Category: Human Right

On “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement, Parastou Forouhar, July 9, 2023

Parastou Forouhar, writer, artist, a human right activist, was born in Tehran, Iran. She studied art at the University of Tehran from 1984 to 1990 and earned her MA from the Aufbaustudium an der Hochschule fur Gestaltung in Offenbach, Germany in 1994. While living in Germany, in 1998 the politically motivated murder of her parents, Dariush Forouhar and Parvaneh Forouhar were carried out in Iran. As a result, the subject matter of her work is largely autobiographical. Themes of her work include gender and identity, particularly the lives and sexuality of women, as well as religious and political issues pertaining to Iran.
Forouhar works across a variety of media, combining an affinity with ornament, pattern, calligraphic form and symmetry with a delicate aesthetic that belies the violence of her subject matter. She has produced many site-specific installation pieces, animations, digital drawings, and photographs as well as works on canvas. She has had a number of solo exhibitions worldwide, particularly in Germany. Though the inspiration behind Forouhar’s subject matter may be tragic, her work has a great emotional range: the results are sometimes macabre, occasionally darkly humorous, and often purely joyful.
In addition to her art works, Parastou Forouhar has authored two books; “ Bekhan be Naam Iran” in Persian and “Sarzaminy ke dar aan Pedar va Madaram be Ghatl Residand – Ebraz Eshgh be Iran” in German.

Justice Seeking Aspects of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement, Monireh Baradaran, May 7, 2023

Monireh Baradaran is a former political prisoner who spent nine years (1981-1990) in Tehran’s prisons. Since 1991 that she settled in Germany as a refugee and has focused her activities on fighting against torture and the death penalty. She has authored several books about the psychology of torture, and evaluation of Truth Commissions. Her 1997 memoir “The simple Truth” has been translated into German, Dutch, Danish and earned her the Medal of Karl von Ossietzky of the International League for Human Rights. Currently she is the editor of the Persian internet-magazine Bidaran (dedicated to the memory of the victims of political persecution in Iran), and collaborates with Amnesty International – Germany, as well as Rastyad Collective in documenting political executions of the 1980s in Iran.

Hamid Noury: From Arrest to Life Imprisonment, Deljou Abadi, September 11, 2022

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As the director of Iranian Refugees’ Alliance, Inc., Deljou Abadi has since 1993 authored many reports and articles on the conditions of Iranian refugees worldwide and represented many refugee claimants before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Court of Human Rights. Her research on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s death penalty system began in mid 2000s and has since culminated in several submissions to UN Human Rights Council’s thematic and treaty-based mechanisms. In the past two years Abadi has authored several articles on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran as well as on the prosecution and trial proceedings of Hamid Noury, the only perpetrator of this mass atrocity crime so far held accountable. Her recent article “Anatomy of Hamid Noury’s 198-page Life Imprisonment Verdict,” describes the structure and key elements of Stockholm District Court’s July 14, 2022 written verdict against Hamid Noury.

Cuba, Reality or Dream, Soudabeh Ashrafi, June 26, 2022

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Soudabeh Ashrafi is an award-winning Iranian writer and a retired librarian, currently residing in Oakland California. Born in Iran, she has lived in the United States since 1985. Her three published books include a short story collection titled Farda Mibinamat (I’ll See You Tomorrow), Mahiha dar Shab Mikhaband (Fish Sleep at Night) a novel, and Cuba Jazireye Bitaab (Cuba, the Restless Island); Three Travelogues to Cuba, 2015-2020.

Soudabeh won her first literary award, Sadegh Hedayat Foundation Short Story Award, for Otaghi, Khiali (a Room, a Hallucination), in 2000. Her novel, Fish Sleep at Night, was chosen by the Meheregaan-e Adab, and the Golshiri Foundation Award for the best Novel of the year in 2004. Billy, from her short story collection also won the Golshiri Foundation Award for best short story in 2007.

