Tag Archives: Iran

08Jun/08

Faire face aux élections iraniennes

French,

Source Washington Times (États-Unis)

Référence « Facing the Iranian elections », par Nir Boms et Elliot Chodoff, Washington Times, 16 juin 2005.

Résumé Tandis que l’Iran poursuit son ping-pong nucléaire avec l’Union européenne, mettant en danger la stabilité régionale, il prépare également les élections de vendredi. Téhéran agite le drapeau de la démocratie islamique et attise les espoirs du monde autour de Rafsandjani, décrit comme un symbole d’espoir et de modération. Toutefois, il a déjà été président de 1989 à 1997 et il incarne donc bien plus le passé que l’avenir. DE toute façon, le président n’est pas la figure centrale du système politique iranien. Ce titre revient à Ali Khamenei, le dirigeant suprême du conseil des Gardiens de la révolution, un conseil qui a un rôle central dans l’organisation des élections.

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02Jun/08

Slavery and Freedom on the Internet

Freedom and the Internet, , , , ,

By Nir Boms, The Jerusalem Post

Aug. 21, 2007

The Internet – the free and open Web of ideas – has become the new symbol of freedom, or at least one of its more visible prophets. Howard Rheingold, a scholar of the early Internet era, predicted a utopian vision where the “electronic agora” would change the public space and create a free, global society, or an “Athens without slaves.”

But Rheingold’s vision remains utopian. Research shows that outside the Western hemisphere, it is the terrorist groups that have gained the upper hand on the Internet as they use its free virtual space to support radicalism and extremism rather than democracy and freedom. Today, there are more than 5,000 Internet sites affiliated with terrorist groups. Continue reading →

26May/08

Iran’s Summer Persecution

Human Rights, Iran, Islam and Democracy,

By Nir Boms and Reza Bulorchi
The National Interest | Tuesday, June 15, 2004

In recent years, summer in Iran has been marked by uprisings, strikes, public protests and the government’s harsh crackdown against them. There are signs this summer will be no different.

As the anniversary of the anti-government uprising of July 1999 approaches, widespread arrests of students and women are taking place. Some students are nabbed from their dormitories by plainclothes Revolutionary Guard agents, while many others are served arrest warrants. The US International Bureau of Broadcasting’s Radio Farda reported on May 29 that, “the persistent summoning and detention of students all over the country has caused fear and insecurity in universities.”

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26May/08

Middle East transfer: The continuing Iranian persecution of its Ahwazi Arab population

Human Rights, Iran, , , ,

By Nir Boms and Roee Nahmias, Henry Jackson Society,

6th September 2007

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

  • Over a million Arabs have been deported from the district of Al-Ahwaz, home to some eight million Arabs, in Southern-East Iran, near the Iraqi border. They have been replaced with Persian Iranians.
  • Human rights activists in this area have been arrested and placed in detention centres. Detainees have been subject to torture and at times execution.
  • As part of a broader Iranization policy, the teaching of Arabic is forbidden in Ahwaz while it is compulsory for students to learn Farsi.
  • This process is leading to greater Arab discontent in the region along with the Arabs associating Iran’s “imperialism” with that of Israel and the United States.
  • There are regional repercussions to the Farsi-Arab tensions. Clashes recently erupted between Iranian military forces and ethnic Arab Iranians who are calling for an independent state in southern Iran. Hussain Shariatmadari, presidential aide to president Ahmadinejad suggested uniting neighboring Bahrain with its “motherland” Iran. The Baharenis, on their part responded in furious demonstrations demanding the “liberation of Ahwaz” from Iranian occupation.
  • Iran’s belligerent posture towards its neighbors and Arab population echoes a dark European past of WWII. It is natural that an autocratic regime, lacking human rights values will manifest the same approach in its foreign policy vis a vis neighboring states.

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