Containing a skeleton in fetal position, the jar was discovered during the latest excavation carried out several months ago at Haft-Tappeh, a major Elamite site near Susa in Khuzestan Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Tuesday. “This is the first time such an intact jar burial has been unearthed,” director of the Restoration Department of the Haft-Tappeh and Chogha Zanbil Center Kazem Borhani said. “Urgent actions were taken to preserve the artefact in situ in order to safely transfer it to the centre for restoration,” he stated. A piece of the jar has been removed to enable visitors to see the skeleton inside it, Borhani explained. An anthropologist has begun a series of studies to determine the gender of the skeleton, which is believed to date back to the Middle Elamite period (c. 1500-1100 BCE).

It Was In Persia that Chess Was First Perfected

From Press TV - I understand it's a semi-official adjunct of the Iranian government. I couldn't make this kind of stuff up! Guardian Council: Over 100% voted in 50 cities Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:38:30 GMT Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas. The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election. "Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said. The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline. Three of the four candidates contesting in last Friday's presidential election cried foul, once the Interior Ministry announced the results - according to which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner with almost two-thirds of the vote. Rezaei, along with Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, reported more than 646 'irregularities' in the electoral process and submitted their complaints to the body responsible for overseeing the election -- the Guardian Council. Mousavi and Karroubi have called on the council to nullify Friday's vote and hold the election anew. This is while President Ahmadinejad and his Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli have rejected any possibility of fraud, saying that the election was free and fair. MMN/SME/MMN

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Ohmygoddess, are you kidding me? Over 3,000,000 fraudulent votes in 50 cities but the ministry in charge of free and fair elections isn't concerned because it has yet to be determined that this cheating affected the ultimate outcome.

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And here is a very interesting post from the Lede Blog (New York Times): 167. June 21, 2009 5:52 pm Neil, No. 25: NO, these are quite obviously NOT the same people who “chant ‘Death to the USA’ at soccer stadiums… [etc.]…” So many people with little direct experience of totalitarian regimes retain the most superficial of impressions based on glimpses of carefully stage-managed events organized by totalitarian partocracies, in which trained, disciplined masses of supernumeraries perform on cue… as in North Korea. The ‘Death to the USA’ people would be the enforcers sent out by Ahmadinejad & Khamenei to SLAUGHTER AND MAIM these protesters we are watching turn out by the millions all across Iran to reclaim their country. Get your head around the numbers, Neil, and ‘Friends of Neil’: it only takes about 1000-5000 faces to create an impressive staged event to fill up a TV screen with hordes… But in a city of 12 million or so, i.e. about the size of Tehran, we do not often see a crowd of 500,000 to 2 Million –– reassembling day after day even in the face of threats to life & limb & Family & livelihood –– unless there is something far more serious afoot than a propagandist photo op such as the regular Friday ideological marches denouncing America that the Ayatollahs decreed are to take place, without fail, which are run and manned by their own most privileged details of followers… The good old Communist Party of the Soviet Union was really good at this kind of thing, too, only their mass events all had to do with “how much we love Lenin” (just as the ones in North Korea all have to do with “how much we adore our Radiant Glorious Life-giving Leader.” No one could ever take these kinds of required totalitarian rituals seriously –– and you mustn’t. The ongoing mass protests in Iran are the Real Thing, though: as their relentless popularity reveals. No staged event ever draws the kind of attention a real upswell of popular unity commands. Which leads me to this: *HOW KHAMENEI LOST IRAN:* If you think about it, at last Friday’s sermon, Khamenei had only two courses of action open to him: 1 - Accede to the calls for a new election, or 2 - Certify the declared election results as Correct and Truthful. He knew that if he were to follow the first path — announce a retaking of the vote — his candidate, Ahmadinejad, would lose, and his own power would inevitably shrink as the new leadership would have less reason to rely on his own “Supreme Powers” given the popular support the new President and his supporters (Khatami, Rafsanjani et al.) already had. How did Khamenei know this? Because HE HAD THE ACTUAL VOTE COUNT; he knew the actual result. As the protesting masses argue, and demonstrate, the majority vote, by a very healthy margin, was with Moussavi. Indeed, the Interior Ministry had already confirmed this to the winner, even before Khamenei decided — personally decided, upon receiving the news — to simply discard the vote results. Khamenei’s very refusal to go along with a relative moderate request, for a rerun of the vote, betrays his complicity in the falsification. Because it was obviously much simpler, and safer, to order a revote — if Khamenei was honestly convinced that his own preferred candidate had just scored “AN OVERWHELMING LANDSLIDE.” If there was a landslide for Ahmadinejad, why fear a revote? The only reason to refuse a second vote was because Khamenei KNEW that Ahmadinejad had lost… Not merely lost, but been soundly trounced, coming in Third, with a measly five to six million votes… And because Khamenei had put his imprimatur on an outrageous lie, a huge and shameful fraud, he cold not possible follow the first — most reasonable — option available to him, without exposing himself as a fraud, cheat, lie and traitor to the very ideals he pretends to exemplify… This left him with only the second option as a recourse: to insist on the “correctness and complete unassailability” of the false vote count that had been promulgated in such haste, and to hope that a brutal crackdown would quickly stifle resistance as those “little people of no actual consequence” caved in to their “Supreme Leader.” It was a mad hope, and of course, as we can now see, a crazy gamble. Or, as one of history’s wisest sages once so beautifully put it in the original English: “Oh, what a wicked web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” By following his basest instincts not once, but twice: first, by decreeing the falsification of the vote, and then by insisting this was “the correct result”, Khamenei not only revealed the horrible stuff of which he is made, but sealed his own doom, and the doom of the system that had raised such a one as he was to the dizzying pinnacles of Absolute Power. And so he fell, foolishly, into a very clever trap laid for him by far wiser men, former colleagues who had probably grown weary of his peremptory, absolutist, ridiculously rigid and ultimately unintelligent ways — Rafsanjani, Khatami, Moussavi, Karroubi… It was in Iran, after all, that chess was first perfected. — Maria Ashot