An anthropological perspective on the question of violence in post-revolution Iran, Dr. Chowra Makaremi, April 24, 2022

Chowra Makaremi is a writer, director and anthropologist at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris. She has conducted fieldwork and coordinated several research collectives on border control in Europe. She is working on post-revolution violence in Iran and leading the ERC research program “Off-Site” on this subject. She published Aziz’s Notebook at the Iranian revolution (Gallimard, 2011) and with Hannah Darabi Enghelab Street. A revolution through books 1979-83 (Le Bal/Spector, 2019). She directed the documentary movie Hitch. An Iranian Story (2019, Alter Ego, France, 78 min.).

Pouya Alimagham, The Limits of Empowerment: Women, Gender, and Revolution in Iran’s Green Uprising, June, 27, 2021

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Pouya Alimagham is a historian of the modern Middle East. He specializes on Iran, Iraq, and the Levant, focusing on such themes as revolutionary and guerrilla movements, imperialism, representation and Orientalism, “Political Islam” and post-Islamism, and the intersections therein.

His dissertation, titled: “Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprising,” was the 2016 winner of the Association for Iranian Studies’ Mehrdad Mashayekhi Dissertation Award, which is presented biannually. In the study, he argued that the Green Uprising in 2009 was a culmination of a decades-long history that constituted a post-Islamist paradigm shift in Iran. He harnessed wider regional history as well as Iran’s own revolutionary past in order to underscore his thesis. The manuscript was published in expanded form with Cambridge University Press in 2020. His other articles and book chapters (some in progress) cover the Arab Spring, Iranian protest music, women in Middle East revolutions, sectarianism, and the psycho-history of post-9/11 discourse.

New Book: The Last Breath of the Rose, Mehdi Aslani, Apr 28, 2019

Mehdi Aslani (born 1959 in Tehran), was a prisoner of conscience in the Islamic Republic of Iran from February 1985 until March 1989. Since his departure from Iran in 1997, he has been engaged as a human rights activist and independent writer in Germany. Mehdi Aslani has spent approximately two years collecting these documents through meticulous research and outreach to the victims’ families both in and outside of Iran.

Budding Grief – Film & Discussion, PanteA Bahrami, Sep 29, 2018

PanteA Bahrami is an internationally recognized documentary filmmaker with a doctoral degree in Journalism from the University of Dortmund and the Institute of Theatre, Film and Television, Cologne University, Germany. She wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on the subject of “The Feminine Role in Iranian Films: A Comparison of the Identity of Women Before and After the Revolution.”

Woman’s Body behind the Hedjab of Tradition and Religion, Najmeh Mousavi, Jan 22, 2017

Najmeh Mousavi is a bilingual writer and translator currently living in Paris. She was born in Tehran, Iran. She began her study of Sociology in Shiraz University in Iran and graduated from Sorbonne.
She holds a Ph.D. in Social and Urban Development and currently works as a Senior Consultant on several EU projects in France.
She has collaborated with Persian language magazine “Arash” as an editor since 1996. She is the founder of French language magazine “Pol”.

New Visa Waiver Program Restrictions, Nancy Hormachea, Jan 24, 2016

Nancy Hormachea has been practicing immigration and refugee law in the Bay Area for more than 30 years. Nancy was one of the founding organizers of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network [SFILEN] that provides pro bono immigration services and advocacy for SF immigrant communities and later co-founder of Omid Advocates for Human Rights in 2009. Nancy was member of the Legal Steering Committee for the Iran Tribunal in 2012. In 2003 Nancy was honored as an Outstanding Woman by the City of Berkeley for her exceptional work on behalf of immigrant women. Nancy continues to mentor aspiring immigrant advocates and volunteers with several community organizations.

The Psychology of Torture, Nouriman Ghahari, Sep 14, 2014

Dr. Ghahari obtained her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology with her final thesis focused on the victims of torture and imprisonment in Iran. She has continued her work in research, writing, and teaching in the field of personal and social injury caused by political violence and other psycho-social problems. She currently teaches at Felician College in New Jersey, and at the same time provides counseling to patients with psycho-social injuries, depression, anxiety, and family issues as well as educating parents.

