ISSUE #69 CONTENTS:
- Student Crackdown Caught on Camera in Tehran
- WANTED NO MORE: Hanevy Freed from Jail
- Women's Rights Activists Chart Path to Equality
- Quiz: Why was Homayoun Shajarian’s concert canceled?
SPOTLIGHT CASES:
Student Crackdown Caught on Camera in Tehran
A leaked video of police brutality on the Tehran University campus has rocked Iranian cyberspace. The video, shot by police officials, was mysteriously leaked to the BBC last week. Filmed in June just two days after the disputed election, there is footage of an attack of Basij militia and riot police burning beds, beating students, and arresting over 100 people. For months, details of this attack had been shrouded in mystery and so the leaked video has shocked viewers.
Ever since legendary student protests in 1999 were brutally repressed, it has been illegal for outside security forces to enter Iranian university campuses without specific authorization from the university director. No permission was granted on the night of June 15, but the police video begins with plainclothes officers firing tear gas and weapons at students. One officer in the video mentions that the attack had been personally ordered by Tehran’s chief-of-police.
For months, Iranian officials denied any attack had happened on campus. Later, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei claimed “unknown unruly elements” had led the attack. But now the video proof is out for all Iranians to see, with responsibility for the assault apparently going up to the regime’s top leaders. The footage is fuzzy at times but can be seen in the video below:
WANTED NO MORE: Hanevy Freed from Jail!
On Friday, news broke from the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott that jailed journalist Hanevy Ould Dahah had at last gone free. The CRIME Report has been following Hanevy’s case since June, spotlighting the plight of the young editor whose independent reporting on scandals landed him in the regime’s crosshairs. His case had taken on a Kafka-esque twist when he was twice convicted for the same alleged crime and held in jail past his six-month sentence.
Hanevy’s release comes after a growing international solidarity campaigns pushed his plight into the headlines, finally compelling the US government to issue a statement criticizing his imprisonment. The grassroots pressure campaign worked. Hanevy is now home with his family, already planning new projects for his website Taqadoumy.com, the number one news portal in Mauritania.
Reached for comment, Hanevy expressed gratitude for all the campaigning done on his behalf, including a Wall-Street Journal Op-Ed, statements from the committee to Protect Journalists, and the CRIME Report’s ongoing coverage. “My release is a victory of freedom of speech,” he said.
Women's Rights Activists Chart Path to Equality
Top women’s rights activists from across the Mideast gathered recently in Cairo to chart a new path toward achieving gender equality. Convened by the American Islamic Congress, the gathering of over 20 leaders from various walks of life included: seven female members of parliament from various countries in the region, the only female general in the Arab world, and renowned feminist professors.
The results of the discussion will come in May with the publication of a “Modern Narrative for Muslim Women in the Middle East” – a bi-lingual guidebook promoting a positive vision of women’s empowerment in the face of legal and social challenges.
Participants explored how these societies can seek to adopt a "Modern Narrative" where women would be equal players in key aspects of society. Presenters like Farida Benani, professor of Islamic Law at the University of Marrakesh, pointed to everyday restrictions placed on women in the region (e.g, how Saudi women cannot even use public libraries at the same time as men) and began to describe a positive alternative.
Participants pledged to try to implement the conference’s recommendations for reform in their respective countries. In addition to the aforementioned bi-lingual “Modern Narrative” guidebook, the AIC will publish a companion guide for Western policymakers on how to support this “Modern Narrative” of women’s rights reform.
QUIZ: Why was Homayoun Shajarian’s concert canceled?
ANSWER: Two members of his band are women. Tomorrow (March 3) is the fourth annual Music Freedom Day, a time to recognize repression of musicians around the world. The need for such a holiday was underscored last week when Iranian authorities canceled a concert by traditional Iranian singer Homayoun Shajarian because two members of the band were women. Positive programs promoting music freedom, though, will be held in Mumbai, Cairo, Kabul, and Amman. See a comprehensive list of the day’s events here - and sing extra loud in the shower tomorrow morning.
BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here are quick ways to contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement:
- Forward CRIME to friends & encourage them to subscribe.
- Write a letter to imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.
- Join 11,000 others in demanding Nokia stop aiding Iran's crackdown.
- Enter HAMSA's Dream Deferred essay contest.