Allah-u-Akbar

(Times reported are New York time) 4:54 p.m. New York Times Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen was out on Tehran’s streets on Saturday and has filed this account of what he witnessed. Here is some of what he reports: I don’t know where this uprising is leading. I do know some police units are wavering. That commander talking about his family was not alone. There were other policemen complaining about the unruly Basij. Some security forces just stood and watched. “All together, all together, don’t be scared,” the crowd shouted. I also know that Iran’s women stand in the vanguard. For days now, I’ve seen them urging less courageous men on. I’ve seen them get beaten and return to the fray. “Why are you sitting there?” one shouted at a couple of men perched on the sidewalk on Saturday. “Get up! Get up!” Another green-eyed woman, Mahin, aged 52, staggered into an alley clutching her face and in tears. Then, against the urging of those around her, she limped back into the crowd moving west toward Freedom Square. Cries of “Death to the dictator!” and “We want liberty!” accompanied her. There were people of all ages. I saw an old man on crutches, middle-aged office workers and bands of teenagers. Unlike the student revolts of 2003 and 1999, this movement is broad. [...] Later, we moved north, tentatively, watching police lash out from time to time, reaching Victory Square where a pitched battle was in progress. Young men were breaking bricks and stones to the right size for hurling. Crowds gathered on overpasses, filming and cheering the protesters. A car burst into flames. Back and forth the crowd surged, confronted by less-than-convincing police units. I looked up through the smoke and saw a poster of the stern visage of Khomeini above the words, “Islam is the religion of freedom.” Later, as night fell over the tumultuous capital, from rooftops across the city, the defiant sound of “Allah-u-Akbar” — “God is Great” — went up yet again, as it has every night since the fraudulent election, but on Saturday it seemed stronger. 3:09 p.m. The BBC has posted accounts from several eyewitnesses of today’s events in Tehran, including this one, from someone identified as Siavash: I was part of the protest in Valiasr Square. When we got there, there were riot police and plain clothes guards shooting at people, I could see that people had been shot and were on the ground. There were also water cannons. We decided to head towards Azadi Square, and there were guards on motorbikes and attacking people with batons. There were thousands of people out on the streets the police were using tear gas - the whole experience was terrifying. Towhid (Unity) Square looked like a battle ground. There were lots of female protestors - I saw a guard attack one women and then she went back up to him and grabbed him by the collar and said ‘why are you doing this? Are you not an Iranian?’ - he was totally disarmed and didn’t know what to do but her actions stopped him. There were no ambulances around - people were helping each other - helping the wounded - taking them to safety away from further attacks. Another opposition supporter who contacted the BBC said: We will continue to protest and we have several reasons to do so. First because we demand our rights. Second because were not afraid. Third - we will not be fooled. And fourth - in this way, the true face of this regime will be revealed to the whole world. 2:19 p.m. The video of a young woman who was apparently shot in Tehran today has been uploaded to many Web sites and Facebook pages this afternoon. One of our readers comments: Make special note of that unarmed innocent Girl shot and bleeding from her mouth, nose, eyes, ears…..hundreds of copies just went up on Youtube. The tide of the ‘79 revolution was turned overnight by a similar front-page photo of a Soldier at point blank range shooting an un-armed protester. Update 1:45 p.m. CNN has aired a very graphic and disturbing video clip which was uploaded to YouTube and Facebook on Saturday, showing a young woman who has been shot, bleeding profusely. (WARNING: Please be advised before you click on the link below that these are truly horrifying images.) On both Facebook and YouTube, the video comes with this explanation, written by someone who says that he was present when this video was shot and describes what it shows: Basij shots to death a young woman in Tehran’s Saturday June 20th protests At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes. The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St. The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know. Again, we have no way of knowing when or where the video was shot, or if this reader’s account is accurate, due to the intense restrictions on first-hand reporting imposed on the press inside Iran. More. President Obama said it best: The world is watching.

