Free Iran

I was out of the office when this atrocity took place. I’d be remiss, however, not to bring it to your attention even a week late. The five activists were murdered at Evin Prison, where Canadian Zahra Kazemi spent her last days alive. Four were Kurds. A widespread strike in protest of the executions shut down many of the Kurdish towns and cities in northwest Iran.

The Iranian chargé d’affaires was called in by Foreign Affairs today to discuss the “Center for Iranian Studies,” an institution in Toronto that describes itself as a non-governmental organization promoting Iranian culture and scholarship.

The Australian reports on allegations that the Iranian embassy in Canberra spies on Iranian pro-democracy activists in Australia.

Mahdi Tourage is among three scholars and a director promoted by an Iranian government-linked institution in Toronto that portrays itself as non-partisan study centre. The “Center for Iranian Studies” on Sheppard Ave. W. was founded by Iran’s former cultural attaché in Ottawa and is still funded by the embassy here. On its website, it links to departments at the University of Toronto, McGill, and Concordia – although it has no affiliation with any of them. Of the four individuals it promotes, three – Richard Foltz, Soheil Parsa, and now Mahdi Tourage –  have confirmed that they have nothing to do with the centre. It’s a safe bet that the fourth doesn’t either.

Iranian academics demand transparency from Toronto’s Center for Iranian Studies

Cell phone video has been posted of Iranian police beating student protesters at Tehran University last June and leaving their bloody and unconscious bodies in a heap.

The Iranian doctor who tried to save Neda Soltan’s life after she was shot by Iranian government goons last summer, speaks from exile in Britain.

The resolution is here.

The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has published a comprehensive report on Iran’s rigged presidential election and the violent suppression of dissent in its aftermath.

The University of Oxford’s Queen’s College has established a scholarship for Iranians in honour of Neda Agha-Soltan, a protester who was shot dead during protests against June’s rigged election. The Iranian embassy in London is incensed.

Disturbing footage and solid analysis from the BBC.

Nargess Kalhor has applied for asylum in Germany. Potkin Azarmehr has the story.