Iranian Presidential Election 2013, Iraj Mesdaghi, June 9, 2013

Iraj Mesdaghi began his political life in the United States with the Confederation of Iranian Students and returned to Iran during the 1979 anti-monarchist revolution.

In 1981, he was arrested because of his activities with the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran and spent the next decade in prison. He is currently an independent activist and researcher working on Human Rights, Workers’ Rights and prison issues.
Iraj Mesdaghi has written a four volume book titled “Neither Life nor Death”. This work is a compilation of reports and memories of life in the Islamic Republic’s jails. He has also published a collection of prison songs “ BAR SAGEHI-E TABIEDAYE KANAF” about the massacres of 1988. His latest book “Hell on Earth”, is about prisons of the Islamic Republic. In addition, Iraj Mesdaghi has written extensively on human rights violations of the Islamic Republic on various Persian Internet sites.

The Political Role of Thugs and Hooligans in Contemporary Iranian History, Masoud Noghreh-kar April 28, 2013

Massoud Noghrehkar is an activist, researcher and a very prolific writer living in the United States. He has authored many books in variety of fields including; the history of intellectual movement in Iran and Iranian Writers’ Association; dissent and mass murder of dissidents in Iran; psychology and medicine; and novels & short stories. His latest novel is titled “Bachehay-e Amagh”.

Iranian Women’s Uprising, Mahnaz Matin, Apr 14, 2013

Mahnaz Matin and Naser Mohajer
On March 6, 1979, only a few weeks after assuming political power, Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced “… women must be clothed according to religious standards.” Offended and outraged by the Ayatollah’s decree and its domineering manner, thousands of women defiantly poured into the streets of Tehran on March 8, 1979 chanting slogans such as “In the dawn of freedom, there is an absence of freedom” and “We didn’t make a revolution to go backwards.” This first resistance movement against the Iranian Islamic theocracy, as well as the international movement in solidarity with secular Iranian women, is documented in detail and analyzed in depth by Mahnaz Matin and Nasser Mohajer in a two-volume book, just published by Noghteh Books.

Human Rights Activists in Iran as the Inspirational Servant Leaders, Dr. Hamid Akbari, Dec 9, 2012

Hamid Akbari is Audrey Reynolds Distinguished Teaching Professor of Management at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where he has taught courses in management and leadership since 1986. At Northeastern, Professor Akbari also serves as the programming director for Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Leadership Fund. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Akbari was the Executive Director of International Society of Iranian Studies. From 1994 to 2004, he and his wife, Azar, as well as their associates, including Ario Mashayekhi, published and distributed About Iran, an action oriented bulletin in Persian and English defending human rights and democracy in Iran.  Akbari received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior with a minor in political theory from the Ohio State University in 1988 and received his MBA in 1981 and MA in political science in 1982 from University of Toledo.

Human Rights and the Green Movement, Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, Jun 24, 2011

Dr. Ardeshir Amir Arjomand received his PhD in International Law from the University of Strasbourg in France in 1978. He has held extensive professorial positions in Public Law, International Law and Human Rights in Iran . He has been UNESCO chair holder of Human Rights, Democracy and Peace. In the infamous presidential election campaign of 2009, Dr. Arjomand worked as the top advisor to presidential candidate Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi. After the election he was briefly detained by the Government’s authorities. He is now the spokesperson of “The Coordinating Council of the Green Path of Hope of Iran.” Given the current discussion and controversies surrounding “The Coordinating Council of the Green Path of Hope of Iran”, we are looking forward to a lively discussion and Q&A.

In Memory of the Victims of the1988

“Berkeley Lecture Series” Presents: Mehdi Aslani will be talking about his new book, “Kalagh va Gole Sorkh”, a Performance by Shirin Mehrbod, (www.shirinmusic.ca) and Screening of a Short Movie In Memory of the Victims of the1988 Mass Killing of Political Prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran. For more information,…

The Qisas laws of Iran in action Shahla Jahed’s false murder criminal proceedings.