The Land of Firdousi

For those of you who have been following events the past week in Iran, the land where it is quite possible the game of chess as we recognize it first became amalgamated, I've been following the blogs at The New York Times and the Guardian.co.uk. This is from The Lede at The New York Times tonight: Update 6:21 p.m. A Twitter feed that seems to be associated with the Moussavi campaign posted this message one hour ago: Mousavi & Karoubi ask supporters NOT to attend Friday prayers (which is being delivered by supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei) Update 6:09 p.m. Iran’s Press TV reports that the country’s Supreme Leader will be leading the prayers on Friday at a university in the capital: Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei will lead this week’s Friday prayers in Tehran University. “The massive turnout of the Iranian nation in the Friday prayers congregation will manifest the solidarity and unity among Iranians,” IRNA quoted Iran’s Friday prayers headquarters as saying. The Guardian reports that Iran’s chief cleric, who also heads its government, “is expected to combine a call for calm tomorrow with a warning of severe consequences if protests continue.” I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, but I don't have a good feeling. I hope I am wrong.

Chess as Metaphor for Politics

Story from The Independent (Ireland): (Image: Knight, Nishapur (Iran), 7th century CE, The Hermitage Museum) Obama makes all the right moves in Iranian chess game By Catherine Philp Saturday March 21 2009 Could this be Obama's 'Reagan' moment? Already comparisons are being drawn to that president's exhortation to Mr Gorbachev to "tear down that wall" as he stood before the Brandenberg Gate. Ronald Reagan had a real barrier of bricks, mortar and barbed wire on which to project his vision of East-West harmony. Mr Obama's plea is more abstract and more nuanced; less of a call to revolution than food to fuel the growing doubts of the Iranian people about their proud isolation. Contrast his words with George W Bush's bluster about an 'axis of evil'. That phrase did nothing to help Mohammed Khatami, then Iranian President, to sell his moderate agenda and hesitant attempts for rapprochement with the West. Nor did it blunt Iran's nuclear ambitions, which have taken on new momentum since the election of the firebrand demagogue, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reaching breakout point this year with the accumulation of enough low-enriched uranium to develop into a bomb. This is the reality that Mr Obama faces: the prospect of a nuclear Iran. Even on a purely tactical level, the military option offers no guarantees of success. Of the different scenarios being game-tested in Washington, only the second least palatable is containment of a nuclear-armed Iran. Mr Obama's advisers have told him, with some authority, that there is no other option than a diplomatic one. Consider this as the second move in a game of chess -- an ancient Persian pastime. Or, to Persian speakers, ta'araf, the elegant conversational process of engaging an interlocutor, absorbing their language in a lengthy process of polite deference, before getting down to business. In his inauguration speech Mr Obama offered to extend a hand of friendship to those who first unclenched their fist. Mr Ahmadinejad responded with surprising positivity -- salted by a healthy dose of Persian chauvinism -- agreeing to talks but only in "an atmosphere of mutual respect". Then yesterday, after acknowledgements of Iran's cultural heritage and warm wishes on its national holiday, Mr Obama echoes Mr Ahmadinejad's own phrase back to him, telling him America seeks "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect". Iran is not North Korea: people will hear this speech. The authorities attempted a crackdown last week on satellite television, aimed at Farsi channels beamed in by dissidents abroad, but news always get through. The BBC's Persian Service is a favourite