Sayeh Hassan is a Toronto based Barrister & Solicitor and owner of Sayeh Hassan: While Egyptians celebrated, Tehran’s mullahs lost face
February 11 marked the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Due to the world’s focus on Egypt, the event went unnoticed by most, but it was not forgotten. Every February 11th sees anti-government demonstrations in Iran and worldwide, at which pro-democracy activists chant anti-government slogans against the entirety of the Islamic Regime, including not only the leadership, but the reformers. It’s not enough to reform the theocratic regime, say the protesters. It has to be torn down.- Wednesday, February 16, 2011
This weekend I attended and spoke at The Iran Democratic Transition Conference in George Washington University. The conference was organized by The Institute of World Politics and The Confederation of Iranian Students.
I attended as an independent activist and with an open mind; because I believe that if we want to promote democracy we have to start practicing it today! Although this was a very controversial conference, and I had received numerous calls from various political activists urging me not to attend, I decided to attend and judge for myself.
While this conference had the potential of accomplishing something very useful and positive, unfortunately it fell very short of that goal. Overall the goal of the conference seemed to be the self promotion of “The Confederation of Iranian Students” as well as an undertone of reformist propaganda.
Hundreds of activists came together today (January 20th 2011) in the city of Soleymaniye in Iraq, to protest against the execution of Kurdish political activist Hossein Khezri who was executed, without notice, on Saturday January 15th 2011, as well as about the possible imminent execution of other Kurdish activists including Zeynab Jalaliyan, Habibollah Latifi and Habibollah Golparipour.
According to various reliable news sources, a prisoner was executed in the Orumiye Prison this morning. Although the name of this prisoner has not yet been confirmed various websites have reported that the person executed may very well be a Kurdish political activist and prisoner Mr. Hossein Khezri.
There is still a question mark, as numerous news sources have reported in the past few weeks that Mr. Khezri had been removed from Orumiye Prison and taken to an "unknown" location. Mr. Khezri's brother has denied any knowledge of his execution this morning, and has stated that there is no news from his brother to confirm whether he is alive or has been executed.
Tonight hundreds of Iranians gathered in the Westin Prince Hotel in Toronto to commemorate the passing of Shahpour Alireza Pahlavi, the second son of the former Shah of Iran. It was a wonderful event, where people from clearly different political and ideological fractions came together to mark this very tragic event. Shahpour Alireza Pahlavi, was highly educated, and loved Iran very much; These are two things that can never be disputed. It is still difficult to believe that Mr. Pahlavi took his own life and I am truly saddened by this tragic event.
The news of the death of Shahpour Alireza Pahlavi, the younger son of the late Shah of Iran came as a great surprise and disappointment.
I am still having a difficult time believing that he committed suicide, and feel truly sad for the loss of a young man who truly loved Iran.
My condolence to Alireza Pahlavi’s family, friends and loved ones.
A memorial service has been organized in honour of Mr. Pahlavi in Toronto on Friday January 7th from 6-8 p.m. in the Westin Prince Toronto Hotel, for anyone who might want to attend and honour his memory.
Today (January 3rd 2010) I attended a protest which had been organized by leftists activists in front of the Islamic Regime Embassy in Ottawa. The protest lasted an hour from 1-2pm and despite the bitter cold tens of activists, many of whom including myself had travelled from Toronto gathered in front of the Embassy to show solidarity with Habibollah Latifi a Kurdish student activist who is facing imminent execution.
I had the opportunity to speak briefly at the protest and I started with saying that even though we were there with different political stands and may not agree on many things, we defiantly agreed on one thing, and that was that the Islamic Regime is not capable of reform and that it must be overthrown by the people, Regime Change is the only viable option for the Iranian people.
According to reliable news from activists in Iran Mr. Hossein Khazri, a Kurdish Iranian political prisoner was transferred to an “unknown location” in the Orumiyeh Prison. Mr. Khezri was transferred to the Orumiye Prison about a month and a half ago from Mahabad Prison.
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According to news received from Habbibolah Latifi’s lawyer Mr. Nikbakht, Mr. Latifi is set to be executed on Sunday December 26th 2010 in Sanandaj Prison, in Iran.
Habibollah Latifi is a 29 years old Kurdish activist who was majoring in engineering in Eylam University when he was arrested on October 23rd 2007 in the city of Sanandaj. Mr. Latifi was charged with “endangering state security” and was brutally tortured in order to force a confession from him. Eight months after his arrest he was sentenced to death by the “Revolutionary Court” in the city of Sanandaj and the death sentence was upheld by the “Court of Appeal” in Sanandaj in February of 2009. Mr. Latifi’s full biography can be found here.