Deljou Abadi is the founder and director of the US based Iranian Refugees’ Alliance, Inc. In addition to researching and authoring reports and articles on the conditions of Iranian refugees, she has done legal refugee casework for numerous individuals before national tribunals and represented many before the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Court of Human Rights. Since 1995, she has also maintained a Documentation Center (IRADC) on human rights conditions in Iran.

THEORY OF SURVIVAL, Artist in Residency

Berkeley Lecture Series in conjunction with Taraneh Hemami’s exhibition of THEORY OF SURVIVAL Artist in Residency at the LAB presents: A gathering to view and discuss the archival material, primarily of Iranian Student movement from 1960-1982. This has been a very interesting exhibition of letters, documents, leaflets, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines…

Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, Ladan Boroumand, Dec 9, 2007

Ladan Boroumand, a former visiting fellow at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, studied history at Ecole des Hautes Etudes En Sciences Sociales in Paris with Claude Lefort, Mona Ozouf, and François Furet. She is the author of la Guerre des Principes (1999), and has written or co-written several articles on the French Revolution, the Islamic revolution of Iran, and the nature of Islamist terrorism.

A Panel Discussion on the Challenge Facing Iranian Human Rights Advocates in Diaspora, M Kar, K Lahiji, M Farhang, F Pourabdolah, June 24, 2007

In recent decades individual and dispersed groups of Iranians living abroad have been active in protesting human rights violations in their homeland, but they have not been successful in creating a democratically constituted, inclusive and non-partisan advocacy organization. The purpose of this gathering is to generate a lucid conversation about the causes of our failure and explore the ways in which we can overcome the impediments to the necessity of reaching this goal.

The Labyrinth of Iranian Modernity, with references to his latest book, Hundred Years of Entanglement with Modernity, Daryoush Homayoun, June 8, 2007

Daryoush Homayoun is an Iranian journalist, author, intellectual, and politician. He was the Minister of Information and Tourism in the cabinet of Jamshid Amouzegar, founder of the daily newspaper Ayandegan, and one-time high-ranking member of the Rastakhiz party. In exile he became one of the founders of the Constitutionalist Party of Iran. He was famous for his analytical writings and largely impartial assessment of history. His outspoken manner, criticizing the Islamic Republic with harsh tones, but also directing his criticism at the Pahlavi policies, earned him respect of many, while at the same time creating many enemies. He was one of the most influential Iranian opposition leaders in exile.

Women’s Movement and it’s Relation to Broader Social Movements, Elahe Amani, April 22, 2007

Elahe Amani is a gender, peace and social justice activist. She has served as chair of the Coalition of Women from Asia and the Middle East and a board member of the Women’s Intercultural Network (WIN). In 2001, was honored by Soroptimist International of Westminster as one of it’s Women of Distinction for her efforts on behalf of the human rights status of women.

Ms. Amani has also taught in the Women Studies Program at the California State University (CSU), Long Beach and Fullerton. Currently, she is the chair of the Coalition of Women from Asia and the Middle East, serves on the Board of Women Intercultural Network, is an Orange County Representative of the California Women’s Agenda (CAWA) and on the Advisory Board of the Women Center at CSU, Long Beach and on the Advisory Board of “Stop Stoning Forever Campaign”.

An Inside Look into the Iranian Left Movement – Conversation with Mohsen Rezvani, Hamid Shokat, Aug 21, 2005

Hamid Shokat is the author of Background on the Transition to the One-Party System in Soviet Russia; History of the Confederation of Iranian Students in two volumes; The Lost Years – From the October Revolution to Lenin’s Death; and three volumes of a series of books of An Inside Look into the Iranian Left Movement – Conversation with Khanbaba Tehrani; Iraj Kashkuli; and Koroush Lashaii. His new book is a continuous of these conversations.