on radio. The government's first official reaction is telling, harking back to past differences such as the 1953 US-engineered coup, or the 1988 shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane. Many Iranians are tired of the past, and hungry for a different future. Current economic woes have taken their toll on Mr Ahmadinejad's popularity as Iranians realise how little his world-stage grandstanding has done to benefit them. Mr Ahmadinejad asked for mutual respect. Mr Obama has offered it. The ball is in his court. It would be hard to explain to Iranians why he should now balk. Presidential elections are coming in June and Mr Ahmadinejad faces a tough challenge from a newly united opposition. In 2005 the reformists and moderates ran against each other, splitting the anti-Ahmadinejad vote. In 2009 the drive to remove Mr Ahmadinejad is strong enough to have made them join forces. Mohammed Khatami, by far the most popular, but controversial, candidate, dropped out of the race last week, throwing his support behind Mir Hosein Mousavi -- less popular but more acceptable to the ruling clergy, who hold ultimate power in Iran. Suddenly there is a real alternative to Mr Ahmadinejad, and a real chance of him winning. Mr Ahmadinejad ignores this new overture at his own peril, and that is what Mr Obama is banking on. - Catherine Philp

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I found this article particularly interesting, because I believe that chess as westerners would recognize it was first played in ancient Persia - today's Iran. I'm no expert on etymology, but a study of Pahlavi (Middle Persian) words that are used to define and describe chess led me to believe that the game described in the great Persian national epic/history Shah Nameh as having been imported from Hind (a region in Pakistan/formerly considered part of northern India) was actually of Persian origin. Those ancient words for chess/about chess conveyed the sense of a face-to-face meeting; not so much a confrontation as a probing, a learing process, a testing of skills one-on-one, and had more to do with measuring the worthiness of an individual than warfare. It was a drawn-out process, with the players settling in over many days, slowly discovering each other's strengths and weaknesses on the board. Chatrang is, essentially, a game of discovery and growth, for no serious player can ever come away from a game without being changed in some small whit.

More on Shushan Being Turned Into Garbage Dump

Reported at Israeli National News: Published: 03/08/09, 9:07 AM / Last Update: 03/09/09, 5:07 PM Shushan, Iranian Biblical City of Purim Drama, a Garbage Dump by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (IsraelNN.com) Iranians have turned a huge excavation site in the city of Shush, site of "Susa," the ancient city of Shushan -- center of the events in the Purim story -- into a garbage dump. Culture heritage backers put a stop to construction of a hotel on the site, according to the Tehran News, which added that residents of the Shush municipality are now filling the huge, gaping 300-foot by 300-foot hole with rubbish. Iranian archaeologists have estimated that Susa is one of the oldest known settlements in the world. The Book of Esther (known as the Megillah of Esther -ed.), which is recited on Purim names the city - then known as Shushan - as the capital of the huge empire ruled at the time by King Achashveros. The site has been a frequent target of vandals, who last year smashed the column bases of an ancient palace located at Susa. A planned four-story high school adjacent to the palace was scrapped because of protests to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that it would spoil the view of the ancient building. Vandals have stolen several artifacts and one archaeologist blamed the thefts on anti-Iranians, possible Arab settlers. Iran is Persian, and although it is a Muslim country, it is culturally and politically not Arabic, and is not a member of the Arab League.

"Urbanization" to 2500 BCE in Iran

Report from Press TV: Iran urbanized 4,500 years ago Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:23:48 GMT Archeological studies have indicated that traces of ancient population in Iran's northern province of Mazandaran goes back 5,600 years. “Archeological excavations and precise date recognition at the historical site of Gohar Tappeh revealed urbanism had entered the region about 4,500 years ago,” says Ali Mahforouzi, head of the excavation team of Gohar Tappeh of Mazandaran. The discovery has also led archeologists to believe that powerful political and economic systems in the region were established around 5,600 years ago. “If we believe in the theory that urban dwelling occurred after agrarian, we could claim settlement in Mazandaran province dates back to at least 5,600 years ago,” Mahforouzi added. “We believe the powerful economic system was based on agriculture, animal husbandry, and trade - all among the basics of industry at the time,” he said. “The history of pre-agrarian dwelling goes back to cave-dwelling era,” Mahforouzi said. “There was a 3,800-year-old gap between cave and agrarian dwelling in the region though.” NAT/JG

Gag Order Issued for Iranian Archaeologists

Report from CAIS: CAIS NEWS © Latest Archaeological and Cultural News of Iran and the Iranian World Iranian Archaeologists are Banned from Interviewing 13 March 2009 LONDON, (CAIS) -- In an unprecedented move by the Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO), all the active Iranian archaeologists are banned to partake in any interview or reveal any information about the organisation or the status of Iranian archaeology. Since 1979 Iranian archaeologists not only have carried out their duties as the ‘explorer’ to shed light on Iran’s past through their scientific works, but also voluntarily they have taken the task of protecting Iranian heritage from destruction. As the result of their endeavours today, most of Iranian newspapers, have an archaeological or heritage section dealing with the latest archaeological discoveries in Iran – and by doing so, they succeeded to bring the heritage matters to Iranian homes. “The heritage matters have been taken seriously by the Iranian media for past few years, and Iranian archaeologists have become the bridge between the ICHHTO and the media – they as the educators have illuminated the significances of “heritage” and “archaeology” in today’s Iran”, according to a report by the Persian service of CHN. The imposed interview ban has raised the suspicions and swayed the public’s mind that the authorities in charge of the organisation and subsequently the government want to censor and filter the news to cover up their incompetency in doing their jobs. Despite this the ICHHTO’s claim that the news would still be available to the public and media via their public relations office. The banning of the archaeologists who are considered to be the heralds of the Iranian archaeological news is in contradiction with the Islamic Republic’s constitution and the move is considered to be illegal. Nonetheless, this is not the first time that the Islamic Republic’s ignores its’ own constitution. By implementing such a ban the regime tries to close the only avenue of obtaining the accurate news about the status of Iranian archaeology. ICHHTO’ Incompetency & the Censorship ICHHTO have unsuccessfully tried to silence archaeologists in past, by channelling the news through the public relation office. However, since last year they stepped up their offensive behaviour towards archaeologists who choose to put themselves on the line of fire to protect their nation’s heritage and since then any experts who have criticised or exposed the ICHHTO misconduct have either received warnings or faced harsh reprimands and dismissals. “Giving an expert view [of the heritage matters] is an absolute right of the archaeologists. Also issuing statements regarding a particular organisation’s internal affairs is the responsibility of their public relation offices, since the individuals including the experts are not fully aware of the protocols – therefore organisations nominate a speaker to execute the task”, said Mohammad-Mehdi Forqāni, lecturer of Media Science at Tabatabai University. “As the experts cannot fulfil the speakers’ job – the speakers and public relation offices are also incapable of commenting about the culture and heritage matters, as it is the experts’ field”, said Forqāni. He added “the banning law not only is revoking the archaeologists’ rights in expressing their expertise views, but also it is the abuse of the freedom of speech.” He concluded “the media generally prefer to obtain the news directly from their sources, by interviewing the experts rather than via a [filtered] liaison office.” ICHHTO executives in defending the banning decision have issued a number of contradictory statements, starting by: “experts are not aware of the cultural matters, and therefore they are providing wrong information.” This is while the majority of organisation’s executives are non-educated elements, who occupied the posts just because of their legions to the regime, connections or being the relations of the ruling clerics. Following the above organisation has changed the statement and alleged: “since there is no difference between the experts and non-experts working for ICHHTO, the ban makes sure the prevention of any contradictory news.” And the statement changed again to: “some news dealing with the Iranian heritage [in trouble] is being politicised and since the experts are not aware of the situation, they influence the process of resolving the problems, therefore the news should not reach the media directly.” And in the final disdainful statement ICHHTO stated: “this ban is to ensure the job security of the archaeologists!” The implementation of such censorships and news filtering demonstrates that people in charge of the organisation consider archaeologists as whistleblowers who expose ICHHTO’s incompetency in safeguarding the Iranian heritage. ICHHTO which is responsible for protection of the Iranian heritage have failed in its’ responsibilities, and even have caused damages beyond salvation to Iranian heritage, in particular pre-Islamic sites. One of the most devastating examples was issuing a permit to a construction company to build a hotel over a Partho-Sasanian (248 BCE – 651 CE) cemetery, which resulted in destruction 10,000 sq.m of the ancient site. The permit was issued by the head of ICHHTO provincial office, and endorsed by Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei the director of ICHHTO and the vice-president of current government in power. As the result of pressure from public ICHHTO forced to terminate the construction permit and in a public deceiving interview in July 2008, Rahim Mashaei who himself was one of the collaborators in destruction of the heritage site, tried to distant himself from the case by promising an inquiry, and claimed the wrongdoers will be prosecuted. The case was closed and no one brought to justice – including Rahim Mashaei. Hamid-Rezā Hosseini a veteran Iranian journalist regarding the ban said: “this move in essence is pointless, sine we have well over ten thousand archaeological and historical sites throughout the country, which most are in a devastating and critical status. A significant number of these sites for past three years have suffered immensely and are on the verge of complete destructions, however, by a visiting those sites and simple observation we independently can inform the public about their statues and therefore we don’t require archaeologists to tell us anything.” He added “this ban is demonstrates that there is a rift between the organisation’s management and their experts. ICHHTO’ management is well aware that the archaeologists do not follow most of the organisation’s [irrelevant and bureaucratic] protocols – and in a way the management want to cover up this partition.” “ICHHTO management are imagining that their public relation office is capable to dealing with the cultural news bulletins. They want impose and decide for us what news is to be published and who we can talk to”, said Maryam Khorsand, journalist and the chief editor of Persian daily E’temād. According to her, there is possible connection between the upcoming presidential election in Iran and ICHHTO’s banning of interviews. Today Iranians journalists in cooperation with archaeologists have reached a level of independency and sophistication that the ICHHTO is incapable of controlling and filtering the news – such action is further damages to public’s trust in ICHHTO. “Journalists will continue their relationships with the archaeologists – and archaeologists will continue informing us [in clandestine]”, said Monā Qāsemiyān, a cultural journalist with Persian daily E’temād. Original News bulletin published in Persian by CHN , and translated and modified by CAIS [*] Copyright © 1998-2008 The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS)

World's Oldest Religion is Dying Out

Again to the Persian Plateau... From Time On Line.com Postcard from Yazd The Last of the Zoroastrians By Deena Guzder Tuesday, Dec. 09, 2008 Far removed from Tehran's bustling tin-roofed teashops and Isfahan's verdant pomegranate gardens, the deserts known as Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut meet at the city of Yazd, once the heart of the Persian Empire. Walking across the wind-whipped plains of the forgotten city, a young Iranian woman dressed in colorful floral garbs points out a sand-dusted tower hovering in the distance like a dormant volcano under a relentless sun. "This is where we put tens of thousands of corpses over the years," she explains with a congenial smile. The funerary tower is part of the ancient burial practice of Zoroastrianism, the world's oldest monotheistic religion. Zoroastrians (known in India as Parsis) regard sky burials, in which the bodies are exposed to natural elements including vultures in open-topped "Towers of Silence," as an ecologically friendly alternative to cremation, consistent with their religion's reverence for the earth. A Zoroastrian priest clad in a long, cotton robe explains: "Death is considered to be the work of Angra Mainyu, the embodiment of all that is evil, whereas the earth and all that is beautiful is considered to be the pure work of God. We must not pollute the earth with our remains." The priest believes that open burials are a fulfillment of the central tenet of his religion, which is to practice good deeds. With a forlorn expression, he notes that, 3,000 years after the tradition of open burials began, there are not enough Zoroastrians left alive to keep the tower in Yazd open. Instead, today's Zoroastrians who want to observe traditional burial practices must request in their will that their body is sent to a forested suburb in Mumbai, India, where the last Tower of Silence still operates. In the alabaster prayer room of the Zoroastrian temple in the center of Yazd, a handful of adherents sway to the cadence of ancient Persian prayers recited as a priest feeds sticks of sandalwood and sprinkles of frankincense into a blazing urn. Zoroastrians wear hand-woven wool cords as external symbols of their faith, and almost always pray in front of a fire, which represents purity and sustainability. In Yazd, the holy flame has burned for 1,500 years without ever being extinguished. While Zoroastrianism was once the dominant religion in a swathe of territory spanning from Rome and Greece to India and Russia, the number of adherents has dwindled exponentially over the centuries. Although Yazd is the birthplace of the religion, only 200 of its 433,836 people still practice Zoroastrianism because migration, forced conversions, and centuries of oppression have diminished the population. Worldwide, there are 190,000 Zoroastrians at most, and perhaps as few as 124,000 by some estimates. Although Zoroastrians are few in number, their faith has influenced Judaism, Christianity and Islam with its teachings of a single deity, a dualistic universe of good versus evil, and a final day of reckoning. The religion professes that humankind is designed to evolve toward perfection, but is complicated by evil forces such as greed, lust and hatred, explains Mehraban Firouzgary, the head priest of the Zoroastrian temple in Tehran. According to Zoroastrians, these evil forces must be challenged proactively by developing a "good mind" that embraces a life of good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Despite their shrinking population, Zoroastrians remain fiercely divided over whether to recognize interfaith families, let alone accept non-generational Zoroastrians. Tens of thousands fled Persia during the Islamic incursions in the 10th Century and were granted refuge in India under the condition they did not marry outside their faith or proselytize to the Hindu majority. Ramiyar P. Karanjia, principal of a Zoroastrian religious school in Mumbai, India, insists, "Conversion is not part of our religion." Yet, in India, home to the majority of Zoroastrians, the community is declining by about 10% every decennial census, according to a report released by UNESCO. Today, Zoroastrians remain a tight-knit and self-secluded community that strongly encourages marriage within the faith. According to Parva Namiranian, a Zoroastrian medical student at Tehran University, the community in Iran preserves its identity by learning the Persian poetry of the Shah Nameh and holding religious classes and celebrations. She says Zoroastrians are accepted in Iran because they "represent a proud history" and all Iranians, regardless of religion, enjoy celebrating the Zoroastrian New Year, Nowruz, because it's an excuse to buy clothes and eat sweets. Mehraban Firouzgary, the head priest in the Zoroastrian temple in Tehran, agrees that most Iranians regard the Zoroastrian minority favorably, but he worries about the community's survival. "Zoroastrians have lived in Iran for over 3,000 years," he says, "but there are so few left today."

Iranian Treasures on Display

From the Daily Star of Lebanon: Treasures of imperial Iran: UK exhibition highlights 'Golden Age' of Persian art Tuesday, March 03, 2009 LONDON: While the fate of the British Council's operation in Tehran remains in limbo, a new show at the British Museum signals a strengthening of cultural diplomacy between Iran and the United Kingdom. It features work from the time of the reign of Shah Abbas, a ruler full of contradictions: brutal and tolerant, ruthless and generous as it suited him. "Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran" is the first major exhibition to explore his rule of the Safavid Dynasty from 1587 to 1629 which coincided with what is referred to as the "Golden Age" of Persian art. It explores how the shah ruthlessly cemented his position as ruler, forged trade ties with Europe and India, commissioned grand architecture and repelled neighboring enemies like the Ottomans and the Uzbeks. "This king transformed Iran from an inward-looking realm, riven by tribal strife and threatened by powerful enemies on its eastern and western flanks, to a secure, prosperous center of international trade and cultural exchange," curator Sheila Canby wrote in the exhibition catalog. Abbas also had a reputation both for an explosive temper and an ascetic, informal style of living. The exhibition includes carpets, illustrated manuscripts, watercolor paintings and metal work and pieces of Chinese pottery illustrating a type of gift Abbas made to religious shrines in Iran. While largely devoted to the art and architecture of Abbas' reign, the exhibition includes two large paintings that highlight connections between Iran and England. The paintings are of Robert Sherley, an Englishman who became a European ambassador for Shah Abbas, and Sherley's pistol-packing wife Teresia. Sherley's exploits were well known in Elizabethan England, and are thought to account for the references to "the Sophy" - the shah - in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." The exhibition builds on the success of a collaboration in 2005 between the British Museum and the National Museum of Iran to stage "Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia" in London. The shah consolidated Shiism as the state religion through the rule of law and sometimes violent suppression of radical dervish orders, turned Isfahan into an impressive capital and donated huge collections of art to important shrines. "He's the man who reshapes Iran," said British Museum director Neil MacGregor at a press preview of the new exhibition, which draws on artifacts seen outside Iran for the first time as well as on loans from Europe and the United States. "He gives the Iranians security territorially, he gives the country legal systems and a firm footing in the Shia identity." Iran, and more specifically Isfahan, placed itself at the "crossroads of the world" by exploiting its location along increasingly important trade routes linking Europe and Asia. The shah forcibly relocated the population of the Armenian city of Julfa to Isfahan in order to expand the trade of silk, and allowed the settlers to continue to practice their Christian faith. But when he felt that the predominant Shiite Muslim denomination and his own authority was under threat, he was less understanding. The exhibition says that when a group of Sufi dervishes called the Nuqqtavi predicted the end of his reign in 1593, he ordered the execution of their leader. He displayed the same ruthlessness with relatives, forcing his father out of power in a bloodless coup when aged 16 and going on to kill or blind members of his own family to avoid suffering the same fate. He was succeeded by his grandson, Shah Safi, in 1629. Shah Abbas also displayed great piety, making fabulous donations of art and treasure to important shrines and walking nearly 1,000 kilometers on a pilgrimage to Mashhad, the burial site of Imam Reza and Iran's holiest Shiite Muslim shrine. But economic interests may have been a motivating factor, the exhibition suggests - the shah saw it as an opportunity to promote Mashhad, and to encourage people to stay in Iran and spend money there rather than go on pilgrimages abroad. And an intimate and suggestive portrait of Shah Abbas in a near-embrace with a page boy points to a man who observed religious rules only when it suited him. - Agencies, with The Daily Star "Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran" runs from February 19 to June 14.

Diplomat Arrested in Attempted Antiquities Theft

Story from CAIS: Latest Archaeological and Cultural News of Iran and the Iranian World South Korean Diplomat Arrested with a Stolen Stone Relief from Persepolis while Leaving Iran 04 March 2009 LONDON, (CAIS) -- The 3rd Secretary of the South Korean Embassy in Iran has reportedly tried to smuggle a priceless relic dating to the Achaemenid dynastic era out of Iran. Customs officials in Shiraz Airport found the relic in the South Korean diplomat's luggage during check-in, before the diplomat succeeded in transporting the priceless relic of Persepolis, Persian daily Tabnak reported on Tuesday. Iranian Police, however, had to release the diplomat due to his diplomatic immunity, the report added. “Customs officials in Shiraz Airport found an Achaemenid relief depicting the top section of head of an Achaemenid soldier, weigh 2kg from Persepolis in the luggage of the 3rd Secretary of the South Korean Embassy in Iran,” Shiraz public and revolutionary prosecutor, Jaber Banshi told IRNA. “The relic has been delivered to the provincial cultural heritage office, but no cultural official has filed a complaint so far,” he added. The S. Korean embassy declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Press TV. The customs officials sent the stolen piece back to the ruins of Persepolis. It is not clear how the diplomat obtained the relic, despite the claim by IRNA that the he picked it up while visiting the Persepolis.